IMPORTANT!! Zoom Parent/Child Meeting- February 17th
In an effort to limit families exposure to germs, we will be meeting on ZOOM this month for our parent-child meeting. Each meeting will be about 30 minutes long, and will be a parent-child shared activity led by the teachers. Materials will be sent home prior to the meeting. Please keep them in a safe place until the meeting begins so your child is ready to learn! You will be able to access the ZOOM meeting from any phone, tablet or computer. If you do NOT have a device to use, please let us know asap as Cotter has a few Chromebooks that can be lent out.
There will be three options for meeting times, please click the link below to choose the meeting time that will work best for your family.
Please make sure to send your child to school with snow boots AND shoes. They can wear their boots to school and put shoes in their backpack to change into. Children remove their wet boots/shoes and put them in their locker when we come inside to keep the classroom and hallway floors from being slippery and unsafe. Many children have had to walk around in their socks all day because they did not have shoes to change into.
This Week in Our Classroom
We’ve been focusing on recognizing letters and counting 1-10 this week. During small group time children used magnetic straight lines and curves to make letters on the whiteboard. During work time children were using bean bags and baskets play a tossing game. Children tossed beanbags into the baskets while counting out loud.
Parent/Child Meeting- February 17, 2022
Mark your calendars! Our next Parent/Child meeting will be Thursday, February 17th. We will be talking about ways to support your child’s literacy development at home. I will have more information on location and times as the date gets nearer.
A Note About Valentine’s Day
We will not be having a party in our classroom on Monday, February 14th. Please DO NOT send candy or treats to school in your child’s backpack.
This Monday, January 24th will be a half day for all Henry Ford students. Dismissal for our class will be 11:40am at door #3.
Book Bags
Blue book bags went home in children’s backpacks today. Please take some time this weekend to read the two stories with your child and play number bingo. We have been working on number recognition and counting this week, playing bingo together will help your child to recognize numbers and know the names of numbers.
This Week in Our Classroom
Nutrition
We had our last two nutrition lessons with Ms. Zahraa after winter break. We brainstormed ideas for exercises we could do inside with our families during cold winter days. Some of the ideas were:
Jumping jacks
Push ups
Squats
Dancing
Jumping
Afterwards the children made two healthy snacks; Apple Grape “go go” cars and Healthy Celebration Pizza! Each child received a cook book to take home with recipes for simple and healthy snacks to make at home.
Math
We have been focusing on number recognition and counting this week. Number recognition is when a child sees a number and knows it’s name. (Ex. a 2 is called “two.”) Counting is being able to tell how many objects there are while saying numbers in order. (Ex. “1,2,3,4,5. I see 5 things!” The children used counting mats to roll out the matching number of playdoh balls. We also played a game using number cards and pom poms. Each child pulled a number card out of an envelope, and placed that many pom poms on their plate. When their plate was full we counted how many pom poms they had all together.
Thursday, January 13th at 9:00am, 9:45am, 10:30am, 11:15am. This is NOT a regular day of school!
Where:
On Zoom! Click the link at the bottom of the post at your scheduled time to join the meeting from a computer, tablet, or smart phone. Each meeting will be about 30 minutes long, and will be a parent-child shared activity led by the teachers. When your meeting is finished your child is done for the day.
Materials:
Meeting materials were sent home today in child backpacks. Please keep them in a safe place until the meeting so your child is ready to learn! Materials need to be returned to school on Monday.
Meeting Times and Zoom Link:
Please check the table below to confirm your child’s scheduled Parent Meeting time. If you did not choose a time, an appointment was randomly assigned to you.
9:00am
9:45am
10:30am
11:15am
Alya
Vincent
Mahmoud
Bashir
Noor
Farah
Rahef
Lamar
Battal
Yousef
Omar
Ariana
Jena
Hussein
Judy
Yasmeen
Click the link below to access the zoom meeting at your child’s assigned time:
It has been wonderful to see everyone this week! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year,, I am looking forward to enjoying 2022 with the students.
Illness and Absences
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for letting me know when your children or close family members are not feeling well. It is my (and the district’s!) goal to keep everyone who enters our school safe and healthy. Please continue to keep your children home when ill, and message me on remind. You can always message me after school hours, I will see it in the morning and put the absence in as excused. If necessary, I will forward on any important information to the school nurse. Your family’s information is always kept confidential, and will not not shared with the school at large. If you are uncertain if you should keep your child home, please refer to the district Illness/COVID protocol below.
