This week begins a new set of FABs. One of our focuses is 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). This morning we played a game involving shapes that gave us an opportunity to talk about different shapes and their properties.

While not every friend participated in the game in the same way (such as spinning the spinner), everyone had a chance to hold, match and investigate many shapes.

Later, our younger friends were invited to the table to complete a journal page. We talked about the process of creating a journal: drawing a picture, writing about your drawing, putting a sticker and date stamp on your page and then putting it in your binder. This multi-step process is a lot for our younger friends to learn, so it requries much practice and patience.

The scribbles and lines our young toddlers do on their journals may seem inconsequential, but it is actually the first step towards writing and completely developmentally appropriate!

Kindergarten: Part of today’s kindergarten work included a prompt to write and draw about what they did this weekend. This work provided Elliott and Elizabeth with a chance to not only express themselves, but also practice kid-spelling. Each kindergartner focused on different things according to what they needed to work on. For example, Elizabeth and Jessica talked about capitalizing the first letter of a sentence, spacing and ending punctuation. She made valentines this weekend!

Today the weather finally cooperated and we were able to go outside. Friends were a BIG help with shoveling all the snow in the backyard. The new child-size snow shovels Tami bought were the perfect size for the Wee Friends!

The snowy slide was also very slippery (to friends’ delight).

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter and fresh pears. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with red beans, fresh cauliflower, grapes and raspberries. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and granola.

Link to the photo album: WF 1/25/2016

Have a wonderful day! –Jessica

Ruby was looking out one of the habitrail windows and saw something outside that interested her. She started pointing at it, which made Anna and David curious. They joined her at the window and pointed at it, too! We’re not sure what caught their attention, but it must have been impressive!

A lot of fun happened in the gross motor area today. Anna made a long train track, Maggie went down the slide on her belly, Franklin played peek-a-boo in the tunnel, and Ruby made herself a teeter totter out of a soft star!

Breakfast was corn flakes and apples. Lunch consisted of rice with cheese and chicken, pears, and peas. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and string cheese.

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

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

This morning started off with some sensory exploration: play dough! Friends made a variety of creations, from people and pie to hearts and cookies. Play dough is an excellent open-ended material for learning because it can be used in so many different ways.

Magna-tiles were a popular option as friends built both towers and garage-type structures for cars. The square tiles are definitely a hot commodity right now.

Other friends worked the alphabet blocks and wooden blocks. Here we see how blocks allow children to use their imagination and creativity. There is no “correct” way to play with blocks, as they can be used in an almost infinite amount of ways! We really get to see the WFers ingenunity when the blocks are out.

Today Melinda also led friends in a game: Mystery Box. She put a secret object in the box and friends took turns reaching in and trying to guess what the object is. This game challenges children’s critical thinking skills and helps them connect their sense of touch to their other senses. It also helps us practice taking turns!

Kindergarten: Today’s kindergarten work was presented to our older friends during large group—it was Poetry Day! Every child had a chance to pick out a poem from Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic. After carefully listening to the poem, we picked out the rhyming words pairs we heard. Many rhyming words were quite funny to friends, such as the combo belly/jelly. Before we ended large group we had to read our favorite poem from this collection, “The Babysitter”. It’s all about a babysitter who thinks it is her job to SIT on the BABY!

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods. Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh pears. Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with chicken and cheddar cheese, tomatoes/carrots and bananas/oranges. Snack: Mozzarella cheese sticks and wheat crackers.

Link to the photo album: WF 1/22/2016

Have a wonderful weekend! –Jessica

Hi, everyone! Enjoy going through the photos from our day!

Breakfast was bagels with cream cheese and apples. Lunch consisted of bread with hummus, apples, and corn. Afternoon snack was pretzels with string cheese.

Have a good night!

Amanda

Link to photos: http://1drv.ms/23hGOyu

Happy Thursday!

It was one of those, active/learning/non-stop type of mornings. (Our favorite kind!)

We’ve been extremely interested in puzzles lately. Friends are always challenging themselves to attempt to complete puzzles that are slightly above their developmental level. Asking a friend to do a puzzle is always a good option too!

