Here are some highlights of our day! Enjoy!
Our breakfast this morning was cereal with fresh fruit. Our mid-morning snack as cheese and crackers. For lunch we had whole wheat pasta with marinara, avocado and banana.
Author Archives: Wee Friends Teachers
WF Daily Explorations Monday 1/23
About a year ago, Wee Friends initiated a new life skills program called Building the Basics. Our goal is to spend time talking about and cultivating life skills and this year it has been The Potty. We started with a 6 step potty procedure that the kids morphed into a 2 step procedure. It inspired the WF favorite tune “Flush and Wash”. Because the potty is so much a part of the early childhood daily experience, we continued today with a science lesson: The Bladder Exploration. First, we studied the human figure and located the bladder in a drawing and on a model. We discussed the shape, the location (in front) and how it feels when it is full (and what to do next!). We layed down and guessed where our bladder might be on our own bodies.
Using balloons and a tub of water, we filled imaginary bladders and let the water run out, singing Flush and Wash as we proceeded. F.2.8 Use words/concepts learned through singing
Further conversation ensued exploring opposites: liquid/solid and empty/full. We even identified what letter bladder begins with. F.1.8 Engage in a scientific experiment with a peer or with small groups of children using sharing/turn taking skills. F.2.7 Talk about the fact that everything has a shape. F.4.2 Show a growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting. F.3.1 Name body parts and point to the location of each. F.3.2 Investigate and talk about the characteristics of matter (e.g., liquids and solids, smooth and rough, bend-not bend). F.1.3 Observe and describe properties of objects.
Acting on the liquid/solid conversation, we filled a tub with snow and asked “Is snow liquid or solid?” We talked about what happens to snow when it sits in a warm house. Friends first filled glass vases with the snow and then, using eye droppers and watercolor, filled their snow vases with color. They compared the colors to flavors. We identified the first letters of each color mentioned. Some friends mixed colors, some friends stayed with one color. One friend chose only to fill her vase with snow. F.1.3 Observe and describe properties of objects. F.3.1 Participate in activities using materials with a variety of properties (e.g., color, shape, size, name, type of material). F.4.1 Use vocabulary that indicates understanding of scientific principles (e.g., sink, float, melt, solid, liquid). F.2.9 Use different colors, surface textures, and shapes to create form and meaning. F.2.10 Use objects as symbols for other things. (e.g., a scarf to represent bird wings or a box to represent a car)
The gymnastic bus came and friends worked on the cheese mat and resi-rocker. They did forward and backward rolls and straddle rolls as well. At the end of the class, they did the rocket ship. They hopped off the bus and burst through the WF doors showing their stamp of the week: a smiley face.
We spent lots of time reading and singing nursery rhymes. As I write, we are in the planning stages of The WF Spring Concert. Details to follow! F.1.4 Hold book right side up, looking at pages and pictures. F.1.19 Imitate simple rhymes. F.1.6 Dance/sway/tap toes/jump/hop to music alone or with others.
For breakfast Mel served peanut butter on whole wheat muffins and pears. Lunch was whole wheat elbow pasta with marinara, broccoli and banana/avocado salad. For snack, we will serve pretzels and cheese.
Hope your day is a happy one.
Laurie
WWF, Let’s Look! 1-20-2012
Good Afternoon All!
We started off our day with hands on activities in the kitchen. Elizabeth, Ellie, Olivia, and Lea created apples using play-dough. We put a real apple on the table so that they could compare the apples that they made. Elizabeth loved singing a song while rolling the play-dough into a ball. After everyone was done with the play-dough, Chloe and Elizabeth wanted to help clean up so they both grabbed a broom to lend a hand! How thoughtful! 🙂 Some of the children gathered in the living room to listen to a special story called “Let’s Look!”. Elizabeth, Lea, Olivia, Ozzie, and Ellie loved looking at the pictures to find certain objects. It was the ‘I Spy’ book for toddlers! We looked at different food, travel, beaches, and farm. We all loved looking at the different colors of the objects.
Music time came next. Boy do we love Miss Paulina’s music! Olivia and Chloe loved helping her play the strings on her guitar. Drums, ribbons, shakers, and bean bags were used to enhance the guitar play. P.K. was smiling ear to ear the entire time. When the children were told to laugh out loud, Elizabeth let out such a loud laugh. You could tell she was having a blast! Clara loved playing with the ribbons and using her fingers to separate the different strands of colors.
While lunch was getting prepared, we took out the name cards and worked on recognizing names and faces along with the gender and age of each child. Sloane recognized each child and stated whether they were a boy or girl.
For AM snack, the children enjoyed rice cakes with cream cheese. Lunch consisted of apples, cucumbers, ham and bean soup, and hummus tortillas.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
WF Daily Explorations 1/20
Happy Friday!!
For breakfast we served Raisin Bran and Craisins. Lunch was whole wheat tortillas with ham and cheese, fruit salad and corn. For snack, we will have pumpkin bread! Enjoy your weekend!
REMEMBER! The gymnastics bus will be here Monday-here are the two groups and their times:
9:00-Annie, Jane, Ada, Macy, Kai, Simon, Arleigh and Vivian
9:30-Umi, Alexandra, Steven, Finn, Nate and Elliott
WWF, Snow Play! 1-19-12
We started off the day by welcoming friends when they entered WWF. Everyone participated in music play using bean bags to make sounds. Many friends gathered in the kitchen for some hands on activities. Sloane, Lea, Max, and Elizabeth chose to play with snow in the sink. Since it was so colt and windy outside, we decided to bring the snow inside! The kids loved playing with it but soon realized it was very cold on their hands :). Animals were added to the snow for active play. P.K. and Chloe loved looking at the light table that was set up in the kitchen. Clara used her fine motor skills while sitting on the floor and manipulating different toys including measuring cups and animals.
Ozzie chose to build a train track. He had an exciting time trying to figure out how to connect all of the pieces together. P.K. watched intently as Ozzie did this and helped out when he could. Chloe asked for ‘Chicka Chicka Boom Boom’ to be read to her and motioned for ‘more’ when the story was done. Lea loved played dress up with different outfits. Her favorite was a gold sparkly dress that she just adored! Some of our friends sat on the floor to do a fire truck puzzle! Elizabeth loved trying to put the pieces together.
This afternoon we plan on working with our ABC’s using different sensorial objects including sand and water.
For AM snack, we enjoyed raisins, carrots, and crackers. Miss Tami made a lunch that was enjoyed by all! Our menu included tortilla with cream cheese as well as shredded cheese, mixed vegetables, and apples.
Have a great afternoon and evening!
WF Daily Explorations…The Veggie Experiment! 1-19-12
With our new classroom arrangement, we now have a new central kitchen island space available that we have been using for our water station. Four friends can sit around the island and enjoy water and conversation in a relaxed fashion. We are building on this idea of independent water breaks and are adding a new aspect: Tami’s “experiment” on vegetable consumption.
This week we have had fresh cut vegetables available for the children for the duration of morning and afternoon until pick up times. We continue to do our normal breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack times, so this is ADDITIONAL snacking.
As the week has progressed, a few things have become clear:
- In absence of other foods, the children eat ALOT of fresh veggies without any dips or enticement.
- We feel like this is the type of thing that the children should be snacking on and don’t care about the volume of veggies they eat or when they eat them.
- The cost of keeping them in veggies all day long may prove to be the only hindrance to the longevity of this idea.
Since they really can’t “overeat” fresh vegetables, I would like to cultivate this heathy habit by not policing them. Simply put, we have bowl of veggies and they can eat their fill throughout the morning and afternoon. Right now it is novel, so interest is really high but it will taper some as they get used to it. Then, they will eat the vegetables when they are hungry and need the nutrition.
Since this is in addition to the promised WF meals, I would like to ask WF families to support this new idea (which needs a cool name?). Do we have any families that are so on board with the idea that they would be willing to provide a weekly commitment of fresh vegetables? Examples: 2lb bag of carrots, 6 cucumbers, red/yellow peppers, big bag of green beans, big bag of pea pods, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
Please let me know! If I can get parent support, I think this will be something very beneficial to the health of our children.
From this morning:
Nate brought in a movement game to share…
Miss Laurie led the children on an alphabet hunt. This was followed by an art activity of using our sandpaper letters to make letter rubbings in a large letter collage.
While driving us teachers batty with is tranportabilityness (yes, a made up word!) the moon sand is a huge hit with everyone!
Some children chose to use foam letters and glue sticks to make letter collages. Miss Tami had a opportunity to discuss the different letter shapes with several of our younger children. (And why glue sticks make your fingers so sticky!)
Miss Melinda led the children on an imagination art exploration. She filled a plate with objects and the children were to decide if anything looked like anything other than it was. It was a creative conversation!
The children read and danced to chicka chicka boom. They then climbed on the coconut tree (the jungle gym). This was followed by a letter search.
For breakfast we had whole wheat english muffins with fresh pears. For lunch we had toasted whole grain flat bread filled with cream cheese/cheddar cheese, mixed vegetables and pears/mandarin oranges. For snack we will have some homemade pumpkin bread and raisins.
Have a great day!
Tami
WWF, Music, Music, Music! 1-18-12
Good Afternoon!
We’ve been having a great day at WWF! We started off the morning by having music time. The children definitely missed her music. We started off by listening to Miss Paulina play the guitar. The kids added in some musical touches by playing the musical shakers and drums. P.K. loved using the shakers to make music. Chloe kept asking for more. Then we got out streamers to play with while listening to music. Sloane and Lea made different motions with their streamers. They admired the different colors within the streamers. Ozzie had a great time listening and singing along to the different songs that were being played. A good time was had by all! 🙂
After music time ended, some children chose to go into the kitchen to play with the light table. P.K. and Ellie had a great time looking at the different colored objects that were on the light table. Sloane took it upon herself to take the colored pieces and make a line out of them. Lea and Sloane chose then to get the play-dough out and sculpt the play-dough into different ideas that they had. While others were in the kitchen, Clara and Aiden enjoyed reading stories in the living room. Others then joined in and listened to “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” at the request of Chloe. To finish up the morning while waiting for lunch to arrive Sloane, Lea, Ellie, and P.K. enjoyed water play at the sink. Soap was added to the water along with different animals for the children to play with. Their fine motor skills kicked into high gear!
For morning snack, we enjoyed carrots and rice cakes with cream cheese. For lunch, Miss Tami made us a wonderful lunch consisting of ham and bean soup, bananas, and biscuits.
Have a great evening!
WF Daily Explorations Wednesday 1/18
This morning we had the great pleasure of hearing Marta’s dad, Fabrezio, read Strega Nona, Her Story by the great Tomie dePaola. Oh what music to our (mostly) American ears! Hearing dePaola read in a native Italian voice was an exciting multicultural experience for our Wee Friends (and teachers!). Fabrezio was kind enough to translate the Italian words “convento” and “strega”. We all thank you, Fabrezio!
Afterwards, a large group gathered to play alphabet bingo on our alphabet mat. Using the sand letter boards, friends matched corresponding letters. Laurie Berkner’s “When I Walk Along the River” serenaded friends on their hunt.
Using alphabet letter people, Elliott and Marta studied where the little people should go on the mat.
Many friends created art with pink and white paint on black paper. A few experimented with holding the paint brush in their fist and pounding down on the paper to create snowflakes.
Tami filled the sensory table with moon sand! Like snow (and sand :), moon sand is loose and silty, but can be packed to create interesting structures.
After reading “Jack Be Nimble”, we used a makeshift candle and sang “Ada! Be Nimble, Ada, be quick…” .
Umi read Dora aloud to Finn.
For breakfast we served grits and tangerines. Lunch was Tami’s delicious ham and bean soup, homemade biscuits and fruit salad. For lunch, we will serve pretzels and cheese.
Have a happy, Super Lava Girl kinda day.
Laurie
WWF, Sand Play and Inside Type of Day! 1-17-12
Good Afternoon!
We started off our day by doing the donut shop game. P.K. was interested in choosing more than one donut. We all thought that was funny. We then moved to our name tags where Sloane and Ozzie were trying to determine if the child was a boy or girl. We put on some monkey music where Chloe danced around like a little monkey!
