Happy Monday! Today we had a few “new” things! First, our new friend Elliott started Wee Friends. He is very sweet and seemed to enjoy all of his new experiences!

Second, we now have a new holes that I made in the walls this weekend. The new opening allows us to have better visibility over the front rooms. A few more coats of paint and we’ll be all set!

This morning was a blue bus morning. The kids spent a lot of time working on balance skills on the balance beam. The reported highlight of this was working on scales (arms out while balancing on one leg) and hopping like a bunny.

Inside, we had lots of story times and the art room was full of eager artists! They drew pictures with markers, used tempera paint at the easel, and everyone was excited to further explore using more corn syrup paint. Miss Melinda discovered this was the favorite paint choice last week in our paint experiments. Today the kids had several colors and created shiny (and sticky!) pictures. Literally, they are good enough to eat.

Also, popular (and new) were the silky capes that reinforces why Tami likes Halloween so much…the clearance sale of costumes after the holiday!

Outside, we enjoyed mild temperatures and the kids spent time riding bicycles, climbing on the climber and in the sandbox. The slide was extremely popular with large groups of children negotiating who would go together holding hands down the slide.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR DONATIONS OF…lots of old, smaller sized girl underwear and size 2 & 3 easy to pull up and down pants. We have a gaggle of potty training girls at WeeWee and find ourselves short of “extras”. We like all those ugly & stained items that you wouldn’t want to pass down to anyone else!

For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with marinara, lima beans/corn, and fresh apple slices.

Enjoy your day!

About two weeks ago, we re-introduced the sign in sheet to our Wee Friends. Each morning, each friend traces the letters of their name. Kindergartener Kai is now working on his last name as well.

In preparation for our November 17th 4:30pm Fall Concert, Wee Friends rehearsed four songs: “Flush and Wash”, Wee Friends Anthems #1 and #2 and “The Johnny Appleseed Song.” Mark your calendars and don’t miss it!!

We played the Jumping Beans Game in which a friend pulled out a bean shaped piece of felt with either a dot, a number or a letter on it. If they chose a dotted bean, we sang a song. If it was a lettered bean, we discovered which friend’s name started with that letter. If it was a number on the bean, we performed an action that many times.

We started talking about Thanksgiving today. We asked the children “What Do You Know About Thanksgiving?” We read Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland. We discussed the things we are thankful for and created art representing these ideas. We hung the art on our reading area tree.

Some friends chose to trace their fingers and turn them into turkeys by gluing multi-colored feathers on them.

Our new friend Elliott spent part of the morning with us, playing in the truck room with Stephen, Nate and Simon. We will welcome him full time on Monday!

For lunch we served melted cheese on whole wheat tortillas, salad and grapes.

Have a restful weekend!

This morning Melinda helped friends create three different types of paint.

First, friends took turns mixing flour, water and green/blue food dye. Next, they added magenta watercolor to Karo syrup. Lastly, they mixed corn starch, water and orange tempera paint.

They studied the recipe and ingredients. They explored the textures of the corn starch and syrup. They measured dry and wet ingredients and worked hard to blend them by vigorously stirring.

Afterwards, they used the paint to create a collage. As they painted, a few friends wrote their names or the first letter of their name.

Later in the morning we created a message board that asked the question “Which paint was your favorite?” Each friend put a sticker with his/her name under the column representing their favorite paint.

Today for lunch we served toasted ham and cheese on whole wheat muffins, peas and banana/pineapple fruit salad.

Have a great day.

” At play, children experiment with what they encounter in their daily lives: fears, pleasurable moments, routines, etc. They put their truth into play. And we adults can understand in these moments the unspoken words of our children, by just observing them, without judgment . In free play, when there is no adult agenda, children follow their inner creativity. I call play the best possibility for children to be themselves.” -Angelique Felix (www.angeliquefelix.com) Article courtesy of WF Teacher Paulina Hayden-THANK YOU Paulina!

For lunch today we served whole wheat cous cous with red beans, salad and pears.

Have a great day.

Today the swimmers practiced jumping off the block, backstroke, front crawl, front float/back float and some friends touched the bottom. The lesson ended with water play time.

While the large group of swimmers were at the Y, a few friends stayed at Wee Friends reading books, singing “The Leaves Are Falling One by One”, working on a collage, easel art, practicing name writing, counting roses and building structures with the Magna-Tiles.

Yesterday we had our Annual Halloween Parade. As we paraded, we sang both the WF Anthems, “The Johnny Appleseed Song” and “Flush and Wash”.

For lunch we served melted cheese on whole wheat tortillas, roasted butternut squash and apples.

Have a great day!