Hello all,
Zoo Week has come and gone and boy, was it great! Read on below to learn all about the fun that was had and learning that took place!
The students arrived at school on Monday with a lot of enthusiasm and one thing on their mind – the Zoo field trip on Friday! “Are we going to the zoo TODAY?” was the question that was heard all week long. The teachers reminded the students about their “Days of the Week” song. With four days until Friday, the students were a bit disappointed – but not for long! Little did the students know that Zoo Week would turn out to be, by far, the most exciting and busiest week of camp yet!
On Monday, the students crafted their first Zoo animal of the week – an alligator! In order to do so, the students started by painting a regular paper towel roll which would later become the body of the alligator. Using some googly eyes and pipe cleaners, the alligators face and legs were created!
During the afternoon on Monday, the students played an excited game of Animal Charades! One by one, the students came up in front of their classmates to act out various animals that can be found in the zoo! The rule with Charades is that you can move but you cannot talk! Without sound, some animals were trickier to figure out than others! What a fun activity!
Tuesday was a very exciting day at PPA! Not only was it another craft day, a Surprise Guest was coming in to visit the students! The students spent the morning completing a very exciting and new type of art project – Scratch Art! In order to create a Scratch Art project, the students were given special paper and little tools. This paper looked green at the start but the students quickly learned that there was something special underneath – COLORS! Using the tools, the students scraped away the top layer of paint to reveal the beautiful colors and create an amazing design on their turtles shell! Here is how the Scratch-Art Turtles turned out!
Later on Tuesday, the excitement mounted as the students began to guess who the Surprise Guest might be! Here is the list with their guesses.
While the list was certainly long, the teachers told the students that no one had guessed who the Surprise Guest was! The excitement only grew as the teachers explained that the students would find out who it was shortly after waking up from rest time! They could hardly wait!
A funny thing happened on Tuesday during rest time – a surprise visitor (and familiar face) popped in to say hello – MISS RIMA! The students, who were awake, jumped up off their rest mats to greet Miss Rima, a classroom teacher at PPA. Was Miss Rima the surprise guest? While her visit was a surprise, Miss Rima was not the Surprise Guest who was scheduled to visit PPA later that day! Miss Rima greeted all the students (even the new campers) warmly and explained that she had come in to say hello and give a gift to the school. Take a look at the unbelievable painting that Miss Rima created to hang on the wall of PPA! Can you identify the classic storybook characters featured in Miss Rima’s painting?
From Mo Willem’s Elephant and Piggie Series, Piggie and Gerald, lunch bags in tow, head to start their school day at PPA. Mama and Child Raccoon saying goodbye before heading to school at PPA just as they do in Audrey Penn’s classic tale, The Kissing Hand. Finally, that pesky, “always with a request” Mouse from Felicia Numeroff’s “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” (and many others) is there too. What an amazing piece of art! It will be displayed proudly in the PPA classroom forever! Thank you Miss Rima; we love you!
Before long, the time had come for the Surprise Guest to appear! It was Chiqui the Clown Magician! Chiqui blew the students (and teachers) away with an INCREDIBLE magical performance complete with rabbits and pigeons! Be sure to watch the videos below to see some of the magic for yourself! After such an impressive and funny magic show, Chiqui made amazing balloon sculptures for each of the students! Needless to say, it was a phenomenal day!
Watch below as the students see Chiqui’s first magic trick of the day… Uh oh, is he really a magician or a joker?
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Watch below as this student tries to find the orange scarf!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Talk about magical tissue paper!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
How many balls do you see?
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Ribbon to Pigeon?
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
The Grand Finale – What is in that box?
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
The students returned to school on Wednesday ready for the rescheduled Fire House Field Trip! While at the Fire House, the students met some local Firefighters, practiced Stop, Drop, and Roll, rode on a firetruck, and even got to spray the hose! As if the day could get any better, the firefighters announced that they had a gift for the students – a bag full of Fire Safety goodies including a fire hat, a water bottle, a pencil, a coloring book and more! The students were so appreciative! Wow, what an amazing day! Look below for some of the photographic highlights from the trip!
On Thursday, the students were paid a visit by their favorite Paramedic Tom Shields from the Jersey City University Medical Center. Since Paramedic Tom had come to PPA on behalf of the entire JCUMC EMS team, he suggested that perhaps the nickname “EMT Tom” would be easier for the students to say. EMT Tom arrived at PPA ready to discuss the very important role EMT’s play in our community. EMT Tom was so impressed by the students knowledge of Kitchen safety from “Cooking and Baking Week”. After reviewing some important safety tips, the students learned that EMT Tom brought a special friend to PPA that day – EMT Hector. The excitement grew as EMT Tom explained that EMT Hector was outside waiting for the students in their ambulance! The students were so excited when EMT Tom told them that they would all have a chance to hop into the ambulance and see it for themselves! Take a look below for the photographic highlights of E.M.T. Tom’s visit to PPA! What a great day!
Finally, Friday was here and it was time to go to the Turtle Back Zoo! The students hoped aboard the air-conditioned school bus and greeted their favorite driver, Bus Driver Mike! When the bus arrived at the zoo, the students unloaded and began their exploration of the zoo and all the new exhibits! The animals must have heard that the PPA Kids were coming because whenever the students went up to the glass it seemed that the animals came right over to say hello! What a great day at the zoo it was! Thank you to all of the PPA parents who accompanied the students on the field trip! We hope you had as much fun as we did! Here are some of the photographic and video highlights from Friday’s field trip to Turtle Back Zoo!
Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Well, that is all for Zoo Week! What a fun-filled, action-packed week it was! A special PPA Thank You goes out to all of the performers, visitors, community helpers that helped make “Zoo Week” at PPA so special! As always, thank you for reading and see you next week for more fun in the sun!
-PPA
REMINDERS:
Monday and Tuesday are the final two days of the July Summer Camp Session.
For all of those campers who will be celebrating their last day of camp next week, thank you for being a part of the PPA Summer Camp! We hope you had a great and fun-filled summer with us! We will see you in September!
Events Next Week:
MONDAY:
OUTDOOR FIELD and WATER PARK DAY!
The students should come to school dressed in a water-park friendly (yet sun protective) outfit! Please pack a towel as well as a change of clothes for the students today!
TUESDAY:
END OF JULY SESSION and OUTDOOR FIELD and WATER PARK DAY!
This is the final day of camp for all July-Only campers! The students should come to school dressed in a water-park friendly (yet sun protective) outfit! Please pack a towel as well as a change of clothes for the students today!
WEDNESDAY :
Craft Day + Welcome 3, 4, and 5 day August Campers!
THURSDAY:
Craft Day + Welcome 2 day August Campers!
FRIDAY:
Face Painting Day!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ZOO WEEK!