Happy Birthday, Nate!

After breakfast this morning, friends gathered ’round the art table to create a birthday card for Nate, who turns three tomorrow!

In the spirit of community building (and spreading simple Joy!!), a small group of friends learned, rehearsed and performed a Wee Friend’s original song “Jackhammer Joy” for the nice gentlemen who have been working on our street all week.

“What’s more fun than a rock? What’s more fun than a block? What’s more fun than 1-2-3?

Jackhammer Joy!

Jackhammer Joy! Jackhammer Joy, Jack-Jack Hammer Joy!” (repeat)

Back inside, Lisa guided an exploration with feathers and straws. Friends took turns sticking feathers into straws and then blowing them out. There were many observations: Umi: “The feathers feel soft. Pink is my favorite.” Ada: “I like blowing them!” Kai: “They feel soft and wiggly!” They observed how far or how near they flew. Alexandra shared “They are cuddly!”

At the workbench, Finn, Stephen and Nate set out rocks and were painting them with brushes. We invited them to bring their materials to two sensory bin, one filled with warm water and the other,warm sudsy water. They painted, dropped rocks back and forth between bins, and squeezed the paint brush bristles.

Elliott, Umi and Ada joined their friends in the exploration.

Melinda played several rounds of Crazy Eights and Simon and Ada took turns being the dealer in a few rounds of Zingo. Nate and Finn built a monster cave to protect themselves from a monster.

Annie and Jane organized and elaborate classroom, acting out the role of teacher. Later, Macy joined in as the baby sister. There was a lot of talking on the cell phones.

We created music, first by practicing rhythm stick/drumming dynamics. We beat slowly/quickly-softly/medium/loudly and then moved our sticks to Hap Palmer’s “Tap Your Sticks”. Then, we scrubbed our body parts with sponge balls while dancing to David Chicken’s “Bubbles in the Bathtub”. We ended our creative music time by snuggling near something we love and listening to Donny Osmond’s “Puppy Love”.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and grape tomatoes. Breakfast was Kashi cereal and pear slices. For lunch, Lisa made a delicious scrambled egg casserole, corn and bananas. For snack, we will serve oranges, crackers and chocolate coins in honor of Nate’s Big #3!!!!

Have a peaceful weekend.

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumbers, broccoli and cherry tomatoes. For breakfast, Melinda served whole wheat muffins with cinnamon sugar and oranges. Lunch is pizza sandwiches on whole wheat tortillas, roasted green beans and peach/banana fruit salad.

Have a great day!

This morning we delved into a project that was the “project that keeps giving”! First, the teachers cut out pictures of people, places and things for friends to create a collage and and inspire great conversation! We taped down paper, set out glue and a first group of friends sat down to work.

When they had squeezed the glue and stuck pictures to their heart’s delight, they asked to cut some more. We pulled out our magazine basket and got out the scissors.

Alexandra cut large and small triangles. Macy cut out a poodle and recognized the exact same picture of that dog on another page. Finn, Elliott and Marta worked with two different types of scissors, exploring how their fingers fit in and different angles to cut paper. Everyone, particularly our younger Wee Friends LOVE to squeeze things. The glue bottles were squeezed and squeezed and those finger muscles were getting a workout. The pictures of pets, flowers, mom and dads, children, food….all invoked descriptive words/observations and personal connections.

And then we turned the collage into a floor mat with contact paper. Friends pointed out which picture they had worked on. The slippery, slidey feel of the mat invited them to roll around and dance.

But no matter how much multi-faceted fun we had with our collage work, it was no match for the excitement of……

…the jackhammer.

And we leave you with that.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots. Breakfast was Cream of Wheat and pear slices. For lunch Tami made her fabulous three bean/veggie/ham soup with warm cornbread and apple slices.

Have a great day.

This morning, in every corner of the classroom our FAB’s K.1.4 -Divide sets of ten or fewer objects into equal groups and K.1.5 – Divide shapes into equal parts were being explored in full force!

A small group of friends each chose one pattern block and took turns laying it down wherever they chose. We studied blocks that created whole shapes and used ‘artist eyes’ to see what shaped they created. On the next round, they chose another pattern block and set them down so that all the blocks were touching. Again, we looked for parts that made a whole shape and studied what shape we had created. Friends saw a head, a castle, a rocket ship and other shapes.

On the oval rug, Melinda worked with an ever shifting group of friends and pattern cubes. First, they divided sets of ten cubes into equal groups. Next, they created color and number patterns.

Later, Kai led a small group of buddies in a math exercise that involved guessing how many bugs were on the pattern template.

Lisa played a dice game in the reading area: friends rolled the dice and pulled out the corresponding number of pattern blocks. At the end of the game, they examined who had the largest/smallest pile.

Using a variety of square and triangular shapes cut out of construction paper, a small group of friends worked at the art table to created a collage, “Parts of the Whole”. We talked about “two halves make a whole” and studied how to glue the shape parts together to make a “whole” new shape. At the end, Jane created an elaborate castle and drew in characters who lived there.

Using several of our “how to” drawing books, a group of friends spent time creating marker drawings step by step.

At the light table, friends made cookies, counted candy and studied the translucent glass stones, dropping them one by one into a plastic tray.

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumber slices and broccoli. For breakfast, we served Corn Chex and pear slices. Lunch is peanut butter sandwiches, carrot/lima beans and bananas. For snack, we will serve pretzels and cheese.

Parent/Child Communication starters:

• What word rhymes with car?
• What shape is the tire on our car?
• How many tires do we have on our car?
• What is your favorite color? Where do you see your favorite color in our house?

  

Have a restful day.

FAB (Framework for Academic Balance) Week of Monday, February 20th.

Literacy: K.1.20-Identify and sort common words in basic categories; K.7.3-Describe people, places, things (including their size, color and shape), locations and actions. Math: K.1.4-Describe sets of ten or fewer objects into equal groups; K.1.5-Divide shapes into equal parts.

As always, our friends were ecstatic to see Miss Jennifer and her Blue Bus! Today, they worked on the climbing ladder and incline mat. They used the rope to climb to the top of the bus and then they touched the ceiling. They learned glide and tuck swings and, on the incline mat, they did forward and backward rolls.

While the big kids were on the bus, a small group of four boys worked collaboratively in the block area, creating a tall structure. They listened to one another when discussing what they were doing and where they would place their block. They negotiated how to adjust the structure when it was getting too tall for their safety.

At the same time, Lisa worked with a small group at the art table tracing letters and gluing them to paper.

After the whole class came together again, friends split up into different areas to work. Kai and Annie described feelings about school and friends. (FAB K.7.3)

Lisa worked with friends at the message board and recorded other descriptions about what happened to them over the weekend. After finishing their message board moment, friends had the option to sit at the art table and record their descriptions in a story board format. Using three ‘windows’, friends chose their top three weekend activities and drew pictures of them, discussing them all the while. (FAB K.7.3)

Afterwards, as a large group, Lisa read aloud what friends had shared with her. We shared the story boards as well, but this time, friends (who were not the artist) described in detail what they were seeing. We heard about colors and shapes and a variety of perceptions. The artist then shared his/her intention with the group. (FAB K.7.3)

The High/Low card game is continuing to capture the attention of many friends. This work gives our older friends the opportunity to practice comparing numbers and their value (less than/more than). (FAB K. 1.2)

Back in the block area, another group of friends worked with the building blocks to explore math. We discussed the concept of “equal parts” and “the whole” and created and identified shapes accordingly. Questions were asked, such as “Are all the parts of your circle/square equal parts?” and “Which blocks, when fit together, make a square/diamond/rectangle?” Ultimately, all of Macy’s many parts equaled one whole house, with lots of detail! (FAB K.1.5)

Our Wee Sprouts today are organic carrots. For breakfast Melinda served whole wheat muffins with peanut butter bananas. Lunch was whole wheat pasta with pork, mandarin/banana fruit salad and French cut green beans. For snack, we will serve animal crackers and fruit.

Have a great day.