Good Afternoon!

There were many opportunities for building this morning. The yellow tracks along with the wooden train tracks were used to create complex tracks.

Miss Melinda read the ‘Take Me Out Of The Bathtub’ book this morning. It had many different silly songs that went along with popular song melodies such as Take Me Out To The Ballgame, London Bridges, and Twinkle Twinkle. Miss Melinda hummed the melody and had children guess what the song was! We have good listening ears!

We headed outside where we were welcomed by a beautiful morning! There’s some construction going on in the alley so that got us all kinds of excited!

In large group, we continued our text genre exploration as we hit fairytales today. (K.RL.3.1)

“What are fairytales?”

-“They are made up!”

-“They talk about people that aren’t real.”

-“I want to read the story about the beast!”

So..we read ‘Beauty and the Beast’. As a group, we looked at certain phrases that we see in fairytales such as, “Once Upon A Time” and “…happily ever after”. After we read the story, a friend said, “Can we read another story like that? I like those people.”

In kindergarten this afternoon:

We got out the light table and observed the different characteristics of plastic shapes. First, we compared different shapes to see which shape was bigger or smaller. The activity turned into a shape formation where Jackson and Addi took shapes and made a different shape! Jackson took two triangles and said, “Look! I made a diamond.” Jackson took two squares and two triangles that were different in size and explained which shapes were bigger by putting the shapes right up next to one another. (K.DA.1)

I took several shapes and put them in my left hand while my right hand had nothing. I asked which hand had all of the shapes and they tapped my left hand. I then asked which hand had nothing and I got two right hand high fives! (K.NS.9)

Addi took all of her shapes that we had categorized by color and started to build a symmetrical design.

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and peaches.

Lunch– Turkey and cream cheese on tortillas, strawberries, and cucumbers.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts– Cucumbers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/20

Enjoy the pictures from last Friday and today!

Breakfast was whole wheat bagels with butter and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with shredded chicken, oranges, and corn. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and pears.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhrNWbobGF_Y80sWOAA

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

We started off our Monday by conducting an experiment at the art table using water colors and cardboard. Jackson requested using droppers so using the droppers, friends conducted an experiment looking to see if the cardboard would soak up the water colors. The conclusion was that the water colors do NOT soak into the cardboard.

Miss Melinda took the cardboard over to the sink to see what would happen when she tipped it upright. The water colors slipped right off the cardboard. So, we tried different forms of writing surfaces!

The play dough that we used Friday for our volcano was put out at the table to see if it felt any differently. Children used their hands to form the play dough in different ways while also using utensils.

Friends were quite affectionate outside this morning.

In kindergarten:

This week, we’re focusing on the following FAB’s:

K.RL.3.1: Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g. fiction, nonfiction, fairy tales, poems).

K.NS.9: Use correctly the words for comparison including: one and many; none, some and all; more and less; most and least; and equal to, more than and less than.

K.DA.1: Identify, sort, and classify objects by size, number and other attributes. Identify objects that do not belong to a particular group and explain the reasoning used.

We used the Montessori beads to compare and contrast this morning. At first, we took two beads and compared them, using the terms, more and less and equal to. For example, we took the green square bead containing four beads along with the yellow square bead that has sixteen beads. I asked which one has more, to which their answer was the yellow! (K.NS.9)

I asked Jackson and Addi to get two square beads that were equal to one another. Jackson held up two blue square beads while Addi got two purple square beads. (K.NS.9)

The activity took a turn when Addi and Jackson started building a tower, going from biggest on the bottom to the smallest on the top. I asked how they built their tower and Addi responded, “I just started with the biggest”.

We also built our own groups. I took four blue squares and added one purple. I asked Jackson and Addi what one DOESN’T fit in the the group. They both pointed to the purple and I asked why. Here’s what I heard: (K.DA.1)

“It doesn’t match the blue.”

“It’s too small.”

They took the initiative to put the beads away by putting one color away at a time! They both noticed that the beads are categorized by size.

In large group this week, we’re going to be learning about different kinds of narrative text genres. Today, we focused on poetry! I got out two books, ‘A Light In The Attic’ and ‘It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles’ and right away as I was taking them up to the large group area, Jackson shouted, “Hey! We’re reading poetry today!”

Each child got a turn to pick one poem out of each book! There was a mixture of funny poems and serious poems. We filled in our text genre chart by adding the poetry books that we read today! (K.RL.3.1)

Breakfast– Whole wheat bagel with sunflower butter and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and chicken, oranges, and broccoli/cauliflower.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with blueberries.

Wee Sprouts– Green beans and carrots.

We hope you had a great day!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/19

Happy Friday!

A few friends joined me at the island this morning where they helped me make sensory balls. We took balloons and sand and created our own sensory balloons. Friends took turns using different colored balloons to see if they felt any differently. Lucy commented, “I could do this forever!”

We continued with the sensory theme as play dough was made available at the art table. Different tools were used to create items like pizza, cookies, and fruit!

It was nail day! The one thing that friends equate with PJ day..painting of the nails. Friends LOVE to pick out their own colors. Some children pick just one or two colors while others want rainbow finger nails! I even had a request from Max to paint his toenails!

While friends were taking turns at the nail salon, Miss Melinda started a science experiment at the table. Using the play dough we were using, we created a volcano like looking structure. Using vinegar and baking soda, we sat and waited to see what would happen. Giggles and laughter could be heard throughout the entire house as fizzy, bubbling liquid came from the top of the volcano.

A friend suggested we make different colors so a red volcano was seen erupting in the Wee Friends art area!

The last science experiment of the morning was dissecting a HUGE cucumber that we retrieved from our backyard. It was too big too eat (too many seeds) so we decided to dive head first into the cucumber and see what it was made out of.

Before heading outside, our older friends constructed a runway for our fashion show. Going from youngest to oldest, each child had a turn to come up and display their pajamas along with their nail color choice!

In large group, we wrapped up our author study by reading two stories by the one and only Eric Carle. I chose two books that we don’t read as often. ‘Pancakes, Pancakes!’ along with ‘The Very Lonely Firefly’ were quite funny and kept our attention. We made a list of all of the different toppings that could go on our pancakes! Maddie said, “Hey! We could put peanut butter, jelly, banana, and honey!”—that would be QUITE interesting, huh?

Breakfast– Rice cakes with cream cheese and cantaloupe.

Lunch– Organic, brown rice with chicken, apples, and cauliflower.

PM snack– Goldfish and pears.

Wee Sprouts– Cauliflower.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

 Link to pictures: WF 9/16

Today our friends built skyscrapers in the sandbox…

Tested their skills on the big kid bikes…

Read stories on their own and to each other…

And spent some fun, silly time on the slide!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of tortilla with hummus, pears, and peas. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhrFLqT6MIab65nKB1g

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

We had many sensory activities available this morning including:

Art easel.

Sensory table with a corn mixture.

Play dough at the art table.

While we were getting our hands wet in the sensory activities, Jackson held a UNO game at the circle table.

In large group, we are almost at the end of our author study. Today, we dove into two Laura Numeroff stories, ‘If You Give A Dog A Donut’ and ‘What Daddies/Mommies Do Best’. Even though the two stories were written by the same author, each story had a different illustrator. The story, ‘What Daddies Do Best’ was a two for one! On the other side, we read ‘What Mommies Do Best’.

We’re focusing on the cover of the stories that we read. When I got out ‘If You Give A Dog A Donut’, children looked at the cover and guesstimated what we would be reading.

It was a lovely Thursday.

Breakfast– Corn chex and grapes.

Lunch– Hummus on flatbread, cantaloupe, and cherry tomatoes/cucumbers.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts– Carrots.

Have a great night. See you tomorrow for PAJAMA day!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/15

Happy birthday to Emma! She turned two years old today! You’ve grown so much, Emma!

Enjoy the photos!

Breakfast was Kix with grapes. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, apples, and mixed veggies. Afternoon snack was homemade chocolate zucchini bread brought in my Emma as a birthday treat!

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhrAvuZbmfv4jNvRAvA

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

*Reminder: PJ Day on Friday!!

Our welcome activity drew a few friends in this morning. Lucy sat at the table, manipulating the rubber bands. Together, we made various shapes and counted the sides of each shape. She held up her board and said, “This is like a line!”

Once we got outside, friends freely ran throughout the backyard environment. It’s always lovely to release some of our morning energy!

In large group, we continued with our author study as we introduced Robert Munsch stories (he really doesn’t need an introduction with this group). We read Thomas’ snowsuit first. There is one particular page where the teacher and principal switch outfits! Before I read the words on the page, I asked the group what they thought the words were going to say based on the picture. They were right on with the description! We continued this trend throughout the story, trying to guestimate what the words were going to say by looking at the picture.

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationships between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

Addi focused on her letters during journaling time while Maddie asked if she could write her words by herself. We used the letter sheet and she completed the sentence on her journal.

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and cinnamon with pears/strawberries.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs, banana, and cauliflower.

PM snack– Popcorn and grapes.

Wee Sprouts– Green beans/cucumber.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF, 914

Good Afternoon!

**The farm is still OFF for this week. Reports are that the mosquitos are still quite a bother down at the farm. Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to go in the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep everyone up to date!

The welcome activity for today was a shape activity where children spun the spinner and put the correlating shape on their board! Rosemary sat with Miss Melinda as they played the game together. “Look! I rolled on the triangle!” said Rosemary as she put the piece on her board.

Meanwhile, a variety of ramps were made in the habitrail area. Different wooden blocks were used as many angles were tested using cars and little people.

When the swimmers went off to the Y, the rest of us went outside where it was smiles galore!

Swim report: It was a great swim session! Here were some of the comments that we heard..

“I got to go on a boat and swim with the noodle!”

“I jumped off the diving board into the deep end.”

“I put my head all the way under the water!”

“I used a rainbow colored noodle.”

In large group, we added another author to our author study! Today, we read ‘Bear Wants More’ and ‘Bear Feels Sick’. We looked over both stories and found out that Karma Wilson wrote the story, making her the author and Jane Chapman did the illustrations meaning that she drew the pictures. On each page, we looked at how the illustrations correlated with the words that were written on the page.

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.

 

Our journaling time today allowed for friends to express themselves and relay what they were thinking at that moment!

In kindergarten:

This afternoon, Jackson and Addi created different shapes. After making the shapes, we used words such as sides and vertices (corners). As we made the shapes, we counted the long magnetic shapes as the sides and the magnetic balls as the vertices.

Two different sized triangles were made. After Addi made the first triangle, she proceeded to make a bigger triangle with longer sides. When asked what the shape was, she and Jackson were a little hesitant. This brought up the conversation of even though the triangles don’t look the SAME, they are still triangles. A triangle is a shape with three sides and three vertices. We put them up against each other to see the similarities and differences.

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).

After we made several shapes, the activity took a different turn.

Addi commented, “I’m going to make a pattern. Jackson offered to help and with great teamwork, they made two pattern strings!

Breakfast– Kix and blueberries.

Lunch– Shredded cheese and refried beans on tortillas, strawberries, and cucumbers/peppers.

PM snack– Sunflower seeds and pretzels.

Wee Sprouts– Cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/13

We spent some time at our new sensory table this morning, built by Miss Tami! It’s the perfect height for our friends to dive in hands first!

Our friends were absorbed in scooping up birdseed, making piles on the ledge, pouring, grabbing handfuls, and running theirs hands through the seeds and rice.

Thank you, Miss Tami!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with refried beans and cheese, peas, and strawberries. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhq51GdR_RGSRj40FMw

Have a good night!

Amanda