Our theme this month is springtime. Our lesson plans will focus on planting and growing. We will be working in the garden on our playground as well as doing planting projects in the classroom. The children will also be learning about spring weather and the life cycle of plants and animals. Each classroom has butterfly larvae so the children will learn all about metamorphosis. They will see the caterpillars transition into chrysalises and emerge as butterflies!

Book orders are due on Friday morning, April 7. Please make your check payable to Patti’s Preschool. One check is sufficient for multiple orders. We receive free books for our classrooms with your order! Please see the front desk to find out how easy it is to order online.

Celebrating birthdays this month are Atticus, Xiomara, Blake J., Diego, Thomas, Quinn, Travis, Nathaniel R., Georgina, Luke, and Cameron. Three of our staff members, Vesselin Iankov, Fiona Patterson, and Alexia Genova are celebrating this month also. Our music teacher, Vanessa Ceballos has a birthday in April as well. We hope everyone has a memorable day!

Our Stepping-Up teacher, Donna Zawicki, is celebrating her 10th year of teaching at Patti’s. Our teaching assistant, Faith Smith, has been teaching here for 6 years. Happy anniversary to Ms. Donna and Ms. Faith!

We will remain open though spring break but we’d like to know if your child will be absent. Please give us a call or leave a note with your child’s teacher. Thank you!

We are in the process of replacing our classroom carpet. This will be a big job and requires that we do two classrooms at a time (over a weekend). This will not affect our regular classroom schedule.

Our Spring Fundraiser will start on Monday, April 10th. We will be selling Gourmet Popcorn again this year from Double Good (The new name of Popcorn Palace.) An order form will be sent home with your child and the orders will be due by Friday, April 21st. You may pay by cash, credit card or check payable to Patti’s Preschool. This year we will be using the funds raised to help pay for our summer educational guests. Some of the fun guests we have already booked are Thor’s Reptile Family, Storyteller Ms. Mary-Pat, Bubblemania and Co., and Princess Rapunzel. It’s going to be the best summer camp ever!

We are in need of scratch paper for use in the classrooms. If you have any extra, please donate to the front office and we’ll distribute among classes.

Mark your calendar! Open House is coming in May. We will have it on 3 separate nights from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. - May 22 (Rooms 1 and 2), May 24 (Rooms 4 and 5), and May 25 (Rooms 3 and 6). You will not need to stay for the full hour but we hope you’ll take some time to check out the classroom and admire the plants growing in our school garden. Your child will want to show you all the work he or she has completed this year. Please bring the family!

Thank you to Laurie Nickols for the doll stroller donation. Laurie Smith, Ingrid Sugar, and the McMahon family brought in books that the classrooms are enjoying. A special thank you to Millie Leatham and Christine Johnson for all the information they provided us with during National Nutrition Month! If you didn’t grab one of the handouts that had useful tips to promote healthy eating for preschoolers, please see the front office. Thank you, parents!

If you’re interested in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), be sure to attend the free family-friendly Imaginology event at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on April 21 to 23. Exciting workshops, build-your-own scarecrow contest, scavenger hunts, hands-on activities and more will fuel imaginations.