WWF, Beads, Bangles and Bubbles, and Foster Grants

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The children played with our beads this morning. Some of them enjoyed stringing them, while others matched them to the shape and color strips. A few of the older children counted their beads, and we worked on sequencing as well. This seemed to be a great morning project.

We tried to beat the morning heat and headed outside a little earlier than usual. Lucky for Miss Lisa, as we had some wonderful chefs in our playhouse kitchen. The children made pasta, broccoli, and milk, with “brown” ice cream for dessert. They worked together on mixing, adding ingredients to their imaginary creations, plated their delicious food, and even served it to her.

Our morning walks seem to be a ritual. The children loved listening for a train again today, and prior to our departure from WWF, we read a book about a spider creating a big web. A spider and web were spotted on our walk. More discussion about spiders continued throughout the morning.

Puzzles, trains, and placing colored pegs in some of our Styrofoam cut outs of various things (a butterfly, duck and train were used today) was a great activity after coming inside. Some of the children enjoyed water and bubble play in the kitchen. They washed some of our animals, and had a lot of fun while doing so. Elizabeth and Marta played together with our trains, while Sloane and Olivia had fun on our Jungle Gym.

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For breakfast this morning, we served whole wheat English Muffins, and fresh fruit. We have been doing a light, late morning snack that consists of vegetables from our garden. The children seem to eat a lot more of these at this time rather than lunch. Today we had green beans and sliced fresh tomato. Our lunch menu this afternoon was whole wheat cheese tortillas, broccoli, and some delicious peaches. For snack today we will have muffins and bananas.

Enjoy the day, and don’t forget your sunglasses!

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Our WWF’s come prepared!

WF Farm! 8-30-11

What a beautiful day to experience the farm!  Since I am short on blog time, I will share many pictures (full set uploading to flickr as I write) and few words. 

We started our trip by reuniting with many of the animals:  the chickens, goats, cats, horses.  The children helped to mix the grain for the chickens & turkeys and feed them. 

On our walk through the woods we held a toad, a caterpillar and we had an up close look a variety of birds and a gazillion butterflies. The kids spent time in the woods looking under rotten logs for bugs, climbing on fallen trees, and exploring the log cabin.  While we walked through the prairie, we really noticed sounds: crickets, frogs, birds, &  wind through the tall flowers. 

At the end of our trip, Charlotte had each child learn about horse safety and they each had a turn using proper mounting technique to climb on Taffy and sit on her for a few minutes while she stood still.  What a treat for all of them! 

We brought back a gorgeous flower bouquet for our table and a caterpillar to see if he will make a cocoon for us.  (The caterpillar brought in last week by a Wee Friender hatched today into  a moth.)

WF/WWF Pics on Blog and Flickr!

Enjoy the pics from the past week!

The direct link to the WF pics on Flickr…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/weefriends/sets/72157627555445678/

(There are still some uploading from the classroom from yesterday and today!)

WF Farm Today (also in process of uploading now!): http://www.flickr.com/photos/weefriends/sets/72157627563679824/

WWF: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weefriends/sets/72157627429458053/

 

 

 

WWF, Calgon, take us away!

 

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The children had a great morning. The imaginary alarm sounded, and Finn, Max, and Marta put on their fire hats and jackets, and ran outside

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to respond to the call. Finn found the “treasure” hidden in the sand. The boys then decided after their hard work, it was time to bake some muffins.

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Next, it was time for a sensory activity. The children loved the tub of water filled with bubbles. Some of them even climbed in and began cleaning themselves with the toothbrushes we had placed in the tubs for the children to wash rocks with to help build their fine motor skills. Others used our ball crates to make train cars. They are sure becoming very creative by exploring and using their imaginations. Finn collected the train tickets, and made the final call for “All aboard!”

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Our little Wee one’s enjoyed their outside exploration time by walking and crawling around the yard exploring all of the different things to do. Different groups of children went on walks and they observed a train from a far. This opened up much dialogue, as you can well imagine.

For breakfast this morning, we had scrambled eggs, toast, and fresh fruit. Our lunch today was couscous with black beans, vegetable medley, and fruit salad. Our afternoon snack will consist of cheese and crackers.

