WF, 1/23/2017

Good Afternoon!

**At pickup, please check your child’s cubby to make sure there is one of the following: hats, gloves, snow pants, and boots. There are some children with multiple pieces and we’re trying to clear cubby space. Thank you!

We want to send a big thank you out to Jackson, Max, and their parents for buying two new goldfish over the weekend for our tank. This past week, we had two fish pass away so they were kind enough to ask if they could buy us some new ones. The new fish seemed to adapt fairly well today and enjoyed many, many eyes on them throughout the day!

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The magnatiles were used at various times throughout the morning. Most of the time, it isn’t just the magnatiles that we use to create. Animals, both small and big, along with cars are used to create zoo’s, car shops, and houses. Open ended toys such as these allow for our imaginations to run wild. Children have the opportunity to build whatever they so choose; there is no right or wrong.

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Our floor puzzles have been a hot ticket item with our older kids the last couple of weeks. The big floor puzzles focus on our spatial recognition skills as well as fine motor skills.

We needed to work with our hands early this morning so the moon sand was made available. For quite some time, we were at max capacity with four friends!

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We made it outside! Even though there was no snow, we still got all the way bundled up since it was a little wet. Elijah sat at the top of the log house and commented, “There’s smoke coming out of the roof!” I told him that means our furnace is working!

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A bucket of bird seed was brought out so we could finish our self-made bird feeders. We made these before Christmas break and since we were outside, we finished them up.

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In large group, we read ‘Bella and Stella Come Home’. In the story, Bella and her stuffed animal, Stella, move to a new home. Throughout the story, they find out that just because it’s new, doesn’t mean it is bad.

After the story was done, we talked about rhyming words. Using the title as an example, we looked for rhyming words. Multiple friends popped up, “Bella and Stella rhyme!” After, we discussed what it means to ‘rhyme’. Each friend came up with their own example of rhyming words. Not only were we able to recognize rhyming words when we saw them but we were able to create our own!

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During journal time, friends are showing interest in writing their own words. There are times when they want to ‘teacher spell’ which is where I write it down on a piece of paper and they copy it onto theirs OR we spell it together. While it’s important to spell words correctly, we need to make sure that what we’re teaching is developmentally appropriate. Developmentally, most children hear consonants before vowels. That’s where ‘kid spelling’ comes into play.

As we sound out words, the skill of hearing singular sounds comes to fruition. For example, the word ‘run’. Depending on the developmental level of the child, they may hear the consonants ‘r’ and ‘n’. Eventually, when children are ready, they will hear that ‘u’ and it will be meaningful to them because THEY heard it.

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Breakfast– Cinnamon raisin bagels with butter and banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with chicken and butter, banana, and carrots/cauliflower.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and blueberries.

Wee Sprout– Carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/23

WF, 1/20/2017

Happy Friday!

**Housekeeping note: Please check your child’s cubby as well as their art cubby. If there are any papers/creations, please go ahead and take them home. There is a cubby filled with grocery bags that you are free to use! Thank you!

Also, thank you to everyone for turning in their conference form in a timely manner. We look forward to meeting with each family next month!

We see print all throughout our classroom, whether it’s the names on our cubbies or in different activities that are presented each day.

The welcome activity this morning consisted of a letter guide along with wooden Montessori letters. Children took one red Montessori letter at a time and matched it to the guide that was provided.

Our letter guide is also used during journaling time for children to use as a resource if they want to write about their journal either with teacher assistance or kid spelling.

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

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Lucy and Jackson requested one of the red hearts this morning. In it, they found red hearts numbered to 20. They took out one heart at a time, calling out what number was written on it. After all of the hearts were taken out, they put them in the correct order, starting with 1 and ending with 20.

K.NS.4: Perform one to one correspondence tasks.

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The trio blocks were used all morning long. Various creations were made and Max ended up testing his creation to see if it would stay on the countertop—mission accomplished!

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What a great week we had!

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Breakfast– Rice cakes with cream cheese.

Lunch– Turkey breast and cream cheese tortillas, PPC watermelon/banana, and cherry tomatoes/broccoli.

PM snack– Bananas and cheddar block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Carrots.

Have a fantastic weekend.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/20

WWF 1/20

Today we tried something new and painted with cotton balls. Sophia dragged her cotton balls in lines across the paper and Sonya dabbed hers like a stamp. Ruby made a big swirl in the middle of her paper and said it was a lion and a big gorilla hand!

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A big chunk of our day was spent in the gross motor area. Our friends fill the room with laughter while they run and play together on the habitrail.

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After snack our friends sat and read books alone and together. Then everyone gathered around as Miss Marty read them their favorite teacher books.

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Breakfast was corn flakes and oranges. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with turkey and cream cheese, peas, and watermelon. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6IXRi68B7t3jj-CDg

Enjoy your weekend!

Amanda

WF, 1/19/2017

Good Afternoon!

Various animals were used as props in our play today. Friends lined them up and made up games revolving around their animals.

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An art activity was made available this morning using hearts and various colors of paint. We’re going to decorate the tree branch in our room since we took down our decorations this morning.

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We brought up our Valentines box this morning. On the circle table, we put heart containers as well as red marbles for children to explore. Addi and Jackson sat together and counted out the same amount of marbles to put into each container.

After the containers were full, Jackson created a path around the table for the containers using letters and numbers. When he put one on the table, he called it out (this is a lower case m).

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

K.NS.4: Perform one to one correspondence tasks.

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In large group, we read ‘Elmer’s Special Day’. Elmer was the main character in the story that revolved around a special parade that celebrated Elmer! After the story was over, we talked about all of our names, counting the syllables for each name. Boy, do we have a lot of three syllable names! Smile

On the calendar, there was a half colored in circle on today’s date. After going through the month, day, and date, Jackson noticed the circle. I drew a figure on the chalk board and we talked about how that represents what the moon will look like tonight. If it’s warm enough and not too late, have your child look outside to see if they can see the moon. It’s been a tad cloudy as of late but the group seemed quite interested in how the moon changes day to day.

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During journaling, friends enjoy conversing with one another. Not only is it a great way for children to learn from one another but it allows for personal relationships to grow. While we try to keep the conversations solely on what we’re journaling about, it’s a great time to get to know one another.

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Breakfast– Chex and pears.

Lunch– Organic brown rice with chicken, cucumbers/cherry tomatoes, and PPC grapes.

PM snack– Graham crackers and pepita seeds aka pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– Cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/19

WWF 1/18

Today we played with flubber…

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Played with musical instruments…

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Dressed up…

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Played a silly game of peek-a-boo…

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And hopped, climbed, and crawled in the gross motor area!

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Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was mixed vegetable. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, whole wheat bread, banana, and corn. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sunflower butter.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh59JzObb5XuNI60lAA

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, 1/18/2017

Good Afternoon!

Here are a few pictures from throughout our day.

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In large group, we read a book titled, ‘What The Ladybug Heard’. The storyline involved a ladybug that lived on a farm with many other animals. The difference was that the ladybug never spoke, until she needed to. She saved the cow from being stolen by rallying together the animals to devise a plan to help!

After the story was read, we came up with a list of animals that we remembered from the story. As a group, we sounded out the words, noting most of the consonants we heard. As I wrote out the animals that we recalled from the story, many friends noted, “That’s a lowercase ‘o’.” As I was putting the book away, a friend asked, “Why is the title in all uppercase letters?” We’ve been recognizing the difference between lowercase and uppercase letters throughout our environment today.

After all of the animals were written down, friends started to count out the syllables in each words with any prompting! We found out that almost all of the animal words are one syllable words.

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC red grapes.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with English muffins/tortillas, oranges, and PPC green beans.

PM snack– Blue corn chips with black beans.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers.

Have a lovely night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/18

WF, 01-17-2017

**An important announcement. Please see a teacher for an envelope when you pick up today. The envelope contains a conference form that needs to be filled out and returned by this Friday, January 20th.  Thank you!

This morning at the art table we did a crayon resist painting. We first made a drawing on our paper with a white crayon or another color. We then painted over them and were amazed how crayon made our drawing show through the paint.

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Many friends chose work individual jigsaw puzzles.  Jackson and Maddie tried out a math game together called 4-Way Countdown!

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We turned on some music and friends enjoyed moving their bodies all around. Miss Mindy commented to Tate about his dancing, and Rosemary said, “What about my dancing?” We have a great bunch of dancers at Wee Friends!

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In large group, we read ‘The Day The Crayons Came Home’. We loved the humor in the story. Many parts of the story elicited laughter! The FAB focused on syllables continued to be our focus during group time. After we read our story, we looked at all of the markers in the box and said each color aloud. We came to the conclusion that most colors are only one syllable words! Today, we put our hand under our chin to count syllables with given words.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

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Breakfast: Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal and pears.

Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat bread/tortilla, strawberries and cherry tomatoes.

Afternoon Snack: Whole wheat bagel and cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Cauliflower.

Have a great night!

-Rebekah and Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/17

WWF 1/17

Please note: We are almost out of plastic bags. Any donations would be appreciated!

Today we played with homemade flubber! It’s a mixture of warm water, white glue, borax, and a few drops of food coloring.

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Flubber is thick, rubbery, and a little slimy. Our friends enjoyed poking their fingers in it, pulling it into pieces, and squeezing it in their hands.

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We also discovered that it’s stretchable. A few friends held their flubber above their bowls and watched how far it could stretch before breaking apart. This new sensory activity was a big hit with our friends!

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Breakfast was Kix and bananas. Wee sprout was carrots. Lunch consisted of whole wheat bread with hummus, banana, and carrots. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh54Pw4dZ7gP6GLPqMA

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, 1/16/2017

Good Afternoon!

Important announcement:

Wee Friends will be closed on Friday, February 17th for our spring parent-teacher conference day. 

Since we want this to be a focused time, staff will be available at the WWF house to watch your children while we conference.

· ALL families will conference in the WF house.  We will have 2 conferences running simultaneously.  Therefore it is important that we begin and end on time so the conferences are not interrupted.

· Families with multiple children will have their conferences scheduled back to back if possible.

Please look in your cubbies on this Friday, 1/20 for a packet that contains:  2016 YE Tax Receipts, a conference sign-up sheet, and your 2017 Fall Re-enrollment forms (form and fee due Feb 24th, 2017).  There will be a Pre-Conference form distributed closer to the conferences for parents to guide topics to be discussed during your meeting time.

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Our morning sign in and welcome activity focused around one of our FAB’s for the week:

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

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Lulu, Maddie, and a few other friends worked on a 48 piece floor puzzle this morning. They worked well together, finishing sections of the puzzle at different times. Floor puzzles challenge our spatial awareness as well as our resiliency!

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The art table was turned into a winter wonderland. Friends used various tools and materials to make snowflakes to put around the room. Glue, glitter, and paint were applied to the paper and individual snowflakes.

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We read one of our favorite books today in large group: ‘The Gruffalo’. Before we read the story, we went over syllables and how we recognize them.

We went around the circle and counted syllables for each of our friends names. For example, we said, “Tate” and clapped with the number of sounds we heard which ended up being one. Another way we count syllables is by putting our hand under our chin and saying the word. The number of times our chin moves is the number of syllables in a word.

After we revisited syllables, we read ‘The Gruffalo’. We picked out various words in the story and at the end, we counted how many syllables were in each given word. We made a graph to demonstrate the different amount of syllables we heard. At the end, we counted the number of words in each column, finding out that we had the most two syllable words! (K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.)

When we came to calendar, friends asked what today was since there was writing on today’s date. Martin Luther King Jr.’s name was brought up and most friends had never heard his name before. I discussed how he stood up for what he believed in and helped a lot of people so we celebrate him one day every year! At this age, it’s important to learn the basic understanding of important days as well as people that make up our country’s history.

“If you can’t fly then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl. But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” -MLK Jr.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” –MLK Jr.

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Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and chicken, oranges, and carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and strawberries.

Wee Sprout– Carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/16