Happy Wednesday!

This morning while we were looking out the reading step window, we noticed a big, stuffed teddy bear sitting on the neighbor’s bench.  Seeing that led us to wanting to grab our stuffed bears/animals to engage with in our play and go on a bear hunt.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with some bear sorters and our wooden shape loose parts.  The friends were holding up the different colors of the bears to identify and also putting them onto their wood shape pieces.  Cece even joined us in sitting at the table exploring the bears on her tray.

Some of us then headed out to engage with driving the wooden cars on the floor or wooden ramps, or listening to Miss Bekah read books, or looking at one independently from the reading step shelf.

We then headed out to get some fresh air outside before the rain came.  Cece engaged with her basket of toys, Eleanor peeked over from inside the climbing house, Clark engaged with the dinosaurs in the sandbox, Charlotte worked on climbing to the top of the house, a friend interacted with Cece on her blanket and several friends engaged with the sea animals and sea shells at the table.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded mozzarella cheese, English muffins with buttery spread, fresh cucumber and bananas.

Afternoon Snack:  Homemade oatmeal muffins and white corn tortilla chips with hummus.

Wee Sprout:  Yellow bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-28

Good Afternoon!

We kicked off our day by diving into a map of our classroom! Each PREK1 friend came to the board where they searched through the map, finding their favorite space to be! There was a wide range of spaces in the classroom that are our favorite including outside, housekeeping, art table, and kitchen (for wee sprouts, of course!).

In group, we read, ‘The Sandwich Swap’ which is one of our favorite MACK books! At the end, the two main characters set up a picnic at their school where children could bring in food from the country in which their family came from! On the picnic table, various food was layed out with a flag from the country that it represented.

Social Studies: K.3.2 Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand differences between a map and a globe.

There were several friends who got very interested in sorting treasures after the treasure hunt we did yesterday, so today we offered a sorting activity with a variety of sorting trays and treasures to sort.  Friends sorted by color, shape size or any other standard they invented for the activity.  Our younger friends enjoyed the challenge of sorting with tongs or tweezers, strengthening their fine motor skills as they begin prewriting development. Sorting is a great early math activity which allows kids to practice seeing patterns and creating order.  These kinds of activities also increase attention and focus which they will need as they edge closer to school age.

The art table was busy this morning with a creative flow of ideas.  Friends used unusual cardboard pieces of different shapes and sizes to create.  The kids made belts, hats, aircraft carriers, jets and bridges.  The ability to see materials, formulate an idea, plan the execution on that idea, then physically building the idea requires a great deal of higher thought processes.  We strive to create environments which foster this kind of higher thinking development.

In other areas of the classroom friends were interested in building using a variety of blocks and environments to build in.  Wee Friends offers a wide variety of ways to build  in the classroom.  We offer building materials of every shape, size weight and texture.  We offer them in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor environments.  We understand the importance of construction play in early childhood environments because of mind and body development that takes place during these activities.  Here is a link that talks more about the benefits of construction play.

https://nido.edu.au/news/benefits-of-construction-play-in-early-childhood/

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh apples.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs, homemade oatmeal muffins, fresh strawberries/oranges, and fresh cucumber/snap peas.

PM snack– Blue corn chips with hummus.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-28

We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Reminder:  Wee Friends will be closed for our annual summer vacation (2 weeks) Monday, June 23rd-Friday, July 4th.  Thank you.

Our babies started their morning off by exploring two different baskets- the baby doll basket and the Peek-a-Block basket.

Miss Tina set up the sensory table for our friends to engage with. We used spoons, bowls and bugs to explore the rice/bird seed mixture. Cece joined her friends by exploring a plastic bug in the kitchen.

The girls practiced their self-help skills with shirts from our dress-up basket.

We worked together to build a Magna-Tile “house” as several friends called it. Our friends built it, knocked it down and rebuilt it!

We enjoyed a beautiful and warm morning outside. We played with dinosaurs/dragons in the sandbox, placed babies in green bucket carts to walk around with and explored sea animals at the table. Our babies played on their blanket and our friends watched them play.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh pineapple slices and cooked green beans.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprout: Cucumber

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-27

Good Afternoon!

***Wee Friends will be closed starting Monday, June 23rd through Friday, July 4th. We’ll reopen Monday, July 7th.

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PREK1 kiddos kicked off their week by identifying the state that they live in as well as talking about other states that they’ve been to! It was a great time to talk about travel as we’re coming off of a holiday weekend where we had many kids traveling to other states! Other states and cities that we identified were Santa Fe, New Mexico and Seattle, Washington as well as the state of Michigan!

During group, we read an excerpt from ‘Here and There’ which talks about how people live their lives differently all around the world. Today, we read about how children get to school depending on where they live. In Japan, children as young as six years old travel by train to school…all by themselves! Our kiddos had a hard time imagining that! We brought out the world map to identify countries that we learned about in the book such as Japan, the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Zambia!

Social Studies: K.3.2 Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand differences between a map and a globe.

Older friends began looking at maps as a way to find places this morning, so we created a project around the ideas they are learning about.  Older kids hid a treasure somewhere in the classroom.  They were challenged to draw a map to the hiding place and have a friends follow the map to find it. While drawing the maps, we thought about places and objects in the classroom we could include in the map to help the reader find the treasure.  Many friends included large classroom landmarks like the kitchen island or the round table.  Others included less obvious features that they noticed like fire extinguishers. Older friends were encouraged to give younger friends a turn to follow their map with a little help along the way .

We worked on planting outside in the garden today.  We added tomato plants and pepper plants to the garden.  Older friends helped plant while younger friends watered.

PREK2:  Older kids created maps this morning for younger friends to follow to hidden treasure.  At group today, we imagined where we, as the younger friends, might have hidden the treasure. 

Breakfast– Kix and fresh pears.

Lunch– Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fresh pears/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/carrot.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-27

Happy Friday!

This morning we were busy stacking the BounceBlocks to stand up on at the Habi-trail.

We then listened to Miss Tina read books to us from the reading step shelves.

We then headed into the kitchen with Miss Bekah to engage in the light table with the translucent beads and plastic eggs.  We were busy scooping up the beads and pouring them back together.  We also scooped it up in our hands to feel the texture and watch the beads run through our fingers. Several friends also worked at connecting their plastic egg halves to make the egg.

Our friends enjoyed playing together in various outdoor areas: the sandbox, the housekeeping area and the circle area. Cece enjoyed the fresh air and sun with us too.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas.

Lunch:  Hummus on multi-gran wheat bread, fresh honeydew melon and fresh carrot chips.

Afternoon Snack:  Goldfish crackers and mozzarella cheese stick.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-23

Happy Friday!

Older friends enjoyed an adventurous day at the farm!  We spent some time with the animals, then took a long hike through the woods, field and wetland.  We enjoyed exploring a secret pond in the woods where we got to wade into the shallow water with our rubber boots.  The kids loved the challenge of balancing on logs and walking through wild terrain!  They enjoyed it so much that on the way back they chose to walk in the jungle of plants along side the path, rather than the path.  It’s extremely beneficial for kids to tackle these kinds of challenges with their bodies and minds.  It builds strength, confidence, perseverance and a healthy sense of adventure!

Several friends pitched in today as we made three different batches of playdough! I had several helpers who measured and added the ingredients into our pot. Once the ingredients had all been added, they helped mix the dough. We chose three colors: teal, yellow, and purple!

Enjoy a few more pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and banana.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh honeydew melon/mango/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Pretzels, string cheese, and fresh honeydew melon.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely holiday weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-23

Good Afternoon!

Throughout the week, our PREK1 group has been talking about calendars and all that calendars entail and one of the ways that we constantly insert calendar words into our day such as days of the week is through the food that we serve at school. We inevitably hear the question, “What’s for lunch today?”, within the first five minutes of our day! Majority of our kids know that on Mondays, we have pasta or that on Thursday, we have rice. Our kids are so invested in the food that we serve, we figured it’d be a great way to authentically connect food to the days of the week.

