Good afternoon!

This morning, our friends were ready to move and dance. Ben even joined in and practiced standing up on his own! Emily and Hannah love the “Jumping and Counting” song by Jim Gill and they used their fingers to count along with the song.

We headed into the kitchen to paint with Miss Bekah. We used cotton balls attached to clothes pins to dip into different colors. We made beautiful paintings with cotton balls!

After painting, our friends made their way to the reading step to relax with some books. Arthur grabbed one of his favorite books, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear…” and read it to Eleanor.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and bananas.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded turkey, red bell peppers and fresh pineapple slices.

Afternoon Snack: Peanut butter on whole grain Wheat Thins crackers.

Have a terrific evening!

Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-03-30

Arg!

Welcome to pirate day! We have been reading pirate books to the large group. This led to them wanting to bring up the pirate dress up. Of course, it wouldn’t be much fun without treasure! We loaded the sensory bin with gems, necklaces, and gold coins. The friends pretended to hide the treasure to be found over and over again.

Today we tired some experimental ship building.  We used tin foil, straws and tape to create ships with sails.  We tested the ships in a water table to see if they  would sink or float.  We used straws to blow wind into the sails to see if we could push our boats across the water.  If our ship sank, we tried to identify the reason for the problem and then find a way to modify our design.  A couple of friends experienced some frustration so we had an opportunity to talk about trial and error in the scientific process.  We found that as we kept designing, we often liked our later designs better than our earlier ones…and then there were some of us who were delighted when our ship sank!

At the round table today we had a beach treasure hunt.  We searched for pirate gold beneath sand and under shells loading our baskets with out find.

Breakfast: Cheerios & watermelon

Lunch: Brown rice w/ beef, cucumbers/peppers, & watermelon/pears

PM Snack: Triscuits, sunflower seeds, & chia seed pudding (Our friends got to help make it yesterday. They thoroughly enjoyed trying it today!)

Wee Sprouts: Peppers & cucumbers

Recipe to chia seed pudding:

1/4 cup chia seeds

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp maple syrup

In our Chia pudding taste test today we found that 7 of our friends liked it, 3 did not and 4 friends did not try it.

Link to photos: 2023-03-30

Have a nice afternoon,

Ms. Linsey & Ms. Kim

Good Afternoon!

Several of us engaged with the musical instruments this morning.  We were busy making music on the xylophones, with the shakers and jingle bells.

We switched out the sensory table today.  We explored scooping and pouring a rice and bird seed mixture. Some of the cups had holes in the bottom like a sifter, so we watched as the mixture came out of the bottom of our cup when we poured it in. We also found a plastic ant that the older friends engaged in a treasure hunt with as they hid it in the mixture and took turns finding it.

The friends then engaged up in the front area of the classroom with the wooden trucks and trains, building them and driving them around.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh green beans, fresh pineapple and whole grain wheat bread.

Afternoon Snack:  Refried beans and white corn chips.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullroIvQU6yIsyU3iCAQ

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy the pictures from today.

We introduced a Perler bead activity today.  Beyond being a relaxing and fun craft, it allows young children to practice using mindfulness, concentration, awareness and dexterity.  This activity helps to lengthen the amount of time young children are able to stay focused which will be an important life skill from school age through adulthood. 

Breakfast: Oatmeal & strawberries

Lunch: Hard boiled eggs, peppers/carrots, & watermelon

PM Snack: Popcorn & raisins

Wee Sprouts: Carrot chips & peppers

Link to pictures: 2023-03-29

Have a lovely day!

Ms. Kim & Ms. Linsey

Welcome to Tuesday!

The sensory bin was a big hit again! It was full of flowers and all things gardening. Our friends enjoyed loading up their planters with flowers and taking the flower pot to water their bouquets. Daniel and Crosby made poisonous bundles of flowers. This led to an interesting discussion on Venus Fly Traps. We discussed how they are known to not only eat bugs, but some species are known to eat rodents as well.

At the art center today we created “Rainstorm Paintings”.  We used an eye dropper to mix different shades of blue in our jars.  Then we created a rain storm on our paper.  We used the eye dropper to make large and small raindrops.  We noted the way the paint splashed like raindrops in a puddle.  Next we used a straw to make wind and we blew the paint around the paper.  We noticed that we could use out wind to change the directing that the paint was flowing like wind does on the surface of a puddle, pond or lake.  Some of us thought about picking the paper up from different sides and watching the paint drip in different directs.  We talked about how gravity is pulling the paint down toward the ground not matter which way we turn it. 

Breakfast: Kix & pears

Lunch: PB on whole wheat bread, cheese slice, green beans/tomatoes/cucumbers, & pineapple

PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel w/ cream cheese

Wee Spouts: Green beans & cucumbers

Link to pictures:  2023-03-28

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Ms. Linsey & Ms. Kim

Good Afternoon!

This morning we engaged in a book looking at it independently or having Miss Bekah read to us.

Several friends also went to work wearing their construction hats and using the tools to hammer on their Duplo structures they built or were in the process of building.

We then headed into the kitchen to work on puzzles that matched our skill level with Miss Tina.

When we headed outside, we all started out digging in the sandbox to fill a variety of different size containers.  We then went in different directions.  We engaged in the rock area with the construction trucks, sitting at the housekeeping table with a container, climbing up the rocks along the slides, going down the slide or walking around with my sister while playing with the baby dolls.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Kix cereal and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Peanut butter on whole grain wheat tortillas, fresh pear slices, carrots and 1/2 mozzarella cheese stick.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat bagels with cream cheese and fresh strawberries.

Wee Sprouts:  Orange bell peppers.

Have a terrific evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  2023-03-28

Happy Monday!

Today was a rainbow kind of day! We brought out rainbow loose parts at the table to see what our friends would create. Many of them used all the multi-colored objects to create their own mini rainbows. One hungry friend decided to cook with them. She made fish sticks and shared them with the teacher.

Last week a friend helped make rainbow pucks for our activity we did this morning in the sensory table. We combined baking soda and watercolors into round molds. Then we stuck them into the freezer to make them hard. This morning, we placed them into the sensory table and provided cups of vinegar and pipettes. The chemical reaction caused a lot of fizzing. Our friends enjoyed mixing them over and over again to see the bubbles form on the pucks. 

We also got ready for planting with some practice gardening play!  We used kinetic sand, shovels flower pots and silk flowers to dig plant and imagine!

We worked back into our mixed media flowers adding more layers of paint or oil pastel.  We looked at flower photos in our books to help with our design ideas.  We got to see how layers of art materials can create very rich surfaces!

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast w/ butter & bananas

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta w/ chicken, peppers/green beans & pears

PM Snack: Whole milk yogurt & granola

Wee Sprouts: Green bell peppers

Link to pictures:  2023-03-27

Have a great afternoon!

Ms. Kim & Ms. Linsey

Happy Sunny Afternoon!

The friends engaged with the plastic blocks this morning.  We climbed on them and sat in them.  Ben moved his arms to let Miss Bekah know he wanted her to sing the song Row, Row, Row Your Boat, so she did.

Miss Bekah had to get a hammer to fix something in the classroom.  Friends were very intrigued by what she was doing and watched.  When I was finished, I went to the basement and brought up some construction hats and plastic tools.  We have hammers, a wrench and a utility set that has a spoon, knife and a magnifying glass.  Friends engaged in using the tools while they were building or to fix toys around the front area of the classroom.

We then bundled up and headed outside to engage in a variety of our favorite activities.

Eleanor is using her elbows and forearms to support to her upper body while playing on her play mat.  Look at that smile while sitting up a little with the support of the boppy pillow.

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

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat macaroni with shredded turkey, fresh oranges and corn.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts;  Fresh green beans.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullrcRXapY-vcx_sz2vw

Happy Friday!

Today we did many activities together with another friend.  Dax and Arthur engaged together driving the vehicles, Ben and Emily sat in the plastic blocks to pretend they were boats, Arthur and Emily built with Magna-Tiles, Ben, Eliza, Hannah and Dax rocked in the rocking chair together.

We then headed into the kitchen to draw with different drawing tools.  Instead of markers, which we love, we used crayons and colored pencils to create our drawings.  We noticed we needed to press a little harder with the drawing tools to make the colors more vibrant.

Arthur and Emily noticed Ben tear his paper, so they wanted a piece of paper to practice tearing into pieces.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pear slices.

Lunch:  Grilled cheese sandwich on whole grain wheat bread, bananas and cucumber slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Mozzarella cheese stick, fresh cucumber slices and strawberries.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullrV_TRgHqDg3i5iywA

Hello Friday!

The Kindergarteners were asked to go around the classroom to find friends who were similar to them. They looked for friends who had the same eye/hair color, had the same favorite food, and favorite toy. They quickly discovered that friends who they don’t normally play with are a lot like themselves.

Gardening season is approaching and we are starting to think about growing things!  Today, several of us worked on a flower process painting to help make our classroom feel like spring.  We were encouraged to look at a book of flower photographs to help us think about flower shapes. Some of us wanted to make up the shape ourselves. This was absolutely great too!  Next, we designed our flower drawing on our poster paper.  We chose from four different textured painting utensils to color our flower.  As the paint dries, we will add more layers of texture and color to our paintings.   

In our loose parts play area we each explored a tray of different materials.  We had one tray of all wood, one of stone, and one of metal.  On our metal tray we had several magnetic pieces to remind us of the special magnetic qualities of some metal objects.  We talked about how each material felt, and how they differed form one another. 

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes w/ PB & bananas

Lunch: Ham and cream cheese roll-ups, cucumbers/carrots, watermelon/bananas

PM Snack: Pretzel sticks & Colby Jack cheese

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers & carrot chips

Link to pictures:  2023-03-24

Enjoy your spring weekend!

Ms. Linsey & Ms. Kim