43
Tots get fun glimpse into world of school
Video
By Denise Dick
Many of the children will attend kindergarten this fall.
BOARDMAN — Anthony Iandimarino and Abby Stilson, both 5, plastered their flower pots with stickers bearing messages such as “Awesome” and “Super” before planting their purple impatiens.
“I’m going to give it to my mom,” Abby explained.
Mom is the intended recipient of Anthony’s mini garden too.
“My mom likes all flowers, even dandelions,” he said. “Even when you pick them, they keep coming back and coming back.”
Abby, Anthony and several of their fellow 4-, 5- and 6-year-old friends from Serendipity Christian Learning Development Center, Boardman, visited St. Charles School on Thursday morning.
Preschoolers from Bear Hugs Child Care and Preschool visited St. Nicholas School in Struthers.
Many of the children are preparing to attend kindergarten this fall.
Timmy Pallotta, 10, and Allison Kozak, 11, helped Anthony and Abby, respectively, through their morning activities. They were among the fifth-grade friends helping the young children.
“We’re helping the preschoolers do some fun activities,” Timmy said, adding that he was having fun too.
“I’m helping [Abby] plant a flower and decorate a flower pot,” Allison said.
St. Charles librarian Marie Pavalko read stories and led the children in songs, crafts and activities.
Preschoolers and fifth-graders alike poked their heads through a long piece of orange fabric with legs on the side to become one long caterpillar. They snaked through the hallway and into Patti Bartholomew’s kindergarten classroom where they huddled in a “cocoon” made of plastic sheeting.
“Count to 14 because they stay in the cocoon about 14 days,” Bartholomew instructed the children.
They complied.
“Now you wake up slowly,” she said. “Wiggle your toes, wiggle your ankles, wiggle your knees, shrug your shoulders...”
The group emerged behind a giant plastic butterfly attached to a stick. The children finished their morning with dirt: crushed chocolate cookies and gummy worms in chocolate pudding.
Five-year-old Hannah Wall pounded the cookies with her fist, dumped the crumbs into her pudding cup, shoved a gummy worm into the mix and dug in.
She was all smiles as she finished the dessert.