WF, 10/7/2016

Happy Friday!

Here are a few pictures from throughout the day!

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Breakfast– Rice cakes with cream cheese and kiwi.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat bread, cantaloupe/grapes, and cucumber/cauliflower.

PM snack– Colby Jack block cheese with pretzels.

Wee Sprouts– Cauliflower.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/7

WF, 10/6/2016

Good Afternoon!

**If any families have any grocery bags that they’d like to donate, we’d gladly take them off of your hands! Smile –thanks!

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The art table was buzzing with excitement this morning as the art easel was open as well as various activities occurring at the art table! We received a donation of envelopes that our kids have been using to create with.

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The sensory table was made available upon request. When a child needs to work with their hands, the various materials in the sensory bin are great to do just that!

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Sensory balloons are always an option as well.

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As we headed outside, children noted how dark the skies were. We watched and observed to see if it was going to rain. Thankfully, mother nature allowed us a good amount of outside time.

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..BUT the skies did all of a sudden open up on us so we headed to the housekeeping area where we sat with the door open, listening to the rain. We had a discussion about whether or not the rain is a good thing. We heard the following things:

“The rain helps the plants grow.”

“It feeds the food.”

“It’s good to play in!”

There were many topics that we talked about including how the rain changes form once the weather gets much colder. We discussed how we were watching the rain come from the clouds. But in the winter time, the rain freezes up and that’s when we see snow!

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After the rain discussion wrapped up, children split off into various parts of the house until lunch was ready. A group sat in the science area, continuing the rain talk while looking at a couple of resource books that they found. We had a short music time where we listened to silly songs. We had to listen to the words and follow along! We creeped, tip-toed, and practiced being TALL!

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In kindergarten today, we read a couple of stories in the science area. We used the calendar as a resource. We buffed up our calendar language by connecting day/week/month to our previous knowledge. (K.M.2)

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In large group, we read two stories, ‘If You Give A Moose A Muffin’ and ‘Bumblebee Girl and the Bug Squad’. Not only are we discussing stories after we read them, picking out important events and putting them in order, but we’re also focusing on looking at clues within the story to predict what’s going to happen next. Also, we’re looking for facial cues to figure out how specific characters may be feeling in a given scene. (K.1.4) (K.RL.2.2)

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Breakfast– Kashi’s Blueberry Clusters and pears.

Lunch– Organic, brown rice with cooked broccoli and melted cheese (a new dish..more than half of our friends loved it. That’s all one can ask for right? Smile), banana, and cucumber.

PM snack– Triscuits and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprouts– Cucumbers.

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Have a lovely Thursday evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/6

WF, 10/5/2016

Good Afternoon!

**If any family has any grocery bags that they would like to donate to us, we’d be very appreciative! Smile

Our morning was jammed packed full of activities that children could choose from.

The welcome activity allowed for every child to explore! Rosemary asked, “Is this a big kid game? Can I play?” I told her that it’s suited for all of us. However, the open end-ness of it allows for extensions to be added for our older friends.

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For our younger friends, it allowed them to focus on putting the gems along any given line that was made available, or anywhere really! Addi chose to extend this experience by not only tracing the lines with her gems but adding a pattern to it. After she chose the pattern ‘green, blue, yellow’, she transferred it to a line that she chose.

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Our new play dough was put out at the table where friends could head if they needed a great sensory experience.

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Miss Melinda headed up a music activity this morning where we listened to a variety of Halloween songs. Some songs were slow and scary while some were fast and goofy. We took broom sticks and road around the house as well as stirring our brew! “Yum! Soup!”, said a friend as they stirred their dish.

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One of the songs requested scary faces. This is Rosemary’s interpretation of a scary face Smile.

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with raspberries.

Lunch– Scrambled egg casserole with whole wheat bread, kiwi/strawberries, and cauliflower.

PM snack– Hummus on whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprouts– Peppers.

Have a fabulous night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/5

WF 10/4/2016

Hello!

Journal time was requested this morning before swimmers went off to the Y. After completing a journal, children will either explain their journal using their own words or have a teacher help by dictating their words.

There are many times throughout the day where children request stories be read to them. The amount of print that friends see throughout the day allows them to become aware of letters, sounds, and print in general.

Our goal is to foster children’s love of learning day in and day out. We don’t force a child to do anything as far as curriculum; it should be something that they’re excited, willing, and interested in doing. Doing it this way creates such a stronger bond to the topic and makes it MEAN something to our friends.

Here’s an informational article I found that focuses on reading and writing. There are a few suggestions as how to foster the incredible love that children have for reading, and later on writing.

https://families.naeyc.org/everyday-steps-to-reading-writing

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We made new play dough today. Children pitched in, suggesting what colors we should make the different batches of play dough as well as measuring out the ingredients.

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One batch of play dough was made available at the art table. Maddie offered cookies to teachers and friends!

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In large group, we read ‘Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse’. After the story was finished, we looked back on the story and picked out the most important moment which was when Lilly’s teacher took away her purse in class. She LOVED this purse so we talked about different events that occurred after this moment. We listed them in the order in which they happened. Jackson said, “She was mad because her teacher took her purse. She cried.” So, we discussed how Lilly’s problem was fixed. In unison, children said, “Her teacher gave her purse back to her!” (K.1.4)

Throughout the week, we’re looking at different stories and focusing on pulling out important events that occurred throughout the story and putting them into order.

Everyday in large group, we look at the calendar to see what day of the week it is as well as the month and year. We talked about October specifically and counted to see how many days are in this month. All of the swimmers know that the Tuesday column is the ‘swim column’. We also counted down the days until Halloween.. Smile. (K.M.2)

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Breakfast– Chex and blackberries/raspberries.

Lunch– Refried bean and shredded cheese quesadillas, banana, and cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts– Cherry tomatoes.

Have a terrific night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/4

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We had some silly friends in the habitrail area this morning! I think everyone was happy to see each other after the weekend. They all enjoyed climbing the ladder, standing on the big blocks, going down the slide, and chasing through the habitrail together.

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Then we moved on to stacking the small blocks. Our friends love to build! They like to stack the blocks high, say “big tower!” and then demolish it by knocking it over!

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We also enjoyed our time together outside. Most of our friends started at the slides before moving around the yard to other activities.

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Breakfast was whole wheat bagels with butter and pears. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce, oranges, and peas. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and pears.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhsR0LNqr2ho1P5zeqQ

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, 10/3/2016

Good Afternoon!

The FAB’s for the week are as follows:

K.RL.2.2: With support, retell familiar stories, poems, and nursery rhymes, including key details.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence. (2006 standard)

K.M.2: Understand concepts of time, including: morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, day, week, month, and year. Understand that clocks and calendars are tools that measure time.

The habitrail is one of the most popular areas in the house. This morning, friends moved their bodies throughout the environment.

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Then, we transformed the area into a big arena for children to use different sized cars on the mat. It’s wonderful when we can transfer spaces throughout the house to meet children’s needs at a specific time.

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Play dough was made available this morning at the art table. Our imagination was flowing as there were many different things made. Sometimes, friends just use their fine motor skills to transform the play dough from one state to another.

It’s not JUST play dough..

https://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/playdough-power

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In large group, we continued our ‘Tacky the Penguin’ interest as we read ‘Tacky and the Winter Games’. Throughout the story, Tacky and his friends prepared for the winter games! There were many different activities that were done throughout the story. At the end of the story, we talked about different events that occurred throughout the story that we thought were important. Every child stated an event that they liked or that they thought was of importance. Throughout the week, we’re going to focus on putting these events in chronological order. (K.1.4)

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Volcanoes have been a recent theme for a few of our friends in large group. Today, Maddie and Lulu constructed individual maps of paths leading from a volcano to their home. As they’re drawing, they described what path to take to get to the volcano the quickest. Addi commented, “I don’t live by a volcano.” Children put such thought into their journals that by validating it by explaining/describing the journal at the bottom of the page, it brings the whole process full circle.

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The look of investigation; where our heads are buried in the ground, investing the world around us.

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Hope you had a terrific start to your week!

Breakfast– English muffins with hummus and apples.

Lunch– Pasta bake with melted shredded cheese, applesauce, and mixed vegetables.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with blackberries.

Wee Sprouts– Carrots.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/3

WF, 9/30/2016

Happy Friday!

**Please look in your child’s art cubby for anything that needs to be taken home. Thanks!

It was a jam-packed morning here at Wee Friends, full of;

Stories.

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Play dough experiences at the art table.

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Music time which consisted of listening and following directions.

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Outside time where the innerbase was full of Wee Friends meteorologists as well as the Wee Friends band!

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We hope you had a GREAT end to your week.

Breakfast– Rice cakes with cream cheese and pears.

Lunch– No nut butter on tortillas/whole wheat bread, cantaloupe/banana, and cucumbers.

PM snack– String cheese and goldfish.

Wee Sprouts– Broccoli.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/30