Happy Friday!

While play dough seems like a simple activity for children, it offers many benefits. Not only are children allowed to explore their imaginations (i.e., chocolate covered worms. YUM), but it’s a positive sensory input. We work the play dough through our hands to sculpt and mold whatever we wish.

Below I’ve posted an article that explains how working with play dough hits various developmental targets and gives some ideas for how to spice up your child’s play dough experience.

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/playdough-power

We were HUNGRY today. Our breakfast of rice cakes with peanut butter and lunch consisting of ham and cheese on whole wheat tortillas were quite a hit. Throughout the day, we have conversations about healthy food choices that we make. Of course, there’s always our prominent ‘Wee Sprouts’ which consist of a veggie from Purple Porch Co-op. When children get hungry during meals, they come up to the island to get a drink of water or eat a couple veggies. Making the right food choices allow us to be the best versions of ourselves.

“The children ARE the curriculum.” –Lisa Murphy (http://www.ooeygooey.com/)

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.

Lunch– Ham and shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, PPC banana, and PPC cucumber/snap peas.

PM snack– Pretzels and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/snap peas.

Have a lovely weekend.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 2/2

Happy first day of February. Enjoy some of the pictures from our day!

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and fresh apples.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, apples and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and mozzarella string cheese stick.

Wee Sprouts:  Peas.

Hope you all had a great day!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulicMG4YQV06qNOPtedg

Good Afternoon!

***Attached to each daily sheet is the time for your child’s conference. There is also another copy that we put up in the science area by the cubbies. We’re all looking forward to conferences!

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In pre-k/k group: It was our fourth day in a row where we read a book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Today we read ‘Room on the Broom’ which we’ve read before but it’s been a while. Still, the older children in group remembered the important events in the story and the order in which they happened. We looked at the pictures to preview what the words might say. We have a conversation on almost every page, sharing what our thoughts were on the pictures or what may happen next.

K.RL.3.2: Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in telling the story.

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

Maddie sorted shapes this morning based on one characteristic: how many sides the shape had. She found out that there are more four sides shapes than three sided or six sided.

K.G.2: Compare shapes using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, and parts (e.g., number of sides, length of sides, and vertices).

Our building exploration continued as children chose to build by themselves OR…

Engage in cooperative play with their peers, ultimately heading toward a common goal.

Lucy, Anna, and Max worked diligently on two floor puzzles while Ruby and Emma created hot lava using magnets. After they made the hot lava, they had to jump over it without touching it!

Before lunch, Lucy, Maddie, and Anna played a quick game of ‘SORRY!’ together. They communicated on the directions and rules that they had to follow.

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and PPC kiwi.

Lunch– Brown rice with turkey, PPC banana/oranges, and PPC snap peas/carrots.

PM snack– Sunflower seeds and graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– PPC snap peas and carrots.

Have a terrific night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 2/1

Good Afternoon!

This morning our sensory play activity was with shaving cream. We added cars to our play to drive around and make tracks. We were also given a paint brush and some water to pretend we were making our cars dirty with the cream. We then decided to take our cars  through a carwash to get them clean. Mack used imaginative play to pretend he was making eggs with his shaving cream in his bowl of water.

We also enjoyed stacking our square magnatiles together, as they are our absolute favorite of the tiles and looking at books.

Breakfast:  Kix cereal and fresh apples.

Lunch:  Scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, whole grain toasted wheat bread, applesauce and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Blue corn chips,  black beans and colby-jack block cheese.

Enjoy your evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulicIbbbZNbgfTY4boxQ

Good Afternoon!

There are several ‘looks’ to block play. Block play can involve one child with magnatiles, building individual zoo’s for his animals. It can also involve several children, working together to complete a common goal or end objective. Block play is crucial to the development of preschool children. Our imaginations are pouring out onto our creations; communication is vast as children make decisions together; and our problem solving skills are kicked into high gear.  There is not one day here at Wee Friends that some form of block play is not evident.

I’ve attached two short articles that give several benefits of block play as well as describe the vital importance of it in the every day lives of children.

https://www.ucy.ac.cy/nursery/documents/Why_is_Block_Play_Important_for_Toddlers_and_Preschoolers.pdf

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2015/ten-things-children-learn-block-play

Right after breakfast, children flooded the art table as we put marker to paper.

When the art table was clear, a few children asked for play dough. We got out the purple play dough today. The new play dough we made together is so soft and children are enjoying working with it. Our favorite tool to use is the rolling pin!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh apples.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, PPC banana/apples, and PPC cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Ritz crackers with refried beans.

Wee Sprout– PPC cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

Have a terrific night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/31

There was a problem posting the blog from yesterday. Sorry for the delay.

Good Morning!

This morning we were engaged in a painting activity.  The younger friends created their colorful paintings with a brush.  Mack noticed some shape sponges and asked to paint with them.  He and Emma made many colorful prints on their papers.

Here are a few other activities our friends who were napping during painting enjoyed today.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and fresh PPC clementines.

Lunch:  Hummus on whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh PPC pears and carrots.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat bagel with no nut butter.

Wee Sprouts:  Carrots.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulicEi0Hmo_YfpKqxNCA

Good Afternoon!

“Don’t just teach your kids to read, teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything!” -George Carlin

Children were anxious to explore our new play dough that we made the last couple of days. Today, we opened up the orange play dough. A few of our older preschoolers worked in shapes to their play dough exploration. Maxwell rolled four pieces of play dough to make a square. We worked together to count the sides and the vertices. After, we looked at the shape of the table we were sitting at. A kindergartener shouted, “It’s a hexagon!”. When asked how many sides a hexagon has, several children answer, “Six!”. Together, we counted the number of vertices on the table.

K.G.2: Compare shapes using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, and parts (e.g., number of sides, length of sides, and vertices.)

Our younger children used their imaginations to create a whole grocery store! Sophia made turkey roll ups that she offered to teachers while Maddie opened up a candy store, offering a wide selection of sweets. “This kind of candy is good; it’s not real!”, commented Maddie.

In large group, we read, ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ to follow up on our group time yesterday when we read, ‘The Gruffalo’. I told them we were going to do something a little different; I wasn’t going to read the first couple of pages (at first) but instead they were going to tell me what they thought the words said based on the pictures on each page. We continued to read on and before I started reading the words, children shared what they took away from the pictures.

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios and PPC kiwi.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat flatbread, fresh apples, and PPC peppers.

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

Wee Sprout– Mixture of fresh PPC veggies: carrots, peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/30

Good Afternoon!

This morning our older friend,  Ruby and her parents brought some of Ruby’s books that she is no longer using and donated them to our classroom.  Miss Mindy brought over the board books that work perfectly in our environment.  Our friends enjoyed looking at them.  Thank you Ruby!

Miss Marty came across a fun sensory experience for us to try out. She cooked spaghetti, and we made it rainbow spaghetti by adding red, yellow, blue and green food coloring. All of us enjoyed feeling its slimy, squishy texture with our hands.

Aggie asked for the swing when she woke up from her nap.  Daniel and Aggie took turns swinging and help push each other.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat toast with no nut butter and fresh PPC clementines.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat pasta with chicken, fresh PPC pears and corn.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Corn.

Have a great night!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulib98B84-oXgEl-tiDg

Good Afternoon!

Today, we welcomed Miss Melissa who is a student observer from IUSB. We enjoyed showing her around Wee Friends!

Here are a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and PPC clementines.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded chicken and butter, PPC banana, and PPC cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with pumpkin flax granola.

Wee Sprout– PPC snap peas.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/29

Good Afternoon!

Our morning started off  by enjoying many of our favorite story books.

We then built a train track with our wooden tracks to drive our trains. With some of our train cars we can use our creativity to make it our own by adding a variety of wooden shapes.  Miss Marty went over to the other classroom and borrowed some of their train pieces and small cars to add to our set so we could makes our trains and tracks longer.

Aggie, Daniel and Pascale were busy climbing and playing on the habitrail together.

Breakfast: Whole grain wheat toast with butter and fresh PPC banana.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat English muffins with marinara and shredded cheese pizzas, fresh PPC pears and mixed vegetables.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain bread/English muffin with no nut butter and goldfish crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Mixed vegetables.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulib8m3lHFo_STNx8rqQ