IMPORTANT!! Zoom Parent Meeting- January 13th
In an effort to limit families exposure to germs, we will be meeting on ZOOM this month for our parent meeting. Each meeting will be about 30 minutes long, and will be a parent-child shared activity led by the teachers. Materials will be sent home prior to the meeting. Please keep them in a safe place until the meeting begins so your child is ready to learn! You will be able to access the ZOOM meeting from any phone, tablet or computer. If you do NOT have a device to use, please let us know asap as Cotter has a few Chromebooks that can be lent out.
There will be four options for meeting times, please click the link below to choose the meeting time that will work best for your family.
Thank you to everyone that joined us for our Winter Fun Parent Meeting! It was lovely to see everyone and celebrate the upcoming new year. I hope you enjoy the break with your families and have time to relax and recharge.
This Week In Our Classroom…
It has been quite a busy two weeks in our room! The children read the story “The Gingerbread Man” and made prediction about what would happen to the Gingerbread Man when he got close to the fox. In some stories the Gingerbread man runs away, and in other versions the fox tricks the Gingerbread Man and eats him! During our STEM lesson the children used building materials to make a trap to catch the fox.
During our literacy lesson the children wrote and published their own version of the Ginger bread Man Story! Click the link below for a video of me reading our class book, “The Gingerbread Class.”
During our Nutrition lesson Ms. Zahraa talked about the importance of eating healthy snacks and “eating the rainbow.” The children were able to look at and touch many fruits and vegetable of different colors and learned about the importance of trying lots of different foods before saying ,”I don’t like it.” Ms. Zahraa also talked about the importance of exercise and active play to keep our bodies strong and healthy. Later during large group time the children crawled, climbed, and skipped trough an obstacle course in our classroom!
For our Pajama Popcorn Party Ms. Chalhoub brought in her guitar and the children practiced strumming while singing familiar songs like ABC’s, Twinkle Twinkle, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. We talked about the importance of rhythm and counting while playing/singing music, and how to use gentle hands to touch the guitar. We also had a pajama parade round the school and had an indoor snow ball fight!
It snowed! The children were so excited to play in the snow on Monday. Snow balls, snow angels, and snow tag were the top three favorite games during outside time.
Ms. Zahraa from LAHC joined us for the first of 6 lessons about staying healthy! We talked about germs, and the differences between washing with soap and water and using hand sanitizer. Soap and water washes the germs away, while hand sanitizer “puts the germs to sleep.” This is why it is important to wash our hands often during the day even if we are using hand sanitizer. Afterwards, the children made a healthy snack to try and we voted to see how many of the children liked the snack.
Letter of the Week
During writing time and small group the children have been working on forming the letter Ff. During large group time we went on a letter hunt and found many letter F’s in our classroom and around the school!
Picture Retakes
Fall picture retakes will take place on Tuesday, December 7th. If your child was absent on picture day or you would like your child to have their picture retaken please let me know Tuesday Morning so I can send them to the school photographers. If you purchased a photo package you must return the ENTIRE package with all the pictures back to me. You will not receive your child’s new photos if the original pictures are not returned.
Winter Fun Parent Meeting
On Thursday, December 16th we will have our Winter Fun Parent Meeting. Like our previous meetings, there will be two meetings with 8 families each. We’ll be doing super fun activities to celebrate the last day before winter break! The meetings times will be 9am and 10am. One parent and one child only please!
Click the link below to choose a parent meeting time:
An advisory message from the Dearborn School Nurses
If your child and/or anyone in your household have been exposed over Thanksgiving Break to Covid, please keep your child home from school and contact the school office for further guidance.
If your child and/or anyone in your household have any symptoms of illness or have tested positive for Covid, please keep your child home from school and contact the school office for further guidance.
If your child and/or anyone in your household are unable to pass the Daily District Screener, please keep your child home from school and contact the school office for further guidance.
If your child and/or anyone in your household have a Covid test result that is pending—either rapid or PCR, please keep your child home from school and contact the school office for further guidance.
We need every individual to follow this advisory message to help us mitigate the spread of Covid-19 within our school community.
