We had two big events to celebrate and bite our educational teeth into today: Ada’s first plane ride and delivering mail with River Park Mail Carrier, Kevin. Lots of interesting works were experienced leading up to these large group activities.

We began Creative Music with a game of “Please Mr. Postman”, passing a letter around ‘til the music stopped. Whoever was left holding the envelope stood up and answered a question. After everyone had a chance, we turned the Carpenters off and played “Leaving On A Jet Plane”. We presented Ada with an airline read and then took flight into an improvised airplane story.

The clock was tickin’ toward 10:15, so we landed on the front porch and made up stories as we waited for Letter Carrier Kevin.

Here’s what we learned about Letter Carriers as we traveled, this time on foot, around our block:

• First, they are called mail carriers, not mailmen or mailwomen.
• There are over 200,000 mail carriers in the US.
• Rain, shine, sleet or snow, mail carriers deliver your mail.

• The Post Office has LOTS of rules, including no one else can touch Kevin’s mail or get into his truck.
• Advertising makes up 1/3rd of Kevin’s daily mail deliveries.
• Mrs. Parker is turning 97 on June 8th!

• Kevin walks 13 miles a day on his route!
• He’s had this River Park route for 10 years.
• If he can’t deliver his mail, the post office gives his route to another mail carrier, or splits it up for several carriers.
• You don’t call them mail boxes, you call them “mail receptacles”.

• You must drink lots of water if you are a mail carrier.
• The door on a mail truck slides and the steering wheel is on the passenger seat side.
• And most importantly, shared Kevin, “Regular mail is better than email, because it ALWAYS gets through.” And if it fits, it ships.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Chex Cereal and pear slices. Lunch: Hummus on whole grain flatbread, bananas and celery sticks. Snack: Hard boiled eggs and pretzels.

Have a terrific weekend!

Sorry, this failed to publish to the blog yesterday!

Well we finally made it to the farm! And it was wonderful. Baby chicks, Taffy rides, cable swings, planks turned pirate ship and petting the baby goat were among the magical moments. We studied a deer skull and different colors of tree mold. We held a silver dollar sized turtle!

Back at school, they made more postal preparation, getting ready for tomorrow!

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Kashi and bananas. Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwiches, watermelon and mixed veggies. Snack: Cottage cheese and apple slices.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon.

Children explored shaving cream today. We felt it on our hands, face, and even hair! Clara took a big breathe in and blew air toward the shaving cream making some of it fly into the air!

There were varying degrees of activity throughout our shaving cream experience. A few of our friends loved diving in and getting their hands dirty. Others chose to be cautious while still testing out the shaving cream. We all tried it though. Yay!

At the end of the activity session, friends had a smile on their face and shaving cream in their hair .

For breakfast, children had chex and oranges. Lunch consisted of couscous with kidney beans, green peas, and banana. PM snack was cheddar cheese slices with whole grain crackers.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

A quick note to say that there will be no gymnastics this coming Monday, June 3rd. To make the class up, Miss Jennifer will extend the session a week to have an ending date on Monday, June 24th.

Our caterpillars have started to cocoon. Ada was the first to notice and all of her friends ran over to examine the creatures in their habitat.

One group of friends headed to the back rug to see what it feels like to be in a cocoon.

Other friends worked with Lisa on a math game. They rolled a die and added that many pieces to a Magna-Tile structure.

Friends also began a Thank You collage for Kevin, our postman. He agreed to take us on a couple blocks of his mail route this Friday.

The cocoon exploration became a hot dog exploration. We experimented on walking in a cocoon. Then walking with our ankles tied together. Rhythm sticks became hot dogs and were wrapped up. Bodies became hot dogs that were poured upon, rolled around and eaten up! And then the rhythm sticks became ketchup and mustard bottles.  Several hot dog chefs emerged and fascinating hot dog concoctions were created.  We created a hot dog song. We learned how to spell “hot dog”. How do we build a study around hot dogs?

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and pears. Lunch: Cous–cous with red beans, peas and bananas. Snack: Graham crackers, peanuts and milk.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend!

After a long weekend with family, it’s nice to get back into our daily routine. Between reading stories, having music time, and heading outside, our Tuesday was eventful! By lunch, our friends were getting tired. We even had one friend put their head on the table to go night night! We shuffled our feet to the nap room where children got wonderful naps to gear up for the afternoon.

For breakfast, children had kix and oranges. Lunch consisted of soy butter on tortillas, mixed vegetables, and oranges. PM snack was cottage cheese and cucumbers. We LOVE our cottage cheese!

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

It was a calm, busy morning after our long holiday weekend. Swimmers took off (and practiced bobbing in the water, I heard!) and the remaining Wees settled in to finding their morning’s work. Here, Elizabeth wrote Mom a note. Other friends joined her when they saw her work.

New friendships are developing.

We got outside as soon as possible, anticipating a downpour. Our friends favorite outdoor rain activity is wiping the deck, benches and slides dry.

Elizabeth found a job in the garden bed. Once again, friends caught on and joined her.

And then the sandbox. The wet, in some places gooey, diggable and delightful sandbox.

There has been an on-going game of tag over the last few weeks. There has been a great amount of discussion and negotiating among friends as the rules are fleshed out. That and the amount of running involved makes this a priceless experience!

 

Welcome back.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Kix and bananas. Lunch: Peanut butter and whole wheat tortillas, mixed veggies and apple slices. Snack: Crackers and cheese.

Happy Friday!

Today was about exploration. Exploring new things. Exploring interesting ideas. Exploring the unknown. It was an excellent way to end our week!

First, our exploration started off with our blue sensory tubes. Why do some make noise and some don’t? Lu Lu enjoyed making noise with her bells!

Clara and Daniel looked through theirs to see if they could see through the other side.

Once our exploration with our tubes was complete, Melinda brought out her harmonica! Friends sure loved listening to the sounds of this new and exciting instrument! Melinda got a round of applause .

Finally, our exploration into ‘why plants need water’ ended our morning. Melinda filled up the bucket and proceeded to water the flowers with water. We talked about letting the plants breath like we do! Plants need water and sun to stay colorful and beautiful for us to look at. Children found it quite interesting .

For breakfast, children had chex and oranges. Lunch consisted of egg and cheese roll-ups, banana/apple combo, and corn. PM snack was banana and string cheese.

Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend! See everyone Tuesday!

-Mindy

You could call them random activities, but in our play-based learning environment, our view is that very intentional works are being created and very intentional questions are being asked.

Today we saw many friends seeking quiet comforting activities. Loving a puppy became a listening game: Pass the Puppy.

We noticed a few fire fighters getting themselves ready for work,  so with our hoses, we created a gross motor, and life skills sharing opportunity:  tug-of-war.

 

An elaborate Sea Scene was created under the habitrail. There was a fairy, a pirate and “did you say penguin?” I asked. “Yes.” said Ada. Her next question (after looking into the WF backyard) “Do pigeons drink milk?”. Together we researched the answer.

This week, we began a new exercise of gathering the kids, mid-morning, to talk and share about what they had been working on that day. Friends loved sharing their ideas with others.

The delightfully random becomes intentional and great Wee works are created, and great Wee questions are explored.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Raisin Bran and raisins. Lunch: Whole grain tortillas with farm fresh eggs and cheese, apple slices and corn. Snack: Bananas with peanut butter dip.

See you Tuesday, May May 28th!

Hello!

**Just a reminder, that we are closed Monday May 27th for Memorial Day. We’ll see you on Tuesday .

****Also, we’re asking parents of Wee Wee friends to bring in a fever reducer for their child. Lately, we’ve been having fevers and various ailments that allow for this type of medicine to be given. If you would like us to give your child medicine when they’re feeling down/fever/etc, please bring in your choice of fever reducer.

We spent a lot of time this morning listening to different songs such as “You Are My Sunshine” and “Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes”! Friends used their soft touches and dance with their babies.

All the dancing tired us out!

For breakfast, children had whole wheat bagels with cinnamon and apples. Lunch consisted of ham and cheese on pita bread, watermelon, and broccoli. PM snack was pretzels and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

I love emergent curriculum.  I just do.  Last night I watched this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQBUccxBr4 from Britain’s Got Talent Show.  For me it was unbelievably artistic and emotionally moving.  So I just had to share it.  It actually wasn’t my intention to get the kids involved in this, but as I was sharing it with Melinda, the WF crew gathered around.  Many watched it from start to finish.  Then some watched it again.  And yet again.  They were fascinated. 

So, in the way of emergent curriculum Melinda and I set up a sheet and projector so the children could explore the concepts of light and shadow.  So for an extended time, most children were gathered in the shadow area and all were disappointed when we had to pull it down for lunch time. 

As the children took turns being the audience and being the shadow, Melinda talked with them.  They explored together how the distance between an object and its light source affects the size of the shadow.  They recognized the projector as a source of light and its importance to the process of creating shadows.  They waited for turns. They all were in close proximity as the audience and they navigated this. The shadow dancers explored how turning different ways influenced how their shadow appeared. 

The shadow puppets this morning in an example of true emergent curriculum as a small spark was unintentionally introduced to the children, the WF teachers saw the opening and provided materials to explore the concept, and the children were completely absorbed in the moment. 

Check out the photo album for wonderful moments that happened before the shadow puppets as the WFer’s played together, created a thank you message for Officer Burns, did some large group message boarding, were introduced to some new music from Mel, danced, listened to stories, and played outside (briefly before we got rained out)!

Breakfast was whole wheat bagels and banana.  WeeSprouts were cukes.  Lunch was whole wheat flat bread with melted mozzarella and ham, broccoli, and watermelon.  Snack will be cream cheese and wheat crackers.

Have a great day!

Tami