In the WF Classroom, the children stayed busy before the farm trip doing math lessons and drawing at the art table.  Miss Laurie had some wonderful individual time with small “standby” group in the classroom while the larger group was at the farm.  Because the camera goes with the farm group, it is hard to see all the great things that can happen when the small number of children makes the group time so intimate.  A few of the things were:

 

• Miss Laurie read Pinocchio and the kids had conversations and dramatic play around this.
• They created pictures on orange paper with black paint.
• Outside, they gathered leaves from the yard and made a leaf mural on the outside art easel.  They also had a great time creating their own trees with leaves and the basketball hoops. 

Farm Day! Melinda and Tami had another fantastic day with sunshine and warm temperatures to be at the farm. 

We did the regular chores today…feeding the goats, chickens, and turkeys.  The children spent lots of time hand feeding the goats, Luna the cow and the horses some grain.  They are all gaining confidence in this very up close and personal interaction with the larger (and in the case of the goats, pushier) farm animals.

The kids spent some time harvesting the last of the green beans from Miss Charlotte’s garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had some time for some horse back riding today!

And while the kids waited, we played with Sunscreen, the kitten.  Sunscreen is remarkably loving and laid back to be passed around for a long time without ever taking a break from her purring. 

 

 

 

 

We also spent time in the praire playing with the milk weed seed pods.  They are fully ripe on many of the plants.  The milk weed seeds are soft & irresistable to touch, blow, and throw in the air. 

 

 

Then, it ws back to WF for lunch of whole wheat couscous, french green beans and mandarin oranges.

A quick reminder for tomorrow: Tami and Melinda will be taking a large group of Wee Friends to the farm in the morning! Here’s the roster: Arleigh, Alma, Addi, Umi, Kai, Owen, Ada, Annie and Jane. Please make sure your child is here by 9am at the latest, with boots or closed toe shoes/socks and a jacket to wear to the farm.

Tami is also planning a field trip to the apple orchard Friday for everyone in the WF classroom! More details to follow.

The morning was filled with lots of counting! When our swimmers left for the Y, there were a few confused WF who thought they were also scheduled to go. Melinda created a calendar and helped friends count the days until the larger group of swimmers will go to the Y.

Next was “Five Little Monkies Swinging on a Tree…” Melinda began the game in hopscotch by pretending to be the alligator hiding in the jungle gym. Monkey friends would come along and “…Snap! Then there were three…”. She played the counting game again later in the reading area.

While the swimmers were still out, we gathered the rest of the WF and went for a long walk through the neighborhood. We studied the trees and felt prickly pine needles. We picked up some tiny pine cones and examined the very tall pine tree from which they fell. We caught a train passing by and stayed to watch the cars and hear the very loud train sounds. As we passed the church on the corner of 29th and Wall St., we pointed out our lunch bell high on the church steeple. Everyday at noon , the bells ring and WF have come to regard this as their lunch bell!

For lunch we served melted turkey and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, grapes and corn

Have a great day.

Gymnastics Monday!

Our Wee Friends are loving every moment on the gymnastic bus with Miss Jennifer. This morning, while our younger friends waited for their turn, we created apple art using laminated apples and dry erase markers.

Nate and Addi waited by the door and belted it out using magnetic spheres and rods as their microphones. Stephen continues to defend his right to be a princess too!

We read The Apple Doll again and checked in to see how our apple soaking in lemon juice was doing.

Macy noticed that the apple smelled like lemonade while Simon commented on how mushy the apple had become. We’ll let it dry out now and continue to study it as it changes form.

We are turning our reading area tree into an apple tree and many friends, using a picture of an apple as a model, created their own apples with red construction paper.

 

 

After Alexandra finished creating apples, she spent a long while working with scissors.

 

 

 

 

Kai and Macy worked collaboratively attaching the leaves to our tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Princesses Alma and Umi snuck away into the Lego/Castle loft, carefully navigating each step in their long gowns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We asked the question: “Have we finished our Snow White exploration?” There was a resounding “no!”. So we studied the dwarves, assembled dwarf like costumes and paraded around the classroom singing “Heigh-Ho”. The princesses ended up back at the cottage asleep and the dwarves examined them.

 

 

 

 

Everyone gathered to receive a rose. Jane has planned the continuation of our Fairy Tale Study: next we will study Beauty and the Beast. She explained “The princess doesn’t go to sleep, but there is a very mean beast.” Our friends are still making their own connections on how the fairy tales we’ve read are similar/different. After that we will explore Cinderella.

Here’s an example of how our studies connect to our journaling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with chicken, carrot/peas and apples. Have a great day!!!