Chloe and Sloane showed initiative by going into the kitchen and wanting to color. Miss Marty helped them get started with some paper and crayons. They both drew wonderful creations. Miss Mindy talked to Ellie and Sloane about building train tracks. They both were very curious as to how to make train tracks and how they move. Miss Lisa had some children come play with her in the kitchen. Sloane, Chloe, Ellie, and Ozzie explored with sand using different utensils and tools. Ellie had a great time looking at the sand and playing with it in her hands. Clara and Aiden had a great time playing on the floor looking at books and observing different kitchen material. Since it’s cold and nasty outside, we decided to stay inside and enjoy each others company. Things are slowly but surely getting back to normal here at WWF. We’re hoping that by the end of the week, all of us will be healed and back to normal! 🙂
For snack this morning, we enjoyed rice cakes with cream cheese. Miss Tami made us a wonderful lunch including bread, ham, pears, and sweet peas.
We apologize for the lack of pictures today. We’re having difficulties with our camera but expect extra pictures tomorrow! 🙂
Have a great night!
WF Daily Explorations Tuesday 1/17
My Thoughts on Attention Span…
“I sometimes worry about my short attention span, but not for long”(Ha!)
Our world has become fast paced, constantly moving, and scattered. Children are surrounded by media, movement and the manic busy-ness of our adult lives. So, in all this, how can children learn to develop an attention span that will serve them later in life?
One of my main goals of education from the beginning was to create ways in early childhood to sustain children’s attention span. At Wee Friends, we’ve figured out alot of things that generate long attention spans in children. A few that top our WF list of best practices are:
- Not interrupting children with unnecessary transitions.
- Allowing children to finish work at their pace without telling them to “give your friend a turn”.
- No media other than music recordings.
- Conversations with an adult to sustain play that otherwise would be over.
- Following the interests of the children.
This blog on attention span was inspired today as I watched the extended work time of two of our young 5 year old children. Kai has been deeply involved in researching, planning, building and equipping his own USS Arizona Battleship. It is unbelievable in detail and accuracy. It has been a great exercise in developing attention span as well as investigating & following through on a project. Today, Vivian joined Kai in his continued work on his battleship. With very little assistance from teachers, the two worked together for just over 2 HOURS looking at the diagrams, discussing what items to add, discussing what materials and how they would affix them, choosing colors and mediums, and then doing it. This act of attention span was more than most children can sustain at any age and more than many adults can perform. 
Here are 7 ways to foster a long attention span at home (Adapted from Janet Lansbury’s blog):
1) Minimal entertainment and stimulation. Children are creatures of habit and can become accustomed to expect entertainment rather than doing what comes naturally — occupying themselves with their surroundings. Constant stimulation leads to an exhausted parent and an easily bored, over-stimulated child.
2) No TV or videos. TV and videos are the most drastic way to undermine your child’s developing attention span because they engage and overwhelm a child’s attention rather than encouraging the child to actively flex his focus muscle. Imagine the powerful pull of the TV screen in a restaurant. You can be sitting with the most fascinating people in the world, and still you find your eyes drawn to the TV.
3) A safe, cozy “YES” place. In order to remain occupied for extended periods of time, a child must have a safe place. Children cannot play for long periods of time when they are distracted by the tension of parents worried about safety and the interruption of “NOs”.
4) Simple, open-ended toys and objects that build in complexity as they get older. Start with the simplest version of the toy or activity and build complexity as they go.
5) Observe. And don’t interrupt. Observing the way our children choose to spend their time makes us realize that they are actually doing something.
6) Give choice. Simple fact: children are more interested in the things they choose than the things we choose for them. Children who are given plenty of opportunities to focus for extended periods of time on activities they choose are better able to pay attention in situations later (like school) where activities are adult-prescribed.
7) Don’t encourage distraction. It is common practice for adults to step in and try to entertain their children. Children are interested in all aspects of their lives. They want to be included in each step of a task that involves them and be invited to participate as much as they are able and they don’t need the adult to make routine things exciting.
Some great activities to build attention span together are reading aloud, storytelling together (one starts a story and you weave it together verbally), playing board games, and drawing together.
All of this inspired by one really cool battleship! Thanks to Kai and Vivian for giving this successful moment to the Wee Friends teachers.
Tami
For breakfast we had Corn Bran and pears. For a mid morning fresh veggie snack at our water station we had pea pods. For lunch we had whole wheat PB sandwhiches, fresh broccoli and apples/pineapple. For snack we will have yogurt and granola.
A few shots from this morning:
