Good Afternoon!
Hope everyones weekend was spectacular! We’ve had a great day so far! Here are pictures to show what we’ve done throughout the day.
Hope everyone has a great evening!
Author Archives: Wee Friends Teachers
WF Daily Explorations Monday 1/30
An Invitation from Tami:
Thursday, February 2 – 7pm-8pm – Wee Friends Classroom
Fall 2012 Curriculum Meeting and Q&A
Fall 2012 will include a newly created plan to ensure well balanced coverage of the Indiana Academic Standard with our flourishing constructivist environment. Come learn more!
Please RSVP to the sign up sheet posted at WF so that Tami can plan refreshments.
Please make alternative childcare arrangements!
Friends spent the entire morning discovering the new jungle gym that Tami and Charles finished constructing this weekend. We are calling it the habitrail!
Via message board, we established 6 safety rules:
- 8 kids at a time allowed
- No blocks on blue and red mats
- Be respectful of each other
- Use inside voices
- Only bodies allowed on the jungle gym
- Walking and climbing, please.
When friends weren’t climbing, sliding, stretching, hopping, crawling, laughing and pretending on the habitrail, they were squeezing, rolling, pushing, picking, pinching and molding a variety of objects with Play-Doh.
Marta made Band-Aids. Umi and Marta worked on a chocolate cake. First, Alexandra rolled several pieces of dough flat, then she rolled them up and expressed “These are my ham and cheese rolls!”. Simon created everything from a birdhouse to a pyramid. Finn made a bridge. Stephen made cupcakes.
Annie and Arleigh chose the workbench to brush hair, using a file and a screwdriver!
We finished our morning outside enjoy the sleds!
Today, our Wee Sprouts are tomatoes and cucumbers. For breakfast we served peanut butter on whole wheat toast and bananas. Lunch was whole wheat pasta with red beans, mixed veggies and fruit salad.
Have a great day!
WWF, Fun in the Sun! 1-27-2012
Good Afternoon!
Hope everyone is having a great day! We started off our day at WWF with some different activities that children could choose from. A few children chose to build a train track throughout the entire living room. The kids had a great time putting the pieces together and then put the trains on the track that they built. A few children chose to go into the kitchen and work with the sensory table. Our friends are still loving the combination of flour, chocolate, and coffee. They are coming up with more ways to use the sensory table. Today, a few children started throwing the mixture up in the air to see what would happen when it dropped.
We continued with our morning by having some music time. The kids were shown an example of different physical moves such as jump, stomp, run, wiggle, and walk. This example was extremely beneficial for them in the sense that they can now connect the word with the movement. They did this while the guitar was being played.
Before lunch, we enjoyed the sunshine outside! We were so happy that it was a nice day out. We gathered up our friends and traveled outside. Most of our friends went straight to the swing. Miss Paulina sat with our friends and sang to them while they were swinging. Some chose to grab a partner and tetter-totter together or go and ride on a tricycle. The half an hour we spent outside was a great way to end our week!
For lunch, our friends enjoyed ham with cream cheese, green peas, oranges, and bread. Every minute or so our friends were asking for “more oranges please!” 🙂
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
WF Daily Explorations Friday 1/27
Wee Sprouts!
This morning Elliott’s mom shared with us that when Elliott was riding in the car to school he looked around and asked “What happened to my house?”! Our new vegetable snack bar (now named Wee Sprouts!) not only nourished Elliott (and others!) but gave us an opportunity to make a vocabulary connection by exploring a pea’s house: the pod!
It was a morning filled with creativity and connections!
- Lisa continued the “Bah Bah Black Sheep” study by discussing simple facts as friends created art with yarn and paint. She introduced new vocabulary words “ewe” and “ram”. They talked about where lambs live and identified letters that make up the word “lamb”. Lisa brought in a wool mitten for friends to feel.
- After reading The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by Sam McBratney, a small group of friends acted the story out. Most of the action centered around the mice climbing the stairs and finding the cat in the dark at the top of the stairs. Simon (grandpa mouse) and Jane (baby mouse) adopted character voices. After they told their story, we sat down and sang an original tune with a verse from the book. Using building blocks, we tapped out rhythms and explored loud/soft dynamics. Simon led a construction project building the stairs from the book.
- Our princesses continued to work on their cake.
Note from Tami: Moments ago, Taco (our hamster) died. Tami plans on telling the kids next week.
For breakfast, we served cheerios and bananas. For lunch Lisa made ham rolls with cream cheese, peas and fruit salad with pears and apple.
Enjoy your weekend!
