Good Afternoon and Happy Friday.
Please enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast: Whole wheat/grain brown rice cakes with Sunflower butter and banana/clementine’s.
Lunch: Whole wheat/grain Flatbread with turkey lunchmeat, corn and kiwi.
Snack: Pretzels and mozzarella string cheese.
Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.
Have a great weekend.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj4sQd_94Nv-a7iBxEA?e=DR4FkL
Happy Friday!
A BIG happy birthday to Miss Kim who will celebrate her birthday this Sunday!
In K/PREK1, we looked at two different maps: one of the United States and one of the state of Indiana. The map of the United States was split into sections and Indiana was in the section ‘midwest’. We looked at the different states that were in the area too before specifically looking at Indiana. After we identified where South Bend was, N asked what the star was for. We got into a discussion revolving around capitols and how each state has one. Children tried to say the city, ‘Indianapolis’—it’s a tricky word!
Social Studies: K.3.2 Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand the differences between a map/globe.
In PREK2, children took different colored markers to connect the line from Wee Friends to their letter on the map!
We found this blog post very interesting! There are times when we catch ourselves saying, “Be careful!” but Teacher Tom offers up some other suggestions that are better suited for children. When we tell children to ‘be careful’, we’re basically telling them that we don’t trust their judgement which can lead to self doubt.
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/instead-of-warning-children-to-be.html
Penny was walking around the outside environment yesterday afternoon and started finding really big leaves! She gathered several and we used them at the art table this morning.
Children used various colors to paint their leaf and a few friends even did a leaf print.
Penny and N were using toys as phones to talk back and forth to each other so Miss Kim made them a plastic cup- phone mechanism using two plastic cups and a long piece of string!
Children loved exploring it and having conversations with one another.
“Children are naturally creative. It is our job to give them the freedom, materials, and space to let their creativity blossom to its full potential.”
-Jean Van’t Hul
Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pineapple.
Lunch– Turkey on whole wheat bread, fresh kiwi/apple, and fresh celery/carrots.
PM snack– Miss Kim’s birthday treat–homemade whole wheat muffins and string cheese.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/celery.
Have a fantastic weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 12/6
Good Afternoon!
Interesting blog from Teacher Tom today:
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/teaching-values.html
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Children used several different magnetic items such as bells, magnatiles, shapes, and cut up pipe cleaners to create various structures including trees!
Grady noticed that the bells against the magnatiles made sounds after he built a tree with the magnatiles and filled it with many bells.
Penny initiated a new classroom list. She grabbed a pencil and clipboard and went around the environment, asking friends what their name was. When she needed a little help spelling certain names, she used the cubby tags for reference.
Grady, Mack, and David covered the art table with leaves and then proceeded to make up their own game where they were workers.
We heard the following conversation:
“You’re fired!”
“Breaks over!”
..the imagination of children 
.
Breakfast– Whole grain Cheerios and fresh apples.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, fresh pineapple/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber.
PM snack– Peanuts and graham crackers.
Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.
Have a fantastic evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 12/5
Good Afternoon.
YAY!!!! with the gorgeous sunshine and warmer temperatures, we were finally able to head outside and play! We had some VERY happy friends. 
Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal and banana.
Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, broccoli and apples.
Snack: Whole wheat Triscuit crackers and Pumpkin seeds.
Wee Sprouts: Snap peas.
Have a nice night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj4oL7depONhDuceYHA?e=9YbvJs
Good Afternoon.
We were all very excited to go into he kitchen and manipulate the puzzles.
We have many to choose from but the larger 24 piece ones were a hit with most of our friends today. Letters, numbers and crayons/shapes.
we engage in the larger pieced puzzles we stimulate our minds more and are more challenged. At times we need help, but overall friends find these puzzles to be just right!
We borrowed the large peg board from the WF classroom today and it too was a HUGE success!!!! Hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills are being put to the test! We also worked on sharing the pegs and understanding that three friends could use the peg board at the same time with ease!
Breakfast: Whole grain Oatmeal with honey and pears.
Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with cheese, cucumbers and banana.
Snack: Whole wheat Ritz Crackers with cream cheese.
Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.
Have a nice night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj4hlQl1wbI7oDJ8lEw?e=pb3DQK
Hello!
Our morning revolved around involved and engaged play. Most of the time, children were in groups of two or more either reading, doing puzzles cooperatively, or creating at the art table.
Some of these pairings were made up of children who aren’t the same age—showing us exactly why multi-age classrooms work so well. Chloe used her knowledge of books and literature to read to Evie, who is a younger friend. They bond in the reading area because they both have an immense love for stories.