A few friends helped Miss Melinda do a project this morning where we took care of markers that were ‘a little past their prime’. Using the specific jars for each color, friends began to sort the markers by color.

Elliott and Jackson headed to the work bench where they worked to get the inside of the markers out so we could place them in the correct jar.

Maddie asked for the category game this morning. A few interesting conversations started throughout the game. Here’s an example:

Teacher: “So where does this snowflake go? ‘Household items’ right?”

Group: “No!! It goes in ‘cold things’!”

Teacher: “Do we have any snowflakes around us?”

Child: “Yes! There’s about two thousand snowflakes outside.”

Mmm. Interesting . If only we could count the snowflakes!

The habitrail came in handy today as we were itching to go outside but it was just a LITTLE too cold. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

“Can you take a picture of my work?”—Friends are aware of the learning and amazing work they do throughout the day.

Wee Sprouts– Peppers.

Breakfast– Cheerios and oranges.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat bread, oranges, and broccoli.

PM Snack– Peanuts and graham crackers.

“Let’s eat some broccoli so we can be big and strong!”—Oh, the things they say .

Have a great night!

Link to pictures: WF 1/21

Today at Wee Wee, we had phone calls…

Pillow creations…

And happy smiles!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and kiwi. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, bananas, blueberries, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and cheese.

Have a great night!

Amanda

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

Anna and David showed much enthusiasm when going into the kitchen this morning to play with the rice and birdseed. David loved using the big spoon to scoop up the birdseed and pour it into a bowl.

There was lots of laughter and silliness when our friends played on the habitrail this afernoon. They started to clap and cheer for each other as they went down the slide, which put a big smile on everyone’s face. 

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with cheddar cheese and refried beans, grapes, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Have a great night!

Amanda

Link to photos: http://1drv.ms/1Nj2z59

Good Afternoon!

Our morning focused around shapes!

It started with our sign in board where children were asked to identify the given shape.

Friends went to the table where a shape activity was ready to go! Using wooden blocks, kids paired the the wooden shape to the shape on the paper.

Shapes were prevalent throughout the morning in our activities that we participated in.

We noticed squares when the magnatiles were brought out.

Daniel and Clara built different creations with the trio blocks. They also incorporated the use of color into their activity.

A group of friends worked at the table to construct a design made with chips. They created a ‘chip town’. Within the town, they built a museum, hotel, playground, and a swimming pool.

Wee Sprouts– Broccoli.

Breakfast– Kashi’s Cinnamon Harvest and blackberries.

Lunch– Cheese and refried beans quesadillas, broccoli/peppers, and oranges/red grapes.

PM snack– Cottage cheese and blueberries.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/19

The soft stars were Anna’s favorite today! She used the blue one as a chair and the green one as a car. She sat on it and said, “I’m driving!”

This afternoon, we got our variety of stackers down. They enjoyed looking through the transparent blocks, making towers, and stacking in different combinations!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with shredded chicken, pears, and broccoli. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and crackers.

Have a good night!

Amanda

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

Today we have been warm and cozy inside Wee Friends! This morning there was lots of collaboration building a “house boat” with the trio blocks, while other friends created a house out of the wooden blocks.

Kindergarten: Today’s kindergarten activity was based upon K.RF.3.1: Identify and produce rhyming words—we played Rhyming Bingo! Every child received a unique bingo board. A teacher called out a word (like sing) and friends had to find the matching picture of a word that rhymed (like ring). Our kindergartners were very adept at figuring out the rhyming words!

Of course, other friends were welcome to join in. Once they knew what the rhyming word was, friends eagerly looked for the picture on their bingo board. There was lots of working together throughout the game. We played two different variations: until someone gets BINGO and filling the entire board!

One of our math FABs this week is all about SHAPES! During large group today we talked about different 3D shapes such as a sphere, cylinder and cube. Friends matched everyday objects with their shape. This type of shape work will continue throughout the week.

 

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole grain bread with no-nut butter and bananas. Lunch: Whole grain pasta with chicken, broccoli and pears. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and bananas.

Link to the photo album: WF 1/18/2016

Stay warm! –Jessica