WF 4/11/2017

Good Afternoon!

Tonight, Wee Friends is involved in ‘Celebrating the Professional’, previously known the Progressive Dinner. Early childhood professionals and community leaders will be touring three businesses including El Campito, Hope4Kids, and Wee Friends!

I’ve attached a flyer that we’ll hand out to our guests who tour, explaining what Wee Friends is all about. We’re excited for this opportunity and are looking forward to sharing the Wee Way!

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In large group today, we continued on our animal theme by discussing animals that live on the farm. After reading a book focused on the farm, friends came up with a list of animals that they learned about. Plus, we have background knowledge thanks to our farm trips!

K.4.1: Give examples of plants and animals.

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We gathered in the garden where each friend got a clay pot to plant grass seed!

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First, we put potting soil into the pot before adding grass seed to it. We topped it off with a little more potting soil before watering it.

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We placed the pots into the aquarium in the science area so that we can observe them daily. The consensus is that the grass will grow in approximately five days. We’ll have to see if we were close in our estimation!

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We had moth cocoons in the aquarium before placing the pots in there. So, we cleaned it out and explored the moth cocoons that were still present. Lucy found a moth that didn’t quite mature enough and passed it around to her peers.

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We continued to enjoy our new bouncy balls in the backyard environment. There are smaller balls and larger balls to throw and kick!

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Breakfast– Kashi blueberry clusters and kiwi.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat buns, plums, and cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

*The photo album was not cooperating this afternoon. I’ll try and post pictures again tomorrow. Sorry!

WWF 4/11

Wee Friends is one of the sites being toured tonight as part of celebrating the profession of Early Childhood!

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

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Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and banana. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, clementine’s, and peas. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh-sXFQH8LBNY59261Q

Have a good night!

Amanda

WWF 4/10

Today we painted at the table together…

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Danced to music…

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Climbed in the gross motor area…

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And played with stackers!

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Breakfast was whole wheat bagels with butter and strawberries. Wee sprouts was peas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, strawberries, and corn. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and pear.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh-oIlJWiwyieR4j8Lg

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF 4/10/2017

Good Afternoon!

**Just a reminder that we have a short week as we are closed Friday in observation of Good Friday. Thank you!

In large group, we started to tackle the FAB for the week which focuses on animals and plants. We read an informational book pertaining to the rain forest. Throughout the story, we learned about many different animals that live in the rain forest.

We also learned that if the rain forest were to dry up or disappear, so would the animals. A few fun facts we learned:

1. An anaconda is longer than a school bus!

2. A sloth sleeps up in a tree for 15 hours a day.

3. The rhinoceros beetle is named after the rhinoceros because they have similar heads.

Science K.4.1: Give examples of plants and animals.

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Miss Melinda gathered a group at the art table this morning as they re-potted plants from our environment. She also showed them a plant that she brought from home. She informed them that the plant grows towards the sun!

Science K.4.1: Give examples of plants and animals.

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We sang a song to learn the parts of the flower, specifically roots, stem, leaves, and flower! Friends learned what each part does within the flower.

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After we learned about plants, we got our hands dirty! Children used potting soil in new flower pots as we transferred a few plants into their new homes.

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The art easel was open this morning as friends drifted in and out of the space.

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We searched for various living things outside including rollie pollies! Friends grabbed up the bug containers and explored the outside space.

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Breakfast– English muffins with no nut butter and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with marinara sauce and cheese, apples, and green beans.

PM snack– Blackberries with whole milk yogurt.

Wee Sprout– Green beans and carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/10

WWF 4/7

We had a helper in the classroom today! A Wee Friends graduate came for a visit and came over to Wee Wee to play. Our friends showed her all their favorite things to do and gave her many hugs to thank her for spending time with them!

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Breakfast was Kix and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, banana, and peas. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and block cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh-hWlv81qJbtnmcBwQ

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

WWF 4/6

We’ve noticed this week our friends showing a greater interest in baby dolls. They spend time pretending to take care of the dolls, such as rocking, feeding them a bottle, burping them, and comforting them. It’s an activity they enjoy on their own and with their friends.

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Benefits of doll play include:

  • Develops cognitive and motor skills
  • Develops language skills
  • Develops caring and nurturing skills

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

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh-d4sRfIen3p-9KHqA

Have a good night!

Amanda

WF, 4/6/2017

Good Afternoon!

**As a reminder, Wee Friends is closed next Friday, April 14th in observation of Good Friday. Thank you!

This week during journal time, we’ve been focusing on listening to words and hearing specific sounds in those words. A few friends have been working on identifying the ‘th’ blend as well as a couple vowel sounds.

Today, Maddie and Lulu described their journal: “something that you don’t know”. Together, we sounded out all of the words, focusing on the vowel sounds. When we got to the word ‘that’, I asked what the first sound was and Maddie thought for a moment before shouting, “It’s t-h!”.

Kid spelling allows children to learn letters and the sounds they make when they’re developmentally ready for it.

K.RF.4.3: Recognize the long and short sounds for the five major vowels.

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In kindergarten:

Jackson and Addi are continuing to work with plus and minus signs. Today we used them in equations and had to come up with the total or answer. We used stickers as a manipulative to solve the equations. Once we got to the subtraction problems, we re-introduced it by talking about what it means. When you see a subtraction sign, we ‘take away’ from the first number.

This activity allowed us to work on our addition and subtraction as well as our one-to-one correspondence skills by counting the stickers, number recognition, and writing our numbers.

K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g., 5= 2+3 and 5= 4+1).

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Miss Melinda brought in a potato today for friends to taste test. We talked about all of the foods that are made based on potatoes including french fries and mashed potatoes!

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We retrieved some out of date seeds from downstairs. We’re getting ready to compile a list of vegetables we want to grow in the garden within the next month or so. Various seeds were separated into paper cups.

Friends compared the seeds by talking about the size and color.

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We ended the morning by turning on music! Rosemary requested Lion King music and even though we didn’t have the soundtrack to the movie, we found music that resembled the soundtrack. She shared a few ballet moves that she knows and her peers were quick to follow along.

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Breakfast– Cheerios and blackberries.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, carrots/cherry tomatoes, and banana/strawberries.

PM snack– Wheat thins and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprouts– Carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/6

WWF 4/5

Baby dolls were the toy of choice this morning and friends decided they wanted to show the dolls how enjoyable the habitrail is!

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They taught the baby dolls to climb…

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And slide!

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We heard many familiar phrases said to the baby dolls that our friends usually hear from teachers. One that we heard was, “Up so high, baby!” They also offered the dolls wise advice such as, “Hold on tight, baby!” and “Watch out, baby!”

Breakfast was Cheerios and banana. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread, banana, and peas. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and block cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh-cOzKhehTVyQS-09g

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, 4/5/2017

Hello!

**As a reminder, please clean out your child’s cubbie and art cubbie. Thank you! (There are plastic bags available in a spare cubbie)

**Please take home your child’s snow pants as we’ll most likely no longer need them.

Our process art project continued today as we checked to see if our paintings were dry: they were! Children took their painting and carefully pulled the tape off, leaving a design on the paper. Various questions were asked:

“What do we do with the tape now?!”

“Why is there no paint under the tape?”

We talked about the questions that were raised and talked about the steps we took throughout this project.

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Miss Melinda had brought in a homemade game for children to explore! First, the dice is rolled. If the dice is rolled on a ‘2’, then friends went ahead two spots. On that spot, there would be a statement or activity that person had to do. For instance, one of the spots says, “sing a song”.

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We continued our puzzle exploration. It increased when Miss Tami brought us in MORE puzzles! Four ‘Melissa and Doug’ 24 piece wooden puzzles were added to our collection.

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and pears.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, banana, and carrots/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Triscuits with hummus.

Wee Sprout– Carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/5