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Ozzie really seemed to enjoy “The Wheels on the bus go round and round” with Miss Paulina.

Have a splendid day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WF Daily Explorations Tuesday August 30

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Melinda played and sang along to her accordian today! She played many songs on her instrument and when she got to “Airplane”, we pulled out the car seats, set up a cockpit and acted out the lyrics as we learned the song.

 

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Afterwards, Melinda explained the parts of the accordian and how it produces sound. Each friend was able to play a few notes. MG 7712 MG 7711

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We got out the WF accordian and friends continued making music.

Simon brought several airplane books to school today. We read A Little Golden Book called My First Plane Ride. Kai, who returned today from vacation, was able to share with us stories of his first plane ride last week! We discussed new vocabulary such as “hangar”, “cockpit”, “baggage” and “escalator”. We moved to the art table and, with our new plane collection, dipped wheels into paint and applied it to yellow construction paper.

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Friends in hopscotch created a platform to jump off. They stood on the top block, counted as many numbers as they knew and jumped!

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Other happy moments!

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For lunch we served ham sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fresh peaches and string beans.

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

WWF Learning as we go!

Inspired by Downtown South Bend’s Art Beat, and the beautifully presented ice sculptures this past weekend, the children did some sculpting themselves today! Sand pails were frozen, and emptied from the pail so the children could enhance their fine motor skills by using a wooden hammer, their hands by picking at the ice and blueberries in it, or just being an observer. They seemed to really enjoy it. Pla-Doh filled the kitchen table, and the children were very creative by adding straws, pounding with wooden hammers, and using cookie cutters with it.

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We danced and sang to our “We All Go Traveling By” CD. The children are doing a remarkable job at memorizing the words to this. We took a walk as well this morning. We walked by the yarn shop and looked and studied all the different color of yarns on display in the window. We discussed how some colors are brighter than others, and picked out just those! The children enjoyed playing “I spy” for squirrels, certain color cars, and shapes. Miss Paulina played the recorder for us outside. It was wonderful to have music and movement right in our backyard. The children exhibited a lot of their gross motor skills as she played various songs for us. Some did marker drawings.

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Today for lunch we had ham sandwiches on whole wheat bread, carrots and fresh summer peaches. We also sliced up some of our garden cucumbers and carrots for a light snack outside before lunch. This afternoon for snack, we will honor Finn’s request for rice cakes and raisins.

For our reading selection today before nap, we read, “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?” and “Food for thought.” We had some very attentive listeners.

Have a wonderful day~

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WF Daily Explorations Monday August 28

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It’s been a happy, busy day at Wee Friends!

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We have a new camera and are still making computer program adjustments so that we can include photos of our daily activities! Thanks for being patient with us as we work out the kinks….

Many different interests were being explored in our classroom today. A few older friends have expressed interest in airplanes and other flying machines. To support their play, we created a pilot’s briefcase filled with a variety of airplanes and jets, a pilot’s journal with various colored pencils, a few library books about airplanes/flight and a felt board airplane matching game. Friends matched like airplanes and like numbers, 1-4.

Many of our friends are still exploring the lives of bears! Today, we incorporated a new cave: remember last winter when we made a life sized mitten (king sized bed sheet sewn together!) to play in as we read Jan Brett’s The Mitten? We pulled it out today and pretended it was a cave. Melinda gathered props and created a puppet play of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Friends listened intently and applauded when it was over!

Paulina led friends outdoors to plant seeds and pick tomatoes. She brought with her trays with white paper and red markers. After harvesting MORE TOMATOES!!! friends gathered on the deck to write about their experiences.

One of our toddlers is very interested in crickets. We all gathered in the music area to listen to/dance to/sing to and have conversations about crickets chirping in the night (soundtrack). Paulina read The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle. We discovered how crickets chirp and we rubbed our hands together and created a cricket chorus! The book has two repetitive sentences and an older friend shouted out these lines when it was time.IMG 7652

For lunch we served WF cucumbers, corn-on-the-cob (thank you Alexandra G.!), bananas and whole wheat pasta with chicken.

Have a great day!

WWF, A great beginning to a new week!

Our morning began with a walk around the neighborhood. The children were excellent about identifying several dogs, and a cat. Some of our younger WWF’s were great about making the animal sounds as well. Upon our return, we took full advantage of the gorgeous morning. Some of us did a sensory experiment with rocks. The children felt them to see if they were smooth or rough, and we also incorporated learning light and heavy. After looking at some of our pictures from past WWF activities, we began having some conversation about our friend’s Maite and Caelan. We brought out our art trays, markers, and paper. We will send some pictures to them. Finn told us how much he misses them. We also did our donut shop game, and read a book on shapes and one on transportation. Dumping and filling seemed to be a favorite activity in the sandbox today. Some of the older children were working on counting the number of scoops it took to fill up certain objects. Watering the garden and picking some green beans was also part of our morning agenda.

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For lunch today we had whole wheat pasta with tuna, a delicious peach and banana salad, and fresh zucchini from our garden.

We look forward to an afternoon filled with excitement!

WF Daily Explorations Friday Aug. 26

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We welcomed friends to school today with a continuation of our ‘exploracion de rokas’! We filled two tubs with warm water and added small glass stones to one and medium sized rocks to the other. With spoons, spatulas, and small/medium/large containers, friends poured, sorted, splashed and picked up the various rocks. We identified different colors of glass stones and added environmental music of a splashing stream to enhance discovery and a sense of calm!

A small group of friends explored the beautiful illustrations and interesting sounds of Boucle d’or by Pere Castor- a French adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears! Thank you, Amy C.! Page after page represented illustrations of groups of three. We counted the objects within those groups and asked “which size is this?” Afterwards, we studied how the number three looks and moved to the art table to experiment with the lines and curves of ‘3’. One friend translated her understanding of the number and the concept of size by drawing three lines and calling them “Daddy, Mommy and Baby”. Another friend drew three letter ‘x”s and applied the same relationships to his drawing.

When a friend expressed that she wanted to be a bear in her cave, a small group of friends moved to housekeeping and we played the instrumental track “Grizzly Bear Cubs With Their Mom After a Storm”. Our cubs created caves and hibernated in the cold winter. When spring came, we added our splashing stream music and caught salmon in the stream, with a fishing pole! Our play-based exploration of the bears enabled us to collaborate as a group: when a friend would contribute an explanation of what she was doing, the rest of the group had the opportunity to listen/watch and follow an ever shifting leader. One friend became the protector of all the girl cubs. He chose to stay on shore (out of the stream) but followed our every move, explaining his actions as he went along. In this type of educational play, each friend ‘belongs’ and has the freedom to find his/her voice in the context of our storytelling. Our play ended with a fish fry and a long bear sleep under the imagined stars.

Our camera was on the blitz today so we aren’t able to tell you today’s story through photos! We’ll be back up next week.

Today’s lunch was WF roasted zucchini, whole wheat torillas with melted cheese and cantelope.

We hope you enjoy your family time this weekend!

WWF, Planes, trains and the magic carpet!

The children really enjoyed experimenting with our ball and stick-like magnets. A few of them decided they could make ice cream cones! A discussion took place on what flavor they would each have. We talked about long and short as well. Water play with rocks kept the interest of some in the kitchen, learning which can be heavy, and which were lighter in weight. Others played in our bin of fall leaves. They enjoyed the texture of these, and demonstrated their fine motor skills while scooping, and using their dust pans and brushes to sweep them up.

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What a beautiful morning to water the plants and harvest the garden. It was also a great day for a walk. It has been wonderful to hear the different discussions the children initiate and that we can elaborate on. Each of their gross motor skills are improving daily as they are mastering climbing our log cabin, running around the yard, and peddling the bikes. Many of them are exhibiting becoming great climbers up our log steps to the slides. A morning highlight appeared to be the children sitting on some collapsible card board boxes. It is amazing how something so simple can really get young minds thinking. They became passengers on a train, an airplane, and a magic carpet. How creative!

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Our WWF’s dined on whole wheat cheese-filled tortillas, mixed vegetables, and fresh cantaloupe.

Enjoy the weekend with your beautiful children.

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