Wee Friends has been invaded by bunnies! Friends have had a blast playing with some of our Easter themed materials we brought up from the basement this week. They’ve been hopping all over habitrail

Our St. Patrick green play dough is also a popular option these days. Today a friend asked, “Can I play play dough? Please?”

Also new this week: the picture frames in the art area have been updated with recent farm pictures! Many times throughout the day children come to look at the photos and point out themselves and their friends. Overheard today—“Look! It’s Jackson!”

Kindergarten: Today the kindergarten students explored patterns and following directions by coloring in a complex design. Each shape was meant to be a different color (e.g. all circles-blue and triangles-red). Friends had to first identify the shape and then decide what color it should be! After completing the design, Elliott counted how many of each shapes there were.

Wee Sprouts: Orange and red bell peppers. Breakfast: Kix and fresh pears. Lunch: Cheesy whole grain brown rice, steamed cauliflower, pears and apples. Snack: Pistachios and pretzels.

Link to the photo album: WF 3/3/2016

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at conferences tomorrow. Please remember to bring your re-enrollment form and fee if applicable. Thank you!

—Jessica

When looking through the pictures of today’s activities, the photos of friends playing and working together cooperatively together stood out. Amongst the pictures of friends creating artwork and reading books, there was 4 year old Jackson building a car garage alongside 2 year old Tate. Along with photos of housekeeping work and pattern making, we saw older preschoolers Daniel and Eren exploring the sand sensory bin with 2 year old Rosemary.

Our multi-age classroom encourages friends of all ages to interact and benefits both our younger and older students. As preschool teacher and educational blogger Teacher Tom puts it, multi-age classrooms are:

…places where younger children have the opportunity to learn from their slightly more advanced classmates, who in turn develop the real self-assurance that only comes from mastery (as opposed to artificial efforts to boost “self-esteem”). They are places where younger children who are ready for greater challenges can take their place beside more mature classmates, while those who need more time to explore concepts can do so without the stigma of being “behind.”

In a multi-age setting children can learn at their developmental level and be part of a true community of learners, regardless of age! Read more about multi-age classrooms at: http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/place-they-are-confident-they-belong.html

Kindergarten: Today our kindergarteners and older preschoolers were invited to the island to continue exploring patterns, this time using tiddlywinks. Friends approached this in a number of different ways. For instance, Elizabeth created a repeating pattern and then a growing pattern (yellow, green, 2 yellow, green, 3 yellow, etc.) Not content with just that, she used markers to record her patterns permanently!

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers and tomatoes. Breakfast: Hot wheat cereal and bananas. Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bagels, green peppers/cucumbers, and fresh fruit salad with bananas, strawberries, and blueberries. Snack: Homemade popcorn with butter and bananas.

Link to the photo album: WF 3/2/2016

Happy Wednesday! –Jessica

What a busy day we had at Wee Wee!

We created colorful art with crayons …

Scooped and poured with birdseed…

And had fun music time with drums!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with refried beans and cheese, oranges, and corn. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with sweet pea butter.

Have a great night!

Amanda

Link to photos:

2/29 http://1drv.ms/1TPB76s

3/1 http://1drv.ms/1TlKr3B

Good Afternoon!

K.CA.5: Create, extend, and give an appropriate rule for simple repeating and growing patterns with numbers and shapes.

Our kindergarten standard today consisted of creating a rule when given a specific pattern. For example, Elliott took 10, 20, etc. and continued the pattern. We talked about how the rule was +10 which allowed Elliott to finish the pattern.

It was all about food today! The breakfast table was quite packed. We’ve been a hungry bunch lately!

A coconut was brought to us yesterday with our purple porch delivery! We investigated it today. Miss Jessica did a little research and shared it with our friends before bringing out the coconut.

We passed it around the island where friends got to shake the coconut to hear the liquid inside!

Miss Jessica poked a hole at the bottom where friends could look inside.

We started shaking it and to our surprise, the liquid started coming out! This brought up the discussion of ‘coconut water’.

A hammer was taken to the coconut to try and break it apart. Boy, are coconuts hard!

Once it came apart, we looked inside at the white part of the coconut.

Some of our older friends took turns trying to make the pieces of the coconut smaller so that we could get the white part out to eat!

Here were our results:

Friends were NOT fans of the coconut water however..

We were so glad to be able to stay inside our warm house today! We’re just looking forward to next weeks forecast and hope it doesn’t change!

Wee Sprouts– cherry tomatoes.

Breakfast– Kashi’s Blueberry Clusters

Lunch– Whole wheat english muffins with hummus, grapes/oranges, and broccoli.

PM snack– Toasted whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Have a great night! Stay safe and warm!

-Mindy

Link to Wee Friends pictures: WF 3/1

Today we realized that our current batch of Halloween play dough was getting a little dry and we decided to whip up a new batch. Friends gathered around the island to help measure the ingredients and stir. They chose green as the color because “it’s almost St. Patrick’s Day!”

The way the green food coloring interacted with the water and salt was very intriguing!

Other friends spent the day working on their “stages,” works of art complete with curtains, a variety of shapes and characters that can move around the stage. Lots of thought went into the details of these projects!

We also spent some time outside today. It was great to run around and get some fresh air.

Some friends went for a walk around the circle with Miss Jessica. When Rosemary asked to join, Luke immediately offered her his hand! Love seeing friends naturally include each other without any teacher prompting

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole grain bread with butter and plums. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with turkey, pea pods, cucumbers and bananas. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt with fresh blueberries from the Purple Porch!

Link to the photo album: WF 2/29/2016

Happy Monday! –Jessica

Please note: Parent teacher conferences are one week from today.

Also, we are running low on plastic bags. If you have any extra, we would appreciate them!

Ruby and Franklin played with the pegs and soft boards together today. They enjoyed sticking the pegs together. Ruby worked very hard on making a tower.

This afternoon, our friends read all of their favorite stories. We also sang all the songs we like. Our newest favorite is Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Then, Anna wanted to relax, so she gathered all the pillows in a pile and laid down. Emma and David thought she looked comfy and decided to join her!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with cheese and refried beans, mixed vegetables, and blueberries. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and string cheese.

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

Link to photos: http://1drv.ms/1WOVik2

*Reminder: Next Friday, March 4th Wee Friends will be closed for parent teacher conferences. Re-enrollment forms and fee are due that day. Thank you!

Today we parked cars in the barn and built homes for animals out of magna-tiles:

We completed LOTS of puzzles and worked on projects at the art table:

We explored the feel of moon sand between our fingers and painted at the easel:

And we tasted some juicy grapefruit!

Wee Sprouts: Green bell pepper. Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and plums. Lunch: Whole wheat tortillas with cheddar cheese and refried beans, carrots, kiwi, grapes and pears. Snack: Whole grain Goldfish and cheddar block cheese.

Link to the photo album: WF 2/26/2016

Enjoy your weekend! –Jessica

We played with water today! The sinks were filled with water, soap was added for bubbles, and a few different objects were placed in for scooping and pouring.

Our friends had lots of fun splashing their hands in the water! They refilled their cups over and over just to pour them back out. Anna took two bowls and passed water back and forth between them. Emma and Ruby both filled their cups and taste tested the soapy water, and neither seemed to mind it!

Sponges were added to show how they absorb the water. Anna squeezed hers and was excited when bubbles came out. David used his to scrub the bowls!

Breakfast was whole grain oatmeal and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flatbread with eggs, blueberries, and peas. Afternoon snack was pretzels and string cheese.

Have a great night!

Amanda

Link to photos: http://1drv.ms/1XNpQUq

Despite the wintery mix outside, we were warm and cozy inside Wee Friends. We have been BUSY today! The other day we exchanged stuffed animals and skirts for new ones from the basement. Friends have had a blast exploring these new-to-them materials. The iguanas and koala are popular choices for friends’ imaginary play.

Back in habitrail, some friends created a maze out of plastic and wood blocks. They needed the steps to avoid stepping on the hot lava—”We can’t touch the lava, guys!”

Today friends also had the opportunity to explore our dried corn and bean sensory bin. There was lots of scooping, pouring, sorting and mixing going on!

Kindergarten: To expand upon the work that our kindergarteners naturally do each and every day, we sometimes have friends complete a habitrail log. In this journal they draw a picture of their work and write about it. Today Elizabeth and Addi made the sun, Earth, Mars and Pluto out of trio blocks, as well as some vehicles. Below, you can see Elizabeth’s detailed drawing of one of her cars. At first she was concerned about how to make the wheels a perfect circle, until she decided to trace bottle caps!

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods. Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with fresh plums. Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat tortillas, cucumbers, apples and strawberries. Snack: Multigrain tortilla chips and refried beans.

Link to the photo album: WF 2/24/16

Please stay safe driving tonight! –Jessica

Our friends played with the rice and birdseed mixture in the kitchen this morning. It’s a sensory activity they really enjoy. Emma first ran her hand through the mixture to experience how it felt. Then she used the cups and spoons in the bin and started scooping and pouring!

Afterwards, we bundled up and went outside! Our favorite thing out there today was going down the slide, but climbing on the log house was a close second for Anna!

While the older friends were napping, Ruby, Maggie, and Franklin were having fun together!

Breakfast was Corn Chex and kiwi. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flat bread with mozzarella cheese, blueberries, strawberries, and carrots. Afternoon snack was crackers with sweet pea butter.

Have a great night!

Amanda

Link to photos: http://1drv.ms/1QalyS7