A quick reminder that this Thursday Tami will be taking the older Wee Friends to the farm. That group includes: Ada, Jane, Macy, Arleigh, Finn, Nate and Max.

There was lots of excitement today as the WF Fall swimmers assembled, hopped into the Weehicle and made their way to the Y. Tami expressed that everyone transitioned well into the water-no tears!

 

Back in the classroom, Wee Friends enjoyed the many new materials Tami brought in over the weekend. Nate and Elizabeth helped the teachers fold laundry.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Cheerios and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat English muffins with ham and melted cheese, bananas and cucumbers. Snack: Yogurt and pineapple.

Have a great day.

Happy Friday!

**Just as a reminder, Wee Wee Friends is closed Monday, September 3rd in observance of Labor Day. We’ll see everyone Tuesday!

Here are a few pictures that were taken throughout the day.

For breakfast, children had whole wheat toast and apples. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pita bread sandwiches with hummus, pears, and cucumbers. PM snack was rice pudding.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend!

-Mindy

Just a reminder that WF is closed on Monday.

Between the Mystery Grab Bag game, the cornstarch exploration and creative music, Wee Friend’s 5 senses were fed and filled, over and over again.

First friends were blindfolded (if they chose to be) with a soft silky scarf.

Next, they grabbed an item out of Lisa’s mystery grab box. Using their sense of touch, they determined what they were holding.

Corn starch.

Music.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Chex and pear slices. Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, carrots and pear slices. Snack: Pretzels and cheese.

Have a great weekend. See you Tuesday.

Happy Thursday!

It was a wonderful day at Wee Wee Friends. Warm smiles filled the air and children had a fantastic day interacting with their friends.

Our morning started out with painting using circular sponges on a stick.

There are different ways to use the brush. Some friends dotted their paper with their sponge. Others chose to take the sponge and brush it across the paper which made a straight line.

When friends started feeling the sponge, they noticed that if they were to squeeze the sponge, paint would come out! They enjoyed squeezing the sponge with their hand and then using their hands to paint.

Our friends are getting good at letting teachers know when they want a clean piece of artwork. Some children want to use every color available while others just use one or two colors and then want to start on a new piece of artwork.

When we stepped outside this morning, we noticed that the two baby morning doves that had been up in the tree were now on the ground! One of our teachers used soft and gentle touches to move the birds to the corner of the yard. We’re observing the birds and watching them grow. We told our friends that it is important that the birds are given enough space to allow them to grow and flourish.

Children enjoyed using the slide with their friends.

The wooden house was also a popular attraction for our friends.

Miss Emma took many consecutive steps this afternoon! She is taking huge strides when it comes to walking! She was extremely proud of herself and we know that she’s going to be walking all the time soon enough!

Zoey’s friends are loving that Zoey can sit up. They are much more interactive with her and she loves getting the attention of her friends. Her attention towards voices and movement throughout the classroom is at a heightened level. She is extremely observant of what’s going on around her.

For breakfast, children had raisin bran and pears. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with melted shredded cheese, fresh mango, and snap peas. Our afternoon snack was delicious frozen bananas covered with a mixture of soy butter and yogurt. They were a smashing hit!

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

A great and helpful article from one of our favorite on-line early childhood newsletters: www.childcareexchange.com. Food for thought re: conflict/conflict resolution.

In the Beginnings Workshop Book — Behavior, Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Diane Levin outlined the developmental factors that influence how young children think about conflict and conflict resolution:

• Young children tend to focus on one thing at a time. The one thing they think about is often their own point of view.  This can lead to their being unable to think about what they want and what someone else wants at the same time.  And, when they are caught up in thinking about what they want, it is hard to think about a possible positive solution at the same time…
• Young children usually focus on the concrete and visible aspects of a conflict rather than on internal, less visible factors.  The conflicts they have and the ways they think of to resolve them are usually based on concrete actions, materials, and physical features.
• It is hard for young children to figure out the effects of their actions on others in a logical way, especially when it comes to thinking about the consequences of their behavior in advance.
• Young children have a hard time working out how to get from one state of affairs to another — making the transformation from a conflict to a positive solution.  To do this requires such skills as thinking about more than one thing at a time, planning actions in advance, and taking two points of view into account.

When Lisa walked out this morning, she noticed the mama Morning Dove and one of her babies on the fence post. After some exploration, friends found the baby and chased it to the corner of the yard that it could protect itself.

Everybody checked each other out.

Even the mama.

Nate spotted the baby bird’s sibling! Now friends studied two baby birds who lost their mama.

Mama bird let us know she was near and looking for her babes.

Our friends have been wonderful stewards of our garden.

Nate kept watch, alerting friends to be mindful of the trapped baby bird.

