Good afternoon!

This morning, our friends enjoyed playing with the big plastic blocks. Some friends flipped them over to pretend they were boats. Other friends climbed on top of them or stacked them to make towers.

Our friends also engaged in throwing, catching and chasing balls with Miss Bekah. Each friend would get a turn to throw their ball to Miss Bekah. She would then give them a choice;  to try and catch it or have her throw it to the cubbies so they could run and grab it.

We enjoyed another beautiful morning outside with our favorite activities, like playing in the housekeeping area, the sandbox, and reading books under the shade.

Breakfast: Whole grain Puffins cereal with fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat tortillas with peanut butter, cheddar block cheese slices, fresh pineapple, yellow bell pepper, and a taste of chicken avocado salad.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagels with buttery spread and cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2024-04-16

Good Afternoon!

Our PREK1 group took their first farm trip of the season this morning! It turned out to be a beautiful morning with blue skies and so many animals making their presence known!

We were able to go on a nature walk as well as getting the opportunity to pet a chicken and see baby chicks. There were so many horses to look at as well as a barn cat and bunny. Our favorite part was the nature walk where we were able to run freely. Also, the weehicle was a big hit! We can’t wait to go back.

Her are a few pictures from the rest of our morning.

Breakfast: Cheerios with fresh pineapple.

Lunch: Homemade chicken avocado on whole wheat bread, fresh banana/pineapple and fresh peppers/carrots.

PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh carrots and cucumbers.

Have an excellent afternoon!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos:2024-04-16

Happy Monday!

In the art center this morning, several friends explored chalk on paper.  Everyone enjoyed using their hands to blend the materials together.  Adrian made a rainbow and blended the colors.  He was excited about the effect.  Hannah tried adding marker to her chalk picture, creating some mixed media artwork.

Other friends explored a seed sorting activity at the round table.  We talked about how the seeds were alike and how they were different.  Then we decided how we thought they should be sorted.  Many friends chose to put seeds together that were the same kind.  Others had different criteria.  Anjali felt that capped acorns and uncapped acorns should be sorted separately because they were different from one another.

On Friday, there was a particularly strong interest in exploring the snow habitat at our animal habitat table.  When we were putting it away several asked if we could play with it again later, so we promised to make a sensory bin devoted to the well loved snow world on Monday.  It was a funny theme for spring, but that’s were the interest took us:)

We all had a long and lovely morning playing outdoors in the beautiful weather!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, fresh pineapple/banana, and fresh carrot/cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/carrot.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-04-15

Good Afternoon!

This morning the friends began on the habi-trail.  They were climbing up the ladder, going down the slide and steps or looking out the front windows.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with wooden loose part shapes, wooden people and animals.  We stacked them to make towers and sorted them by shape on our trays.

We then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day!  We were engaged in digging in the sandbox, drawing on the chalkboard and sidewalk with chalk, pushing our bikes up the hill, riding on the teeter totter, climbing up the rocks along the slides and watching the trash truck pick up and empty our trash bin.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toast with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with shredded pork, fresh cucumbers and pear slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Green bell peppers.

Enjoy the amazing evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-04-15

Happy Friday!

This morning several of us were busy on the habi-trail.  We worked on our tracing skills using our finger to trace the variety of tracing boards along the wall of the habi-trail.  We also worked on moving our beads through the mazes on the wall maze board.

We then headed into the kitchen to paint with our watercolor cakes.  We used a variety of colors and worked on getting enough water on our brush to make the color wet enough for it to be vibrant on our paper.  We also worked together to create a painting with another friend.

We then listened to Miss Bekah read us the book we chose or read independently, built with the hollow blocks and worked on our fine motor skills with the object permanence boxes.

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

Lunch:  Turkey lunch meat, whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh cantaloupe and corn/peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels, mild cheddar block cheese slices and fresh mango.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-04-12

Good Afternoon!

We wrapped up our week in PREK1 by talking about fruits and vegetables that are grown on a tree, vine, and on the ground! After we read, ‘The Rainbow Fish’, we completed our list of animal classification groups focusing on birds and amphibians! Throughout the week, we’ve add a ton of animals and really started to look at animals physical characteristics and what makes a certain animal unique!

This morning we made a large animal classification chart on the floor with each of the categories that we learned about this week.  We sorted a large basket of animals into the correct columns under the headings: Amphibian, reptile, mammal, fish, bird, Arthropod and Mollusk.  The kids worked together, helping each other problem solve as they sorted. A couple of animals that were both interesting and a bit confusing as the kids sorted, were swimming birds (penguins) and swimming mammals (whales).  We had to go through our list of animal attributes so we could properly classify them.

Everyone enjoyed playing at the “animal habitat” table after todays sorting activity.  We explored a forest floor, an ocean, a desert and an arctic habitat.

In the art center, several older friends decided to make puppets and put on a late morning puppet show for the young kids in the class!  Everyone enjoyed the show!

Here are some of our PREK2 Journals from this week: Amelia “Mommy”,  Ryan “A bat”,  A wrote “Mommy, Achen, Me and baby sister”, Hannah “A Crown”.

Breakfast– Rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh mango.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh oranges/cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/pepper/tomatoes.

PM snack– Goldfish and cheddar sliced cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-04-12

Good Afternoon!

We started our morning by engaging with some of our favorite activities like playing in the kitchen, building with Magna-tiles, and rocking in the rocking chair.

We then made our way to the kitchen for some sensory water play. We used soapy water and sponges to clean some of our housekeeping toys. Our friends filled their cups with water and poured them out into the bin or into a bowl.

We brought down the sensory tubes for our friends to play with. Our friends did such a great job of taking turns and asking their friend “can I have a turn with it?.”

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and fresh oranges/mangoes.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with red kidney beans, orange bell pepper and apple slices.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds with Triscuits crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a terrific evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-04-11

Good Afternoon!

PREK1 kids came to sign in where they had to decipher exactly what a plant needs to survive. We talked about the words need and want. Out of the six notecard options, only two weren’t needs: lemonade and the moon!

Science: K.4.1 Give examples of plants and animals.

In PREK1 group, we read, ‘The Umbrella’ written by Jan Brett. It’s a great book with vibrant pictures that introduce several unique animals such as a kinkajour, tapir, and a quetzal! Since we’re talking about plants and animals this week, it seemed like the perfect fit!

We continued to add to our list today, focusing on insects and fish. We added several to each group! Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the last two classification groups: birds and amphibians.

Science: K.4.1 Give examples of plants and animals.

At the round table we were challenged with an animal classification activity.  The older kids have been talking about animal classification in group so they tried sorting a basket of animals into the groups they are learning: Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals…but two new wild cards were thrown in.  Yesterday there was sone confusion about how to classify sea shells so we got to learn about a group of animals called Mollusks.  We learned that octopuses, clams and snails all belong to this group of animals.  We also learned that mollusks have no skeleton so their bodies are very soft.  Some of them, like snails and clams, build shells around themselves for protection.  There was also talk of Kangaroos and curiosity about how they are not mammals, so we learned about Marsupials.  We learned that this group of animals carries young in a pouch.

After we sorted our animals into groups, we talked about the habitat where these animals might live.  We got to sort them into wet or dry habitats.  We learned that many groups of animals had species that lived in water and others that lived on land.  For instance, many reptiles only live on land but crocodiles spend a lot of time in the water…and of course we played with our animals once they were in their habitats!

Breakfast– Chex and banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh pear/mango/orange/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– Trail mix with Sun/Pumpkin seeds, peanuts and raisins

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-04-11

Happy Wednesday!

We were very busy today! We started our day by getting out bodies moving! Several friends requested Listen and Move by Greg & Steve, as well as the Freeze Dance song. We used scarves to dance with as we followed the directions of the song!

Then, we switched gears and enjoyed completing some puzzles! We had several puzzles to choose from including puzzles with shapes, animals, and cars.  The older friends worked to match half of the piece with the corresponding animals or cars.  The younger friends matched their car piece together with the match on their board and worked their fine motor skills to turn the piece in the correct position to fit.

Afterwards, we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. Friends engaged in several activities such as teeter tottering with friends, riding our bikes down the hill, playing with trucks in the rock area, and sandbox play!

Breakfast:  Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh apple and cucumber slices and whole grain wheat tortillas.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts:  Yellow bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Jena

Link to pictures: 2024-04-10

Good Afternoon!

We continued talking about plants and animals in PREK1 group today. For sign in, children came to the board, found their name and animal description, and had to come up with an animal that matched the description! William came to the board and after reading his description, said that a shark would fit!

Science: K.4.1 Give examples of plants and animals.

This excitement about plants and animals in PREK1 group led us outside on a nature walk today. We stopped at every weed, tree, plant, flower, or animal to write and draw about it. We only walked the block but were actively engaged for 45 minutes while on our walk! It was a fantastic authentic learning experience for these kiddos!

This morning our older friends worked on a curriculum based project that the younger kids could interact with.  They worked together to make a classification chart for plants and animals.  They drew examples of plants and animals in each category so their younger friends would have help understanding what went where.  After they were finished we put the chart on the round table with an assortment of plant and animal objects.  The younger kids worked together to sort them into the correct categories.  Some objects took a little thought, like a pinecone or a stick.  The one that stumped several kids was the sea shell.  It had a plant-like appearance to them.  When we remembered what builds and lives inside a shell however, it became clear how to classify it. 

Outside several kids worked on cleaning up the garden.  While we were all clearing debris we were surprised to discover a nest of baby bunnies in one of the raised bed boxes.  We took turns peeking at the bunnies in the nest from a distance.

PREK2: In group we leaned bee buzzing breath as we calmed our bodies.  We read the story “Up and Down in the Dirt” which talked about what happens under and on top of the garden soil through the seasons.  At the end we picked a a drawing of a branch and counted the leaves.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch: Farm fresh egg casserole with cheese, fresh mangos/bananas, and peppers/cucumbers.

PM Snack: Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh peppers and cucumbers.

Enjoy the rest of the afternoon!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos:2024-04-10