WF, 8/11/2017

Good Afternoon!

**Solar Eclipse update: On Monday, August 21st, we’ll have the opportunity to witness a Solar Eclipse! We’ve decided to do an activity with only our large group friends who are four and five years old. Given that there is a health risk to looking at the sun without protective eye wear, we’ve decided to have just our four and five year old friends participate. When the Solar Eclipse is happening, we will stay inside instead of going outside in the morning/afternoon time. Children in large group will investigate what a Solar Eclipse is before hand and do a developmentally appropriate lesson afterwards. As the Solar Eclipse is an abstract event, we thought this was the best/safest route to go! Thanks for everyone’s cooperation! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

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Here are a few pictures from our day!

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Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios and PPC pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat flatbread with shredded cheese, oranges/apples, and cherry tomatoes/roasted zucchini (from our garden) chips.

PM snack– Pretzels, string cheese, and a special birthday treat from Mack next door at WWF! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MACK!)

Wee Sprout– Cherry tomatoes and peppers from PPC!

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

WF, 8/10/2017

Good Afternoon!

Here are a few pictures from our day!

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Breakfast– A choice of cereal; Kix or Cranberry Almond Crunch along with PPC grapes.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, banana, and PPC cucumber.

PM snack– Graham crackers and sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout– Carrots.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/10

WWF 8/10

It was a beautiful morning for all our favorite outside activities: sand, slides, bikes, and teeter-totters! They’re made even more fun when our big kid friends join us.

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Miss Tami surprised us this afternoon with new books. Our friends were excited to look through them. We can already tell that a few of them are going to be new favorites.

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Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with chicken, corn, and banana. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and hummus.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliMUAJacPYrrMYq5OkQ

Have a good night!

Amanda

WWF 8/9

We spent our morning outside bug hunting! Our friends left no stone unturned in their search for creepy crawlies. The hunt was a success and they proudly showed off the bugs they found!

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Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and strawberries. Wee sprout was mixed veggies. Lunch consisted of whole wheat bagel with butter, farm fresh eggs, peaches, and corn. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliMQnr6cwgarxx673Xw

Have a good night!

Amanda

WF, 8/9/2017

Good Afternoon!

We have seen our fair share of transitions lately; vacations, siblings going back to school, friends leaving, new friends in the environment, and a soon to be new teacher. What does this mean? This means that our routine hasn’t been so ‘routine’ lately. While some deal with transitions well, some of us have difficulty with change (yes, teachers too!).

What’s our role in this?—As teachers, our obligation is to make sure that children are getting what they NEED; a hug, one on one time, reassurance..just to name a few. Change can be hard on anyone so sticking together and forming great relationships is crucial!

Throughout the day, we have conversations with children to prepare them for something out of the ordinary; a grandparent picking up or being at school a little longer than usual. I’ve attached an article from Penn State that offers an explanation of transitions and how it can affect young children; more importantly, what we can do to help!

http://extension.psu.edu/youth/betterkidcare/early-care/our-resources/tip-pages/tips/understanding-transitions

Many speak of opportunities- “When one door closes, another one opens.” But rarely about the hallway. The transition. The in between where you are and where you are headed. The hallway doesn’t have to be a scary, dark, endless confusion- it can be a space of massive transformation, great memories, and peace.’

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Here are a few pictures from our day!

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC cantaloupe.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread, PPC strawberries/cantaloupe, and fresh garden tomatoes/cucumbers.

PM snack– Hummus and wheat thins.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/9

WF, 08-08-2017

Good Afternoon!

In large group, we read ‘Me First’ which focused on the main character ‘Pinkerton’ always wanting to be first. Before we read the story, we observed the front cover which had Pinkerton in the front of a school bus with his friends. We brainstormed different scenarios in where Pinkerton would want to be first. Based on the cover and our background knowledge, we came up with the following list. Throughout the story, a couple of our educated guesses came true!

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This morning we made a new batch of playdough. Some friends chose to help. They were able to follow a recipe, measure and add the ingredients and mix and knead the dough. We really enjoyed playing with the fresh playdough!

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Jackson asked for an experiment.  Miss Melinda had purchased some water wheels. We were able to experiment with them by pouring the water down to see how they move.

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When it was time go outside to enjoy the beautiful day, we built in the sandbox, climbed the log house, rode the teeter totter and enjoyed a kale snack from the garden!

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The 2 sets of brothers even sat down on the bench to take a picture together.

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Breakfast: Corn Chex cereal and strawberries.

Lunch:  Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, PPC peaches and PPC cherry tomatoes.

Afternoon Snack:  Toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and a mozzarella string cheese stick.

Wee Sprouts:  Cherry tomatoes.

Have a great night!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliMI-xqif2uZ6J5j_GA

WF, 8/7/2017

Good Afternoon!

**FIRST REMINDER: Wee Friends will be closed Monday, September 4th in observance of Labor Day. Thanks!

In large group, we read “It Wasn’t My Fault” which focused around the main character Murdley who ended up with an egg on his head! In the story, an investigation lead into why the egg landed there. After we read the story, we made a web full of events from throughout the story that lead up to Murdley using the egg that was on his head for..scrambled eggs!

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The light table was made available in the science room this morning. We used various manipulatives on the light table starting with shells!

Not only did we put the shells up to our ears to see if we could hear the ocean but many descriptive words were used to describe the shells including: bumpy, smooth, prickly, and dark.

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Lulu requested another manipulative so the plastic shapes were brought out. Using various shapes including square, triangle, and rectangle, Lulu made creations including a house! We discussed the similarities and differences in each shape including the color and sides that we saw.

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Finally, small plastic shapes were requested which allowed Lucy the opportunity to sort all of the shapes by a specific characteristic! Using her grit and determination, Lucy sorted all of the shapes by color! She had to start over a couple of times but nothing deterred her from her end goal.

Once she had all of the shapes sorted, we used the words ‘more’ and ‘less’ to describe the groups that we saw in front of us.

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The rest of our morning included sensory play dough at the art table. Using hammers, cookie cutters, and rolling pins, children transformed the play dough to their liking.

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Daniel and David caught a mouse at their house this morning so they brought it in to share before their mom released it in a park. We used our sense of sight to observe what the mouse was doing. We heard the following insights:

“It’s trying to get out!”

“There’s food in there.”

“I think it’s the daddy mouse.”

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We hope you have a great rest of your day!

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Breakfast– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and shredded chicken, PPC cantaloupe, and fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with PPC grapes.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/7