Happy Friday!

Today we visited our window seed growing experiment.  We took down our beans which we planted a few days ago to see if there were any changes.  We found that our radish seeds had started to grow.  They all had a root and some had tiny leaves.  Some of our beans had begun to sprout a root and some had not.  We noticed that the radish seeds seemed to be growing faster than the bean seeds.  We worked on using our observational skills to draw what we saw.  If we were having trouble we though about what color and what shapes we were looking at, and that seemed to solve the problem.  We also worked on describing what we saw using works.  Older kids used kid spelling and younger kids got help from a teacher.  Hannah took it upon herself to help some of the younger kids with their kid spelling.  She also taught them about what letters make the “ING” sound.  Paige had a lovely description of the growing roots saying they looked like they had “tiny strings coming out”.

What beautiful and interesting artwork came out of the art center today.  We had everything from giant paintings to paper aircraft with boosters made of marker caps!

We had some beautiful journals from PREK2 this week including an “Elephant” and a“fire truck”.  At group today we read “My Brave Year of Firsts” which talked about trying new things that might be scary.  We talked at the end about things we have done that we had to be brave for.

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese.

Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, cantaloupe/kiwi, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM Snack: Cheddar block cheese and pretzels.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh broccoli florets with carrot slices.

Have a great weekend!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos:2024-04-26

Happy Friday!

This morning we engaged with loose parts.  We had a bowl, cup, tongs, dominos and pom-poms.  We worked our fine motor skills to use the tongs or just our hands to pick up the pom-poms and put them into our bowl or cup.

We then headed out to the classroom and engaged with our color blocks.  When they are put together they make a pyramid.  We each took a color to look through at our friend.  Eleanor took hers to the window sill and placed a beanie monkey that fit well inside it and then looked through it.  Eliza used hers to build with.

We then engaged with our shape stackers.  We worked at putting the shapes back onto the stacker.

Our friend Charlotte is working on her walking skills.  It won’t be long before she is running around the classroom like the rest of us.

We then headed outside to draw with chalk outside on the chalkboard and cement, play in the little house and with the construction trucks in the rock area.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh kiwi/banana.

Lunch:  Oven roasted Turkey lunch meat, whole grain wheat bread, fresh pineapple and sweet potatoes.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and Colby-jack block cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Yellow bell peppers.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-04-26

Happy Sunny Thursday!

This morning, Miss Bekah created a road and parking spaces out of  masking tape for our cars. Our friends used their wooden cars to push along the road of tape.

We then made our way to the kitchen to paint with dot markers on coffee filters. They had so much fun pounding the markers on their coffee filter to make vibrant colors.

We went outside to enjoy the sunshine and some of our favorite outdoor activities. We scooped the sand with a shovel or used a truck to dump out the sand. We went down the slide by ourselves and with a friend. Our friends also used a construction vehicle to push rocks and used shovels to scoop up rocks to then pour into buckets.

Breakfast:  Puffins cereal and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with red beans, fresh strawberries, and orange bell peppers.

Afternoon Snack:  Sunflower seeds with whole grain Triscuits crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a terrific evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2024-04-25

Good Afternoon!

We had a wonderful day at the farm!  The weather turned out to be beautiful!  On the way we sang some songs about farm and animals.  When we arrived we spent some time running in the grass because we were so excited!  Ms. Charlotte was out working so she brought out one of the horses.  The  kids got to pet him.  We helped with some farm chores, cleaning out the chicken nesting boxes and adding new clean hay for them.  We found a lovely blue tinted egg while we were working! Next we helped Charlotte move all of her baby chicks to their outdoor space.  What a fun job! 

We ended our trip with a native plant scavenger hunt in the woods!  We found all kinds of native Indiana plants including Mayapple, Prairie Trillium and Spring Beauty.  We can’t wait to go back!

Enjoy a few more pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Chex cereal with banana.

Lunch: Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh pears/strawberries/kiwi, and fresh carrots/broccoli.

PM Snack: Trail mix with peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and raisins.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh carrots and cucumber..

Have a wonderful day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos:2024-04-26

Good Afternoon!

Today we celebrated our friend Milo’s 2nd birthday.  We enjoyed celebrating with you and the yummy applesauce birthday treat you brought to share with us!  Thank you.

The friends then headed into the kitchen to engage with putting pegs on their pegboards.  They enjoyed making birthday candles with the pegs and singing the happy birthday song.

We then engaged in reading books with a friend or having a teacher read to us.

Breakfast:  Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh cucumbers, whole grain wheat English muffins with buttery spread and Organic Apple Banana Applesauce (birthday treat).

Afternoon Snack:  White corn tortilla chips with hummus.

Wee Sprouts:  Yellow bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-04-24

Good Afternoon Everyone!  Just a reminder for older kids, we will plan on going to farm tomorrow as long as the weather is fair.

This morning we brought out the two different kinds of natural slime the older kids made and tested the recipes on the younger kids to see what was the favorite.  Nesta and Hannah asked each of our younger friends who wanted to try the slime to tell them which they liked best.  Hannah and Nesta recorded their answers and found that the “Natural Slime” was favored over the “Chia seed Slime” though both were pretty close.