 

Mama and Daddy bird eventually rescued one of their babes. When we realized the other babe would not be found, the WF Matriarch came to the rescue.

With heavy winter gloves, Melinda carefully returned the baby bird to its family.

 

And omygosh, when those baby birds were reunited, they nuzzled together and pecked at each other. We also saw the Mama and Daddy bird nuzzling each other. Beautiful. Very happy Wee Friends.

When we came inside, everyone settled into their work.

We’ve discovered how much Elizabeth loves ballet. We experimented with several different genres of music to find the right ballet music for her and her friends to dance to.

She did like Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, but did not like the chant-like Faure Requiem: V. Finn did everything he could to get “Dynamite” spinning, but it just didn’t happen this morning. Melinda’s creative music time had them stretching their bodies and identifying body parts.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh garden tomatoes. Breakfast: Chex and pear slices. Lunch: Melted cheddar cheese on whole wheat tortillas, apple slices and pea pods. Snack: Hard boiled eggs and a frozen treat: a banana on a stick, dipped in a yogurt/pb spread.

Have a great day.

Happy Wednesday!

Marina and Clara had a sensory filled morning!

First, they started off with the water sensory tub. Yesterday, food coloring and water were added to ice cube trays to make special colored ice cubes! Those were added to the sensory tub today. Marina and Clara quickly found out that the ice cubes turned the water different colors.

Marina took all of the ice cubes and placed them into her measuring cup. When all of the ice cubes were gone, she dumped them back into the water.

Clara enjoyed taking her hands and splashing the water. She pointed at the different colors that she saw. She grabbed a cup that had holes in the bottom of it. When she lifted the water up, it fell out of the bottom!

When the ice cubes were dissolved and the water turned from clear to a dark blue color, Marina and Clara decided they wanted to paint.

We used sparkly water colors. They picked their paint colors from an assortment of green, blue, yellow, and red. Our friends enjoy getting to pick certain aspects of their sensorial experiences such as paint color! It gives them ownership of their artwork.

Marina pointed and said, “Rainbow!”

Clara informed Miss Mindy that she was “all done” after she had painted several pictures.

P.K. and Clara love using the new cups that are outside for our friends to enjoy. Children fill the cup up with sand and they use their fine motor skills to put the top on. They also take the top off when they’re ready to play with the sand again.

Our Wee Friends brought out a special tunnel for children to crawl through. Everyone had a great time crawling on all fours through the bright tunnel. We all did a wonderful job waiting so that the tunnel was clear before we entered.

Zoey has mostly mastered the art of sitting up. She holds her arms out to the side to balance herself. Her balancing has improved to the point where she can reach for a toy beside her and then resume her sitting up position. She is enjoying being able to look around at her friends and her surrounding here at Wee Wee Friends!

For breakfast, children had whole wheat pancakes and banana. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of whole wheat couscous with ham and cheddar cheese, fresh garden tomatoes, and delicious cantaloupe! PM snack was rice cakes with cream cheese and mango banana smoothie.

Have a wonderful night!

-Mindy

For the last month or so, Wee Friends have been watching a Morning Dove mama in a tree. Last week, we noticed a wee baby under her breast. Today, we brought grown up binoculars to school to see if we could study the mama and her baby more closely. Friends enjoyed seeing their whole world up close.

Wee Friends love cups. Last week, Melinda bought two packages of plastic cups for the playground. They have served friends in the most educational way: identifying colors and shapes, sharing, pulling lids off and pushing that back on, filling, dumping and scooping, and seeking and finding.

Lisa continued the cup exploration inside by guiding friends as they practiced pouring water into cups, from various sized pitchers.

When we listen very carefully, we are reminded just how many times each day we hear “Let’s pretend……..”. Wee Friends thrive and delight and learn in their worlds of pretend play. Our preschool quartet spent nearly an hour in Pretend Puppy Land. They were very specific about their play and in a sense, are being very clear about their needs.  i.e. “I am a mad Chihuahua!” “You are a bad guy and when you eat this you turn good. When you eat it again…you turn bad!”  “You are a bad guy and I am on your lap and you try to keep me on your lap.” When we, as teachers, read between the lines of play, we learn a lot. They really like bad guys.

Puppy massages with delicious smelling lotion.

Literacy. Everyday.

Ada wondered where the location went after it was rubbed into her skin. We used TP to explore a porous, absorbent material, like our skin. She saw what happened to the lotion.

After the pouring exercise, Lisa added bubbles and watercolor and rags and the sensorial experience continued, engaging friends for the whole activity hour!

Three year olds LOVE Magana Tiles. Love them.

And Wee Sprouts.

And watching themselves chew Wee Sprouts.

Wee Sprouts: WF garden green beans. Breakfast: Peanut buttered toast on whole bread and bananas. Lunch: Whole grain cous cous with ham and cheddar cheese, cantaloupe and Cassie’s fresh garden tomatoes. (Thanks, Cassie and Michelle!) PM Snack: Banana/Mango smoothies and crackers.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Our friends love starting their morning off with a good story. Each child has their favorite book but we’re getting better at reading a variety of books. It’s always good to have that one book that you LOVE!

Clara had an eventful morning! She worked on her gross motor skills as she ran around the room. Then, she decided to work on her arm muscles as she pulled on a toy that made music. Miss Marty had play time with Clara as she got her feet tickled!

P.K. took some alone time after some intense playing! He realized he had to sit down and take a breather.

While outside, Daniel worked in the sand box where he practiced his dump and fill skills. Marina saw that there were some rocks and pebbles on the side walk so she decided to go get the broom. She brushed the pebbles back to where they belong!

Everyone enjoyed sliding down the slide this morning! This activity allows children to work on their coordination and stability as they slide down.

Daniel put out his hand and said, “Marina, high five!”

Our friends loved riding the bikes today! We’re working on pushing with our feet and making sure we’re steering the wheel the right way.

Daniel and P.K. enjoyed some good laughs while in the play house today!

Marina bounced up and down on a bouncy ball! It was a big ball so she had to use her balancing skills.

P.K. gave nice, soft hugs to his brother Nate and his friend Max.

Zoey studies toys and people with more intent lately.

Emma and Zoey enjoyed time together in the kitchen while children were sleeping. Emma took some of the toys on Zoeys bouncy seat and showed them to her friend.

For breakfast, children had corn flakes with apples. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with soy butter, banana, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was pretzels and banana.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

 

Today we say goodbye to Kai. Kai will start 1st Grade at Good Shepherd Montessori School tomorrow. Kai came to Wee Friends when he was 2 months old: October, 2006. WE LOVE YOU KAI!!!! And thanks to the Whitlow family for 6 years of support, encouragement and friendship!

In regards to the Parking Policy as stated in Tami’s email yesterday, here is what one Wee Friend family would like to add: “It is helpful if parents park closest to the nearest/next car. Taking up three spots to drop off (a child) means a much harder drop off for parents.” Thank you, as always, for supporting WF and the neighborhood parking situation.

Here are yesterday’s photos!

 

And today’s thoughts and photos……

This past March, the Wee Friends staff attended an outstanding conference led by MICHAEL BRANDWEIN, an internationally recognized expert on management, communication, leadership and team-building. His topic that day was Early Childhood and his focus, Life Skills. He stated simply that our primary job as Early Childhood Educators is to get kids ready for life. With a large three year old population this fall, the Wee Friends curriculum returns to an emphasis in building Life Skills. While we’ll continue to rely on the Project Approach: our child initiated method of developing lessons, we’ll be spending lots of our school time working on the fundamentals of being a social person, and all that comes along with that. In short….getting them ready for life! Our preschoolers and kindergartener will continue to work on age appropriate activities as they get ready for school life outside of Wee Friends!

Wee Sprouts: Carrots and cherry tomatoes. Breakfast: Cheerios and apple slices. Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat tortillas, mixed veggies and bananas.

Have a great day.

Happy Monday!

**Just as a reminder, Wee Wee Friends will be closed next Monday which is September 3rd in observance of Labor Day.

Zoey is continuing to work on sitting up and moving while on her belly. She is becoming more stable and able to hold herself up. Crawling is in her future!

Emma is strengthening her legs so that she can walk soon! She is taking a few steps at a time. We’ve been working with her and she loves walking as much as possible.

Our friends played with insects this morning. We talked about the different insects that children had. We lined them up in a row so that we could see all of the insects.

Clara worked on her fine motor skills this morning by buckling the high chair. This is one of our friends favorite activities as they getting prepared to eat.

The slide is a great place for friends to push themselves to do something they wouldn’t do. P.K. has been getting braver by the day! He goes down by himself and loves it!

Daniel and P.K. have been playing together in the sand box and the rock area.

Children played together in the house outside. They worked on sharing and teamwork as they made special dishes such as ice cream!

The teeter totter is such a hit outside! Children swing back and forth with their friends as they sing, “Teeter-totter, teeter-totter.”

It was wet outside this morning and Daniel loved standing on the basketball hoop bottom. It was slippery so he had to constantly catch himself. It helped with his balance.

Our friends love to play together. They stood at the sand box and hit the sitting water with their hands. The water splashed all over our friends.

For breakfast, children had Chex and raisins. AM snack was apples. Lunch consisted of grilled cheese on whole wheat bread, corn, and blueberries. PM snack was goldfish and raisins.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy