Today we started our morning working in small groups to make checkered flags for the WWF kids to wave during our Wee Friends Beach 500 race that will happen this afternoon. Our plan is to use the slides to race cars while the “fans” (WWF/WF children) sit in the “stands” (the lawn) and eat sporting event food (hot dogs). The children are very excited!

Other small group activities this morning included:

*A large group of younger children played cooperatively (mostly!) for around 45 minutes. They dressed up, assigned Mommy, Daddy, Baby, Doggie, Kitty roles and prepared meals.

*More complex structures were designed and enjoyed by several children working together.

*The reading area was well used by children individually and in small groups. Arleigh, one of our young 3 year olds, spent a good amount of time “reading” to the 2 year olds.

*We also had several children choose to make sculpture dough. The children are becoming very independent in the measuring, pouring, and mixing process.

*The children have created a new outside activity. They have discovered that there is room for several children to “hide” under the overgrown crab tree. They are delighted with this new space that only they can use!

For lunch today, we enjoyed: whole wheat couscous with chicken, cantaloupe, and corn.

This morning was relaxed and peaceful with the kids focusing on small group and independent activities. Here’s a glimpse of our morning:

• *Tami read Bob Books with all of our new readers.

*The children spent quality time painting their race cars in anticipation of the Indiana Wee Friends Beach 500. Many chose to continue creating art using construction paper and tempera paint.

This morning you may have noticed the flock of blue flamingos on the Wee Friends lawn! The Buccellato family “flocked” us! “As a part of the 15th annual U93 RoofSit, flocks of 15 flamingos are being delivered all over St. Joe County to raise awareness for child abuse prevention…”-St. Joe County. Thank you, Missy Little for the great idea of photographing the kids sitting next to a flamingo!

Yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to watch a flat tire being changed. We’ve been studying the amount of time it takes race track pit crews to change tires and to see something similar, in action, was quite a treat!

A Note from Tami on the Electronic Portfolios…

The WF teachers are really enjoying the process of putting the EP’s together for every child. Please note that Melinda is doing much of the computer entry and this is a new process for her to learn. She is quickly becoming computer savvy! The laptop screen is small & we are generally doing these very quickly as we get a snipit of time here and there. Typos and formatting issues have popped up on occasion. Please know that I will go into every file periodically and correct these issues so that the final product will (hopefully) be typo free!

Lunch today: Whole wheat flat bread with turkey, fresh garden greens with shredded carrots, & fresh bananas/pears.

Have a terrific day!

This morning we finished gluing our race car parts together. F.6.19 See a simple task through to completion.

“Race Car”

I’m driving down the race track just as fast as I can,

Fast as I can,

Fast as I can!

I’m driving down the race track just as fast as I can,

‘Cause I want to win this race!

Turn to the right!

Turn to the left!

Slam on the breaks!

The car is spinning !
Straighten the wheel!

(repeat)

I won!!!

F.3.1 Exhibit self-confidence while participating in movement activities.
F.3.2 Talk about enjoying movement activities.

A small group of boys built a race track out of Trios. F.3.9 Make roads for toy trucks and cars.

Their creation included a video camera, pit crew stop with several gas tanks, a tower and an emergency track exit. A windmill created electricity and a wall surrounded the track to keep the cars in. F.4.8 Use “in” and “out” to indicate where things are in space. F.4.10 Use the words “here” or “there” to indicate where things are in space. F.4.11 Follow instructions to place an object “here” or “there.” F.4.12 Follow instructions to place an object “beside” or “next to” something. F.4.13 Follow instructions to place an object “between” two things.

For lunch we served WF lettuce with ranch dressing, pasta with carrots, peas and kidney beans and watermelon/cantelope fruit salad.

Have a great day!

This morning began with a round of The Lady Bug Game (thanks for hanging out David N.!) and a small group of friends reading the interactive wonder-of-a-book, Press This, by Herve Tullet. Thank you, Aimee, for introducing it to us and guiding WF in their exploration of it.

We began our race car assembly today! Using carpenter’s glue, friends started piecing together their race car. Next week, we’ll apply the wheels and then paint it.

Our older friends spent time this morning journaling.

In preparation for next week’s Indiana Wee Friends Beach 500, we learned a race car song. As we sang it, one friend drove a race car as other friends rode and waved the checkered flag. This activity lasted 30 min, or more and friends practiced negotiating turns and roles (who drives? who waves the flag?) brilliantly.

Our garden is bearing much fruit!!! Today we picked purple peas!

Most friends thought the outside purple part was yucky!

But the green pea part was yummy!

All Wee Friends love seeing their garden growing!

More moments from this morning’s outside time….

Parents-if ever you do not want to be mentioned in the blog-please let us know! Our intention is inclusion not embarrassment!

Have a terrific weekend!

This morning, older Wee Friends enjoyed a literacy rich game of Junior Scrabble identifying letters on the board and matching corresponding letter tiles.

Yoga also offers cross curricular learning opportunities. Literacy is in action as we explore letters of the alphabet (ex: C for caterpillar pose). Friends are excited when they recognize ‘their’ letter! Gross motor muscles are being stretched and balanced. When we arrive on poses like S, the seal pose, we lay on our backs, clapping our two hands and two feet together. Implementing math, we ask “How old are you? Three? Everybody clap three times!” Today, when ending our exercise, we sang “I am you, you are me, we are part of all we see…namaste, namaste, namaste..” and enjoyed bowing to one another!

After collecting many circular shaped objects, we brought our shadow puppet screen out and explored which round object looked most like a real race car steering wheel. We added race track environmental music and friends enjoyed driving a steering wheel of their choice.

When the race car interest waned we set out foam shapes. Our preschool/kindergarten aged kids discovered they could create patterns with the shapes.

For lunch we served whole wheat tortillas with melted cheese, carrots and fresh strawberries!

Have a great day.

This morning Melinda led a 1 1/2 hour Sticky Things Exploration! Part One was giving each friend a long piece of contact paper. Exercising their fine motor muscles, friends peeled the paper off the sticky part. Then they experimented with how different materials stuck to the surface. Questions such as “What will happen if we fold our creation over?”, “What happens if we hang it up?” were raised. They discussed the concept of smooth/rough. For Part Two, Melinda put a variety of different types of sticky tape on the table. Friends created 2d and 3d art.

Our Wee-est Wee Friends are not so wee anymore! This morning a group of friends were problem-solving how to get the wagon trike to go. They discovered that if one friend pedaled and another pushed TWO friends could ride!

For lunch, we served whole wheat pasta elbows baked with turkey and mozzarella cheese, applesauce and broccoli.

Don’t forget to bring your child’s swimsuit. Weather permitting, we will water play while outside!

Have a great day!