This morning the children were building a variety of creations using various building materials.

Children chose to work together with another friend or a few friends to complete a sorting/color matching activity or a puzzle.

A few of us who were not at swimming lessons, helped Miss Rebekah make apple crisp as part of our afternoon snack. During snack time I heard Lulu say, “this is sooo good!”

We then enjoyed some fresh air outside playing in some of our favorite areas in the backyard.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and bananas.

Lunch:  Hummus on whole grain wheat tortillas, fresh cucumbers from our garden and PPC blackberries/bananas.

Afternoon Snack:  Homemade apple crisp, peanuts and pretzels.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh cucumbers.

Enjoy your evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO5tQt7TxNNuQPFD2g

Today we went on a worm hunt…

Played peek-a-boo…

Revisited the sandbox over and over…

And played with the magnetic puzzles!

Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, apples, blackberries, and corn. Afternoon snack was homemade apple crisp and toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO4i4aHadDfnPaXGmg

Have a good night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

**The next tentative farm trip for GROUP A (Riley, Maddie, Lulu, Lucy, Max) will be Monday, October 2nd.

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Today was the 3’s farm trip!

Our goal for the 3’s farm trip is for children to start becoming comfortable with the farm environment. There are rules at the farm that we enforce to keep our bodies safe as well as the animals safe. The morning can take a lot out of us so our focus is to make sure that it’s a positive experience where children can partake in a few activities the farm has to offer.

There were a few friends who hadn’t been in the weehicle before so we talked about how to act in the van. We did a GREAT job!

When we arrived at the farm, we headed to the barn where we had the opportunity to pet baby bunnies. There were older children at the farm today helping Miss Charlotte who were such a help to us!

Chickens said hi to us too before we decided to go feed the turkeys. We went to find wildflowers that the turkeys like so that we could feed them a snack.

One of our rules at the farm is to use walking feet unless a teacher or Miss Charlotte tells you that it’s okay to run. When we hit the open areas, friends were free to run! We LOVED this part! We came upon the swing and friends took turns swinging on the swing.

Miss Charlotte gave us the okay to take turns sitting on the tractor! A few of us even felt like we were on a rollercoaster!

We had a great farm experience today!

While we were away at the farm, Miss Melinda made goop! Friends got out red bins and took turns at the table, working the goop through their hands. It was a great sensory experience that kept our interest all morning!

Breakfast– Cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese and pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with black beans and butter, oranges, and PPC cauliflower.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with PPC strawberries.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a lovely night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/25

Link to FARM pictures: WF 9/25 FARM

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and apples. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with black beans, pears, and corn. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and block cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO0Kfn967sO893UCKQ

Have a good night!

Amanda

Happy Friday!

Today we played music…

Made a birthday cake…

Played in the sandbox together…

And went on a successful bug hunt!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and oranges. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flat bread with refried beans and cheese, pears, and corn. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliOxAaJDogXsc1D_nmw

Enjoy your weekend!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

**Just one last reminder that GROUP B (Grady, Anna, Elijah, Brycen, David, and Nina) will go to the farm on Monday, September 25th. We’ll leave between 9:50 and 10:00 am. It is supposed to be warm so please dress your child appropriately. Also, make sure they have appropriate ‘farm’ shoes (rain boots or tennis shoes). Franklin, Forrest, Ruby, Chloe, and Emma will need a parent to drive them to and from the farm (optional of course!)  .

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What is guided play? Guided play maintains the joyful child-directed aspects of free play but adds an additional focus on learning goals through light adult scaffolding. It offers an opportunity for exploration in a context specifically designed to foster a learning goal.

(Information obtained from ‘The Case of Brain Science and Guided Play: A Developing Story’ written by Breanna Hassinger-Das, Kath Hirsh-Pasek, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff)

Throughout the day, we as teachers make sure that we’re observing play, ready to jump in at anytime to foster an idea or answer a question. For instance, this week we’ve been talking about sides and vertices of geometric shapes. A group of children were playing with blocks in the habitrail area this morning. A teacher sat down and through conversation, children discussed sides of various shapes that they were building with. They were able to take their play experience just a little further than they would’ve if a teacher had been there to guide their play.

Attached is the link of the article that goes into detail about guided play and how beneficial it is in the preschool setting.

Our goal as teachers is to make sure that children have ample meaningful learning experiences each and every day.

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”- Margaret Mead

http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/case-brain-science-guided-play

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A snapshot of our day!

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.

Lunch– Black beans and shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, PPC apples, and roasted acorn squash.

PM snack– PPC grapes/pears and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Cucumbers and carrots.

Have a fantastic weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/22

Good Afternoon!

**Prairie Winds Farm is having a Fall party! It’s Saturday, September 30th from 4 pm until an unspecified time. There will be grilled meats, side dishes (you can bring one if you wish), chips, etc. Miss Charlotte suggests bringing a lawn chair . If you have any questions, please ask!

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Hard work: a great deal of effort or endurance.

We exhibited a great deal of effort and endurance today as we headed down to the farm and thankfully, there was a lot for us to do!

Miss Charlotte explained to us that the bunnies need to be held and given tons of love every single day so that they remain tame. So, we loved on some bunnies and retrieved some white and purple clovers from various areas around the barn.

We made sure to feed all of the bunnies an equal amount of food. Friends also cleaned out their water bowl and refilled their cage with new hay.

Afterwards, we each grabbed a broom and helped Miss Charlotte clean up the barn floor. We swept all of the hay that was on the ground into the horse area for them to eat! Lucy commented to Miss Charlotte, “Keeping the barn clean is tough work!”

Before we headed back to the wooded area, we stopped to give the turkeys a snack. They sure do have a strong pecking nature about them!

The sun was beating down on us so we ran back to the wooded area where we took turns on the swing and moved logs around. We brought water and paper cups so that we’d stay hydrated. Two bottles of water GONE within five minutes!

Miss Charlotte collected various weeds and veggies for the goats. We carried the bucket to the goats and thankfully, they were hungry! They at the entire contents of the bucket and seemed quite satisfied.

We are so thankful for the chance to visit Prairie Winds Farms and experience new things each and every time we go!

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Back at Wee Friends..

Miss Rebekah made a new batch of play dough at the island! Friends had the choice to join in but some children chose to continue with the activity that they were doing.

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and PPC grapes.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded cheese, banana, and PPC cauliflower/cucumber.

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

Wee Sprout– Cucumbers.

Have a fantastic evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/21

Link to FARM pictures: 9/21 FARM pictures

The trapeze bar is back! We discovered our friends are all taller than the last time we had this swing, and had to lift their knees much higher to get their feet off the floor. That didn’t stop Mack from spinning in circles until he was dizzy!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and apples. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with cheese, pears, and corn. Afternoon snack was blue corn chips and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliOsVIz8c-PKcUVvUkg

Have a good night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

Our sign in message and welcome activity went hand in hand this morning. Friends signed in on the message board before having the option to interact with the welcome activity. On each tray, there were several different geometric shapes for children to manipulate. There were no directions; just an open-ended activity where shapes could be explore.

First, Lucy separated all of her shapes into groups based on their physical attributes. She noted that there were two groups of triangles; a big triangle and a small triangle. Even though they weren’t the same size, we talked about the similarities between the two.

K.G.4: Compose simple geometric shapes to form larger shapes (e.g., create a rectangle composed of two triangles)

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).

In large group, we read ‘The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm’. Before we read the story, we talked about the author and illustrator. Throughout the story, we looked at the pictures and how they were related to the words. At the end, I flipped to a page in the middle that had a lot going on. I made up a sentence that didn’t match the picture. “That wouldn’t match; that’s not what’s going on in the picture!”, someone shouted out. We talked about how important it is for the author and illustrator to work together!

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.

The art table was buzzing with creativity this morning as children used their imaginations to create various pieces of art work. Teamwork occurred as friends worked together to tape pieces of paper together.

This creativity translated to the backyard this morning. Friends took turns at the art table using markers and paper; it was a wonderful art experience.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

-Albert Einstein

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat tortillas, PPC apples/oranges, and fresh carrots/peppers.

PM snack– Blue corn tortilla chips and refried beans.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers.

Have a lovely night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/20

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast was Kashi Blueberry Clusters and oranges. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread, apples, and corn. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and block cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliOk0LOJJmT_uZWIxNQ

Have a good night!

Amanda