This morning our older kids worked on a “Lunch Days of the Week Menu”.  Everyone who was interested and able made a menu of our school lunches for each day of the week. They used their kid-spelling to write each day of the week and what food was offered on that day.  Younger kids worked in pairs with older kids.  This way, the older kids could help show younger ones how to sound out and write letters.  This is also a great way for older kids to solidify what they have learned.

Everyone who made a menu helped set up the round table for a pretend lunch.  The kids set out cups, plates, and spoons at six place settings.  Younger kids “came to lunch” while older kids who worked on the project, served.  We served pasta, ham and cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, rice and PB sandwiches.  The meals were served with “peppers/cucumbers” for the wee sprouts plus “strawberries/apples”  for the fruit.  Activities like this teach kids writing, phonetic spelling, cooperation, and the opportunity for creative imaginative complex play.

Enjoy a few more pictures from our Thursday!

Breakfast– Kix and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber/snap peas.

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

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/snap peas.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-22

Good afternoon!

Our friends started their morning in the front area, building with Magna-Tiles or holding them up to their face to look through the various colors.

A friend showed interest in pegs a few days ago so we brought them out for a peg and pegboard activity. We stacked the pegs to make “tall” or “big” towers like several of our friends described. We worked on identifying the color of the pegs as we stacked them. The friends also said what pegboard shape they wanted to switch theirs with, saying “turtle,” “heart,” “duck,” “butterfly,” or “boat.”

After two rainy days, our friends were eager to head outside to enjoy the sunshine. They engaged with baby dolls, either holding them or placing them in a green bucket to push/pull around the backyard. Charlotte practiced her gross motor skills by climbing on the log house.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh banana.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with red beans, fresh blueberries/apple, cooked corn and cucumber.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Wheat Thins crackers with sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout: Carrot chips.

Have a beautiful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-22

Good Afternoon!

Today we celebrated a friends 2nd birthday.  We are so happy to celebrate with you.  Thank you for the delicious fruit and popcorn.

This morning we were busy building with the waffle blocks and working to interlock the pieces together.

We then headed into the kitchen to paint with watercolor cakes.  Miss Bekah gave us 2 brushes in our water; a thin and thicker bristle brush for us to choose from to create our watercolor masterpieces.

Then each of us took a turn swinging on the disc swing.

Cece enjoyed pushing and pulling a chair back and forth on the kitchen floor.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh blueberries.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh carrot chips, whole grain wheat flatbread and fresh strawberries.

Afternoon Snack:  Colby-Jack block cheese with popcorn, fresh blueberries, blackberries and strawberries (birthday snack)

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers

Have a wonderful evening!

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21

Good Afternoon!

We specifically talked about days of the week in PREK1 sign in today. Children signed under their favorite day of the week and shared why it’s their favorite. One of our oldest friends couldn’t decide! “My favorite days are Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday because it’s pasta day. Friday because I get sprinkle cookies. And Saturday because it’s gymnastics!”.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

This morning we engaged in some imaginative cooperative play at the round table welcome activity.  We used felt pieces to make ponds and rivers for our frogs.  Many friends chose to connect all of their ponds with felt bridges so their frogs could travel around the whole table.  There were many instances where younger kids spent time observing how older kids were engaging in complex cooperative games before engaging themselves.  Multiage environments are a wonderful place to learn the give and take of cooperative play!

In the art center several kids took advantage of some colorful new art paper.  They were inspired to make a variety of animals including dogs and butterflies.  The friends enjoyed playing with their butterflies together after they were finished.  The dropped the butterflies so they could flutter down to the ground like real butterflies.

PREK2:  During group we talked about days of the week based on what we eat for lunch that day.  We made a class list of our favorite “lunch day” of the week.  Some kids felt so passionately about their lunch that they struggled to chose just one favorite. The majority picked Monday as their favorite day based on their love of our pasta!

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh grapes, and fresh cucumber/green beans/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/green bean.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21