Good Afternoon.

“Our task is to help children communicate with the world using all their potential, strengths and languages, and to overcome any obstacle presented by our culture.” ~ Loris Malaguzzi

Today our friend Evie was making shapes with her hands! Miss Rebekah asked Evie what she was doing with her hands and she responded, “I’m making a triangle.”

We talk about shapes within our play daily. Whether we have a puzzle we’re working on that is full of shapes, or whether we are just simply talking about the objects that we see inside the classroom or even outdoors, we have MANY opportunities to learn what the many shapes are that we see in our every day lives.

During outside play, we found that it was so much to play in three’s! 

The WF kids were playing a game called, Sharks and minnows and the WWF’ers thought it would be awesome to play along with them…. just in their own type of way. They all had so much fun. We are all so fortunate that our classroom gets to engage and have fun with the big kids.  

Breakfast: Oatmeal with honey and raspberries.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat butter toast, red peppers and banana.

Snack:  Whole wheat Ritz crackers and cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Red peppers.

Have a fantastic night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljdM_J9KDK4XwgDRHIQ

Good Afternoon!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday—enjoy the pictures!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh raspberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/peppers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/3

Good Afternoon!

In K/PREK1, we read, ‘A Little Prairie House’ which centers around ‘Little House on the Prairie’. When Lucy got to group and saw we were reading it, she said, “Oh! A calm book. That makes me so happy.”

There were several words that were new to us so after we were done, we used the context around each word to come up with our own definitions. Anna kept saying, “Back in the old days,…”. We noticed that the characters had on different clothing and talked differently than us. Grady asked, “Why do they keep calling him Pa?” (what they called the dad). We were extremely engaged throughout the story, constantly asking questions.

A theme from the story was brought into our activity. The ‘Pa’ in the story worked tirelessly to build a house for his family. So, each of our friends built an addition or subtraction house! We used two different shapes, triangle and square. First, we talked about each equation and when friends came to the answer, they had to find the correct number before taping the house and the roof together.

K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g., 5=3+2 and 5=4+1).

PREK2 children used dominos as a tool for finding the answer to addition problems. Chloe took her domino, placed it on the laminated sheet, and added up each section before telling Miss Kim the answer! Having something concrete to work with when solving addition and subtraction really is beneficial at this age.

“Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write and count. Childhood is a small window of time to learn and develop at the pace which is right for each individual child.”

-Magda Gerber

Breakfast– Quaker Oatmeal Squares and fresh apples/oranges.

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

PM snack– English muffin with peanut butter and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/2

Good Afternoon.

It’s your home and their “school.” It’s your furniture and their “learning space”.  It’s your backyard and their “exploration area.” And the children you care for are not just your “students,” they are apart of your extended family.  ~Gee Whiz

Today a couple of friends asked to play with the colorful shape stackers.

This activity enhances our color and shape recognition as well as the understanding of how items can go from large to small and vice versa. We can also learn how to share and take turns when we want to switch to another shape stacker. 

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and bananas.

Lunch: Whole wheat tortilla with hummus, corn, and banana.

Snack: Whole wheat English muffins with peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts: Sweet Potatoes.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljdI8-2emRm5tjljWdA

Happy First Day of April!

After reading, ‘Olivia Acts Out’ in K/PREK1, we solved story problems using pictures as manipulatives. Lucy’s story problem read: “Lucy was having a birthday party. She invited 10 friends, but she only had 3 cupcakes. How many more cupcakes does Lucy need so that every friend gets a cupcake?” Lucy took three cupcake pictures and placed them in front of her. She kept adding cupcakes until she got to 10 cupcakes. “I need 7 more!”, she determined. She took the dry erase marker and wrote a 7 to complete the problem! Each friend took a turn solving their own story problem.

K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g., 5=3+2 and 5=4+1)

PREK2 friends answered the question: “If I came to a magical rainbow, I would…”, which allowed children to use their imagination. We had quite the range of answers: gold, trash truck, and unicorns! Our personalities were on display!

Enjoy the pictures from our Monday!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter/cinnamon and fresh apples/banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with lentils and butter, fresh pineapple, and fresh carrots/peppers.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with fresh oranges.

Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/1

Good Afternoon and Happy April.

“By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.” ~ Edwin Elliot

PLEASE NOTE: Wee Friends will be closed Friday, April 19th in observance of Good Friday

Today during our sensory/fine motor activity we used pastel colors to paint Easter eggs to hang around the classroom. We used the colors  pink, yellow, purple, and blue. We had such a fun time, as painting is always a hit!

Miss Rebekah showed friends just how we make a pastel or lighter color paints from our more bold colors. Our little ones thought it was an intriguing process.

Daniel and Jack were very excited when we went outside and they both found large chunks of ice! Daniel asked, “Why is there ice?” Miss Marty explained to him that when it rains and get very cold, the rain will turn into ice. Daniel’s response was short and sweet… “OH!”  

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon and banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat noodles with butter and lentils, peas, and pineapple.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a great night!

Marty

LIBK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljdE3-gFcxsMst1eHPQ

Happy Friday!

Instead of reading a book for K/PREK1 group, we read three new poems. After each poem, I asked the question, “How did that make you feel or what did it make you think of?”. Each poem had a different topic, length, and feel. We talked about feelings and emotions. Words have great power over us. One of the poems was about a dog so this brought up the topic of friends wanting dogs/cats or losing a family pet. Another poem centered around being thankful that our nose was on our face..and not in between our toes. This specific poem made us feel SILLY!

 

PREK2 friends played with letters and their sounds. Each friend rolled a letter die and rolled a specific letter. They wrote that letter in the blank space, creating a new word. For example, Ruby started with the word ‘food’. When she rolled the die, she rolled an ‘M’ so she wrote it into the blank space. This created a new word: ‘mood’!

Pattern blocks were a hit this morning as we used our imaginations to make the following: a man lifting weights, a bird, and a rock!

This activity had no rules; it was completely open ended. There was no right or wrong; just what our friends felt like creating!

“Children do not need us to shape them; they need us to respond to who they are.”

-Naomi Aldort

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Ham/turkey cream cheese rollups, whole wheat tortilla, fresh watermelon/banana, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Goldfish and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers/carrots.

Have a terrific weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/29

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

“In Play: children learn about friendships and how to negotiate with others in social situations.” ~Pinterest.com

What a fabulous week we have had. We have been outside the majority of the week both in the morning and the afternoon. I think we may be able to say… Spring has Sprung!!!

With that being said, I think it’s safe to say we can take our winter gear home! If your child has snow pants, boots, etc. please take them home and lets happily retire them until next winter.  

We had plenty of ball action today while playing outside. This activity enhances our gross motor and hand-eye coordination skills as well as working together with our friends if we are playing catch with them.

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon, and banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat bread with ham lunchmeat, peas, and watermelon.

Snack: Whole grain cheese crackers with cheddar block cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljdAmYCGMX4k-O4dHAQ

Good Afternoon!

In K/PREK1, we read a fiction story we checked out at the library. We dissected one of the crudest characters of all time: Cruella de Vil. Friends kept asking, “Why is she so mean?!”. We talked about choices that Cruella was making and how they thought that made other people feel.

Afterwards, we dove into word families. We started with five words: got, rat, ran, king, and bin. We went through each word and sorted them based on similarities between the words. A few friends commented, “These words all rhyme!”. After we sorted all of the words, Lucy asked, “So which group had the most?”. We counted each group and came to the conclusion that each group had four words. “Oh! So they’re equal!”, Lucy shared.

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In PREK2, the focus was fairytales. Miss Kim read a story and each friend got to come up with a word (verb) to fill in the blank within the story. As a group, we talked about fairytales and certain characteristics that fairytales have.

One of the benefits of being 4 and 5 years old is the ability to make up a game. Our friends LOVE making up games but also making up rules in their game. We often hear, “It’s my game and I made up the rules.” This is the definition of power at this age. Majority of the time, children have their own idea of what character they want to be or what animal they want to portray. They may not want to be the dad but the brother instead. Giving children words and phrases to work through these problems is vital to their social development.

I found this Teacher Tom post and it made me chuckle because it is so true. More so, it still happens in adulthood!

So happy Thursday! Hopefully this provides a midday laugh!

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/youre-not-listening-to-me.html

Breakfast– Kix and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, fresh cantaloupe/oranges, and fresh carrots/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole wheat crackers and sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cherry tomatoes.

Have a fantastic evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/28

Good afternoon.

“Play is the engine of real learning.” ~Pinterest.com

Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and oranges.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, broccoli, and oranges.

Snack: Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter.

Have a wonderful night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljc9VsZW-fjjMo6HNkw