This morning was all about books! Our friends chose a book to read at the brown chairs or on a teacher’s lap.
We then made our way to the kitchen for some loose parts play with different wooden blocks/shapes and miniature farm animals. While our friends waited for their turn in the kitchen, they engaged with the object permanence boxes.
Our friends played in the sandbox with scoops and jars, with trucks in the rock area, mulch in the kitchen, and logs of different sizes in the log area.
Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with bananas.
Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh mandarin oranges, and corn.
Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Wheat Thins crackers with peanut butter.
In PREK1 group, we read ‘Caps For Sale’. The peddler sold various caps for 50 cents. After we read the story, we looked at the four main coins, their names, and values. We talked about various ways to make 50 cents if we wanted to buy a cap from the peddler. First, we talked about the quarter and came to the conclusion that we would need two quarters to buy a cap. After, we went to dimes, nickels, and pennies to figure out how many of each we would need.
What a beautiful day it was on the farm! Our big kid group spent the morning collecting samples of pond ecology! We used nets to dip into the pond to see what we pulled up. We emptied our catch into a white tray to observe. We caught fresh water shrimp, pond beetles, a dragon fly nymph and a lot of sea weed. We filled a jar with our pond catch to bring back to the classroom. Though, as our friends pointed out, we did not catch any fish, we did catch an array of plants and animals representative of the pond ecosystem!
We took a nature walk down a new path to the back of the farm where we found a big fallen tree. We took turns walking across the log and practicing balance. We all enjoyed finding walking sticks for the trip back!
Back at Wee Friends, children have been interested in a mixture of challenging and new activities such as using scissors and starting to write letters. Arthur and a few other three year old’s have showed a heightened interest in scissors. We have talked about making safe choices with them and what we use scissors for. Paige and Arthur both worked on writing letters and practicing letter formation using stencils.
Breakfast: Chex cereal with fresh strawberries.
Lunch: Brown rice with shredded pork, fresh oranges/strawberries/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/pepper.
This morning the older friends showed interest in the alphabet letters on the wall. Miss Tina helped them to identify the letters. They also worked on their tracing skills on the tracing boards and bead wall maze.
Some of us then headed into the kitchen to work on some puzzles. Since Eliza was interested in the alphabet letters on the wall, she worked at matching the letters in her puzzle board. The younger friends worked at exploring with puzzles and working to fit their puzzle piece in its place in the puzzle board.
We also engaged in some music and movement activities. Eliza requested the See The Bunnies Sleeping song, so we acted out that song, Going on a Bear Hunt with the stuffed bears and animals, as well as a song with different movements; hopping, slow motion like a robot, are a few examples of how we moved our bodies.
We then headed outside to climb up the rock path, mix the water and sand together from the rain to make mud, push the bikes down the hill, draw with chalk on the chalkboard and use our imaginative play skills while engaged with the sea animals at the table.
Breakfast: Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.
Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh strawberries, sweet potatoes and whole grain wheat English muffins with buttery spread.
Afternoon Snack: White corn tortilla chips and guacamole.
For PREK1 sign in, we focused on two terms: want and need. Each member chose a notecard from the bottom of the sign in board where they read the card and determined if their word was a want or a need. For example, Adrian chose the word air and quickly shared, “That’s a need! We need air to breathe!”
Later on in PREK1 group, we read, ‘Froggy’s Lemonade Stand’ which allowed us to chat about how we make money and how we spend money. In the story, Froggy decided to make money by starting a lemonade stand. We pointed out though that he would need money to buy the ingredients for the lemonade! Throughout the story, Froggy ran into some speedbumps and ended up making no money. It was a great, authentic conversation that we had surrounding money and how/why we spend it.
This morning we set up a table of shops to attract some “small” business owners. The kids have been talking about money in group so we set up a way for them to “play” with that idea. They chose to use cash, card, coins or barter between their own shop and the other shops at the table. As the game progressed the shop owners collected more and more costumers from around the classroom to buy their wares. They were pretty business savvy in their advertising campaign and their barter/trade efforts with other shops. The class played this game all morning!
At PREK2 group today we decided what we would buy with 100 dollars. We had some well thought out ideas! Also, Paige wrote her name for the first time this week! Great work Paige!
In PREK2, they read ‘Wemberly Worried’ and afterwards, they got to envision having $100! The question was posed to them: “What would you buy with $100?”. Answers ranged from a fire truck to a big bunny to a bike!
Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh cantaloupe.
Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla, fresh cantaloupe/strawberries, and fresh cucumber/pepper.
This morning we completed our science experiment as we made our last journal entry documenting out observations of our plant’s growth. We drew conclusions about what we had observed over the last couple of weeks. We took all of our plants outside and planted them in pots in hopes of transplanting them into the garden when they are ready.
We all helped to transplant our window sprouted plants. We also planted peas and flowers in the garden and planted some tomato seeds to start in pots.
In PREK2 group today we read the story ‘Don’t Need Friends’. We have been learning about coins this week so after the story we remembered the names of the coins we are learning and put our name next to our favorite. Our journals featured “A Ball”, “Mommy”, “A Doggie Kitty Bunny”, “A Roller Peller”, “Mommy in the Water Fountain” and “A Circus Parade”.
Breakfast: Kix cereal with fresh strawberries.
Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and carrots/cucumber.
PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. .
Wee Sprouts: Fresh bell peppers and carrot slices.
This morning, our friends pretended to feed their baby dolls, dressed up with different clothing items and accessories, stacked or walked on the BounceBlocks, and explored the Little People.
We then went into the kitchen for a sensory activity with some colorful Oobleck ‘slime.’ Our friends dipped their hands into the tray of Oobleck. Friends described how it felt as it ran between their fingers.
We enjoyed some outside time before the rain this afternoon. Our friends poured sand into a funnel, jar, or truck. They also used their imaginative skills in the housekeeping area.
Breakfast: Whole grain Puffins/ Corn Chex cereal with fresh cantaloupe.
Lunch: Whole grain wheat tortillas with peanut butter, 1/2 mozzarella cheese stick, fresh strawberries, and peas.
Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese and fresh mandarin oranges.
This week, we’ll be diving into money and how/why we use it! PREK1 friends came to sign in this morning. They shared what their family has spent money on lately. Answers ranged from gas to groceries to food.
In PREK1 group, we read a few pages from the book ‘Here and There’ that focused on grocery stores and what they look like in different countries. We all figured out that we take our car to the go to the grocery store but that’s not the case for everyone!
Afterwards, we completed six word problems focused around money! Throughout the week, we’ll work with money and the values on coins/dollar bills.
Social Studies: K.4.1 Explain that people work to earn money to buy the things they want. Introduce money names and values.
Hannah came over to explore a coin sorting activity this morning. After we talked about all the coins I wondered if she would enjoy teaching someone else what she had learned. She said she would like to do that, so she made a chart labeling the name, value, size and/or color of the coins. Hannah told several friends about how to identify coins. There were a couple of the youngest friends who were a little overwhelmed with the wealth of information they had been given — so we talked about strategies Hannah could use if her student was struggling. She did a great job picking one coin to show the youngest friends and they were excited to succeed at finding it.
Nesta came over a little later and was also interested in making a coin chart to teach younger kids. She helped the younger friends find coins based on size and color. This helped them sort. Amelia was a little confused at first but once Nesta told her to look for the smallest or the brown colored coin she found them right away. It was a valuable learning experience for the younger kids but even more for the older kids who learned teaching skills and patience as well as new information.
It was the perfect morning to explore the art table outside. While we were outside, it was full with children coming and going, drawing pictures using a mixture of crayons and markers. Children are in a great routine of putting their drawing up on the clothesline with their name on it.
A few friends gathered in the mud kitchen where they decided to make dinner together! They gathered a ton of nature (i.e. leaves they found on the ground, mulch, grass, and weeds) and used it as their food.
Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffin with butter and banana.
Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded chicken and fresh peppers, fresh cantaloupe/yellow watermelon, and fresh cucumber/pepper.
This morning we engaged with our new BounceBlocks that we found we could use in a variety of ways. We walked on them to work on our balancing and coordination skills, we built with them by stacking them together and we also found they fit perfectly on our heads to wear as a hat.
We then explored with the science sensory tubes, shaking them and turning them upside down to watch the liquid and objects move inside.
Many of us then went into the housekeeping area to use our imaginative skills and self help skills as we engaged with the fabric foods and dishes and worked at putting on dress up clothes and shoes.
We then headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather. We engaged with trucks, rode the teeter totters, played with the baby dolls; carrying them or pulling them in the carts, drawing with markers and playing with the sea animals at the table.
Breakfast: Whole grain wheat bread with buttery spread and cinnamon/sugar mixture, fresh oranges.
Lunch: Whole grain wheat penne pasta with shredded turkey, fresh golden watermelon, and cucumbers.
Afternoon Snack: Whole milk yogurt with fresh cantaloupe.
Happy Friday! Remember to grab Mothers Day gifts at Pick-up. They are on the work bench in Science area.
Today was a work day in the garden! We cooperated to pull out as many weeds as we could and pile them into the yard waste bin. Some enthusiastic workers used rakes to pull all of the sticks and leaves out of the beds as well! What a helpful crew!
Inside we played restaurant as we have been talking about community jobs in PREK1. Paige made a special restaurant sign. We had several friends making, selling or pretending to consume drinks. They said they were making Green tea, lemonade, coffee and grape juice. Ryan was an excellent cashier and sorted all of the coins. He loved it so much he kept asking for more money! Excellent business sense:)
Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and yellow watermelon.
Lunch: Turkey on Whole wheat bread with fresh blood oranges, bananas, bell peppers and cucumbers
— so we talked about strategies Hannah could use if her student was struggling. She did a great job picking one coin to show the youngest friends and they were excited to succeed at finding it.
