Mrs. Stortini's Preschool Class News

Family Check-Ins

Over the next few days and weeks Ms. Thabet and I are going to be calling to check in with your child and family, so if you get a call from a blocked number it might be us! We miss everyone and want to make sure you are all doing ok.

Materials Survey

Our principal put together a quick family survey for materials you might need at home and ideas for ways we can help you during this difficult time. It is our hope that staff will be able to have access to the school buildings in a few weeks and be able to put together packages of materials for each child. If you have not done so already, please click the link below and fill out the survey, it takes about 5 minutes.

https://forms.gle/iRZhRNazF9ufCRS46

Class Video Chat

I am in the process of setting up a video chat for our class so we can all see and talk to eachother. Stay tuned for more information!

Homeschool Heroes

Working on the letter Q and sorting shapes!

Letter of the Week

We’re focusing on the letter Qq this week, remember Qq makes the sound “quah” like queen and quack!

Lower case q can be tricky for young children to recognize at first because it is very similar to lowercase b,d, and p. Here is a fun way to help children remember the differences.

Assignment

Today we’re going to think about the differences between healthy and unhealthy foods. Does anyone else feel like they’re snacking more now that we’re home all day? (I know I am!) What you eat affects how you think and feel. It is important that we remember to choose healthy foods so our bodies and brains can grow strong!

Listen to the story and draw a picture of Gregory eating a healthy food. Try to write Gregory’s name and the name of the food he is eating. Parents can help with spelling, but please make sure your child is writing on their own. Take a picture of what you drew and send it to me!

Now it’s your turn to decide what kind of foods are healthy or unhealthy! Look through your kitchen and make one pile of healthy food and one pile of unhealthy food. Send me a picture of the foods you found!

Which things do you usually eat more? Try to choose two healthy snacks today when you feel hungry!

Have a greay day!

Mrs. Stortini

Homeschool Heroes

Letter of the Week

Our letter of the week is Qq. This letter can be tricky because the capital and lowercase look different. What are three differences you notice between the capital Q and lowercase q?

Let’s get Moving!

With the wind advisory you might be stuck in the house today, get your body moving and dance along with Koo Koo Kangaroo!

Assignment

Today we’re going to work on some shapes! The three shapes we will look for are square, triangle, and rectangle.

First, draw or mark out an area for your child to place items/toys like this:

The goal is for your child to go around the house and collect items that are squares, rectangles, and triangles. They can draw pictures if the items are too large or heavy (ex. A door or tv). When they find the items have them say the name and count the sides.

As they find the shapes and count the sides, have your child place the item in the corresponding shape mat you made like this:

When you’re done send me a picture so I can see all of your shapes and share it on our blog tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone who was celebrating yesterday! I hope you had a restful week and enjoyed some of the beautiful weather we had. My family and I spent all day outside on Saturday soaking up some sun and vitamin d!

Letter of the Week

Our letter of the week is Qq. Q says the sound “quah” like Queen and quack. Can you think of five words that start with the letter Q?

PBS Kids

PBS kids has a great collection of age appropriate games, stories, and videos for preschool children. Click the link below and spend some time exploring the website with your child!

https://pbskids.org/

Assignment

Today we are going to work on recognizing and naming the numbers 1-6 by making math monsters!

What you’ll need:

• Paper
• Crayons (or something to write/draw with)
• One dice, playing cards 1-6, or pieces of paper with 1-6 written on them.

Directions:

• Have your child draw a large oval on a piece of paper. This will be the body for our math monster!

Next, have your child roll the dice or choose a number card. For each number that they pull, your child will add a body part according to this list:

• 1 -add an eye
• 2 – add an ear
• 3- add an arm
• 4- add a leg
• 5- add a mouth
• 6- add a nose

Roll or pull a number card at least 10 times, but you can do more if you want! When you are done color your picture and give your monster a name. Have your child try to write the name on their paper. Parents can help with spelling, but please make sure your child is the one writing the name.

When you are done send me a picture of your monster through the Remind app so I can see them and share the pictures on our class blog tomorrow!

I can’t wait to see all your silly math monsters!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

Spring Break

Next week, April 6- 10 is our scheduled spring break. I will not be uploading any lessons during this time, please enjoy the week with your family to relax and recharge.

Homeschool Heroes

So many interesting things were found on our inventor scavenger hunt Thursday!

Field Trip Friday!

It’s Friday so we’re taking a virtual field trip! Today we’re going to explore the San Diego Zoo. Click the link below to get started. When you are finished exploring the website draw/write about something new you learned. Take a picture of your drawing and send it to me so I can see it!

https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Stortini

Homeschool Heroes

Let’s be a Scientist!

