“The Earth is good to me, the earth is good to me,  for giving us the sun and the rain and the appleseed…”

Our field trip to Springhope Farms in Galien Michigan was better that we could have even hoped!  Our car trip over and back was smooth and uneventful.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  And the children, while excited, were self controlled and purposeful during every aspect of our trip.  And….we have apples….lots of apples! 

We started our trip with a hay ride to the orchard.  We sang our “Earth is Good to Me” song as we rode along in the wagon.  Nate and Stephen sat in the front and were mesmerized by the large tractor wheels. 

Every child received a bag for picking from whatever tree they chose.  We were picking from Jonagold and Melrose apple trees.  The owner, Bob, was helpful and spent time with the children talking to them about the tree, helping them pick, and answering questions.  All of the trees were laden with delicious, beautiful ripe apples all within the children’s reach. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

When we returned to the picnic area, we stopped for a small snack of dried apples (Thanks Alexandra, Simon’s mom!) and wheat crackers.  Bob brought out some of the most delicious apple cider I have ever had for all of the children as a nice surprise for our group.

 

The children then enjoyed the wide open space of the picnic area.  They played Red Light, Green Light (led by Alexandra) and the Monster Chasing game (led by Allison, Addi’s mom). 

 

 

 

 

 

WF purchased one apple for each member of every child’s family.  So don’t forget to take their bags home tonight. 

It was great company and a great experience.  I can’t thank Springhope Farms (and Bob) enough for sharing this day with us!

Have a great weekend! 

Each day at Wee Friends there are countless opportunities to explore math concepts-from the Magna-Tiles to the Trios; from Counting Songs to building blocks that friends jump off in Hopscotch. We count boo-boos and study shapes. We measure during science experiments and sort objects according to color/size and other attributes.

This week, it seems a Math Club has started to evolve! Each morning, Kai spends time on kindergarten level math. A few friends have been watching/listening as this concentrated math time has unfolded. Almost daily, Kai, Annie, Jane and Simon have expressed “It’s time to do math now!”

This week Kai has worked on number recognition, 1-10. Annie is incorporating letters in her work (particularly A and H), writing the same letters multiple times. Jane continues to cultivate our Fairy Tale study in her math work (2 shoes, one princess..). Simon is into robots and works with different shapes (and explanations!) to create them. The Math Club also continues to enjoy the Apple Tree Counting Game.

 

 

We started our apple dolls today! First we mixed some lemonade to soak the apples in.

 

 

 

We peeled the skin off and each Wee Friend used the end of a paint brush to dig out eyes, nose and mouth. We finished this part of the process by soaking the apple in the lemonade. Next, we’ll start the drying process.

 

 

We’ve officially finished Snow White and have begun studying Beauty and the Beast. Friends are starting to cast themselves and discuss scenes they find interesting. Today we created a Message Board exploring new words to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lunch we served peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat buns, mixed veggies and apples/bananas.

 

Have a great day!

In the WF Classroom, the children stayed busy before the farm trip doing math lessons and drawing at the art table.  Miss Laurie had some wonderful individual time with small “standby” group in the classroom while the larger group was at the farm.  Because the camera goes with the farm group, it is hard to see all the great things that can happen when the small number of children makes the group time so intimate.  A few of the things were:

 

• Miss Laurie read Pinocchio and the kids had conversations and dramatic play around this.
• They created pictures on orange paper with black paint.
• Outside, they gathered leaves from the yard and made a leaf mural on the outside art easel.  They also had a great time creating their own trees with leaves and the basketball hoops. 

Farm Day! Melinda and Tami had another fantastic day with sunshine and warm temperatures to be at the farm. 

We did the regular chores today…feeding the goats, chickens, and turkeys.  The children spent lots of time hand feeding the goats, Luna the cow and the horses some grain.  They are all gaining confidence in this very up close and personal interaction with the larger (and in the case of the goats, pushier) farm animals.

The kids spent some time harvesting the last of the green beans from Miss Charlotte’s garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had some time for some horse back riding today!

And while the kids waited, we played with Sunscreen, the kitten.  Sunscreen is remarkably loving and laid back to be passed around for a long time without ever taking a break from her purring. 

 

 

 

 

We also spent time in the praire playing with the milk weed seed pods.  They are fully ripe on many of the plants.  The milk weed seeds are soft & irresistable to touch, blow, and throw in the air. 

 

 

Then, it ws back to WF for lunch of whole wheat couscous, french green beans and mandarin oranges.

A quick reminder for tomorrow: Tami and Melinda will be taking a large group of Wee Friends to the farm in the morning! Here’s the roster: Arleigh, Alma, Addi, Umi, Kai, Owen, Ada, Annie and Jane. Please make sure your child is here by 9am at the latest, with boots or closed toe shoes/socks and a jacket to wear to the farm.

Tami is also planning a field trip to the apple orchard Friday for everyone in the WF classroom! More details to follow.

The morning was filled with lots of counting! When our swimmers left for the Y, there were a few confused WF who thought they were also scheduled to go. Melinda created a calendar and helped friends count the days until the larger group of swimmers will go to the Y.

Next was “Five Little Monkies Swinging on a Tree…” Melinda began the game in hopscotch by pretending to be the alligator hiding in the jungle gym. Monkey friends would come along and “…Snap! Then there were three…”. She played the counting game again later in the reading area.

While the swimmers were still out, we gathered the rest of the WF and went for a long walk through the neighborhood. We studied the trees and felt prickly pine needles. We picked up some tiny pine cones and examined the very tall pine tree from which they fell. We caught a train passing by and stayed to watch the cars and hear the very loud train sounds. As we passed the church on the corner of 29th and Wall St., we pointed out our lunch bell high on the church steeple. Everyday at noon , the bells ring and WF have come to regard this as their lunch bell!

For lunch we served melted turkey and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, grapes and corn

Have a great day.