Happy Friday!

**Please make sure to clear out your child’s art cubbie at pick up. Thank you!

K/PREK1 read one of our favorite Halloween stories in group today. Spookley is not a normal pumpkin so we talked about the positives of being different! Afterwards, we looked at the chalkboard and the different colored pumpkins. Each child came up to the chalkboard and read a line aloud: “yellow, green, yellow, green, yellow, _____”. They figured out what came next in the pattern and found that colored pumpkin and taped it on the board to finish the pattern.

K.CA.5: Create, extend, and give an appropriate rule for simple repeating and growing patterns with number and shapes.

In PREK2, children focused on being able to answer questions as well as discuss what tally marks are! After children answered the question, “What is the scariest costume to you?”, they got to come up to the board and write their name under their answer! Vampires are awfully scary!

One of the perks of turning 4 is being able to use the real nails and real hammers at the work bench! At first, teachers observe and help when needed to make sure that we are making safe choices with the real tools but after quite some time, children are able to build adequate, solid structures! Maxwell has been creating quite the array of bird and squirrel houses as of late!

Most all of our friends came to the art table to explore Fall stamps! Some of our younger friends who hadn’t gotten the chance to work with stamps were interested in how the ink transferred from the ink pad to the paper!

Loose parts consumed our outside time this morning as we built a house with logs and used small and large rocks as food! Loose parts allow our imagination to engage as we often play pretend while outside.

“The wonder of teaching is watching caterpillars become butterflies.”

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC banana.

Lunch– Turkey and sliced cheese on whole wheat bread, PPC banana, and PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.

PM snack– Goldfish and cheddar jack cheese.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.

Have a fantastic weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/26

Good Afternoon!

Here are a few pictures from our day. Enjoy!

Breakfast:  Kix cereal and fresh PPC banana.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh PPC kiwi berries and corn.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and cheddar cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Carrots.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljYAkN4xaExjl0tJXcw

Link to pictures for 10/24:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljYAALyE_xJRVgvHiXg

Happy Thursday!

K/PREK1 read ‘Angelina and the Butterfly’ which enticed us as there was a ton of suspense in the story! It kept us on our toes and friends were anxious at the end of each page to see what was going to happen next.

Afterwards, each child found their name card and said aloud the pattern that they saw. For example, on Lucy’s card, she read, “blue star, blue star, purple star, purple star, blue star, blue star, purple star, purple star, blue star, BLANK.” She had to fill in the blank with the correct colored star! The patterns varied in ability. Different patterns we discussed were ABAB, AABB, AABAAB, and ABCABC.

K.CA.5: Create, extend, and give an appropriate rule for simple repeating and growing patterns with numbers and shapes.

“It’s OK not to know. It’s not OK to not try.”

Children in both journal groups drew their picture and either dictated their description to a teacher or used their kid spelling skills which is growing every single day!

In PREK2, children listened to ‘The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin’ before discussing patterns using Halloween drawings! They focused on the pattern ABAB and together, figured out which drawing came next in the pattern.

The art table turned into a bead station where pipe cleaners and beads were used to make bracelets! Some of our older peers took beads and added letter beads to make their name.

“Sometimes the best learning occurs when it isn’t called learning”.

-Lisa Murphy

Breakfast– Corn chex and PPC mango.

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

PM snack– Graham crackers and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

Link to yesterday’s pictures: WF 10/24

Link to pictures: WF 10/25

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Good Afternoon!

This morning we all helped make a new batch of playdough.  We all took turns adding ingredients, pouring them into the bowl and then stirring them all together.  We made it the color orange as we enjoy our pumpkins in the month of October.

After our playdough was cool, we were eager to play with it.  We used scoops, craft sticks, rolling pins, hammers, golf tees and our hands to manipulate it to our liking.  We had fun making many creative creations using our many items.

Breakfast:  Kix cereal and fresh PPC raspberries.

Lunch:  Scrambled eggs with cheese, whole grain wheat toast with butter, fresh PPC banana and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Ritz crackers with hummus.

Wee Sprouts:  Peas.

Have a fantastic evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures: The picture program is not responding.  We will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow.

Good Afternoon!

We celebrated Ruby’s birthday today: she turned 4! She’s so excited to get to use the work bench and join our rather large 4 year old population . Happy birthday, Ruby!

Our K/PREK1 friends are thriving during journal time, hearing all sorts of letters and focusing on our letter identification. Most of our friends are working on their letter formations while some of us are in the beginning stages of kid spelling!

Today in group, we read ‘Paper Bag Princess’ where we talked about the author and illustrator before reading it. This conversation was prompted when a child asked, “Who wrote the words in this book?”. A few friends knew and shouted, “Robert Munsch!”, right away. Throughout the story, we talked about what event(s) may happen next given a few children had never read the story before!

PREK2 used Halloween manipulatives to create/complete patterns! The patterns that we explored were ABAB patterns as well as the more challenging AABAAB pattern.

Patterns were also the focus of our morning welcome activity as children used fruit to finish patterns as well as create their own!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC raspberries.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, PPC banana, and PPC cauliflower/fresh carrots.

PM snack– Hummus and corn chips.

Wee Sprout– PPC cauliflower/fresh carrots.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

I will post the picture link tomorrow!

Good Afternoon!

This morning we used dot markers to paint with on pieces of pumpkin paper. Our friends were busy making a variety of colored dots to decorate their pumpkin.  We also talked about the color of dot makers we chose to paint with on our pumpkin paper.

When it was time to go outside, we enjoyed many of our favorite activities.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and fresh PPC banana.

Lunch:  Refried beans and cheese on whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh PPC kiwi berries and corn.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts:  Corn.

Have a great night!

Rebekah

Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljP5h8jxXye0Nc0_MKQ

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy the pictures from our day.

Breakfast– Kix and PPC raspberries.

Lunch– Melted shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, PPC banana, and PPC cherry tomatoes/pepper.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– PPC cherry tomatoes/pepper.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/23

Happy Monday!

Several friends have shared their pumpkin picking experiences with us lately which lead both of our group sessions today!

K/PREK1 read two books today surrounding pumpkins. We identified Pooh’s Pumpkin as a fiction story (even though several friends shared that Pooh is REAL at Disney World) and Perfect Pumpkin as a non-fiction story. In each story, we pulled information about pumpkins and how they are grown. A few things we learned:

1. Pumpkins are fruit, not vegetables. They belong to the Gourd family.

2. After the vine grows, a flower will appear which later turns into a green pumpkin before becoming orange.

3. Pumpkins start with a pumpkin seed. They need water and sun to grow (Grady also added it needs love to grow!).

After reading both stories, we came up with several things that we learned and filled our web of pumpkin knowledge!

K.W.5: With support, build understanding of a topic using various sources. (Identify relevant pictures, charts, grade- appropriate texts, personal experiences, or people as sources)

PREK2 gathered to talk about pumpkins as well (it’s been a hot topic!). Each child got a book about pumpkins and shared something that they learned after looking at the pictures in their book.

The art table has been full of wonderfully curious children lately. Today, Franklin joined one of his peers as they worked on their letters. This happened without any teacher prompting; just pure interest of letters! Franklin ran up to a teacher and said, “Look at my letters!”

Our imaginations were in high gear as we used toys throughout the environment to make:

• A zoo using magnets and animals/dinosaurs. Each space had to be specific to the size of each dinosaur.
• Video games using maps as the screen. Franklin and a friend held pretend controllers in their hands as they looked at their map screen!

“Every child is gifted. They just unwrap their packages at different times.”

Breakfast– Whole wheat cinnamon raisin bagels with butter and fresh apples/blackberries.

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

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and PPC raspberries.

Wee Sprouts– PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/22

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.

“Mistakes are proof that you are trying.” ~Pinterest.com

We would like to extend a very warm congratulations to the Sieradzki family, as they welcomed their precious baby boy into the world Sunday. We Can’t wait to meet him.

The habi-trail area is a very exciting area to engage our bodies in. We can expand our gross motor skills by climbing the ladder portion of the habi-trail, and we can also ignite our confidence level by our end result of successfully climbing to the top wrung of the ladder. Our friends have quickly learned that they must hold on tight to the ladder to ensure a safe climb!

Parallel play generally happens by the time our Wee Wee Friends turn two years of age, sometimes later, but typically no later than by the age of three. Parallel play involves two or more children in the same room who are interested in the same toy/activity. They are not specifically playing together, but along side one another.  Daniel, Jack and a few others are experiencing this type of play while we were outside having fun!

Breakfast: Whole grain English muffin with cream cheese, and apples.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta noodles with butter and shredded beef, peas, and apples.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: carrots.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljPxjlrSr9Gx2PQE5zQ

Happy Birthday Ms. Mindy!

The art table was a hoppin’ place to be today. Most of our older friends are out on vacation, so our three and four year olds took over the table. Today they worked with stencils, scissors, and the all time favorite-markers. A few of them chose to make some hairy and very scary monsters/ghosts. Others took it upon themselves to make their own birthday gifts and envelopes.

Of course, our friends’ imagination doesn’t stop at the art table. Today Grady built a baby out of blocks, and Mack collected pebbles and leaves for treasure.

In group time today, PreK2 discussed why we use measuring cups/spoons. A couple of them mentioned that we use them to make cookies. Each of them were given two choices, and were asked which one could hold the most/least. They were all able to identify which could hold more/less, and why this was the reason.

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter & PPC blackberries

Lunch: Ham & cheese sandwiches on whole grain bread, PPC Tomatoes, & apples

PM Snack: Vegan muffins & cheesy corn puffs

Wee Sprout: Carrots & PPC cucumbers

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ms. Kim

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljPwUICSfWPFAZs66Ug