Good afternoon!

This morning, our friends built with the BounceBlocks and created mini towers along the Habi-trail rails. They practiced their balancing skills by climbing on them to stand. Our friends also enjoyed playing in the kitchen and bringing different fruits and vegetables to the table.

We went outside to do art with watercolors. Our friends dipped their brushes in the water and then chose a color to paint with. Some of our friends identified the color they were choosing. Ben shared that he was painting an “orange bug.”

We then enjoyed some more time outside. We played with trucks under the shade in the circle area, engaged with the sand in the sandbox, and explored the sea animals at the table with our friends.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh apple slices.

Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded Colby-Jack cheese, pea/corn mixture, and fresh berry medley (blueberries and strawberries).

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout: Cucumber.

Have a beautiful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2024-05-21

Hello!

Yesterday, we talked about the days of the week in group and sign in so today, we focused on the months! Children signed in under the month that comes after May! We read ‘A Child’s Calendar’ during PREK1 group which highlights each month and what it may look like with weather or holidays. Children always acknowledge the month that their birthday is in!

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

A few of our older friends used scissors in the sensory bin to cut leaves. We’ve been interested in cutting with scissors lately at the art table so they cut leaves to use for their salad! Bowls and tongs were supplied so that salads could be created. They talked about the different sizes of leaves as well as the parts of the leaf.

Trays were made available on the circle table this morning with kinetic sand and various loose parts. White tiles, wooden circles, and small animals were placed in the middle of the lazy susan that children could use in their play. This type of open ended play allows children to use their imagination since there is no right or wrong or following of directions! For example, Nesta took her kinetic sand and built a home for her animals. She used the wooden circles for a few animals to hide in.

A few friends helped Miss Linsey plant green beans and cucumbers in our garden. We can’t wait to see the vegetables flourish this year because vegetables are our absolute favorite!

Breakfast– Kix and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread/flatbread, fresh strawberries/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper/carrot.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber/carrot.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-05-21

Good Afternoon!

To kick off our week, we dove into calendars: what’s in a calendar, why do we use it, and the intricate things that make up a calendar. For PREK1 sign in, children had to determine how many days are in a week. A few kiddos went into the science area to look at the calendar we use for group. They counted the number of days in a given week and figured out that the answer was 7!

Later on in PREK1 group, we read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Throughout the story, children helped me complete each page by saying aloud the day of the week that the caterpillar was on.

Everyday before we go journal, we complete our calendar activity which consists of the mat guard (helper for the week) crossing off the current day and saying the date aloud as a group. For example, today children said, “Today is Monday, May 29th 2024.”.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

Katherine has been creating little ephemeral works of art using natural objects when outside recently.  It seemed like everyone might enjoy expanding on the idea of nature based artwork with found objects if we added some paper and glue.  Quite a few friends worked on making artwork with objects they could find.  The kids found a wide range of materials from sticks, to leaves to seeds and flowers.  Nesta had an interesting idea to use a clover leaf to make a heart and surround the heart with tiny butter cups!

Everyone enjoyed some water play in the shade during the heat of the day!  As the kids explored all of the outdoor activities I was reminded of something I read about early childhood and sensory over the weekend,  “When children explore through thier senses, their brains create new connections as well as strengthen existing ones”.  It is especially rewarding to provide these experiences for children knowing what is going on inside their developing brains.

In PREK2 we read “All The World” We talked about what we saw in the book that reminded us of things we can do in the summer.  We talked about the “hot” summer months, June, July and August.  We talked about events or activities that happen during those months and then picked what we thought would be our favorite summer month.

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with butter and fresh clementines.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with black beans/shredded cheese, fresh cantaloupe/pears, and fresh carrots/snap peas/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas/cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-05-20

Reminder:  Wee Friends will be closed next Monday, May 27th for Memorial Day.  Thank you.

Good Afternoon!

This morning we engaged in our bird seed/rice mixture sensory table in the kitchen.  The friends were using spoons and cups to scoop up the mixture and pour it back into the table or into a bowl.  There are also some plastic salamanders in the mixture that they enjoyed hiding and then finding.

We then went on a bear hunt with our stuffed animal bears while listening to the song.

Today was our first water play outside for the season.  We engaged with water at the table with the sea animals and in the rock area under the tree.  We had a great time!

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with peanut butter and fresh mandarin oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with red beans,  fresh cucumbers and pears.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt with fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-05-20

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

This morning we engaged with our drums.  We used our hands to make beats as we all played together.

We then headed into the kitchen with Miss Bekah to paint with Puffy Paint.  Puffy paint is a mixture of shaving cream, glue and liquid water color paint.  The friends enjoyed using a paint brush to dab or spread the mixture onto their papers.  Once it is dry, it will be a puffy painting.

During outside play, we engaged in the sandbox with our hands; feeling the texture between them as we rubbed our hands together and dug with scoops and containers.  Eliza and several other friends observed worms they found in the dirt around the rock circle by the little house.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Avocado chicken, whole grain wheat bread, butternut squash and pineapple.

Afternoon Snack: Goldfish crackers with Colby-Monterey Jack block cheese slices and banana.

Wee Sprout: Red bell peppers.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-05-17

Happy Friday!

**Wee Friends will be closed on Monday, May 27th for Memorial Day.

Enjoy some pictures from today!

In PREK2, we read ‘Will You Be My Friend’, which follows several animals helping out their friends! Afterwards, we got to share with the group which of the animals from the story was their favorite. Bunny and Bird were the clear favorites!

Breakfast- Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh orange slices.

Lunch- Homemade chicken avocado on whole wheat flatbread, fresh pineapple/oranges, and fresh red bell pepper/cucumbers/carrots.

PM Snack- Block cheddar cheese with goldfish.

Wee Sprout- Fresh red bell pepper/cucumbers/carrots.

Have a great weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-05-17

Good afternoon!

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.

Wee Sprout: Cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2024-05-16

Good Afternoon!

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.

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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.

PM Snack: Trail mix: raisins, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and pepita seeds.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh bell peppers and cucumbers.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teacher

Link to Photos:2024-05-16

Good Afternoon!

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.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-05-15

Good Afternoon!

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.

PM snack– Hummus and corn chips.

Wee Sprout– Fresh red pepper/cucumber.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-05-15