Good Afternoon!

This morning we listened to two songs, Walk Around the Circle and Listen and Move by Greg and Steve.  We walked around the circle acting out the motions the songs directed us to do.

We then engaged with the Roll and Race! Activity Ramps.  We drove our cars  down them to watch how they moved down the ramp on each of the textured paths.

We then headed into the kitchen to make paintings with our Dab and Dot markers.  We made single dots or clustered them together or drew continuous lines together to create our colorful drawings.

We then headed outside to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine and to engage in our favorite activities.  Today several friends worked on their balancing skills while walking across the balance beam.

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, fresh green bell pepper slices, bananas and whole grain wheat English muffins with butter.

Afternoon Snack:  Blue corn tortilla chips/whole grain wheat Ritz crackers (child’s choice), guacamole and fresh pineapple slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Mini cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-18

Good Afternoon!

We kicked off our day in PREK1 with a sign in board focused on shapes, specifically creating new shapes! Children came to the board to sign in and were asked to sign in under the shape that was made when two triangle were put together.

K.G.4: Compose simple geometric shapes to form larger shapes (e.g., create a rectangle composed of two triangles).

Later on in PREK1 group, we read, ‘How the Elephant Got It’s Trunk’ which we later used to fill in our chart with the author and illustrators names.

Each child was given a magnatile shape card that had an image on it. Each card had a picture of a shape made up of other shapes. For example, Katherine had to find three small triangles to make a large trapezoid. Everyone was so proud after making their shape that they asked if they could hold it up for everyone to see..which was not so easy with magnatiles but we did it!

K.G.4: Compose simple geometric shapes to form larger shapes (e.g., create a rectangle composed of two triangles).

Our MACK focus this week is:

Children will learn to recognize and name emotions in themselves and others.

The sensory bin was transformed into an activity using one of our favorite MACK books: The Color Monster!

We added puff balls of all different colors, tongs, and jars with lids. Children flipped through the pages and identified different feelings and emotions while displaying that understanding by collecting specific colored puff balls—what a fun and engaging way to talk about emotions!

PREK2: During group today we read the story “A World of Pausabilities”.  The book introduces the idea of Pausing in order recenter, notice our bodies and what is around them, and feel calm again.  We talked about the word pause and practicing the act of pausing.  Later when we came up to the board we identified a large shape.  If we were able, we identified the smaller shapes it was made of.

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh strawberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh pineapple/banana, and fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-18

Good Afternoon!

This morning, we went down the Habi-trail slide with our friends, looked through the color pyramid squares and sat in the BounceBlocks.

Eleanor worked on putting on a dress-up scarf on her body and asked for “Let It Go.” She twirled along to the song with her scarf.

Our friends made their way to the kitchen for a sensory experience with playdough. We explored it with our hands and fingers before Miss Bekah gave everyone tools. We used cookie cutters and pattern hammers and rolling pins to engage with the playdough.

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We then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful morning weather. We rode teeter totters with our friends, rode bikes down the hill, used a balance beam plank as a ramp for our trucks, climbed the log house and walked around with buckets full of leaves that have fallen from our tree.

Breakfast:  Corn Chex/Puffins cereal and bananas.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded Colby Jack cheese, chicken avocado salad,  fresh apple and cucumber slices.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese and fresh tangerines.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-17

Good Afternoon!

Yesterday, we introduced the terms ‘author’ and ‘illustrator’ so today, we dove into illustrations and how the authors words need to match the illustrators illustrations.

Each PREK1 friend came up to the board and I read them a page from the book ‘Peck, Peck, Peck’. They looked at several different illustrations from the book to see which illustration matched the words. They chose the illustration and taped it next to authors words!

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

In PREK1 group, we decided to read the book from sign in earlier in the day called, ‘Peck, Peck, Peck’. We completed our chart for the day by adding the title of the story we read along with the author and illustrator who turned out to be the same person!

K.RL.3.2: Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in a telling the story.

A group of our older kids were up for a shape hunt in the classroom this morning.  They worked as a team to search for squares and rectangles.  They found the shapes they were looking for in the magnetic tiles and the bristle blocks.  After the group gathered their shapes they dipped them in paint and printed them on a large piece of cardboard.  We will add more shapes through out the week.

Spontaneous kid spelling was happening in the in the art center this morning!  A pair of friends made a lists on their drawings sounding out words, listening for the sounds they heard.  The list described things that were in the drawings like cat, dog, grass, horse, hay and pompom…

PREK2: During group we read the story “The Color Monster”.  We talked about each emotion the monster felt during the story.  At the end we came up to the board to pick the color we felt that day.

Breakfast– Kix and fresh strawberries.

Lunch– Homemade chicken avocado on whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes/carrots.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with peanut butter.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-17

Good Afternoon!

This morning our friends engaged with the Mix or Match magnetic animals.  They were busy building the animal the way it is supposed to look or mixing it up and making it look unique to them.

We then danced to the Beanie Bag Dance by Greg and Steve with the bean bags.

Our friend Charlotte then requested to use our rhythm sticks to march and tap our sticks to Ants Go Marching.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with dominos and pom-pom loose parts.  We worked our fine motor skills to pick up the pom-poms with our tongs, explored the soft texture of the pom-poms in our hands, observed the dots on the dominos and pretended they were a telephone and held it up to our ear.

We then headed outside to enjoy the weather and our favorite activities.  A friend also explored the leaf’s texture of the Hosta plant with her fingers.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with red beans, fresh cantaloupe and red bell pepper slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh strawberries.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a terrific evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-16

Good Afternoon!

We’re in week 3 of our FAB’s and today, we focused on shapes and sorting them by the number of sides in PREK1 sign in. Each friend chose a card from the bottom of the board where they then counted the sides and taped their shape into one of the three groups.

K.G.2: Compare shapes using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, and parts (e.g., number of sides, length of sides, and vertices).

We are also diving into how books are made and how a book goes from a thought to an actual book! We read, ‘The Creature of Habit’ today in PREK1 group and throughout the story, friends raised their hands on almost every page to make a comment about the illustrations. We documented the author and illustrator of this book, as we will do all week long, and talked about the job that each person has. Paige said, “So, there’s a boy and a girl?”. We talked about how boys and girls can be authors and illustrators and sometimes, the same person writes the words and draws the pictures!

K.RL.3.2: Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in telling the story.

This morning we explored activities that offered ways to put shapes together in different ways.  At the round table, we offered a welcome activity using only shapes made from circles.  We had flat circles, cylinders and cones to build with. We found we could build three dimensionally using circle based shapes.  We also found we could use the different sizes to balance our shapes.

In the art center we used circle and square stencils to make artwork.  As some friends worked with the materials, they began experimenting with color mixing in the shapes.  Hannah figured out how to make her squares fade from a yellow center to a red edge.  That takes thought and planning!  This is why I love the Wee Friends philosophy…allowing children to keep going with a project until they are finished.  That allows for growth though experimentation.  That’s where the most meaningful learning takes place!

PREK2:  During group we read the story “Triangle”.  In the story we recognized shapes of different kinds, sizes and colors.  At the end we came to the board to pick a shape.  We described the shape in three different ways in response to three different questions: What is the shapes name? What’s its color? What’s its size?

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh apple slices.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with shredded pork, fresh strawberries/cantaloupe, and fresh green pepper/cucumber.

PM Snack: Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh cucumbers and peppers.

Have a great afternoon!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-09-16

Happy Friday!

Enjoy some of the pictures from our day!

Breakfast:  Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh banana/nectarine.

Lunch:  Hummus on whole grain wheat bread, fresh apple and yellow bell pepper slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and mozzarella cheese stick.

Wee Sprouts:  Mini cucumbers/green bell peppers.

Have a great weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-13

Happy Friday!

To wrap up our week, we continued talking about shapes in PREK1 group as well as our sign in focus. Today, children signed under the shape that had zero sides! A few friends tried counting the sides on the circle but quickly realized that there were no straight sides!

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

The conversation about sides led into group where we used the shapes we talked about yesterday. As a group, we talked about each shape, identified it, and then counted the number of sides.

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

At the art table, trays with playdough were made available. Kids jumped at the chance to explore one of their favorite sensory activities. PLUS, they used letters which made for the greatest activity to culminate our week talking about letters!

Children were quick to identify the letters in their name. Hannah realized that she only has a few specific letters in her name because she has multiple of each letter!

There are those letters that are used a lot in names and this activity forced friends to ask for something that they want as well as patiently waiting for a turn—E’s and A’s are used a lot come to find out!

Arthur was ecstatic when he finally finished spelling his name with his playdough cutouts! One of the best things is watching that facial expression when a goal is accomplished,..like “YES! I DID IT!”.

At the circle table, friends experimented with tangram shapes to help build letters. Of course, children looked for the sheet with the first letter of their name. Hannah kept saying phrases like, “I only have two more triangles to find!”—what a great activity to combine letters and shapes!

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh blueberries/pears.

Lunch– Turkey on whole wheat bread/tortilla, fresh pears, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack–

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-13

Good Afternoon!

PREK1 kids came to the sign in board where we started referring to shapes based on the number of sides that they have. Each friend had to look at the square that was drawn and count the number of sides the square had. Then, they identified the number 4 before writing their name.

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

In PREK1 group, we read ‘When A Line Bends…A Shape Begins’. We learned that once a line starts bending and moving, a shape forms. The shapes that were in the story ranged from triangle to square to rectangle to octagon. It is definitely a fiction story because the illustrators drawings gave us plenty to chat about! Group time went a little bit longer but that’s because we had so much to share and so many questions to ask.

Each child came up to the chalkboard where they were asked to find a specific shape in the pile in my hand. They found it and taped it next to the shape name. My older group members help me find the shape name. For example, I would say, “Mmm. Square. What letter does that word start with?”. They said “S!” and would help me find the shape word that started with S.

Tomorrow, we will come back to these shapes and find out how many sides each shape has!

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

Everyone finished their recycled shapes building project this morning.  Some stuck to their original plan and others made changes.  We had lots of little round people to play with, a telescope, a pair of binoculars, a space ship and a rocket.  This project was offered to encourage independent critical thinking, project planning and creative problem solving.

Elsewhere in the classroom friends experimented with shapes in a variety of ways.

PREK2: In group today we read the story “My Heart is a Zoo”.  In the story every picture is made of heart shapes.  At the end of group everyone was challenged to find a specific shape on the board and stick their name on that shape.

Breakfast– Corn Chex and fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack-Whole wheat crackers with peanut butter and sunflower/pumpkin seeds on top.

Wee Sprout– Fresh green beans/cucumber/carrots.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-12

Good afternoon!

Our friends started their morning by playing with kitchen items in the housekeeping area. They used their imaginative play skills to pretend to cook. Eleanor wore oven mitts while she pretended to cook.

Our friends enjoyed taking turns rocking in the rocking chair. We rocked in it by ourselves or shared the chair with a friend.

We then made our way to the kitchen to paint. We were either were given a loofah or a sponge to use. Our friends stamped their loofahs and sponges onto their papers. We all had a turn with the roller sponge that made a wave pattern.

We headed outside to walk around the backyard with green buckets and baby dolls inside to pretend they were in a stroller and in the sandbox.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh nectarine slices.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded turkey, mini cucumbers and apple slices.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds and whole grain Triscuits crackers.

Wee Sprout: Orange bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-12