Today started off with a sensory bin we hadn’t gotten out in a while: the light table! Friends created flowers and other shapes, looked at what happened when different colors were mixed together, sorted shapes by color and made stacks.

Our new friends had another great day exploring Wee Friends and all the different play areas/toys/tools/materials we have.

Jackson received a lesson on how to safely use the workbench tools. Afterwards he got right to work!

Bikes and “having a race” were very popular options today:

Have a great day!–Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: Kashi’s Cinnamon Harvest cereal with fresh pears. Lunch: Whole wheat bread with hummus, tomatoes/green beans and fresh apples/cantaloupe. Snack: Toasted whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Kindergarten: Today we worked on creating patterns with the tiddly winks and light table [ABAB, ABBABB, ABCC, etc.] Elliott and Elizabeth chose which colors they wanted to work with and then recorded the patterns they made in their math binders.

Happy Friday!

Rosemary took good care of a baby doll and played with finger puppets.

Ruby and Rosemary played with the pegs together.

Ruby had fun with blocks and trains!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, bananas, and cauliflower. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and cheddar cheese.

Enjoy your weekend!

Amanda

Today we welcome three new children to Wee Friends: Jackson, Maxwell and Addison!

Brothers Jackson and Maxwell spent the day exploring all of the interesting materials we have at Wee Friends: the magnetic building balls/blocks, the sandbox and their favorite area so far, the workbench!

Addison also enjoyed the day getting to know friends through play, completing puzzles and drawing a calendar.

Welcome Jackson, Max and Addi! We are so happy to have you here and can’t wait to get to know you each more.

In another exciting note, today was the first day of kindergarten for our kindergarten students, Elizabeth and Elliott!

We are so excited to have these two friends as leaders in our classroom!

This morning friends met on the music rug to introduce our new friends to our daily routine. Friends eagerly shared everything that we do, from signing in and playing to taking a nap and eating snack.

Jackson and Maxwell also shared some pictures of their family with the class!

It’s been a great Monday here at Wee Friends! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and fresh plums. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with chicken, mixed vegetables and fresh plums/oranges. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and fresh pears.

Kindergarten: Today we designed covers for our new math and literacy binders, adding our names and paper so we can start using them tomorrow. We also began creating a countdown to our birthdays! We made a grid using a ruler and then started adding numbers. 

The plum tree in the backyard continues to be a source of fascination for the Wee Friends. It seems like the minute we go outside, someone is asking, “can we pick plums?!”

There has been so much picking lately that the lowest branches are now empty. Today we solved that problem by getting out the ladder! Friends lined up eagerly for a turn to climb up. 

With a teacher’s supervision friends climbed up the steps and reached for the ripe plums.

Many friends experienced a great sense of accomplishment as they climbed up the ladder independently.

The plums are so abundant a squirrel friend came to enjoy them as well:

Smile! Have a great weekend. –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and grapes. Lunch: Whole wheat flat bread with hummus, fresh cauliflower and bananas. Snack: Mozzarella string cheese with fresh pears and bananas.

Rosemary and David had a great time outside this morning!

David admired Rosemary’s art skills.

They played on the slide and with the bark on the ground.

And then they said a quick hello at the Wee Friends’ door.

Anna and Ruby got to go on a walk around the neighborhood!

They found a flower and Anna checked it out by using her smell and taste senses. Ruby gave it a poke.

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with cheese, bananas, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and cheese.

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

For those of you who may be interested, I wanted to share a personal announcement: an article I wrote has been published as the opening chapter in a new book entitled Teach For America Counter-Narratives: Alumni Speak Up and Speak Out (Peter Lang, 2015).

My chapter, “The TFA Bait and Switch: From ‘You’ll Be Making a Difference’ to ‘You’re Making Excuses'” details my experience with TFA after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2013. It highlights the specific ways in which TFA knowingly and strategically baits young, idealistic college graduates into joining their organization, telling them they can improve students’ lives but then not providing the support or structure to make that difference a reality.

If you’d like to read about my story, a large excerpt from my chapter can be found here: http://www.alternet.org/education/teach-america-bait-and-switch-youll-be-making-difference-youre-making-excuses

The book is also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Teach-America-Counter-Narratives-Critical-Thinking/dp/1433128764/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440100153&sr=8-1&keywords=teach+for+america+counter+narratives

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I’d love to talk about my experience and how it has impacted my work now.  I am very thankful that I have now found a place like Wee Friends in which I have the freedom to teach children in a caring, compassionate and effective way.

–Jessica

Today we had another long-time Wee Friend graduate! Sloane will be heading off to Kindergarten starting tomorrow. We will so miss her smiling face and eagerness to help out in the classroom.

Sloane has been at Wee Friends for many years and it’s been a pleasure to watch her grow!

Best of luck in Kindergarten Sloane! Your new teacher and classmates are lucky to have you.

The mild weather today has made for wonderful outside time! We had a blast watching workers put up new telephone lines, riding the teeter-totters and running all over the yard: 

As the plums on our plum tree continue to ripen, friends gather to pick them. After collecting a whole bunch, we get to enjoy the fruit!

Have a wonderful day. –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Hot wheat cereal with fresh pears. Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with cheddar cheese, fresh corn-on-the-cob and oranges. Snack: In honor of Sloane’s last day we had chocolate-covered strawberries, colby jack cheese slices and lemon water!

Please note: One of the children has been diagnosed with a viral infection. The only known symptom is a fever.

Rosemary asked to play with the animal puzzles today. She made the sounds that matched the animals.

 

Then we got out some musical instruments to play with!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and grapes. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, whole wheat bread, bananas, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and raisins.

Have a good night!

Amanda

 

Wee Friends are amazing creators.

Every day we see children utilize materials in unique and surprising ways:

Today friends created several different trains out of blocks. Woooo woooo!

So many different creations.

Today was Poetry Day in large group. We talked about how poems can be presented in multiple forms. First, we read the poem The Crayon Box That Talked in book form. Next, we watched an animated version (https://vimeo.com/23111919).

 

Afterwards, friends were invited to the art table to create their own crayons. Following their interest, this morphed into also creating crayon boxes! Some friends created a whole set of crayons, starting with the primary colors.

It’s amazing to see what children create.

Have a wonderful afternoon! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Sweet peppers. Breakfast: Cheerios, homemade whole grain applesauce oat muffins and kiwi/pears. Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat bread, carrots, and cantaloupe/bananas. Snack: Hummus and wheat crackers.

Hello, everyone!

The children spent this morning reading from our collection of books. Rosemary and Anna made a big pile of the ones they wanted to read.

In the afternoon, they played with the animals. Rosemary can name the animals and Anna can roar like a lion!

For breakfast, the children had Corn Chex and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with cheddar cheese, bananas, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was homemade whole wheat oatmeal muffins.

Have a great evening, see you tomorrow!

Amanda