“Ah, but from where I am, among the great brains, I always know when magic is happening and am reminded to simply be delighted.” – Teacher Tom (teachertomsblog.blogspot.com)

Today’s big question was posed to the teachers: “What did you learn today?”

Lisa was inspired by the hour she spent with Kai (and Ada) identifying letters and counting and recording the numbers of like letters to the lyrics of “Hickory, Dickory, Dock”. She expressed that seeing how excited Kai was when he met success on his mission was incredible. She also made note that the confidence in which he approached this lesson inspired and encouraged her to keep challenging him.

Tami was delighted to have the opportunity to take time to observe and take pictures of our Wee Friends. She observed the close friendship that Umi and Alexandra are developing. Arleigh has stepped into a leadership role, organizing a group of friends to play “school”. She was “Mrs. Kelly” and Annie, Jane, Marta and Macy were her students. Mrs. Kelly instructed her class on how to write the letter “A”, upper case and lower case.

Tami saw Finn and Nate playing cooperatively with one another, as superheroes, over a long period of time.

When Elliott saw Finn feeding the dinosaur light table jewels, he shared the moment! That was after Tami observed him at the piano, plunking out notes and joyfully singing songs as he flipped through pages of music.

The last observation she wanted to share was the comfort Wee Friends feel snuggling up to Melinda when she reads stories.

During one of these snuggly moments, while reading to Jane, Melinda was reminded of the absolute specificity in which our friends notice and process information. Melinda expressed that, while reading Cinderella out loud, Jane asked that she be the stepmother and the Fairy Godmother. Melinda stated “I will be the stepmother, but couldn’t I be a grandma for the Fairy Godmother, since I am a grandma?” Jane said, “NO! It says GOD-MOTHER, not grandma!”.

Laurie worked with Simon and Ada at the workbench for a portion of the morning. These friends worked meticulously and patiently on the multiple step process of building planes. They verbalized what they were doing as they created. They made decisions about what size nail to use. Ada advised Stephen to be careful. They hammered and hammered and continued to hammer. They were not rushed. They positioned wings, bumpers with exactitude, renailing as needed. After the construction was complete, they painted their planes as the final step in their process. When they finished, Ada took a deep breath, put her glasses back on, and with a smile on her face, started a new creation. To sit with these two friends over this long period of concentration and creation was a gift to Laurie and a reminder to sit still, and observe and guide the children as their needs arise.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and sweet peppers. Breakfast was oatmeal and bananas. For lunch, Tami served whole grain rice with chicken, asparagus vegetable medley and fruit salad. Snack will be pretzels and cheese.

Have a terrific day!

Parent/Child Conversation starters:

• I noticed you were wearing your Superhero cape! Does your Superhero have a name?
• Which songs did you sing today? Can we sing one together?
• There are glasses at the workbench? Who uses the glasses? Why do they use them?

Have a great day!

Laurie

ps: Don’t forget to take your child’s soap boat home!

Wee Friends love to read! Our library is filled with books appropriate for all developmental stages.

Yesterday Jane and Annie shared their journals with one another, describing what they drew and what they wrote.

Lisa seized another literacy opportunity by writing out “Twinkle, Twinkle” and inviting older friends to identify certain letters. Kai circled all the “A”‘s and Jane worked on “B”‘s.

A small group of friends continued working on glitter stars that we will use as props for our Spring Concert. Today’s FAB (two-step direction) was to squeeze glue on the stick and attach the star.

We began a creative music session by gathering on the oval rug and, using dowels, tapped out rhythms in “Twinkle, Twinkle”. Friends called out names of other nursery rhymes (“Pat-A-Cake”, “Baa-Baa-Black Sheep” and “Hickory, Dickory Dock”) and we explored another FAB objective: counting syllables in each word. We offered friends different ‘shaker’ instruments and we determined which instrument sounded like a tick-tock, which sounded like mice running up the clock and which sounded like a chime. Later, when we practiced for our concert, three friends volunteered to play these instruments as we sing.

• Tick-tock: Macy on the rhythm sticks
• “Clock struck one”: Jane on the triangle
• “Mice run up/down the clock”: Ada on the hand cymbals

And then we just jammed out, as we have been doing, to WF new honorary anthem “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz. Annie organized a circle of friends who, at one point, put all their hands in the middle and danced together in a circle.

Simon and Kai worked collaboratively at the workbench for quite a while building a sailboat and flying machine, respectfully.

Stephen and Ada ended their morning work with Lisa adding (counting out loud) and taking away gingerbread men.

WEE FRIENDS SOCK COLLECTION-To achieve our Math FAB objectives for the week, we are going to invite friends (and families!) to bring in any out-of-commission socks. We will count them, match them, discover patterns and colors, and graph and record our findings (and who knows what else!). Thanks in advance!

Thanks, too, to the parents, who have contributed to our daily Wee Sprouts!

Our Wee Sprouts today are grape tomatoes and broccoli. For breakfast Lisa served Cheerios and apple slices. Lunch was whole wheat cream cheese and ham pizzas, corn and pears. For snack, we will serve yogurt and apples.

Have a terrific day!

Laurie

FAB (Framework for Academic Balance) Week of February 6

Literacy: K.1.13 Count the number of syllables in words, K.7.1 Understand and follow one and two-step directions – Math: K.1.1 Match sets of objects one to one, K.1.9 Record and organize information using objects and pictures.

Stemming from the feedback we received at last week’s curriculum meeting, we are going to start including weekly FAB objectives. These objectives, taken directly from the Indiana Academic Standards for kindergarteners, will serve as the underlying framework that we use to stay academically balanced without compromising the emergent curriculum already in place at Wee Friends. Be assured that the activities that emerge are always met with a developmentally appropriate approach to include all of our Wee Friends!

Melinda started the day by inviting friends to join her in the reading area for a read aloud of two books: Curious George and the Boat Show (thank you Elliott!) and Goat’s Book of Making and Doing Things.

Afterwards, everyone gathered at the art table to create their very own soap bar sailboats! Melinda guided friends through four steps:

• Measure and cut a straw 6″ in length
• Cut a triangular sail out of construction paper
• Tape the straw to the sail
• Place the straw sail into the bar of soap by whatever means possible!

Among the many singular directives given was Melinda’s request “Please, don’t shout out when you are ready for a bar of soap, but raise your hand so I know.” A few friends managed their impulses by covering their mouths as they raised their hands.

There were many discussions had as friends created their sailboats. The first question was “Will our sailboat float?”. We compared/contrasted a bar of soap and an empty glass and determined that, yes, the soap will float. Wee Friends explored how the soap smelled and what it felt like after it got wet. After their boats were finished, they tested, again, if it would sail. There was lots of scissor work and lots of collaboration as older friends assisted younger friends. Elliott and Jane were buddies during this activity and stayed on after the boats were completed to further explore the fabulous smelling ooey gooey soap!

Tami spent time with a few friends reading Bob Books.

We began our Spring Concert rehearsal with a warm up:

“Macy is here today, Macy is here today. Let’s all clap together, Macy is here today. Ma-cy…one, two”, exploring how many syllables (claps) are in each friend’s name.

We sang through eight nursery rhymes!

Parent/Child Dialogue Starters: (Open ended questions to inspire daily conversation with your child. *Our aim is to avoid asking questions that elicit a “yes” or “no” response)

• When you held the soap in your hand, was it slippery?
• When you saw that your boat was floating, how did it make you feel?
• When Melinda read Curious George and the Boat Show, how did you feel when George broke his friend’s boat?
• What would you do if someone broke your boat?

Today, Wee Sprouts were broccoli and carrots. For breakfast Mel served whole wheat bread with peanut butter and bananas. Lunch was homemade mac/cheese with whole wheat penne pasta, bananas and mixed veggies. Snack will be whole wheat crackers and apples.

Have a terrific day!

Laurie

Thanks to Tami and everyone who attended the curriculum meeting last night! Our dialogue was inspiring, informative and fun!

A princess tea party started the day for a few friends. To the Disney tune “Cups and Saucers”, Jane and Macy balanced cups/saucers on their heads, standing as tall and still as they could to keep them on top. Umi demonstrated a princess ballet move “like Angelina Ballerina!”

Nate donned new pirate wear and brought Pirate Pete’s Giant Adventure by Kim Kennedy to share with his friends. Finn found a long red ribbon that became a rope on board the ship.

We discussed briefly the concept of a stained glass window. After showing our friends 2 illustrations, we dove into an art project using tempera paint and wax paper to create our own translucent windows.

Umi asked for pink paint. We discussed which colors, when combined, would create pink. She mixed them together and created her color of choice.

Crazy Eights are still the rage as we end the week! Young mathematicians continued to work on number recognition and matching. Lisa also invited friends to roll a dice and identify the number they rolled. They chose that many gold coins out of the treasure chest.

Simon was also interested in working on math today. He chose three questions to ask: How many pirate ships are at WF? How many fish are at WF? How many gold coins are at WF? Using a clip board and chart, he drew a line for each item he found. He then counted the lines out loud. A teacher drew the number he counted and he traced over it.

We are watching our older friends and observing how, for the last week, they have used the workbench as a hair salon, of sorts. After a week of using the work tools, Melinda offered them our barrette/twists and brush basket. We are excited to see how this interest will unfold.

We finished our classroom work this morning with music meditation. After a year and a half, we are still enjoying “What A Wonderful World” to calm our bodies and our minds…..all in preparation for running and jumping outdoors! 🙂

Today our Wee Sprouts are broccoli and carrots. Breakfast was Cheerios and raisins. For lunch, Lisa made pulled pork quesadillas with cheddar cheese and refried beans, avocado slices and pineapple. For snack we will serve pumpkin bread and bananas.

Have a terrific day and a restful weekend.