WWF, Coffee Smelling Up the House!, 1-26-2012
Happy Rainy Afternoon!
While it’s been rainy outside, it’s been a sunny, fun time here at WWF! We started off our day with an excellent sensorial activity. Nutmeg, flour, coffee, chocolate, and all-spice where added together to make an interactive powder that was put in a big tub. Children could smell it, dump it, or sift it. It enriched the air and left the house smelling great all morning! Our friends loved pouring it and seeing what would happen if it was blown in the air. It was a great ‘messy’ but FUN project :).
We continued our morning with music. Music time turned into a throwing exercise using the plastic balls from the ball pit. Children were eagerly throwing the balls to each other or to see how far they could throw it. It was a great interactive exercise that allowed children to use their gross motor skills. At the end of the activity, the ball pit was emptied and it was plastic ball mania in the WWF house!
Children then decided to go into the kitchen to color and to again play in the sensory container. Some children chose to get books out to read. Pooh Bear and Baby Beluga were among the favorites of the morning. Before lunch was served, a few children gathered in the living room to work with velt letters and numbers. We are beginning to identify the letters and numbers and in the context that they are used. For example, children were able to identify that Ellie started with ‘E’ or Marty started with ‘M’.
For lunch today, children enjoyed applesauce, green peas, and chicken and noodle casserole. The casserole was a hit! 🙂
Hope everyone has a great evening!
WF Daily Explorations Thursday 1/26
Let your light shine! Yesterday Stephen and Simon walked around the classroom hand in hand singing our walking song “We’ll Go Walking”. Elliott worked diligently on a domino track, laying dominoes flat and on their sides.
Today, a small group of friends joined Lisa in the reading area for a read-thru and sing-a-long of “Twinkle Twinkle”.
Afterwards, a large group of friends gathered at the art table to trace, cut out and glitter paint stars. We will use these as props for our Spring Concert!
We have a few princesses in the house who are interested in reviving the Sleeping Beauty study. During imaginative play in our housekeeping center, the girls have been very interested in looking at a wedding cake magazine. We (literally!) built on this interest by finding three boxes of various sizes and creating our own cake. First, the girls identified small/medium/large. Next, they decided how they wanted their cake to stack. Finally, they chose a variety of colors and began painting. The process of painting drew in many friends and a beautiful work of art was created!
Lisa guided friends on a train excursion! Finn was the conductor. He asked for tickets and friends jumped on board. He also served food and they discussed the different shapes of the mentioned food. They went to see Grandma, but Finn spotted a dinosaur out the window. They hurried to a cave, came back to an imagined campsite and made a huge fire with yellow car tracks. They cooked hamburgers and put up imaginary tents.
And then……laid under the stars!
Using a flashlight, Lisa created an imaginary star and friends watched it fall, flitter, dance and land on different friends. We sang “Twinkle Twinkle” and made a wish……….
Here’s wishing your day is wonderful!
(Breakfast: cinnamon toast and bananas – Lunch: chicken pot pie, peas and applesauce)
WWF, Marker play!, 1-25-2012
Hope everyone is having a great afternoon!
Wee Wee Friends starting off our day playing and listening to music. Our friends are really starting to hear the different sounds and rhythm of the music. A few of our friends joined together to walk, run, and stomp around the room while songs were being played and instructions were being given. While playing with the drums, a drum beat would be played and many repeated the beat back! It was wonderful!
After music time, children chose to do multiple activities. In the kitchen, children chose to work with play-dough. While using straws and play-dough tools, intricate designs were made. While some children chose to work with play-dough, there was a marker and crayon extravaganza happening on the floor of the kitchen. A big white sheet was taped onto the floor of the kitchen. A few children chose to work with marker while some children chose a different medium, crayon. The mural turned out great!
For breakfast today we had Whole wheat toast with soy butter and apples. Lunch consisted of scrambled eggs, turkey, cheese on whole wheat English muffins with butter and mandarin oranges.
Have a wonderful day!
WF Daily Explorations Wednesday 1/25
Oh Happy Day!
It was a flutter of fun in the Wee World this morning!
To quote Kai: “Jane’s in that dress and I’m the happy guy in the other pink one.” We have all enjoyed so much laughter today!
We are knee deep into an Alphabet Study and among other materials, are using nursery rhymes to explore letters.
A small group started their day off with a reading of “Bah-Bah Black Sheep”, We took turns acting out the sheep, master, dame and boy.
Using our alphabet little puzzle people, Lisa spent 45 minutes or more in the reading area exploring letters with friends. They identified letters, created a girl/boy pattern and sang multiple rounds of “The ABC Song”
Mel played Crazy Eights with our older friends working on number recognition, suit recognition and matching the two.
After our creative drama experience, a small group of friends gathered at the art table for a sensorial/fine motor exploration. Using short pieces of yarn and socks, we filled ‘bags of wool’. Friends determined if it was easier to stuff a lot of wool into the bag at one time or just a little. Ultimately, most friends held the bag with one hand and used their pincer grasp to get strands of wool into the bag. Opposites were discussed: empty/full, large/small and soft/hard.
Simon filled his sock to the top and after trying to put it on, came up with the idea of a sock puppet. So out came the sock puppets! When filled they became hot dogs, arrows and objects of great curiosity!
As always, friends played independently and collaboratively in all corners of the classroom.
Before heading outside, we had our first concert rehearsal, singing through “Bah Bah Black Sheep”, “Pat-A-Cake” and “Sing A Song of Sixpence”. At one point, Alexandra stood before her classmates leading a review of “Pat-A-Cake”. Before she started, she waved sheepishly to her fans and it was a moment of great fun and laughter!
For breakfast, we served oatmeal and oranges. Lunch was hummus on whole wheat tortillas, cucumbers and and oranges.
As per Tami’s request, here are a few things she wanted to communicate:
1) The WF landline is up and running again. There was a malfunction that has been resolved! Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused when you tried to reach us.
2) Tami is buried in paperwork right now making final preparations for the upcoming Zoning Board meeting. She has received your emails re: her latest email and will be responding to each of you soon. Thanks for your patience and support!
3) Lastly, Tami is planning Parent/Teacher Conferences for March. She will be in touch with you soon regarding signing up for a time to meet.
Have a terrific day!
Laurie
WWF, Paint, Celery Root, and Apples Oh My! 1-24-2012
Good Afternoon!
We started off our day playing and listening to music. It seems to get everyone is a good mood. The children are working on body movements as well as following directions. For example, we’ll sing a song or do a movement and then say stop. We’re getting good at listening to the directions and then following them. When one of the teachers sings or says a pattern, the children are getting good at repeating it or singing along with it.
After music was over, children chose to do a couple of different things. A few children chose to do the donut shop game in the living room while some chose to play with the kitchen utensils on the table. In the kitchen, children chose to come paint using apples, celery root, and different stamps. At first, the paint was in separate containers but they wanted to combine the paints to make different colors. After a little while with the apples and celery root, some chose to dive right in and use their fingers!
Once AM snack was over, most children chose to read books such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Dora! They do such a great job listening and even helping tell the story!
For AM snack, we enjoyed rice cakes with cream cheese. Miss Paulina made us a wonderful lunch including pita bread, ham, banana, and carrots with ranch.
Have a wonderful evening!
WF Daily Explorations Tuesday 1/24
Thank you Simon and Alexandra G. for the beautiful crystal serving dish! It’s lovely in our snack bar!
Today we worked on “Sing A Song of Sixpence”. We listened to a recording of it read and sung for familiarity and then practiced singing it ourselves. Using a message board, we studied two new vocabulary words: sixpence and dainty. We looked at an old coin and imagined what a sixpence might look like. Using our big play-sac, some friends donned blackbird costumes and flew in and out of the “pie”.
Once inside, Jane (as Queen) examined what her pie felt like. Squeals of delight came from within as friends felt her touch on their heads.
Afterwards Lisa and Mel invited friends to the art table for further exploration on “pie”. Using a tin pan filled with paint, straws and foam letters, the teachers invite friends to stick their hand in the pie and guess what they were feeling.
Questions arose such as “Is it cold or hot?” and “Is it smooth or bumpy?”
Next came the finger painting art experience.
Wee Friends found so much joy in the Ooey Gooey painting experience. We spoke about what kind of pie they were creating based on the colors they chose to paint with. Friends made banana, grape, blueberry, raspberry and coconut pies.
Our art lesson came to a natural close with a good ‘ol round of finger painting Pat-A-Cake.
Friends dispersed and became involved in a variety of different works.
Using the concept of “four and twenty” a few of our older friends engaged in math lesson in which they:
- identified the numbers 4 and 20
- drew the corresponding number of dots below the number
- Using a grid of five columns and 5 rows, counted out and drew a blackbird in each square.
- starting with #1, wrote the corresponding number in each square.
For breakfast we served Chex cereal and bananas. For lunch we served toasted ham and roast beef on whole wheat pita bread, corn and tangerines. Have a terrific day!
Laurie