Thursday May 26

This morning while younger WF were at tumbling a group of older friends continued to study pond water with the microscope. F.1.6 Use a variety of “scientific tools” (e.g., balance scales, magnifying glasses, measuring cups, food coloring) to investigate the environment and to gather information. F.1.7 Use age appropriate scientific equipment (e.g., magnifying glasses, thermometer, scales) when participating in scientific experiences.

Three Wee Friends have achieved letter/sound connections-the first stage on the road to “real” reading! Tami read Bob Books with these friends, practicing three letter words with the ‘a’ vowel. F.1.17 Generate sounds from letters. F.1.18 Recognize that words that look alike may sound alike.

We recently incorporated name place cards at the lunch table. Today, our friends used journal time to create their very own. F.4.7 Write from left to right. F.4.8 Write using pictures, letters, and words.

Using a racecar/track sound track and the steering wheel mounted to our hopscotch room wall, we stacked a few big blocks and drove race cars. F.2.4 Use various art forms such as dance, music, theater, and visual art as a vehicle for creative expression.

For lunch, we served whole wheat couscous with farm fresh scrambled eggs, watermelon/raisin salad and broccoli.

Have a great day!

Wednesday May 25

What a busy day! We started the day with a science/math experiment that involved racing two cars at a time down two different ramps. One ramp was short and wooden and the other was long and made of cardboard, with a tube tunnel attached. We asked the question “The race cars will go down faster on which ramp?” We also changed the heights of the ramps, asking the same question.

Isaac brought a microscope to school! We examined pond water from The Res and well as our own WF aquarium.

Anticipating the thunderstorm, we took the kids outside a little earlier this morning. When we came inside, we created art with gray, black and blue paper and chalk. Friends created incredible chalk drawings inspired by their feelings about rain and thunderstorms.

The rain passed and we had a little time before lunch so friends spent a few moments splashing mud puddles!

Thank you Yonatan for the delicious chocolate cupcakes!! We all enjoyed them!!!

For lunch today we served ham, mixed veggies, whole wheat toast and watermelon.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, May 24th

Happy Birthday, Yonatan! Yonatan turns three today!

INDY 500 Study

Today we began a new study: race cars and the Indy 500. After an incredible brain storming meeting yesterday, our friends have come up with some incredible ideas for the study. We’ve promised a real derby race as a culminating event!

In the truck room, we gathered all WF cars in a big pile on the floor. We sorted them in several different ways: race cars, cars of different colors, cars with stripes and cars with numbers. We counted the number of cars as we sorted them into piles. We explored different materials in the truck room that we could create ramps with. F.3.13 Talk about the cover and illustrations prior to the story being read.F.3.9 Sort a group of objects by more than one way. F.3.13 Categorize familiar objects by function and class. F.4.7 Sort a group of objects by more than one way.

After lunch, a group of older friends gathered to listen to Twelve Little Race Cars by Scott Pruett and Indy Cars by Kate Riggs. We created a message board asking “What do we know about race cars?”

While our swimmers were at the Y for their weekly lesson, other friends sorted colored buttons into

their corresponding colored bowl. F.3.12 Apply one to one correspondence with objects and people. F.4.6 Sort by one attribute (e.g., size, shape, color).

For lunch we served chicken apple salad, broccoli, whole wheat bread and cantelope.

Enjoy your day!

 

On two occasions today, unprompted by the teachers, large groups of friends gathered together first for a game and then for a more complex task of scissor cutting. They played, worked cooperatively, and laughed and conversed all the while. A few younger friends enjoyed shaking, rolling and studying plastic tubes, filled with different liquids.

Wee Friends gobbled up the delicious birthday snack Taylor brought last week: bananas on a stick, dipped in strawberry yogurt and rolled in graham crackers-then frozen!!!!!!! Thank you Taylor!

 

Waiting to load up and head to the Farm.

Kid Quotes:

When asked “What has been the best part of your day?”  here’s how your children responded:

Jane: “Helping Addi (her lunch buddy) and I like to be in the front for naptime.”

Jacob: “I was at the Farm with Tami and I was doing fishing.”

Alexandra: “I like my mommy and candy.”

Kai: “Catching a crayfish-it was a baby.”

Addi: “I like Kai and Jane and Annie.”

Taylor: “My best part was catching a baby fish.”

Simon: “Going outside!”

Owen: “Fishing!”

Isaac: “Going to the Farm.”

Macy: “I like my mommy.”

Oliver: “Stepping in mud puddles at the Farm.”

Check the blog later today for today’s farm adventures!

For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with tuna, pears and carrots/cucumbers.

Have a great day!

SCISSORS!

This morning we practiced using scissors, cutting from a variety of different magazines. For our younger friends, we discussed how to hold scissors and practiced opening and closing them. For all friends, we talked about how to safely pass scissors to a friend. One friend created a collage with her cuttings.

Many of our child-driven activities have an improvisational quality to them. To support our doctor study, Laurie started to play “Mind Your Manners” and friends quickly gathered to dance and sing. Melinda expressed “Let’s use our new green mats!” So we paused our music and began singing “My space, my space, here I am in my space…..my space, my space, only me!” When friends had established safe spatial boundaries in which to move their bodies, we pressed ‘play’ to resume “Mind Your Manners”. Technical difficulty (bad disc!). Laurie turned around to see friends quietly waiting for the music on their mats. Melinda exclaimed “I see you all waiting patiently and happily!” As friends watched and listened, Laurie inserted “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. Friends clapped and stomped and shouted! From there, 4 friends at a time played a watching/listening follow the leader game called: “Troll Freeze”: one friend is the troll leader and whenever he/she turns around, the following trolls freeze and drop to the ground. Then, a friend who finished Troll Freeze rolled himself into the mat and said “Look! I’m a hot dog!” Other friends joined in, going nuts over being hot dogs with green buns. More singing ensued and it was time to go outside. Melinda then guided our friends as they rolled their hot dog buns up and placed them into the basket.

This all lasted 25-30 minutes and while it reads with a frenetic quality, the transitions were terrifically smooth and logical with teachers and Wee Friends watching and listening closely to one another for the next inspired spark.

Now, what to do with the instant, exuberant (accidental?!) interest in hot dogs? Any ideas?!

Have a great weekend!!!