Good Afternoon.

“We must clearly understand that when we give the child freedom and independence, we are giving freedom to a worker already braced for action, who cannot live without working and being active.” ~Maria Montessori

Please Note: The Wee Wee Friends classroom will be undergoing some exciting new changes for our friends. During our two week break, Tami and her husband will be working hard to make our classroom environment even better. Tami will be re-locating our reading and dramatic play areas with some new and exciting features! Rebekah and I are VERY, VERY excited and we can’t wait to have you all see these wonderful changes as well. Stay Tuned Guys!!!  

Puzzles are always a favorite fine motor and cognitive activity that our friends just love, but today we were able to engage in an even more exciting puzzle. A large fire truck floor puzzle. Jack and his friend Evie had a fantastic time working together, communicating and problem solving on this activity!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and pears.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, corn, and pears.

Snack: Whole wheat crackers with cream crackers, and clementine’s.

Wee Sprout: Peas.

Have a wonderful evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZx4VpuwIEc2scMjQA

Good Afternoon!

K/PREK1 continued our exploration into our favorite stories. On today’s agenda was ‘Mud Puddle’ written by Robert Munsch. We absolutely love the sarcasm and funny nature of Robert Munsch’s writing. In the story ‘Mud Puddle’, the main character continues to be attacked by a mud puddle, specifically on certain areas of her body including her eyes, her ears, and her nose. These events happen in a specific order so before each event came up, friends shared what they remembered or what was going to happen next.

The story ends when the main character throws soap into the mud puddle’s middle and the mud puddle ended up turning around and jumping over the fence and never came back. As a group, we hypothesized where the mud puddle went. Anna suggested that maybe the mud puddle went to the next house, jumping on the heads of little kids in the backyard.

PREK2 used gingerbread to find the answer to a word problem. The question was :”Franklin and Ruby each left Santa 3 cookies. B and Chloe left 2 cookies. David left 5 cookies. How many cookies did everyone leave?” Friends used the gingerbread as manipulatives to count how many cookies Santa got. Together, they came up with the number 15!

Enjoy a few pictures from the rest of our day!

Breakfast– Oatmeal squares and fresh raspberries.

Lunch– Shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, fresh oranges, and fresh cucumber.

PM snack– English muffins with cream cheese and fresh pears.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

Have a fantastic night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/18

Good Afternoon.

“The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow, and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be. Such experience is just not play… it is work he must do in order to grow up.” ~Maria Montessori

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that Friday, December 21st we will have a pajama day!  

We are all kind of bummed that there is no real snow for us to go outside and play in, so I brought some “snow” to us! We normally have our shaving cream sensory play more contained (if you will) but not today!! It was spread out over the entire kitchen table for us to engage in and we LOVED it!

Cars and trucks, gold and red glitter, colorful straws and tongue depressors, and even old marker caps were all added in to heighten our sensory fun.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios, and banana.

Lunch: whole wheat tortillas with black refried beans and shredded cheese, corn, and clementine’s.

Snack: Pretzels and Mozzarella string cheese. 

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a wonderful night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZwUX2fhFVeToYgnpg

Good Afternoon and happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend.

Just a friendly reminder that Wee Friends will be closed next week, December 24th through January 4th. We will return to the classroom on Monday, January 7th.

“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” ~Maria Montessori

We started off our day by welcoming our good friend Jack back. He was with his Grandma last week having tons of fun! We missed our good buddy, and we’re glad he’s back to play with us.  

We introduced the Duplos into the classroom last week, and Jack was so happy to see them, he started building right away.

He told Miss Marty he was making a train to go “Choo Choo.” We added in more duplos to our already large amount to make our experience even more fun.

This activity enhances color recognition, fine motor, and cognitive thinking skills as well as building our imagination.

We all LOVE to read books and there’s nothing better than a good book, especially fun Christmas stories! As these stories were being read, all of our friends raced over to listen. Two of our favorites are called, Dream Snow, by Eric Carle and Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve by Jan Brett.

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch: Whole grain pasta with shredded beef, peas, and banana.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZshCyC_em9zMBrQOQ

Happy Monday!

K/PREK1– This week, we’re re-reading some of our favorite stories. Children automatically share their favorite parts of the story or their favorite character before we even start reading which allows me to authentically assess how much they’re retaining and to what level they’re comprehending the story.

Today, we focused on ‘Frog and Toad’, two of our favorite characters. We’re so enthralled with their relationship and how they interact with one another. We’ve been working on raising our hands when we have a question or want to share something so Anna raised her hand after the first two pages and shared what was going to happen next..almost word for word!

PREK2 answered a question pertaining to their favorite Christmas treat! PREK2 friends have been really working on writing their names and a few friends are writing their journal descriptions with Miss Kim’s help!

At the art table, children worked on their wrapping skills! Using tape and wrapping paper, we practiced wrapping wooden blocks. This activity challenges our fine motor skills while allowing us the opportunity to remain calm when something becomes challenging!

The sunshine was calling our names this morning as we literally ran outside, showcasing our excitement! Our imaginations were on display as children were stepping over the ‘hot lava’ as they ran throughout the backyard environment.

