Mrs. Stortini's Preschool Class News

Don’t forget!

Spring Picture Day is tomorrow; Tuesday, March 7th! Bring your best smiles!

Hello Families!

Have you been enjoying the crazy weather we have been having?! I found this picture and thought it was appropriate for this week. 🙂 I checked the forecast and as of right now Monday is supposed to be 50 degrees, but the rest of the week is going to cool down into the 30’s so if you haven’t sent your child’s snow pants and boots back to school please do so on Monday so we can be ready for the week. As usual we will be going outside to play twice a day unless it is actively raining.

This week we have been focusing on math concepts during small group and the children have been incorporating those concepts in their play during work time! At our last parent meeting we talked about number recognition, counting, and shape recognition. This week we focused on two other math concepts; measurement and data analysis.

When young children learn about measurement they develop a basic understanding of units, for example inches and feet. We introduce these terms and model using rulers, but often you will observe children practicing measurement using everyday objects such as blocks or books. The children in these photos were talking about blueprints and creating building with blocks. First they used whiteboards and markers to design their building and then found materials (colored blocks) to complete their work. When they were finished they used their hands to measure and found out that one of the buildings was “two hands tall” while another was “just one hand.”

The other concept we talked about is data analysis which is the concept of recording an event on paper using numbers. The simplest idea of this is keeping score in a game! During small group time we played a game called basket toss using pom pom balls and cups. Children used white boards to keep score of how many pom poms they scored in the cup and out of the cup and then added up their scores to see if they won the game.

A few reminders for next week:

-Spring picture say is Tuesday, March 7th. No money is required Tuesday. The company will print a selection of pictures and you can choose to purchase them at that time or not.

-Kindergarten round-ups are beginning this month. Please make sure to contact your child’s home school for more information!

-Parent Teacher Conferences will be Thursday, March 16th and Wednesday, March 29th. I will be sending home reminders in your child’s folder the week of your conference and the list is available in our classroom at drop off and pick up.

Have a great weekend!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

Thank you to Dr. Chochol for joining us at Cotter to kick off March is reading month! Our theme is Under the Sea this year and we enjoyed a dramatic reading of The Rainbow Fish as well as danced and sang along to the song “Baby Shark.” The March calendar went home in your child’s folder on Monday so please continue to check that for important information as well as fun activities to do at home with your child this month.

All month long we will be enjoying story time with guest readers, and beginning on Monday I will have a sign-up for any parents who are interested in reading a story to our class at drop off or pick up time. Please consider sharing a story with our classroom!

Please enjoy these pictures from our assembly with Dr. Chochol and have a great day!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

Thank you so much for joining us yesterday for our monthly parent meeting!

I hope you enjoy these pictures and have a great mid-winter break, we’ll see you back at school on February 27th!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

Don’t forget: Tomorrow (Thursday, February 16th) is our monthly parent meeting. This is NOT a regular day of school. Please come to our classroom at 10:30am with your child and plan to stay until 11:45am. We will be exploring the exciting ways preschoolers learn math and participate in activities you can do at home with your child!

Have a great evening and we look forward to seeing everyone in our classroom tomorrow!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

We had a great time riding the bus and exploring St. Joe’s Health Exploration Station for our first class field trip! The children were so excited to ride the bus and were very conscious about reminding their classmates about buckling up and staying in their seat while the bus was driving.

Once we reached St. Joe’s the children participated in a 30 minute interactive lesson about making healthy choices; such as eating fruits and vegetables, washing their hands, wearing sunscreen, brushing their teeth, and wearing a helmet when riding their bike.

After the presentation the children and teachers were able to explore the health exploration area where they tested their muscles, explored a giant digestive tract (it had a slide!) as well as practiced buckling seat belts in a car!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures from our field trip! Have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

Our first field trip of the year will be this Thursday, February 2nd from 9:30-11:30am. We will be riding the bus to the St. Joe’s Health Exploration Station in Canton, MI, and when the presentation and activities are done we will be riding the bus back to school to eat lunch. The rest of the day is normal so please bring your children to school at 8:40am and pick them up at 3:20pm. Please dress you child in comfortable clothes and gym shoes as we will be walking around and exploring the center.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask Ms. Thabet or myself, here is the link to the exploration station website so you can take a look at the activities your children will be participating in.

St. Joe’s Health Exploration Station

have a great evening and we will see everyone tomorrow!

~Mrs. Stortini and ms. Thabet

Good Morning Families,

I apologize for the invonvience, but Ms. Thabet and I are both out sick with the flu so our classroom parent meeting scheduled for today, January 19, at 9am has been cancelled. Enjoy your weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone at school on Monday.

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet Continue reading

Hello families!

Thank you so much for joining us at the Winter Parent Fair! It was wonderful to get to see everyone enjoying themselves and participating in all of the winter activities.

Don’t forget to login and read stories together on MyOn (myon.com) over the break, I’ll be putting the names of all the students who login in a hat and drawing a winner for a fabulous prize at our January parent meeting! Yay! Login information is on the back of the name tag you received at our last parent meeting.

Hope you all have a restful break and we can’t wait to see everyone back at school on January 9th!

~Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet

Hello Families!

Don’t forget, tomorrow is Late Start so we will be beginning at 9:40am and ending at our regular time of 3:20pm. This will be our last late start of the school year, for the rest of the year we will be following our normal start times.

It is also pajama day, and your child is welcome to wear their pajamas to school if they so choose. No slippers please because we will still be playing outside and/or in the gym.

Have a great evening and we will see everyone tomorrow!

Mrs. Stortini and Ms. Thabet