Good Afternoon.

Today we had a fun activity that enables us to dabble in a few different learning experiences all in one activity. What’s better than that?!?!

We had ice cubes (cold or warm/sensory) that were the color blue (color recognition) and we “painted” with them on our paper. We noticed how the blue came off of the ice cube onto our paper.(Science incorporation.)  Although we were all more interested in eating the ice cubes rather than painting with them, we all had a great time with this fun activity. Nesta told her friends, “It’s tasty!”

We then  had a great time engaging in some new big blocks we borrowed from the preschool classroom.

We were able to work on climbing up onto the blocks, balancing on the blocks while standing or walking across them and crawling on the blocks as well. This was a super fun gross motor activity that I would say all friends enjoyed.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and apples.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat  English muffins with butter, peas and pears.

Snack: Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh green beans.

Have a wonderful evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulkOhivSs9s9zBRoaVcg?e=2VSbae

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with fresh strawberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh snap peas/tomatoes.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas/cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/16

Good Afternoon!

One of our families shared this wonderful opportunity and shared the address of the person who sets up walls or gratitude around area medical centers and hospitals. So, if you are looking for a way to have your kids express gratitude over break, you could have them make thank you notes/drawings for our local healthcare workers and send them to this address:

Beacon Health Foundation

Attn: Jessica

3245 Health Drive

Granger, IN 46530

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For our kindergarten sign in, each friend picked two words from a pile of papers. They wrote each word on their sign in. Once the two words were written, they had to come up with two rhyming words for each word that they wrote.

Several children noticed the trend of letters and how the last few letters of each rhyming word were the same!

Yesterday afternoon, Miss Annastecia took several items from our environment and placed them in blue water and froze them! Today, we placed the blue ice into red bins. Friends were instructed to get instruments that would be able to break the ice apart! What a simply but extremely engaging activity!

Maggie and James headed to the art easel together where they used green, white, and red paint to cover their papers (and a few body parts!)—at this age, paint is really a sensory experience!

“The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.”

-Neil Gaiman

Breakfast- Oatmeal squares and fresh apples.

Lunch- Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, fresh apples/oranges, cheddar cheese slices, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack- Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and string cheese.

Wee Sprout- Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/15

Good morning!

One of the most beneficial parts of our kindergarten program is daily journaling. This time is meant to be a wide open, free for all where children can journal about whatever is on their mind. Once they are done drawing, they write their name and depending on their readiness, their description gets written. First, children will work with a teacher to write the words, focusing on letter identification. Once children move into letter sounds, they’ll start to ‘kid spell’ which focuses on the sounds that children hear. For example, ‘apple’ may be written as ‘apl’ because those are the sounds that are heard. The journey that children take from the beginning of the school year to the end is absolutely amazing!

Our fall journal books are coming to an end and after we get back from winter break, we’ll start a new journal binder!

A few older friends spent their morning working with Legos. They talked throughout the entire process, chatting about what they wanted to build and how they wanted their creations to look.

The art table was busy with younger friends, drawing pictures for one another and members of their family.

Two of our two year old’s were using wooden blocks as phones! They placed the wooden block up to their ears, talking to one another about their plans for the day.

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh apples, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola and fresh oranges.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/14

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend.  

Please Note: WWF will be CLOSED December 21st through January 1st 2021, we will resume on January 4th, 2021.

We will also have a pajama day on Friday December 18th.

Our little friend Paige is working hard on strengthening her core muscles. She can sit nicely with some assistance of the boppie pillow, but at times she will get herself positioned where she has to work on getting herself back up to the sitting position.  Paige is doing wonderful.

Adrian lined many trains up today to make a long line and he chugged them across the “train tracks.”

Breakfast: Whole wheat butter toast with cinnamon and oranges.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with marinara and shredded mozzarella cheese, carrots and pears.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots

Have a nice night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulkOcdsQTquJcBtY3GIA?e=LWb3bn

Happy Friday!

I sat down to do my weekly ‘read through Teacher Tom’s blog’ session and stubbled upon this blog that I posted down below.

“As the momentum began to die, a couple of girls found their way to the merry-go-round. Without being asked, they decided they were going to push it “fast.” The boys were delighted. Working together, the girls managed to get it up to speed, then the two of them jumped on as well. More children began to arrive in twos and threes, many pushed before jumping on. One of the original boys, leaning into it, head tipped back, began to chant, “Oh yeah, it’s spin time! Oh yeah, it’s spin time!”

It things like this that we see everyday: children needing help with something and instead of us helping them do it (which doesn’t help them in the slightest), they either persevere or reach out to a peer, often ending in a great social experiment or conversation. This is one of the many great things about a multi-age classroom. We’re seeing it more and more lately: a two year old needing help with something whether it’s getting their shoes on to go outside or putting something in their cubby. Instead of us doing it for them, they are reaching out to their older peers to ask for help and sometimes, it’s the older peer initiating that engagement, realizing that they could be of service to their younger friend.

“They were learning something, because we are always learning something when we play. I could write a list here of all the things I imagine they were learning, or exploring, or discovering.”

“I am comfortable knowing that children are learning because they are playing, and that’s enough.”

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/sucking-joy-from-their-lives.html

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Our Friday looked like a typical Friday—friends engaging while working on puzzles, exploring playdoh at the art table, and snuggled up in the reading area diving into our favorite stories.

These are the days where children learn the most—not just from us but from their peers and the daily interactions that consume their time.

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pears.

Lunch– Melted shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, fresh banana/pear, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Banana, cheddar block cheese, and pretzels.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/11

Good Afternoon!

Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Corn Chex and fresh banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with pork, fresh pineapple/pears/oranges, and fresh carrots/pepper.

PM snack– Peanuts and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/10

Good Afternoon.

Our friend Adrian and his family brought in a wonderful story for us to share with everyone about Hanukkah.

This is their family tradition and they thought it would be a nice gesture for Adrian to have all of his friends see what his family celebrates for this holiday season. Thank you Joel and Amy. We LOVED reading all about this wonderful holiday.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and apples.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded pork, carrots and banana.

Snack: Whole wheat crackers and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprouts: Peas

Have a nice night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulkOUE31O7XflQestwNQ?e=dI6Znq

It’s a sunny Wednesday!

In our Kindergarten group time today, one of our friends had brought up how he wasn’t able to go see a tree lighting event this year because of Covid. So instead of a story, we stopped what we were doing, and just spent some time discussing all our frustrations in dealing with this virus. Many of them had very grownup feelings. I’m glad they were able to put these feelings into words. This is a skill that even some adults lack.

We didn’t want to end the discussion on a sad note, so I asked them what is one thing they will want to do first once life goes back to normal. To be honest, I thought they would have some fantastical plans. My heart was touched by their responses. A few of them said they wanted to go out to eat, or go to the movies. It was what Franklin said that made my day. He said he would just like to see all his family. Wow! Talk about bringing tears to your eyes!

I know we all feel this way. I encouraged them that when life seems to get to be too much, just focus on what lies ahead. Life will be different, but it will hold onto many wonderful things. I hope this helps all of us become believers in the good this world holds.

If you have not heard so in a while, please let me tell you that you are doing a fabulous job as parents! There is definitely no instructions on how to raise your child in a pandemic in any handbook. Keep doing what you’re doing!

“Sometimes you need to talk to a three year old so you can understand life again.”

Breakfast: Oatmeal & bananas

Lunch: Farm fresh eggs, carrots/peppers, whole wheat bread, & oranges/pineapple

PM Snack: Banana bread & cheddar cheese stick

Wee Sprouts: Carrots/bell peppers

Have a lovely rest of your day!

Ms. Kim

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulkORAm8dvkp5KwLViqw?e=cjVulR

Good Afternoon.

Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, corn and banana.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh Green beans.

Have a great evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulkOQgpCFY0oZ_OwL2vQ?e=qo3tQ6