WWF, Fun and falling leaves! 10-11-11

What better way to start the day than with our “Hello Song.” Miss Paulina did some beautiful music for us. Some of the children also played our drums the rhythm of the music, while others did some dancing.

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Almost all of our new friends have the words and motions “down pat” to our Donut Shop Game, and Sloane is usually the first one in the circle starting us out with the motions. Eleanor stepped right up today, and was an eager participant. We then read a new book about fall.

Some of us played in our tub of leaves, while others spent time making some beautiful glue and glitter collages accompanied by some colorful fall leaves we brought in from outside.

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Our new silky square of fabric has come in handy for a sensory activity for our babies, and the older children seem to use it for us to make forts and houses. Our new baby dolls have also been getting much use, as our little girls have been taking wonderful care of them. Marta, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elizabeth and Sloane have been working hard on feeding them, swinging them, and clothing them.

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It was a beautiful morning outside. Marta especially, has become a skilled peddler on our tricycles. Elizabeth is getting close, and our grocery carts and Blue Dogs seem to still be popular with the children.

For breakfast this morning, toast and fresh fruit was served. For lunch the children had delicious chicken salad with apples, whole wheat bread, shredded carrots, and bananas.

We were glad to welcome Olivia back today after she spent a few days teaching her little brother the “ropes!” We look forward to him being a part of our WWF family in January.

May your day be filled with the beauty and splendid color of the day!

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Happy Fall!

New for WWF! Electronic Portfolio Implementation

As a classroom, we are always trying to find the balance between communicating valuable information and the time it takes to do the communicating.  We added the daily blog in early spring, which we feel gives parents a clear picture of our daily classroom activities.  We have had such wonderful feedback about the blog, so this is something we will continue.

We WILL continue to have daily sheets in the younger classroom, but the focus of your daily sheet will be to simply communicate pertinent information like nap times, diaper changes (for children under 15 mo or so)  & potty concerns/notes for the older ones, and meal comments.  Please continue to look to the blog for the daily menu as it is too time consuming to write the menu on individual sheets. 

The process of completing daily sheets for every child has always been a labor intensive effort, especially when we are trying to add in notes about development and classroom activities.    Now that we have the blog to communicate classroom activities, we will no longer use the daily sheets for that purpose. 

However, the exciting news is that we have started Electronic Portfolios (EP) for every child in the younger classroom.  Our goal is one electronic entry (photo of child/child’s artwork/child’s work, plus an anecdote/or developmental milestone/or work description) for each child every week.  We are starting with the goal of emailing this entry to parents once a week.  

Your electronic portfolio will be emailed in a pdf format.  Please remember that these EP’s are often done on a laptop with efficiency in mind.  So please view these weekly emails as your child’s “rough draft” and before you recieve your final pdf, we will go through and clean up any typos. 

We have been  successfully doing the EP’s in the older classroom since early summer.  Late this summer we started work on the younger classroom, so your first email may contain a few entries from as early as July or August.  The WWF teachers feel like they have the process mastered and found the time to make this happen in a predictable way so we are officially cutting the ribbon and sending them out:)

Enjoy! 

Tami

WF Daily Explorations Monday 10/10

Gymnastics Monday!

Today Wee Friends worked with Miss Jennifer on the Rings and the Cartwheel mat (mini and full cartwheels). They practiced a skin the cat flip, lunges and h

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andstands against the wall.

Back in the classroom we plunged into Beauty and the Beast. We finished adding definitions to our New Words to Learn Message Board.

 A word in the book that seems to be of IMG 0158particular interest is hideous. We’ve talked about the definition within the context of Beauty and the Beast and also discussed that it is the opposite of pretty.

 Our older friends created art with sparkly nail polish. We made it VERY CLEAR that this was a special art activity and they SHOULDN’T use Mom’s nail polish as paint! 🙂 Laurie takes full responsibility!!

  For our younger friends, we emptied several nail polish bottles and added water color.