Today’s activity is to think like an inventor! Go around your house, backyard, and/or neighborhood and find the things on the list below. Take pictures and send them to me so I can see what you found!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

Preschool Registration for 2020-2021

I’ve had a few questions about registration for next year. Due to the current situation and schools being closed, registration is being postponed at this time. As soon as I have more information I will let you know. Please continue to check the Cotter and Dearborn Public Schools website for the most up-to-date information.

Homeschool Heroes

Letter of the Week

Can you think of some friends in our classroom who have the letter K in their name? Here’s a list, how many K’s can you find?!

• Saleh Al.
• Saleh Ah.
• Amira H.
• Lilliana C.
• Rahaf S.
• Zeina M.
• Yasmine A.
• Abbas K.
• Jaifar H.
• Haidar K.
• Fatima A.
• Roaa A.
• Marah A.
• Nooh Y.
• Maryam S.
• Malkeh A.

What is Mrs. Stortini doing?

Today was “Disney Day” so we wore our Mickey Mouse ear hats and pretended to be in Disney World while we went for our walk!

Assignment

Happy April 1st, that means it’s April Fools Day! Today we are going to do silly things to celebrate!

• Listen to the story Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss.

• Tape a piece of paper to the bottom of your table and draw a silly picture while lying on the floor.

• Dance along to the Wacky Dance!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

School Playgrounds Closed

Dearborn Public Schools is reminding people that during the state ordered shelter-at-home period, visitors are NOT allowed on our playground equipment or fields. Stay Home, Stay Safe. Read the memo at https://firstbell.dearbornschools.org/2020/03/27/district-reminds-residents-to-stay-off-school-playgrounds-fields/

Homeschool Heroes

What is Mrs. Stortini doing?

Today we had an engineering challenge in our livingroom! JJ and Luke brainstormed materials to make a fort during school time. They made a blueprint for what it would look like, and then hunted around the house to find materials to use.

Letter of the Week

This week we are working on the letter Kk. Did you notice that the letter K is made up of three straight lines?

Assignment

Today we are learning abouy rhyming words. Words that rhyme sound the same at the end. For example: cat and hat, fog and bog, pig and wig.

Listen to the Dr. Seuss story, The Cat in the Hat

1. How many rhyming words did you hear in the story? Draw a picture and try to write down two rhyming words you heard.
2. Take a picture of your drawing and send it to me so I can see!

3. Exercise, rhyme, and freeze with Jack Hartman!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

Week 3

Can you believe this is already the third week of remote learning for our class? I know this situation can be frustrating, and I appreciate all you are doing at home to continue your child’s learning. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or need help!

Homeschool Heroes

Check out all the hard work these homeschool heroes are doing at home!

Memory Monday

Here are some classroom pictures from the week before school closed. I wasn’t able to post them at the time so I wanted to share now. During this activitiy we used our math and science skills to measure ingredients and make our own playdough! The children noticed that if there was too much water the dough felt sticky, and if there was too much flour the dough felt dry. Then we used the playdough to play a game called smash math. The children rolled dice, counted the spots, and smashed that number of playdough balls.

Letter of the Week

Our letter of the week is Kk!

How many things can you find in your house that begin with the letter K?

Assignment

Today we’re going to talk about the math concepts of length and measuring.

• Collect some items from around your house or backyard that you would like to measure. Toys, silverware, rocks, sticks, and pieces of paper are all examples of items you could use!
• On a piece of paper draw a line down the middle and write “longer” on one side and “shorter” on the other.

• Look at your items and decide which side of the paper they fit on. Are they shorter or longer? How do you know?
• Take some pictures and send them to me so I can see your experiment!

Odds and Ends

1. Dearborn schools is still do grab and go lunch pick up during the week, but the schedule has changed. Please check dearbornschools.org for the most up to date information.
2. Please continue to read together for at least 20 minutes a day. Provide your child with the opportunity to point out letters and /or words they may know, as well as describing what they see in the pictures.
3. Try to get outside and walk or play in the backyard for at least 30 minutes.

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini

Happy Friday, it’s field trip day! Today we’re going to take a virtual trip to a planetarium to look at the stars! Click the link below to explore the sky and have a great weekend!

https://staratlas.com/

Sink or Float

I loved seeing everyone’s float or sink experiments! It was amazing how many different things you were able to find in your house to test. No one used the same things!

Letter of the Week

Everyone has been working hard on writing their letters, I love seeing all the pictures so keep them coming!

Mrs. Stortini’s Day

It was beautiful outside, so after our walk we had school time outside! We painted numbers on rocks and then used them to practice adding and subtracting.

It felt like spring today, so after school time we started making some Easter decorations for our house that I found on Pinterest. This is our bunny and carrot garland!

Assignment

1. Today we’re going to focus on writing, I will be sending the individual lessons through the remind101 app. If you do not recieve it by Thursdsy morning please message me so I can resend it.
2. Read together for 20 minutes.
3. Play two letter games on abcmouse.com

Have a great day!

Mrs. Stortini