Happy New Year and welcome back!  Our friends were so excited to see their friends and teachers this morning!

We began our morning Going On A Bear Hunt with the stuffed animals, walking around the front circle.

The teachers switched the sensory table to moon sand.  We worked on scooping the sand with different size scoops, shovels and spoons and pouring the mixture into another cup or back into the table.  We also explored the different sea animals in with the moon sand.

We also enjoyed climbing up and sliding down the slide.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with peanut butter and fresh clementine oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain penne pasta with shredded roast beef, fresh clementine oranges/apple slices and cucumber slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprout:  Green bell peppers.

Have a great evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-06

Happy Monday! Welcome back!

PREK1 kiddos kicked off their morning completely sign in where we revisited some classroom rules since we’ve been gone for a few weeks! Kids found their name on the board and a corresponding area in the classroom such as art area, habitrail, outside, or building rug. They had to say aloud a rule that we follow in that certain space and why we have that rule.

This group has gotten so skilled at thinking outside the box with materials.  We can give them any group of materials and they are able to come up with a creative solution to utilize them!  The kids used paper towel rolls cut into small pieces, round pieces of cardboard, cardboard mesh packing material, q-tips, popsicle sticks, tape, markers, yarn, glue, paint and a variety of paper sizes to create all morning long!  The ability to use so many materials as young children is a building process that has been unfolding all year. Many of the kids used EVERY material in their creations!   Having the opportunity to combine so many different materials allows for an explosion in creative thinking and fine motor ability.  This combination of skills literally goes hand in hand with brain development.  Having the ability to make more complex things with their hands actually allows the brain to invent more complex thoughts, and so more complex webs of neural pathways!  It’s all so exciting! 

Later in the morning some friends in the science area were choosing to use our spherical magnetic building manipulatives in a way they were not intended…which allowed us to see what the kids were actually interested in doing and responding with “emergent curriculum”.  We set up some large tubes and soft balls to experiment with on the building rug.  The kids ran with it!  This is emergent curriculum.

PREK2:  Today, after the long break, we remembered class rules and how they keep our classroom safe.  We read the story “Know and Follow Rules”.  We talked about why we  have these rules and how how they keep us safe.  The kids helped brainstorm what might happen if those rule were not there .  At the end of the story, the kids picked the class rule that they felt best at remembering!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and fresh pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, fresh pears/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-06

Good afternoon ! We hope everyone has a warm happy and safe winter break!  Please you enjoy some pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh clementines

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat tortillas with fresh broccoli/peppers and apple/pineapple

PM Snack: Fresh baked vegan chocolate chip muffins with whole milk yogurt and cheese

Wee Sprouts:fresh cucumbers and peppers

Have a wonderful holiday!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-12-20

Happy Friday!  Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Refried beans and shredded cheddar cheese on whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh mini cucumbers and fresh apple/pineapple slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Homemade vegan mini chocolate chip muffins (made by Miss Ashley and the preschool class), mozzarella cheese stick and fresh mini cucumbers.

Wee Sprout:  Red bell peppers.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you in January.

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-20

Good Afternoon!

**Tomorrow is PAJAMA DAY!

We are just one day away from winter break and a few days away from when winter officially starts! We continued on with our winter theme for our PREK1 sign in. Children chose one activity on the board that was their favorite. They could choose from sledding, skiing/snowboarding, skating, or building a snowman.

This morning friends enjoyed exploring kinetic sand, baking tins and a variety of colored shapes.  Many friends enjoyed using the baking tins as molds to make pretend cakes or cookies to decorate with the shapes.  Imaginative play centered around preparing treats for the holidays which I’m sure many kids are thinking about this time of year!

In the art center, we worked back into our winter process paintings to add more layers and textures.  We used rollers to add pattern, then snow flake stamps for the final layer.  Many friends really enjoyed painting the stamps and then pressing them onto their paper.  Even some of our younger kids spent up to 20 minutes at the art center carefully painting the snowflakes to print on their paintings.  When art projects are open for independent expression, friends tend to stay the longest!

PREK2:  We revisited the story, ‘The Snowy Day’ with the intention of noticing the words used to describe the way snow feels, tastes,  or sounds.  We stopped to talk about several examples in the book.  Afterwards, we thought of our own descriptive words or recalled what we heard in the story.  We made a class list of our wintery thoughts!

Breakfast– Kix and banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh pineapple/apple/cantaloupe/grapes, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Trail mix with pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds/raisins/granola and banana slices.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots/pepper.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-19

Good afternoon!

Our friends started off their morning by marching along to the “Ants Go Marching” song with rhythm sticks. They tapped their sticks along to the beat of the song.