We also made a list of ways we would describe the slime.  Here is what we came up with: The Slime feels…like applesauce, like eye balls, gooey, chilly, like seaweed, slimy and cold

Later a few of the older kids worked on a slime recipe book project…

PREK2: In group today we talked about how we had helped the older kids test what slime was most fun to play with.  We each picked the one we had enjoyed using the most. It was an even split.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh cantaloupe

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with fresh peppers, cucumbers, orange slices and banana

PM Snack: Air popped corn with raisins

Wee Sprouts: fresh cucumbers and bell peppers

Enjoy the rest of the day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos: 2024-04-24

Good Afternoon!

We continued on the theme of weather and today’s weather turned out to be much different than yesterdays! For PREK1 sign in, children had to share their favorite type of weather along with what activity they could do in that weather or something they could wear.

During sign in, a few children shared that their favorite type of weather was a season. So, in group, we talked about the difference between seasons and weather related words. We came up with a web for each. We started coming up with weather words and eventually, we were able to be off and running! Kids started blurting out weather words left and right. We ended up with quite a full web.

When we were done, we talked about being able to take all of the weather words and group them into seasons. For example, the weather word ‘thunder’ would probably be best suited in the season of ‘summer’.

Science: K.3.5 Describe and give examples of weather changes and illustrate how weather affects people and the environment.

The older kids have been asking to do some slime experiments.  Today the idea was brought up again, so it sounded like today was the day!  We have been collecting some natural slime recipes to try.  This is the first one we tried:

All Natural Slime

2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp psyllium powder

1 tsp corn starch

The older kids helped measure, pour and stir.  This one had to be cooked and cooled in five minute increments so there was a lot of waiting time for the kids.  They found that to be a down side for this type of slime, but the consistency really turned out!

The second slime we experimented with making was this one:

Chia Seed Natural Slime

1 cup water

2 Tbsp chia seeds

soak for 20 minute-overnight

1 cup of corn starch

This one was the most fun because there was no cooking involved and the kids loved how it felt.  It does need some work on consistency which I am sure the kids would be happy to experiment with.  It was very sticky!  We had to soak the chia seeds for 20 minutes, so we got to have a lesson on telling time and counting by fives during our slime experiment!

The work bench has been a very popular area lately.  Pounding the work bench with hammers seems to be the activity of choice for a group of our younger kids.  Based on that interest, we set up a pretend construction activity.  We hammered golf tees into a Styrofoam box with wooded mallets.  Then we used pliers to pull them out.  The kids were at it all morning!

PREK2: In group today we read the “The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm”  At the end of the story we talked about different types of storms.  We decided what kind of storm might be interesting to watch if we could watch from a safe place.

Breakfast– Cheerios with fresh oranges.

Lunch– Peanut butter on whole wheat tortilla/bread, fresh kiwi/cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes/cucumber/pepper.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-04-23

Good rainy afternoon!

This morning we read books with a teacher, played on the Habi-trail with our friends, and looked at the fish in the fish tank.

We made our way to the kitchen with Miss Bekah for a water sensory activity. We were each given a shallow tray with soapy water, a plastic baby doll, a sponge, and a toothbrush to give our babies a bath.

After we finished in the kitchen, we went back out into the classroom to engage in other activities. We built with waffle blocks, Duplos and wooden hollow blocks. We practiced putting a purse on our arm, rocked in the rocking chair with a friend, and danced with silk scarves.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh apple.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat flatbread with refried beans with shredded Colby-Jack cheese, fresh oranges, and carrots.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2024-04-23

Happy Monday!

We kicked off our week by starting to talk about weather! For sign in, PREK1 friends came to the board where they found their name and came up with a word or phrase to describe the weather in their picture!

Later on in PREK1 group, we read, ‘A Child’s Calendar’ which explores every month in the year. It shows imagines and shares stories of what might happen in each month and how weather affects that activities that we can do! A child shared, “We wouldn’t be able to sled today because we don’t have snow on the ground!”.

Science: K.3.5 Describe and give examples of weather changes and illustrate how weather affects people and the environment.

Today we began a seed growing experiment.  Everyone who was interested was able to plant some seeds in a plastic bag to observe as they grow.  We each had to get our paper towel wet so that our seeds would have water.  Next we added two bean seeds and some radish seeds to our wet paper towel.  We put all of that into a clear bag and taped it in the window to observe over the next couple of weeks.  Everyone who wants to will keep a journal to record both drawn and written observations and she seeds grow!

PREK2:  In group today we read “The Tiny Seed”.  After our seed planting experiment earlier today, we thought about what will happen to our seeds as they begin to grow.  In a large drawing on the board, we looked at the different parts of the plant that will emerge from the seeds.  We chose to put our name next to the roots, seed or leaves on the plant.  We also pretended to be a seed.  We stared by curling our bodies into a ball like a seed.  Then we practiced growing tall and spreading our leaves in the sun as slowly as we could, just like a plant grows slowly.

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and fresh oranges.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh watermelon/oranges/strawberries, and fresh cucumber/carrots/broccoli.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with gram crackers

Wee Sprout– Fresh broccoli/carrot/pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-04-22

Happy Earth Day!

This morning several friends were building with the hollow blocks.  Ben even added animals to his structure.

Some of them engaged in going down the slide.

We then all headed into the kitchen to engage with playdough.  We worked on cutting our playdough using playdough scissors, cookie cutters and pizza cutters.

We then headed outside to engage in many of our favorite activities on this bright, sunny morning.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toast with buttery spread and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain penne pasta with red beans, fresh kiwi and red bell peppers.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and watermelon.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell peppers.

Have a marvelous evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2024-04-22