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter & cinnamon, craisins.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and shredded beef, applesauce, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with fresh raspberries.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/17

Happy Friday!

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pears.

Lunch– Ham and cream cheese rollups with whole wheat bread, fresh pears/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Pretzels and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/17

Good Afternoon,

Sorry for the lack of blog yesterday. We were experiencing technical difficulties. I’ve included pictures from yesterday as well as today on this page.

This was yesterday’s activity. Ms. Annastecia brought in cardstock. She went around placing small dots of paint on their papers, and they had to use an old gift card to swipe it across their paper. All of their masterpieces were covered in unique designs. Some of them even noticed that the more they mixed the paint together,  it all blended into a purple hue.

As you can tell, Christmas is the most wonderful time of year here at Wee Friends. The art table is a popular place to be. Many of them love going to the table and decorating their papers with Christmas stickers. A few to them are still making their last minute wish lists to Santa.

Breakfast: Oatmeal Squares & Bananas

Lunch: Brown rice with chicken, organic carrots, & fresh pears

PM Snack: Graham crackers & pumpkin seeds

Wee Sprout: organic carrots & cherry tomatoes

Have a great Thursday,

Ms. Kim

LINK TO YESTERDAY’S PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZlEEHGdqkGUpE1HYQ

LINK TO TODAY’S PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZpAMnaC585Vop26Aw

Happy Sunny Thursday!

“A child’s work is to create the person she/he will become.” ~Maria Montessori

We have been working hard on understanding and learning our colors, and shapes. As Daniel and Evie were happily making music with their bongo drums this morning, we realized that both friends had on striped socks, one with the color blue and the other with red. Both friends thought that this discovery was quite funny, as they both laughed! I asked them, “Who has on the red striped socks?” Evie quickly looked down at both of their feet and replied, “MEEEE!” I then asked, “Which of you has on blue striped socks?” Daniel and Evie both responded. Daniel saying, “ Daniel does” and Evie also saying, “DANIEL does.” Learning our colors can be challenging, but we always find creative ways with our friends to make this learning process fun and interesting!

We introduced a new and fun activity into the classroom today. Last week, Miss Tami bought us some small Duplo style people to build with. Today, Miss Rebekah went to the WF classroom and found a whole large bin of other Duplo building blocks. We all had a blast connecting and building with these blocks. Adding in the little Duplo people made this activity even more enticing! We also added in color recognition.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal and grapes.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, carrots and pears.

Snack: Pretzels and mozzarella string cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Peas. 

Have a wonderful evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZoVJEcsM7WTV8ng6g

Good Afternoon All!

“Do not erase the designs a child makes in the soft wax of his inner life.” ~Maria Montessori

The permanence boxes were requested today, and our friend Zoe was very intrigued by where the balls went after she placed them into the hole. She utilized her hand-eye coordination to place the balls from the flat area of the box into the hole. We also talked about the color and shape of the ball.

Daniel has really been interested in looking into the mirrors we have placed throughout the classroom. Today he looked into the habi-trail mirror and then quickly closed his eyes to a squint and started counting out loud. He got up to three and then laughed out loud at himself. We LOVE our silly little guys!

Breakfast: Whole grain Chex and banana.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with butter, corn, and pears.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with mozzarella and cheddar cheese. 

Have a wonderful night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljZlDeNKcZEPV8jO4xg

Good Afternoon!

K/PREK1: Yesterday and today we talked about several different holidays which we’ll focus on throughout the week. We were very familiar with some holidays while a few we weren’t quite sure which opened up a learning opportunity! Today, we talked about Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Earth Day! Using the calendar as a guide, we talked about when each holiday happens and in what month, which makes it easy for children to understand because they link months to birthdays, etc. When Lucy found out Earth Day was in the month of April, she shared that her birthday is in that month.

There was a Hanukkah celebration in PREK2 today! After discussing Hanukkah, children looked at five different pictures of items that are associated with Hanukkah. Each friend had to count the items in the picture and then write their name under it.

We were all about moving our hands today, in a positive and engaging way!

The welcome activity was an open-ended opportunity for children to incorporate patterns and counting when using gems. There were three different shapes (triangle, square, and rectangle) that were made with colored tape along with two pattern zig-zags. There were no rules so children chose how to interact with the activity.

Anna sat in front of the zig-zag that had yellow tape, blue tape, yellow tape, blue tape. She took it upon herself to only use yellow and blue gems. A few children also decided to fill in the shape after they traced it!

We have had more than our fair share of fun with the LEGOs during the last week! A few of our friends can easily sit and explore the LEGOs for an hour and a half. Our hands were busily moving as we built on the LEGO boards.

Thankfully, there is no age limit for LEGO’s because they are very beneficial to development! Below, I’ve posted an article that goes into small detail about the benefits of LEGO play.

https://www.tsc.nsw.edu.au/tscnews/eight-educational-benefits-of-playing-with-lego

Franklin wrote out his name at the art table so that his peer could practice writing it! Franklin’s peer was having a little difficulty with his ‘k’ so a teacher came over to assist which lead to the two friends discussing the different letters that are in Franklin’s name!

Breakfast– Corn chex and fresh pears.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh banana/raspberries, and cooked broccoli.

PM snack– Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 12/11