We then made our way to the kitchen to engage in a loose parts activity with tongs, spoons, pom-poms, bowls and cups. Two of our older friends pinched the tongs together to pick up pom-poms and then transferred them to a bowl or cup. Eleanor placed a brown pom-pom in her cup and pretended that it was coffee. Another friend held up a domino to their ear, like it was a phone.

We also sat in plastic blocks or on the reading steps to listen to Miss Bekah read books. We especially liked the “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” book.

Breakfast: Whole grain Corn Chex cereal with fresh bananas.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, green bell peppers and fresh apple slices.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat Ritz crackers with peanut butter and banana.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-19

Happy Wednesday!

This morning, we danced and followed along to the actions in the song “Walking, Walking.”

We then played in housekeeping.  We engaged with the baby dolls and worked on meeting their needs, such as dressing them and comforting them.  We also cooked a variety of foods, including eggs and toast, and put them all on plates.

We then went over to the Duplos to build together.

Miss Tina then brought out our felt Christmas tree for us to decorate with the shapes.

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded Colby-jack cheese, fresh oranges, mini cucumbers and whole grain wheat bread.

Afternoon Snack:  Refried beans with shredded colby-jack cheese and white corn tortilla chips.

Wee Sprout:  Red bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-18

Good Afternoon!

Please pick up your child’s hand hand crafted holiday gift which will be on the work bench for the rest of the week.  Your child’s name is on the bottom of the bag.  They are so excited to give their gifts to their families!

Our PREK1 group sign in focused on the book we read yesterday for group: The Polar Express!

Children had to pull a main event that occurred in the story during sign in. They were asked what gift that main character asked for towards the end of the book. Everyone was able to recall the correct gift!

Our morning activity used a variety of loose parts. Children explored these loose parts on their mirror tray. Arthur shared that he was making cookies and the frosting was the white square on each cookie. Another child took it upon herself to make a charcuterie board! She didn’t set out to make a charcuterie board but once she shared what she was making on her tray, I said, “That sounds like a charcuterie board! Would you like to see what one looks like?’. On her tray, she had crackers with cheese on top as well as grapes and various circle cookies!

At the art center, we began working on “winter process paintings”.  We chose from a variety of sponges to add color and texture to our paper, creating the back drop of a winter storm.  We will continue to build up the surface of our paintings this week. This project  has no wrong answer and is completely open to what the child chooses to make of it.  These are the kinds of projects we offer abundantly at Wee Friends.  Art projects hold the attention of our kids the longest when they are truly creative and self expressive processes!

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat flatbread, fresh pineapple/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-18

Good afternoon!

This morning our friends engaged with baby dolls. Eleanor worked on her self-help skills to dress the baby doll on her own. Charlotte rocked her baby doll on the rocking chair.

Cece explored her playmat and shared big smiles with us.

Our friends pulled out the plastic blocks from under the habi-trail and flipped them over. They used their imaginative play skills to pretend that they were boats. Miss Bekah read several books to our friends while they sat in their boats, including “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

We then headed outside on this cool morning to enjoy some time outside. Our friends scooped sand in the sandbox, took turns going down the slide and ran around the circle.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh apple slices.

Lunch: Whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter, 1/2 mozzarella cheese stick, fresh red bell pepper and green grapes.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese and fresh pineapple.

Wee Sprout: Mini cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-17

Good Afternoon!

Our winter themed sign in continued on today as we focused on winter rhyming words. Each PREK1 group member came to sign in where they chose a card from the bottom of sign in. We read it aloud and found its rhyming match. Younger friends who were playing close to sign in could be heard repeating the rhyming words. Even if children aren’t directly involved in the activity, children are always listening and absorbing information around them.

This morning, friends worked on their language arts skills as they created hand crafted holiday cards for their families.  Those who could kid spell and write letters, sounded out what they wanted to write.  Others that were able, wrote their name.  Our youngest friends worked on finding the letters they needed for their name, then used stamps to write holiday greetings in their cards.  Everyone enjoyed using winter stamps and drawings to decorate their creations!

At the round table we offered a variety of sorting trays.  This activity encouraged counting, sorting, and imaginative play among friends at the table.  Some chose to work cooperatively with a partner and others enjoyed some focused time alone.  Kids of all ages were able to have their social and learning needs met by this open ended activity.

PREK2: Wee Friends enjoyed using the snowflake stamps at the art center this morning, so PREK2 used them for a counting activity during group today.  At the end of group time each child came to the board to find their name and count their snow flakes.  We read the story “The Mud Puddle” today, since several friends were using the story in imaginative play outside!  This book, as well as a collection of others written by Robert Munsch, are some of our class favorites!

Breakfast– Corn Chex with fresh pineapple.

Lunch– Turkey and cheese on whole wheat bread, fresh pineapple/cantaloupe/grapes, and fresh snap peas/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas/cucumber.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-17