This morning Finn reminded all of us that today is National Pirate Day. We set out to celebrate.

First, the logs. Many friends used teamwork to roll the logs around the perimeter of the rock island with the intention of building a pirate ship.

Later, these same mates changed course and used the green chairs to set sail. Once the sitting order was established, these mateys did not/would not divert for a moment.

In another part of the yard, Elliott discovered that the mama bird we’ve been tracking has been back in her nest for several days.

In the front of the Wee Ship, Lisa worked with a group of mates on identifying coins. They played a counting game with the gold treasure coins. with real US coinage, They discussed their value and put them in order lowest to highest. They also rolled dice and practiced writing the number of dots they counted. Afterwards, they got crayons and created rubbings of the US coins.

On the galley table we set out bins filled with warm water, blue watercolor, bars of soap kitchen bowl boats and plastic pirates. We spent time washing our pirates and exploring different ways of working with the materials. Mary Collins, WNIT producer, was here to meet and interact with the kids in preparation for Friday’s taping.

The pirates were excited to rediscover our wooden pirate ship.

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It’s been a happy Pirate Day.

Wee Sprouts: WF garden green beans. Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and apple slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with chicken, mixed veggies and peaches/oranges. Snack: Goldfish and raisins.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

Hope everyone is enjoying the ‘fall like’ temperatures! It’s great to open the windows and get fresh air throughout the house.

Zoey is continuing to strengthen her leg muscles. When she is sitting, she’ll move her legs around so that she can go to the floor on her belly. She loves to laugh and to talk with her friends. When on her belly on all fours, she is rocking at a rapid pace. She ready to go, go go!

This morning, friends worked with neon colored watercolors.

Marina used the blue paint first. She took her paint brush and painted the paper. She then took her finger and ran it through the paint which allowed her finger path through the paint to show. She lifted her finger and said, “Look, my finger! What do you think?”

Clara handed Miss Mindy the bowl when she was done. She used her words by saying, “All done.”

P.K. took his brush and dapped the paint on the paper. He enjoyed studying the paint while it was on the brush. He gently took his finger and brushed it against the paint.

Daniel used fast motions with the paint brush. The paint went all over the paper! He made sure to use the space that was provided to him.

We brush, brush, brush the paper.

Emma had a great time reading books today. She read a variety throughout the day. To relax in the afternoon, she sat and lay down by the pillows to read her books.

Daniel climbed up and down the jungle gym to work on his gross motor skills. He loves jumping once he gets to the top.

Clara used her fine motor skills as she tried to put two train track pieces together. She knew that they fit together so she tried putting them together at many different angles. If the pieces didn’t fit at one angle, she used her trial and error skills and tried to fit the pieces another way.

For breakfast, children had raisin bran and oranges. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with melted cheese, banana, and corn. PM snack was vanilla yogurt and banana.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

Good Day…..and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE!!!! Today Jane turns 5!

• On Thursday, 9/20, Tami will be taking the younger WF to the farm. This group includes Eleanor, Elizabeth, Sophia, Elliott, Lea, Marta, Sloane, Jada and Marina.
• This evening at pick up you will see a WNIT video/photo release form taped to your Wee Friend’s cubby. Please sign it and return it no later than this Thursday afternoon. WNIT does need one of these to include your child in the episode they are taping….
• ……on Friday. The long awaited Sesame Street camera crew and producing team will be here Friday morning to tape the first segment.

While our swimmers were swimmin’, the remaining Wee Friends worked hard.

“Said the Wee Friend to the tea-ee-cher…..Do you see what I see?”

Have you ever looked at the world through the eyes of your Wee Friend?

Wee Friends studied the plastic Little People and guessed what their job might be by the clothes they wore.

They played a game in which they had to find something that had the attribute Mel described. (ex: “One and two…..find me something blue!”)

We created a pizza with sauce, pepperoni, sausage, parmesan and string cheeses, and green peppers.

Mel filled the Mystery Box with a variety of items and friends had to use their fingers as eyes, guessing what they picked up in the box.

Quote of the day: Max: “My mom has lots of these!” Mmm-hmm. We love when our friends share family stories.

The Wiggles got us on our feet wigglin’, spinnin’ , hopping on one foot and if you’re happy and you know it get to it…

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

Wee Sprouts: WF garden carrots. Breakfast: Corn Squares and peaches. Lunch: Whole wheat tortillas with melted cheese, bananas and corn. Snack: Jane’s Birthday pretzels and applesauce.

Good Day.

Happy Monday!

P.K. started his Monday morning by reading stories with Miss Marty. He loves to cuddle up in teachers laps as he read different stories. It’s a great way for teachers and children to bond and form a special relationship.

Zoey is continuing to grow in the gross motor department. She loves scooting backwards and bouncing up and down when she’s on all fours. She is exhibiting different facial expressions every day. She sure does love to laugh!

One hand in front of the other..

Friends gathered this morning to make train tracks. Once the track was assembled, children went to get trains to put on the track. A few friends broke apart from the group to make their own track! Trying to fit the track pieces together is a great fine motor activity. It really makes children control their hand and finger movements.

Our friends had the cheesiest grins today!

Children took apart of the pretend play that was going on in the small play house. Our friends made different kinds of ice cream and allowed their friends to share!

P.K. and Daniel looked throughout the yard to see if they could find an orange ball. They found one! P.K. pointed and said, “Ball!”

Outside is a special time where Emma continues to work on her walking skills. She loves sitting on tree logs and playing with the sand.

We bounced today!

Our legs sure did get a workout!

Friends made sure to hold onto the red bar so they didn’t fall! Our balancing skills were great!

For breakfast, children had cheerios and banana. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of whole grain noodles with black beans, potato wedges, and watermelon. PM snack was pretzels and oranges.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Today Wee Friends welcomed Miss Jennifer and the Blue Bus back to the block!

They worked on the Trapeze bar and the Octagon Barrel. On the bar, they practiced pike and “V” swings. Then they got to swing upside down like bats! On the octagon, they learned a backward walk over. They practiced rockers, too. At the end of class, each friend got steam rolled!

This is Marina’s transition week to the older classroom. Friends were very happy to see her!

When we gathered again in the classroom, some friends continued their gymnastics work.

Others worked with Melinda at the art table exploring “Does it float?”

We spent a lot of our classroom time studying shapes with the pattern blocks and Magna-Tiles. We worked on putting several of one shape together to create another shape. Lisa guided friends in a shape exploration with jewels: friends matched the jewel to it’s likeness in a treasure box (board game).

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana slices. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with red beans, watermelon and roasted potato wedges. Snack: Cheese stix.

On Monday Miss Jennifer will be back with the Blue Bus. Here’s the group breakdown:

9:00-9:30- Ada, Jane, Arleigh, Finn, Nate, Marta and Jada.                                                  9:30-10:00- Elliott, Sophie, Ellie, Marina, Sloane and Lea.

Today we concentrated on sorting like colors, popping peas from the pods, patterning nature’s jewels and identifying alphabet letter stamps.

And smelling the earth’s blossoms.

Wee Sprouts: WF home grown carrots. Breakfast: Cheerios, pear slices and PB on whole wheat tortillas. Lunch: Roast beef and cheddar cheese on whole wheat bread, WF green beans and pear slices. Snack: Whole wheat crackers and watermelon.

Have a great weekend.

Good Afternoon!

Social relationships are such an important aspect of the Wee Wee World. Not only are friendships transformed day to day but children learn about each other all the time. P.K. has formed a special bond with Zoey. He gets down on the floor and talks to her in the sweetest, most caring voice. She laughs and smiles at him which tells him that she is acknowledging him.

Zoey enjoys floor time. Not only does it allow her to work on her crawling skills but friends come down to her level and play with her. She is very aware of her surroundings. While drinking her bottle or playing independently, she is constantly turning her head and looking around to see what’s happening.

Emma loved sitting on a tree log today while playing with the rocks. It is a great sensorial activity for her. She loves picking up the rocks and feeling them within her hand.

Friends play pretend in the houses that are in the corners of the backyard. Children invite one another to play with them.

Marina enjoyed playing with a new green watering can. She could tell it was new and she said, “It’s new!”

Rocks allow children to work on pouring, dumping, and gathering.

Group play is a vital area while outside. Children sit together in the sand box and work with one another as they build castles or play pretend with trucks.

P.K. loved working with different terrains today. He moved on his belly from one height to another. He always enjoys his time with Clara.

Emma worked with insects today at the kitchen table. She used her hand to push the insect down toward the table. It then popped back up and she tried this over and over. She was very resilient!

While friends were napping, Zoey and Emma played with one another. Emma would come up to baby Zoey’s head and give her nice, gentle kisses.

Breakfast was cinnamon whole wheat toast with oranges. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with soy butter, watermelon, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was watermelon and whole wheat crackers.

Tomorrow there will not be a blog post because of staffing circumstances.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

-Mindy

Today is the two for one blog.  Sorry, yesterday’s blog failed to upload and we didn’t notice until the evening time.   Rather that two posts, we have two days in one post!

Thursday

Today we had a great time at the farm. I forgot the camera memory card (oops!), but I did snap a few pictures with my phone as we went along. The first thing that caught everyone’s interest was the fuzzy caterpillar that Jane found. He was very active and the kids were entertained by him for quite some time.

Next we helped by washing the harvest of squash to prepare it for the farm garden cooperative.  After that we spent a very long time pulling green beans off of the dead stalks to later harvest the dried seeds at WF in the afternoon.

This morning, the main interest was an exploration in washing the farm animals with bubbly water.

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For breakfast we had whole wheat bagels and bananas.  For lunch we had whole wheat flat bread with PB, mixed veggies, and watermelon.  Snack was Sophia’s birthday treat: Fruit pizza.  Yum!  Wee sprouts were cucumbers.

Have a great evening,

Tami

Wednesday

Using unclaimed and glorious WF art, cut into strips, friends aspired to creating a paper chain. We first studied how the two ends of the paper come together. We discussed how to tape the ends together. We saw the circle we created and identified other circles on the table. We practiced slipping a long strip through the new circle. creating a chain.

Arleigh discovered a new way to use the chains. Ada tried it too, and added a flower.

Lisa played a rhyming game. Friends looked at a picture, identified the picture and matched a rhyming sound to the object they saw. They used the message board to explore other rhyming words.

Yesterday, Lea picked a flower and as she explored it, the moisture of the purple petal rubbed off on her hand. This morning, Mel picked a variety of flowers from our garden and led WF on a flower petal coloring explorations. Friends determined which petals could be used as color sources (like a pencil) and which could not.

She also added a few food items.

When Gordon’s delivers their fruit, they always include bubble wrap. Some friends pop the bubbles with one finger, others smash it with their whole hand.

Sophie has been working at pedaling the trike all week. Today it all came together! Congratulations, Sophie!

Each day, a mini-society is created in the Cottage Climber. When a teacher is able to sit back and listen to the conversations and negotiations, it is really astounding at how complex and detailed the mini-society is. What’s more astounding is the length of time the society occurs and the respect each member of the society gives to his/her chosen role.

Today is went like this: Jane was mother to baby Marina and teenager Macy. Arleigh was mother to Nate and in charge of the primary cooking space.

Jane asked Arleigh if she had any basil available.

Marta entered the society as a grandma preparing soup.

Mommy went to the store and her child was sad. Her child waved goodbye, waited and watched for Mommy to return.

Happiness.

The authority shifted and Jane made the decision to change locations for a quiet rest time.

We hear fights and laughter in this mini-society. We hear children working things out with words, compromise and surrenders. They are able to practice how to decide what to fight for and how let some things go, moving on to the next moment. The teachers are close by to help but also to give them space to sort things out, when appropriate. And then there are the daily jobs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all have to do ‘em. Here’s our new cot set-up team and they rock it out!!!

Oh yes…..we haven’t been able to find the two baby birds, but Mama is back, starting over.

Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: WF garden carrot muffins and apple slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with roast beef, bananas and peas. Snack: Orange, mango smoothies and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

This morning we started off by getting the play-dough out for our friends to play with. Children used a mixture of hammers, rolling pins, and cutouts. P.K. enjoyed using the train cookie dough cutter and said, “Choo-choo” as he squished down the play-dough with his hand.

Our friends did a great job sharing with each other.

The flowers smelled especially wonderful today! We checked to see if there were any tomatoes ready but they were still all green! We’ll have to wait until they turn red.

The passenger bike is a hot commodity. Our little friends like to sit on the bike while their big friends give them rides around the circular path. Marina was sure trying hard to pump her feet and push the peddles forward.

Emma enjoyed time in the sandbox. She swished her feet around allowing sand to fly up in the air. Once she was done in the sandbox, she travelled to the play house and then made her way to the slide!

Tandem sliding is such a popular activity! Friends love to count ‘1, 2, 3’ then shoot down the slide.

P.K. hopped off the swing and starting to laugh! The outside environment is a great way for children to run around and build relationships with their friends. We all know that the outdoors make us all feel happy especially on a gorgeous day like today!

While her older friends were napping, Zoey enjoyed attempting to crawl and rocking back and forth while on all fours.

Emma is continuing to advance in her walking skills. When she walks, she is becoming more stable and consistent. She is very on the go and loves walking around the Wee Wee Friends house! Her gross motor skills are sure getting a work out!

For breakfast, children had eggs with cheese and apples. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of whole grain rice with beef, banana, and green peas. PM snack was banana-mango smoothie and rice cakes with soy butter.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Good Afternoon!

Marina loved taking pictures of her friends and teachers this morning. She made sure to tell them to “cheese”!

Zoey is enjoying being able to move around the house. She is constantly scooting back but has yet to scoot forward. However, it is in her future! She’s becoming very mobile and it won’t be long until we having a crawling Zoey around the Wee Wee Friends house!

P.K loves showing off his funny face. When he is asked to show his funny face, he smiles extremely big! He loves making people laugh.

Children were offered a chance to go into the kitchen where they painted using circular sponges. We painted with light blue, pink, purple, and yellow.

Marina used the yellow paint. She pointed to her picture and said, “Yellow banana.”

P.K. painted his hand pink and purple. He took her hand and made a fist which allowed him to feel the paint go through his fingers.

Daniel made wavy lines with different colors of paint. When he was done with a color, he said, “All done” and pointed to another color.

Wow, did we have fun outside this morning! Miss Laurie from Wee Friends asked our Wee Wee Friends if they would like to do music. Marina, Clara, P.K. and Daniel happily joined in with their older friends.

Friends got to use different instruments. We went through every instrument and talked about the name of it and what it reminds us of. For instance, we held up the bells and a friend started singing ‘Jingle Bells’.

Clara and Daniel were enthused as they got to shake their instruments and make different noises.

We eventually got up and started walking in a circle while playing our instruments. Our friends did an excellent job at following directions such as ‘play your instrument above your head’.

Clara played her musical instrument by her knee.

Clara ran in a circle as she shook her maraca.  Marina loved the sound that her triangle made.

As we sat in a square shape along the blankets, we exhibited the knowledge of soft touches with our friends. We made sure to pat the backs of our friends with nice, soft touches.

Emma enjoyed the sensorial opportunities that are available outside including rocks, grass, and sand. She loved when the sand was able to fall through her fingers.

Daniel made a track for his animals this morning. He lined the animals up on the track in a circular direction. The different types of animals were discussed as this activity continued on through the morning.

For breakfast, children had corn flakes and banana. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of tortillas with tuna, watermelon, and mixed fresh vegetables. PM snack was cheese and pretzels.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy