Happy rainy Friday!

This morning we were engaged in different activities. Arthur put on oven mitts and used his imaginative skills in the kitchen and Hannah put on the orange scarf as a cape. In the habi-trail area, Emily was busy hammering away and Paige showed off her climbing skills. Eleanor watched the fish swim around his tank and Eliza enjoyed reading a book on the reading steps.

We made our way to the kitchen to show our artistic skills. We used markers to draw and color in our binders. Eliza used her marker to make dots on her page and Paige drew a circle with lines extending from it.

We then engaged in a game of tossing the balls with Miss Bekah. She would then roll it back to us so we could toss it to her again.

Breakfast: Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and bananas.

Lunch: Hummus on whole grain wheat bread, fresh oranges, and peas.

Afternoon Snack: Pretzels and mozzarella cheese stick.

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-04-28

Happy Friday!

Today was a rainy inside day filled with scientific observation, art and imaginative play!  We observed the growth of our bean seeds as many of them have sprouted their first root growing downward.  A few of us noticed some green starting to show as the leaves have just begun to emerge.  Our friend Millie has been very interested in the beans and created her own “bean game”.  She based the game on our chart showing the internal parts of a bean.  She made her own chart and had friends guess what will grow out of a bean.  Leaves, roots, stems and flowers were all counted as correct answers. 

We observed out lady bug larvae as well.  We watched our teacher use an eye dropper to wet their drinking sponge and we talked about how the lady bug drinks.

 

We engaged in a wide range of play and art activities.  We had a book maker in art center using tin foil, tape and scissors to create creative books to show the class.  We had friends baking cupcakes and dinosaur cookies out of playdough and decorating them with beads for a cooperative pretend bake shop.  There was water play with “potion mixing”, there was oatmeal sifting to make “oat sugar” at the round table and building projects all over the building rug.  All of this came from the minds and imaginations of our Wee friends as they explored an array of engaging materials and play areas.

Breakfast- Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch- Hummus sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack- Goldfish and block cheddar cheese.

Wee Sprout- Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-04-28

Good Afternoon!

We enjoyed making music with shakers and bells. Ben chose a maraca to shake around. Hannah and Paige put bells around their ankles so they would make music as they stomped around.

We then headed into the kitchen with Miss Bekah for a brand new sensory experience…shaving cream on bubble wrap.  We added some water colors to give it some light colors.  We enjoyed spreading it around listening to the rustling sound that was made on the bubble wrap.  There was lots of smiles and laughter happening!

We then headed outside to enjoy the sunshine!  We started off with hats, but those quickly came off after we found out it was warmer than we thought out there.  Hannah was curious how to get the sand to pour out of the spout of her container, Paige was burying her alligator, Emily is working on her balancing skills on the balance beam with the help of her sister, Maggie, Dax is pushing a cart around the backyard, Eliza is walking around carrying a baby doll, Ben is enjoying his ride on the teeter totter with Hannah and Arthur is playing with a pot and putting his sand in his dump truck while Emily is exploring how to work the sifter.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and bananas.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with shredded beef, fresh orange bell pepper slices and fresh pear slices.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds with whole grain Wheat Thins crackers.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-04-27

Hello!

Our Lady bug larvae arrived today!  Some of our friends have gotten interested in lady bugs.  A friend brought in a lady bug shell last week.  Several friends looked at it and asked questions about lady bugs.  We read a book about the life cycle of lady bugs in response at small group.  Many of us were surprised to find out that lady bugs don’t actually look like lady bugs when they hatch.  They go through a larval stage and a metamorphic pupa stage before they emerge looking like lady bugs.  After a little research we found that we could order live lady beetle larvae and a habitat for them to watch the transformation here in our classroom.  When they arrived this morning, we got a chance to look at them along with a model of the lady bug life cycle.  We will be watching them develop over the next couple of weeks in their habitat. 

Several friends have been interested in me -people, so at art center today we used some toy people and playdough to make mer-people tails.  We decorated them with beads and played with our creations. 

Some of us have been very into making three dimensional abstract creations using tin foil popsicle sticks and tape.  We got those materials out for everyone to experiment with and keep the interest going!  Friends had all sorts of creative ideas! Tigers, bear caves, flags and letters were among the finished work.

 

Breakfast- Kix and fresh watermelon.

Lunch- Brown rice with shredded beef, fresh kiwi and pears, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack- Trail mix (raisins, seeds, peanuts).

Wee Sprout- Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friend Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-04-27

Happy Wednesday!

Today was a day for dressing up with our housekeeping clothes.  We created our own unique outfits complete with hats, patient gowns, neck ties and shoes.

We then headed into the kitchen with Miss Tina with our pegs and peg boards.  We worked to fill our holes with colorful pegs and stacking them together. I could also hear friends saying it was Miss Tina’s (pretend) birthday and the pegs were the candles of her cake.

We then headed to do some dancing.  We listened to the song Jumping and Counting by Jim Gill.  We used our fingers to count the numbers in the song be counted up to after our jumping.

We loved seeing the sunshine shining through our windows and playing outside.  What a perfect day!

Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and pears.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh apple slices and broccoli.

Afternoon Snack:  White corn chips and refried beans and fresh pear slices.

Wee Sprout: Green bell peppers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-04-26

Hello!

The Kindergarteners have been learning about weather this week, so at small group we have been reading books about weather.  Yesterday we read a book about wind.  A part of the book talked about how wind produces waves.  One friend asked at the end of group how wind makes waves.  We talked about why this happens and in doing so, decided to try an experiment to create wind and observe how that happens ourselves.  Today we offered that experiment to anyone interested.  We filled a tub of water and used straws to blow air as hard as we could across the water surface at an angle.  This allowed us to see the waves form as we made the wind.  Some of us turned this into blowing bubbles under the water, which began a discussion about how air is a gas and is lighter that the liquid, as we blew the bubbles the gas always rises.  Another friend noticed how when they hummed into the water the sound changed which was an astute observation about how sound travels differently through water than it does through air.  A lot was learned in out little wind group today.

Several friends have been interested in freezing water, so we have made a number a different ice cubs shapes and sizes.  We enjoyed a loose parts ice play area today for both experimental and imaginative purposes.  We used many different utensils like tongs, bowls, spoons and squirt bottles to melt the ice, make ice soup, measure ice, stack ice and more.

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh apples.

Lunch– Hard boiled eggs and egg salad, whole wheat flatbread, fresh watermelon, and fresh carrots/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprouts– Fresh carrots/pepper.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-04-26

Good Afternoon!

This morning friends were busy working to build with Magna-Tiles. They used a variety of colorful tiles to build a tall building with walls on all sides.  Hannah built two cubes and stacked them on top of each other.  The friends then added animals or Little People to their building creations.

We then headed into the kitchen to paint with bugs.  We started out by using the legs of the bugs to make small lines on our papers.  Several friends then used their hands to finger paint their papers and then use the bug’s legs to make markings in it. The older friends also found out they could spread the paint around again and start over if they weren’t content with how the markings turned out.

Eleanor was very entertained by the sound of the stuffed animal’s rattle when she shook it.

Breakfast: Whole grain Corn Chex cereal with fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole grain wheat tortillas, cheddar cheese slices, fresh oranges and corn.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagels with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and apple slices.

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a terrific evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-04-25

Hello!

Our kindergarteners played a sorting game for their sign in that required them to distinguish between the four seasons. There were a few that were tricky and they had to determine if the picture went into the season ‘spring’ or ‘summer’.

Science: K.3.5 Describe and give examples of weather changes and illustrate how weather affects people and the environment.

Today in the imaginative house keeping area the baby dolls have been very popular for obvious reasons!  We set up a pretend baby food making activity using dry oat meal, kitchen utensils and jars to put the baby food in.  We could pretend to measure with measuring cups and fill a cooking pot with oat meal.  We talked about how babies usually eat things mashed or pureed as a first food, so many of our friends spend time pretending to mash the food with their hands.  We all enjoyed filling lots of little jars with the pretend baby food to feed to our babies. 

Several of us worked on our bean journals today.  We had a couple of very observant friends who noticed the tiny hole in the seed called the “radical”.  We talked about how that this is the place were the plant will grow from when it germinates. 

In the art center some of us worked on our hanging wind chime bead work, stringing our beads to hang from our painted branches. 

Breakfast– Chex and fresh pears.

Lunch– Melted shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, fresh pears/oranges, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-04-25

Happy Monday!

We’re diving into the world of weather this week! We read, ‘The Invisible Boy’ in K/PREK1 group and afterwards, each child had to say aloud a type of weather. A few weather terms that were used were ‘hurricane’, ‘hot weather’, ‘thunderstorms’, and ‘rain’. We can’t wait to dive into weather more this week—we’re sure going to have an abundance of weather here in Indiana this week!

Science: K.3.5 Describe and give examples of weather changes and illustrate how weather affects people and the environment.

Today we enjoyed a combination of imaginative and experimental play as we explored ice.  We were able to interact with large blocks of ice as well as small cubes.  At the round table we could choose from a variety of interactive materials to use with the ice.  Some of us chose to use eye droppers to collect melt water and pour if onto the large blocks.  We found that the melted water was warmer than the ice and could be used to create holes.  Some of us created icy arctic worlds to play with toy walruses penguins and polar bears.  Still others combined the two working with tools to melt the ice and make “ice cakes” for the polar bears to eat.  At the end we decided to save the ice that had not yet melted for later use.  One friend suggested we refreeze a bowl of melt water so we took it to the freezer to try.  We will check on it through out the day to see what the freezing process looks like. 

Some of us started a “bean journal” to document the growth of the beans we planted on Friday.  We took the bag down to closely observe the bean.  We noticed its shape, color and any patterns on its surface and tried to reproduce that in a drawing.  Next we wrote or dictated what we were observing. 

Some of us expressed interest in writing in books after seeing the bean journals, so we offered book making with stamps, markers and pastels at art center.  Several of us make our own book.

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh pear.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded pork and butter, banana, and frsh green beans/pepper.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh green beans and pepper.

Have a fantastic night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-04-24

Good Afternoon!

We began our day after breakfast, climbing on the habi-trail.  Arthur and Hannah turned the ladder into a train and sat to take a ride.

We were busy in the rice and bird seed sensory table.  We used a variety of scoops to work on our scooping and pouring skills with the mixture.  Eliza even used her hands to scoop it up and watched in run through her fingers back into the table.

When the friends finished in the sensory table, the plastic bugs were out for them to explore or they worked at taking the shapes off or putting them back onto the stacker.

Before heading outside to play, we pulled out the big plastic blocks to climb on or stack together before sitting on them.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with butter and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat macaroni with butter and shredded beef, fresh pear slices and carrots.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulls14S_gO8qIebg8T-A