WWF, 3-23-2012

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Hello!

We started our morning with a bubbly sensory activity! Our friends worked with bubbles! Children worked with bubbly water as well as looking and touching bubbles that were floating through the air. Kids loved when the bubble popped on their hand. We also worked with blowing bubbles and blowing air out of our mouths.

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A few of our friends worked on building train tracks. They loved connecting the train pieces. They used their fine motor skills to hold the train and take it around the track without .

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Music time arrived! We loved using our shakers and drums to make noise. Our friends are understanding the different beats such as ‘ba ba ba’ and can play that on their drum.

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For breakfast, we had eggs and cantelope. AM snack was snap peas. Lunch consisted of brown rice with beans, mixed fruit, and corn. PM snack was mixed fruit and carrots with peppers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Mindy

Wf Daily Explorations Friday 3/23

WF Air Flight 123

In the absence of the Blue Bus on Monday, we would like to take all Wee Friends on a field trip to the South Bend Regional Airport. Our days this week have been filled with airport/airplane exploration and we think it will be a great adventure to incorporate into our blossoming study! Tami will email permission slip forms to you. Please return them Monday morning when you bring your WF to school. We will be departing at 9:30 and returning in time for noon lunch. We will take both the Weehicle and Tami’s Honda. While all four teachers will be accompanying the class on the field trip, parent volunteers are welcome!

While we ate lunch, we collected some information from our Wee Friends. When we asked “Where did you fly to on an airplane?” here’s what we learned:

Umi: “Chile!”

Annie: “Disneyworld and somewhere else.”

Ada: “I haven’t been on a plane.”

Nate: “New York!”

Max: “Minnesota and California!”

Vivian: “Minnesota and California!”

Kai: “Arizona and California.”

Alexandra: “I don’t know.”

Marta: “I went on the airplane!”

Finn: “spain!”

Stephen: “To the Batman store!”

Jane: “Grandpa’s house.”

Macy: “Aunt Ashley’s wedding.”

Simon: “To my Grandma’s house, England, New Jersey and Chicago.”

Elliott: “I flew to Florida.”

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This morning Melinda read A Little Golden The Airplane Book, and friends worked on creating a runway.

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Next, Lisa prepared passengers to board WF Air Flight 123. First, she demonstrated the job of the ground crew.

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Next she described the job of the air traffic controller. WF chose who they wanted to be, we set out seats, passed out boarding passes and prepared for a flight to New York.

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While on board, friends enjoyed snacks, beverages and entertainment. Flight Attendants passed out instruments when we hit our cruising altitude.

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We landed, exited the plane and ran outside before the rain.

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Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots. Breakfast was Wheat Chex and cantelope. For lunch we served whole grain brown rice with kidney beans, corn and pineapple.

Have a terrific weekend!

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WWF, 3-22-2012

Hello!

Our friends started off their morning by doing a painting activity. Children used flowers petals, paint, and tape to make their masterpieces! Sloane chose to work with the flower petals and mix them with the blue paint that she was using. Jada worked with pink paint and painted the flowers leafs using her hands. Lea took her flower and dipped it into the paint so she could paint with her flower. Marina painted over the tap that was on her paper to make a unique design.

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Our friends gathered up their art supplies and traveled to the backyard where they continued their art project. They painted around the masking tape on their paper to make a special design. Children also rode bikes and went down the slide to increase their gross motor abilities! We also went outside in the afternoon as well! 🙂

For breakfast our friends had cinnamon toast, apples, and cheerios. AM snack was snap peas. Lunch was turkey apple salad with whole wheat bread, mixed fruit, and asparagus. PM snack was apples and cheese.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

WF Daily Explorations Thursday 3/22

It has been a beautiful spring morning in our classroom!

Many friends gathered on the rug this morning and pulled out all the building blocks. Stephen began building a tunnel. It morphed into an intensive, morning long airplane exploration. Elliott described and built runways, towers and deemed himself co-pilot to Finn’s pilot role play. Lisa invoked her eight year journey as a flight attendant and, with a perfectly scripted monologue, directed passengers to their seat, asked them to buckle up and put their tray tables up. We added environmental sounds of a jet taking off and inner flight noise. Flight Attendant Lisa gave passengers the choice between chicken and pasta and their choice of beverages. Night fell as we were in the air and the passengers slept as John Denver sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. We landed and headed outside!

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Fabrezio reminded many friends of the importance of flossing each day!

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A small group of friends gathered at the art table after breakfast for a shape exploration. We cut out 7 shapes and identified them. Each friend took a turn creating a picture using the shapes. Other friends guessed the artist’s intention and also shared ideas about what they perceived it to be.

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After the shape study, many friends chose to stay at the table and continue creating art. Some friends drew shapes on paper and cut them out. Others created elaborate and detailed ninja creatures! Kai and Vivian dedicated their work of art to Wee Wee and walked over to share their gift.

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Umi, Arleigh and Alexandra worked in housekeeping feeding, clothing and loving their babies.

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Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and cherry tomatoes. Breakfast was whole wheat toast with peanut butter and bananas. For lunch Tami prepared whole wheat turkey salad roll ups, roasted asparagus and fruit salad.

Have a great day!

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WWF, 3-21-2012

Good Afternoon!

Our friends started off their day by doing an activity in the sensory tub. First, colorful bags and silver circular tubes were put in the bin for children to observe and manipulate. Then, play-dough was added along with pipe cleaners. Children started to poke the play-dough and put the pipe cleaners and silver tubes into the play-dough. Ozzie observed the different characteristics of the silver tube. He observed that the tube had a circle at the bottom. Chloe, Sloane, and Lea took the silver tubes and put them around the pipe cleaner. This took a great deal of concentration.

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We went on a walk this morning to observe all of the trees and flowers that are blooming! We saw orange, pink, purple, and yellow flowers. Our friends also observed leaves and flowers on trees that ar e starting to bloom. 054

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After we got back from our neighborhood walk, we stayed outside to enjoy the sunshine. Jada started right in and starting digging in the sand box. Marina, Ozzie, and Sloane soon joined Jada in the sand box where our friends used shovels and buckets.

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For breakfast, our friends enjoyed eggs, kix cereal, and pears. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with shredded cheese, mixed vegetables, and bananas. PM snack was red grapes and carrots.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

WF Daily Explorations Wednesday 3/21

Important Parent Reminders!

Breakfast is served from 7:45am-9:00am and Wee Sprouts are served all day. If your child arrives to school after 9:00am, please make sure they have had breakfast!

We prefer that ‘at home’ toys stay at home to avoid conflict in the classroom. If your child does have a toy that is brought in, we ask that it is small enough to fit inside the cubby. We will invite our friends to share/show their toy for the first couple moments after they’ve arrived and then we’ll ask them to put it away until mom and dad come at the end of the day. Thank you so much for honoring this. It truly eliminates additional conflict as we help our Wee Friends navigate other natural conflicts throughout the day.

The bird feeders FLEW and today was the older kids opportunity to make their own.

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The second part of the morning dealt with a shape study.

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Lisa read Mouse’s First Spring by Lauren Thompson. They discussed the variety of shapes they saw in the illustrations and went to the message board to record their findings.

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Afterwards, Lisa and Melinda passed out clipboards, paper and pencils and off they went on a nature shape hunt!

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Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs and bananas. For lunch, Tami prepared melted cheddar on whole wheat tortillas, yellow/green beans and applesauce.

Enjoy this day!

WWF, 3-20-2012

Happy First Day of Spring!

We started our morning here at WWF by Dancing, Dancing, Dancing! We listened to music and danced around with our shakers. While the guitar was being played, children danced around the room using their rhythm.

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After music time was over, we traveled to the backyard where our friends explored! A few of the children worked with the pebbles and dirt outside. They felt it with their hands. Of course a favorite is the bikes and those were occupied at all times throughout the morning! Our friends are using their gross motor skills to push, run, kick, and jump outside! A few of our friends practiced their throwing and kicking skills with balls that were available outside.

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While outside, some of our friends chose to do a painting activity. They created a paint mural using their hands and the brushes they were given. They had a blast painting outdoors!

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For breakfast, our friends enjoyed eggs with pears. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pita bread with soy butter, strawberries, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was special today! We took our animal crackers and raisins outside on the bridge between the WF house and the WWF house! Our friends loved eating their snack outside!

Hope everyone has a great night!

-Mindy

WF Daily Explorations Tuesday 3/20

Once I saw a little bird Come hop, hop, hop;

So I cried, “Little bird, Will you stop, stop, stop?”

I was going to the window To say, “How do you do?”

But he shook his little tail, And far away he flew.

While the swimmers were at the Y, our remaining Wee Friends thought about birds. Inspired by the many pine cones they collected on a walk last week, Melinda and Lisa guided a bird feeder creation.

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She set out two plates of peanut butter and two bowls of wild bird seed. First friends rolled the pine cone in the peanut butter. Next they dipped it into the seed bowl and covered it with seeds. Next, they attached a string and finally, put them in the refrigerator to set.

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Reminder: Tomorrow, many of you have signed up for conferences with Tami at her house, 701 S. Ironwood. Call us today if there are any questions or changes! We look forward to seeing you there.
Wee Sprouts today are carrot sticks and radish slices. Breakfast was Kix and bananas. For lunch, we will serve peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat pita, green beans/carrots and apple slices.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

WWF, 3-19-2012

Good Afternoon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We started our morning off here at WWF by interacting with our friends. Clara looked out the window to see what she could possibly see. Her friend P.K. soon joined her to keep her company. They worked with tools to bang on the floor. Lea worked on putting on dress pants. She did this without any help!

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While outside, our friends rode their bicycles and played in the sand box. Jada chose to draw on the chalk board. Sloane came over and they had a discussion about what Jada was drawing. Marina had a blast pushing and riding on the blue bike today. P.K’s. gross motor development is coming along beautifully. He is crawling and walking up the stairs at his own pace without much help! Elizabeth and Lea took their shoes off and rubbed their feet with sand. They loved how the sand felt between their toes. Chloe rocked on the green horse by using her motor skills. Ellie loved pushing herself off to see how fast she could go down the slide.

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For breakfast, our friends enjoyed chex with milk and apples. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of whole wheat noodles with chicken, green peas, and bananas. PM snack was cheese and graham crackers.

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Wf Daily Explorations Monday 3/19

We have some FAB Fabs this week! They are also great examples of how, many times, these kindergarden frameworks for academic balance happen so very naturally throughout the day. Literacy: K.7.2-Share information and ideas, speaking in complete, coherent sentences. Math: K.4.1: Identify and describe common geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle and cube. K.4.2-Compare and sort common objects by position, shape, size, roundness and number of vertices. K.4.3-Identify and use the terms: inside, outside, between, above and below.

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Today was the last day for this session of gymnastics. Jennifer will begin the new session each Monday, April 9-June 18. This morning, both groups of friends practiced backwards rolls and candy stick log rolls. In this exercise, each friend chooses their favorite piece of candy as as they name it, they roll down a mat that is on a rake, similar to rolling down a hill. They navigated an obstacle course that included the balance beam, trampoline and various mats. They finished the course by swinging on the rings. And the best part of all, they each got today’s cute little girl stamp on their arms.

We headed outside early this morning to enjoy this amazing day.

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Last week, Tami devised the Rest Time Black Bucket. For our older, non nappers, this bucket is waiting for them after lunch to enjoy during the mid-day quiet time. Tami filled the buckets with paper, markers, sight word books, flashcards of various sorts, an I Spy book, a fictitious book and a step-by-step drawing book. Our Wee Friends have enjoyed this variety of activities while they rest their bodies and voices.

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Our beans that we planted last week are sprouting! Below is Kai’s kidney bean.

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Today our Wee Sprouts are carrot sticks and radish slices. For breakfast, we served whole wheat toast with peanut butter and apple slices. Lunch was whole wheat pasta with chicken, green peas and bananas. For snack we are serving whole wheat crackers and hummus.

Have a terrific day!