There will be no school Wednesday, November 24th – Friday, November 26th for ALL Dearborn Public Schools. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and we’ll see you back at school on Monday.
Washing School Things
Please take some time over the next five days to wash your child’s blanket, hat, gloves, jacket, shoes, and backpack. We play outside twice a day and sometimes our things get dirty! This will also help reduce the number of germs coming back to our classroom after the long holiday weekend. This is also a good time for your child to practice putting their mask on by themselves!
When Should I Keep My Child Home?
As we enter the winter season please be aware of any new or worsening cold or flu symptoms. Below are the guidelines provided form the district for when to keep a child home sick. These guidelines apply to ALL ILLNESSES, including COVID-19. It is better to be cautious and keep children home until they have been cleared by a doctor to return to school than send your child to school sick and accidentally spread germs.
If your child or someone in your family tests positive for COVID-19 it is essential you let me and the Henry Ford School Office know. We can then notify other children/families if they have been exposed. Your family’s name will be kept confidential and I promise I will not be mad at you. We just need to make sure all families can take the steps necessary to stay healthy!
This Week in Our Classroom
We’ve been busy this week! As the seasons change the children have been noticing many changes on our playground. During small group one day we took our science lesson outside and took a nature walk around the school. The children observed that the leaves on the trees were changing colors as well as falling off the branches. We noticed that the flowers and vegetables in the school garden were wilting and beginning to go to sleep for the winter.
Exploring our school.
Looking at the changes in the garden.
Spotting all the leaves on the ground by the track.
During large group children explored the letter Ee, and practiced using their fingers to make straight lines and curves. Afterwards we used flashlights to go on hunt for letter E’s in our classroom. The children found SO MANY letter Ee’s! There were E’s on the floor, on the walls, on the toys, on the computer, on the screen, and even on our clothes!
Letter E’s in our names.
Letter E’s in the song book.Le
Letter E’s on the area signs.
Letter E’s in our toys!
Letter E’s on the board.
Letter E’s on the computer screen.
Welcome Ms. Chalhoub!
Ms. Chalhoub will be the long term associate teacher sub in our classroom for this school year. Ms. Chalhoub has been a noon aid and substitute at Cotter for the past 3 years. Welcome to our class!
Fall picture retakes will take place on Tuesday, December 7th. If your child was absent on picture day or you would like your child to have their picture retaken please let me know Tuesday Morning so I can send them to the school photographers. If you purchased a photo package you must return the ENTIRE package with all the pictures back to me. You will not receive your child’s new photos if the original pictures are not returned.
Drop-Off, Pick-Up, and Absence FAQ
I have had a few questions about drop-off and pick-up time, so I figured I would answer here incase other families had the same questions!
Preschool Drop-Off – 8:35am at door #3; Rain or Shine, Sun or Snow. I am at the door from 8:35-8:45am for children to be signed in for the day. Please make sure to give yourself and your child plenty of time to get to school and walk to door #3. After 8:45am the door is locked and you must come in through the main office door. ALL parents entering the school after 8:45am MUST check in with the office and wear a mask. NO EXCEPTIONS! This is a State of Michigan requirement. If you do not have a mask you will not be able to enter the building to drop off your child.
Preschool Pick-up – 3:20pm at door #3; Rain or Shine, Sun or Snow. I am at the door from 3:20-3:30pm for children to be picked up at the end of the day. Please make sure to give yourself plenty of time to get to school and walk to door #3, our parking lot is small and there are a lot of families waiting to pick up children. ALL children MUST be picked up by 3:30pm. NO EXCEPTIONS! Preschool children cannot wait for older Henry Ford siblings to be dismissed in the office.
Preschool Absences – If your child is going to be absent from school please send me a message on remind to let me know. I can then put the absence into the computer as excused.
This Week in Our Classroom
Last week I introduced the classroom job chart, and this week the children have become pros at using it! I am so proud of how each student is remembering what their job is for the day, as well as helping other students complete their jobs. Currently the most popular jobs are; line leader, door holder, song book helper, bell ringer, and folder helper. It is wonderful to see the children being so independent! We also read the story “Good Night, Gorilla” and used blocks to build a zoo for the animals! When the children were done building we counted how many blocks they used altogether for their zoo, as well as used unfix cubes to measure how tall their structure was.
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