Happy Wednesday.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. ~Albert Einstein

Friends were very happy about getting messy with the soft and cool sensation of the moon sand today. This is by far one of our favorite sensory activities to engage in.

Teachers always add in all types of items to enhance our play. Today we used spoons, colorful bowls, cups, small and large scoopers as well as plastic egg halves. We had a BLAST!!!

As our day progressed, we ventured outside and started looking for all types of creepy crawly bugs.

We love to lift rocks, and the flat rubber mats to find said bugs… as we all know that is where our little bug creatures like to hide.  They are never safe for too long though with the Wee Wee’s on the “bug” case.   We always find them and put them in our bug catchers to show all of our friends.

We also got our bodies in gross motor action by climbing the ever so popular log climbing house! We even had two of our littlest Wee’s climb up and conquer the climbing challenge. 

Breakfast: Whole grain Oatmeal with honey and Apples.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded Colby Jack cheese, whole wheat toast with butter, fresh orange peppers and strawberries.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with Colby cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh tomatoes.

Have a fantastic night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljfdIyObwzk4wTKHh9g

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh raspberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla, banana, and fresh carrots/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Hummus and tortilla chips.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes/carrots.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 5/22

Good Afternoon!

After reading, ‘The First Strawberries’ in K/PREK1, we had an open conversation about calendars and why we use them. Stay at home days is something that we talk about quite often. We identify them on the calendar by using a marker to outline Saturday’s and Sunday’s. Grady said, “I wish there was a Sunday in every week!”—I told him he was in luck because there is! We looked at the calendar and I pointed to what a week looks like: seven days in a row.

Children took turns sharing their favorite day and why it is their favorite day!

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

PREK2 read ‘The Crayon Box That Talked’ which lead into a discussion about the word ‘unique’. Friends shared how they’re different as well as the same.

Children had the option to come to the table and create a sun catcher! The materials we used were glue, paint, beads, plastic lids, tooth picks. Once the glue dries, we’ll pop the hardened glue out of the lid!

A few friends got out clipboards to create invitations to a…CHOCOLATE PARTY! They told everyone that they were all invited!

“Pretend play combines two wondrous and uniquely human characteristics—the capacity for fantasy and the capacity for, and the need to, make meaning of our experience.”

-Susan Linn

Breakfast– Quaker Oatmeal Squares and fresh oranges.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, applesauce, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– A birthday treat: banana oatmeal muffins and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a fantastic evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 5/21

“The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky.” ~Margaret McMillan

Today we had another fun and exciting sensory activity with some science exposure added in. We used several different colors of water color paints with a bit of baking soda added into the water. We then painted a plain white piece of paper with the mixture and then when we were all done painting we added a drop or two of vinegar.

The excitement then began as our pictures stated fizzing/bubbling and making a very cool sound. We were all very excited to see the changes that were happening to our colorful pictures.  

All the while our imaginations were running wild! Daniel said, “I am making snow Angels” and Evie said, “I am making the Gruffalo.”

What an exciting way to chase off the rainy day blues.

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Happy Monday!

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

K/PREK1 has a calendar session everyday after we’ve read our book and completed an activity. Children state the month, date, and year so for example, today they said, “It’s May 20th, 2019.” Even if I forget at the beginning of the month, they remind me to outline the weekend days so that we know when ‘stay at home’ days are on the calendar versus Wee Friend days. We also work together at putting important events on the calendar such as swim, birthdays, or holidays.

We created a web where we wrote down everything that we see on the calendar. Friends were able to point at the calendar and identify where the month, year, etc. was written.

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

PREK2 explored a calendar of their own. Each friend, with a little help from Miss Kim, identified their birthday. Children took turns finding their birth month along with their specific birthday!

Chloe brought in paint swatches to share with her peers. This became a main stay at the art table this morning as friends used different colored paint swatches to add to their art work. Children talked about ‘lighter’ and ‘darker’ colors as they explored different swatches.

Can you guess the game Ruby and Chloe were playing with a group of friends?

Freeze tag! Friends worked really hard to remain still until they were tagged. Such restraint!

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

-Maria Montessori

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon along with fresh pears.

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

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and fresh oranges.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/peppers.

Have a wonderful night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 5/20

Happy Monday.

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today friends were happily engaged in different types of fine motor and hand-eye coordination play.

While some friends engaged their minds and hands with the pegs others engaged themselves with the permanence boxes.

We can also enhance our color recognition as well as our mathematic comprehension skills while interacting with both of these fun activities.

Along with outdoor play and getting our gross motor skills going, we also had some music and movement play indoors that kept our bodies in motion.

We listened to Gregg and Steve movement music and added in our absolute favorite… We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to keep our mojo going. We love to keep our bodies moving and grooving.

We also built the big blocks two high and had a great time jumping off of them. Some of us have really built up our confidence level to feel more comfortable jumping off of them.  

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with cream cheese and pears.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with marinara and shredded cheese, corn and oranges.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Peas.

Have a lovely evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljfUsjt8BEXThC25cGg

Happy Friday!

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch– Turkey on whole wheat tortilla, fresh pears/banana, and fresh cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

PM snack– Mozzarella string cheese and fresh pears.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a fantastic weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 5/17

Good afternoon and happy Friday!

Today we……

built with the rainbow mats and went down the slide upside down…..

cooked breakfast in the kitchen area and worked on puzzles……

then headed outside to climb on a bridge, look for bugs and play with the trucks and buckets in the rocks.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat toast with butter and cinnamon and fresh banana/oranges.

Lunch:  Turkey on whole grain wheat tortillas, fresh oranges and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Goldfish crackers and Cheddar block cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Peas.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljfRzz3VMatTynUFl6A

Good Afternoon!

“When parents complain, “He doesn’t listen to me” what they really mean is that their kid doesn’t do what they want them to do when they want them to do it. Believe me: they are listening to you. They are almost always listening to you. You just might not like the choice they made after listening to you.”

We know that children are listening to us because we will occasionally hear, “____, you need to take a few breathes.” or “You need to try and calm your body.”

It’s interesting to see children form their own language and how they speak to their peers as well as statements or ways of talking that are shared with a person in their life!

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/thats-real-work-of-teaching.html

Breakfast– Kix and banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded beef, fresh cantaloupe, and fresh carrots/peppers.

PM snack– Graham crackers and sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprouts– Fresh carrots.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 5/16

Good Afternoon.

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” ~O. Fred Donaldson

We have a few different loose parts activities to engage in throughout the classroom and we find them interesting and we tend to find different ways to play with them.

Today Jack grabbed out the Bucket people with different colors and the small multi-colored bowls from the same shelf. While he was working with both sets he realized that he could match the bucket people with the colors of the small bowls. He then placed the people into the bowls and said, “Look Mar-Mar, my people match with the bowls.”

Evie was very helpful to Miss Annastecia today during our outdoor play!

The last couple of days Annastecia has been getting our garden area prepped for planting and Evie thought it would fun to help her out. The two of them worked together and  planted Marigold flowers.

Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal and banana.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded beef, broccoli and banana.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with either peanut butter or cream cheese. (Kids choice)

Wee Sprouts: Fresh tomatoes.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljfMW2U7L1JX6SHHpoQ