Enjoy a few pictures from the rest of our morning!
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh raspberries.
Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat flatbread, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh peppers/cucumber.
PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and fresh raspberries.
Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.
Have a fantastic evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 12/4
Good Afternoon!
**It is that time of year when we need updated shot records! We would very much appreciate it if the shot records could be turned in by our winter break (Friday, December 20th). Thank you!
Enjoy the pictures from our Tuesday!
Breakfast– Quaker Oatmeal Squares with banana.
Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat flatbread, fresh apple/grapes, and fresh cherry tomatoes/snap peas.
PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and string cheese.
Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas/cherry tomatoes.
Have a great evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 12/3
Good Afternoon.
Today we engaged our minds in water color painting. We used many different colors of paint and made wonderful creations.
We utilized our fine motor skills as we held the brushes in our hands and used our cognitive skills to get an understanding of the different colors that we used.
Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal with Apples.
Lunch: Whole grain tortillas with hummus, tomatoes and apples.
Snack: Whole wheat bagels with peanut butter.
Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes.
Have a wonderful night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj4dl364VaFUeHfVoQw?e=uorTk2
Happy Monday and happy December!
**Wee Friends will be closed Monday, December 23rd through Friday, January 3rd. Thank you!
In K/PREK1, we dove into the FAB for the week:
Social Studies: K.3.2 Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand differences between a map/globe.
Group was started by answering the question: “What do we use a map or globe for?”
The following answers were shared:
“You can see where you’re going!”
“We can see states.”
“Places like Hong Kong.”
We read ‘I Am Planet Earth’ which identified different things that are on the Earth. For example, people, cities, towns, and states. This lead into our web that we filled in. Friends shared different states that they have knowledge of. We quickly filled up our web with eight states!
In PREK2, children identified a map with different items such as couch, bedroom, and dresser! They talked about what a map is used for which lead into the activity!
We came in today to find new activities! The first one children dove into was the new peg board.
Children took turns at the peg board, making difference creations such as a giraffe! What a great fine motor activity that’s interactive and colorful!
Our next exciting addition to our classroom are new, advanced 60-64 piece puzzles! Most of our older friends have conquered the 48 piece puzzles. However, the larger puzzles offered more of a challenge!
An art table activity was offered this morning. Children painted a piece of aluminum foil and after they were done, they took a piece of white paper and made a print of their creation.
Mack and Sophia carried buckets up to the top of the sandbox and flashed their muscles, sharing “We’re so strong!”
Tami had posted this article a few weeks back on the Wee Friends Facebook page and thought I’d share it here. The topic is independence and how it pertains to children.
“The truth is that independence is a pure good even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to pure good. But without it, without the freedom to make mistakes, to learn the often hard lessons that lead to the internalization of traits like courtesy and caution and thrift, children are left to learn them later in life, as teenagers or young adults, when the consequences of their inevitable mistakes are likely to be far more dire than they would have been had the mistakes been made, had the learning happened, when they were children.”
“Better, I think, if we really want our children to grow up to be their own people, free, capable, autonomous, and independent, we must allow them to experience freedom from an early age, to be allowed to make the mistakes necessary for learning what freedom is really all about. We must let them fall down and to be there to pick them back up, because that is the single most important lesson we can learn through freedom: independence means nothing unless it’s balanced with interdependence.”
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/you-want-your-children-to-be.html
Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh banana/grapes.
Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded turkey and butter, fresh pears/banana, and fresh carrots.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with honey oats.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.
Have a lovely evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 12/2
Happy December. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Please Note: WF will be closed for our annual two week vacation from December 23rd to January 3rd. We will re-open January 6th, 2020!
Today we would like to extend a very warm welcome to the Smyth family. Our new friend Rowan is two years old and makes a great addition to our classroom. We look forward to watching Rowan grow and achieve many of her milestones.
We thought it would be an awesome idea to utilize our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills and color in our Wee Wee journals.
We enjoy coloring with either markers or crayons but we must admit, markers are our favorite. 
We work hard on holding the marker’s/crayons in our hands to make markings on our papers. We also work hard on getting the writing objects from the marker block to our papers then back into the marker block once we have finished coloring.
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and clementine’s.
Lunch: Whole wheat butter pasta with shredded chicken, corn and clementine’s.
Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.
Wee Sprouts: Peas.
Have a wonderful evening.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj4Y5WxFn_UiMuvtgJA?e=sYkvLi