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We spent more time reading the story and studying the illustrations. The two scenes of greatest interest were 1) when Belle uses the mirror to discover her Father in the castle and 2) the Silly Girls who love Gaston. With a few new props and costumes, we acted these scenes out. Jane, Nate and Alma used words (in character) to tell the story. When Jane (as Belle) asked Nate (as Beast) to let her father go, he replied “no!” We discussed that Belle is a book lover.

IMG 0176The Silly Girls giggled (and sang an original/in the works composition!) when Gaston (Simon) walked by them.

 Outside, we moved the sand rakes to the WeeWee side of the yard and raked and played in the leaves!

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As sisters, Jane and Macy made marigold cake!

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 Our Buddy System for lunch is going really well. At this point, each childIMG 0209 knows who their lunch buddy is and what number (marked on the floor/wall) they stand near to take turns washing hands. Today, we took it a step further and marked (with washable marker!) their number on their hand. To this Kai replied “You can’t write on hands! You don’t do that in the world!” Arleigh, too, was concerned and expressed “ummm—we only write on paper!” We explained the purpose and then showed them it would wash right off as they washed their hands for lunch. All was well.IMG 0204

 For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, corn and bananas.

We hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

 

WWF, 10-10

Leaves are falling all around us, including inside WWF! This morning we listened to a story on falling leaves, and used our new felt leaves Miss Paulina was kind enough to make for us. After story time we sang our fall leaf song. The words are posted on our board, so feel free to learn the words and sing it at home with your child.

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The children collected some leaves from outside, and we dipped them in paint and made a beautiful fall collage. We also cut up some apples to dip in the paint. The children really enjoyed this.

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We are now the proud recipients of a three seat stroller that Miss Tami got for us. We tried it out this morning, and were lucky enough to take everyone with us. The children listened to the crunchy sound of leaves as we walked through them. They also were able to feel them, and crumble them in their hands.

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Have a wonderful day!

WF Daily Explorations, “Our Orchard Trip” 10.7.11

“The Earth is good to me, the earth is good to me,  for giving us the sun and the rain and the appleseed…”

Our field trip to Springhope Farms in Galien Michigan was better that we could have even hoped!  Our car trip over and back was smooth and uneventful.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  And the children, while excited, were self controlled and purposeful during every aspect of our trip.  And….we have apples….lots of apples! 

We started our trip with a hay ride to the orchard.  We sang our “Earth is Good to Me” song as we rode along in the wagon.  Nate and Stephen sat in the front and were mesmerized by the large tractor wheels. 

Every child received a bag for picking from whatever tree they chose.  We were picking from Jonagold and Melrose apple trees.  The owner, Bob, was helpful and spent time with the children talking to them about the tree, helping them pick, and answering questions.  All of the trees were laden with delicious, beautiful ripe apples all within the children’s reach. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

When we returned to the picnic area, we stopped for a small snack of dried apples (Thanks Alexandra, Simon’s mom!) and wheat crackers.  Bob brought out some of the most delicious apple cider I have ever had for all of the children as a nice surprise for our group.

 

The children then enjoyed the wide open space of the picnic area.  They played Red Light, Green Light (led by Alexandra) and the Monster Chasing game (led by Allison, Addi’s mom). 

 

 

 

 

 

WF purchased one apple for each member of every child’s family.  So don’t forget to take their bags home tonight. 

It was great company and a great experience.  I can’t thank Springhope Farms (and Bob) enough for sharing this day with us!

Have a great weekend! 

WWF, When the cats away, the mice will play! 9-7-11

Happy Friday to all! We truly had a wonderful week here at WWF. Our new friend, Jada, had a great first week here, and we are so grateful to have her with us. Her bright smile and bubbly personality are a welcome addition to the WWF Family!

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This morning, the Wee Friends ventured off to the apple orchard. We took advantage of it, and some of our bigger WWF visited next door and played in their “Hopscotch Room.” What fun! Climbing and jumping, was a lot of fun. The car and truck room was also great fun, as the children played with them both, racing them down the ramps. “One, two, three, go,” counting and doing math can be fun even while playing with cars.

The children also enjoyed a new book and CD this morning, “Muncha, Muncha, Muncha.” They really enjoyed it. From there, it was on to the kitchen to put our fine motor skills to the test with our markers. We have some real Picasso’s in the group. Marta and Elizabeth have really blossomed in their fine motor development. They are great about being able to draw circles, usually a sign of early readers.

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Sloane, Jada, and Ellie enjoyed our new pie set and fall foliage in our dramatic play area. They also played with their dolls, feeding, clothing and diapering them.

Outside exploration time was filled with bikes, push carts, and of course, our Blue Dogs.

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Our breakfast menu this morning was cereal and fresh pears. Lunch consisted of a delicious egg casserole, the last of our garden tomatoes, and apple sauce.

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This afternoon we will take full advantage of yet another beautiful fall day! Enjoy the weekend!

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WF Daily Explorations Thursday 10/6

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Each day at Wee Friends there are countless opportunities to explore math concepts-from the Magna-Tiles to the Trios; from Counting Songs to building blocks that friends jump off in Hopscotch. We count boo-boos and study shapes. We measure during science experiments and sort objects according to color/size and other attributes.

This week, it seems a Math Club has started to evolve! Each morning, Kai spends time on kindergarten level math. A few friends have been watching/listening as this concentrated math time has unfolded. Almost daily, Kai, Annie, Jane and Simon have expressed “It’s time to do math now!”

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This week Kai has worked on number recognition, 1-10. Annie is incorporating letters in her work (particularly A and H), writing the same letters multiple times. Jane continues to cultivate our Fairy Tale study in her math work (2 shoes, one princess..). Simon is into robots and works with different shapes (and explanations!) to create them. The Math Club also continues to enjoy the Apple Tree Counting Game.

 

 

IMG 0001 We started our apple dolls today! First we mixed some lemonade to soak the apples in.

 

 

 

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IMG 0008We peeled the skin off and each Wee Friend used the end of a paint brush to dig out eyes, nose and mouth. We finished this part of the process by soaking the apple in the lemonade. Next, we’ll start the drying process.

 

 

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We’ve officially finished Snow White and have begun studying Beauty and the Beast. Friends are starting to cast themselves and discuss scenes they find interesting. Today we created a Message Board exploring new words to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IMG 0041For lunch we served peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat buns, mixed veggies and apples/bananas.

 

Have a great day!

WWF, Recording great memories

We started our morning with some guitar and beautiful songs. From there, Miss Paulina brought out her recorder. All of the children sat so nicely and listened,while others shaked their maracas. Marta used her imagination and stacked some pegs to make a recorder of her own. What a brilliant idea! She then continued to play her pegs like a recorder as well! Sloane and Chloe joined in by playing the xylophone.

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Elizabeth enjoyed being a mom once again in our dramatic play area, diapering her baby doll and getting her prepared for the day. Ozzie enjoyed some time playing with trucks, while Ellie and Jada joined in on the peg play, stacking them, counting them, and discussing with them the concepts of taller and shorter, and learning our colors as well.

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Sloane, Elizabeth, Olivia and Marta enjoyed some dump and fill while scooping up the pebbles in our log cabin house outside. Ozzie enjoyed riding his Blue Dog down the hill, and has mastered the concept of go and stop as well.

Chloe and Sloane spent some time coming down the slides at the same time. Sloane is counting aloud with “One, two, three, go” prior to heading to the bottom.

Everyone joined in for some painting fun on our outside art easel. The children painted some beautiful pictures, then we taped fall leaves on them to add to their creations.

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PeeKay and Clara also enjoyed the beauty of the fall day, observing not only the beautiful colors of the trees, but watching their friends, as well.

For breakfast this morning we had scrambled eggs with cheese, whole wheat toast, and bananas. Our mid-morning outside snack was rice cakes. Sloane and Olivia sat themselves on the our little bench, enjoyed their snack, and soon, the whole group joined in. Our lunch was ham sandwiches on whole wheat buns, corn, and raisins. We sure had some hearty eaters today.

May the beauty and splendor of this fall day fill your heart with sunshine!

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