Happy Monday!

To kick off our second week of kindergarten, our three kindergarteners focused on rules that we have at school and why we have those rules. For sign in, children had to write one rule we follow inside and one rule we follow in the outdoor environment. Then, they verbally shared why we have that specific rule.

Social Studies: K.2.3 Give examples of classroom and school rules and explain how each helps us.

This theme lead into K/PREK1 group. After we read a ‘Frog and Toad’ short story, we created two webs where children added one thing to a web of their choice. Before rolling up their mat, they chose whether they wanted to add an indoor rule or an outside rule. Together, everyone talked about why we have specific rules and majority of the responses revolved around keeping our bodies safe as well as the friends around us.

Social Studies: K.2.3 Give examples of classroom and school rules and explain how each helps us.

Our morning was a full one!

The circle table had various table top games and activities that friends requested. Hannah explored a sorting game while Millie and Adrian played with the cake and apple pie! They brought over plates from housekeeping and made up plates for their friends!

It was the perfect morning! A little overcast and cooler temperatures made for the best play experience. With the rain over the weekend, friends looked for various insects and bugs. When we were getting our bug spray on, we noticed the BIGGEST spider web to the left of the deck. In the web, we saw several bugs as well as a bee that had gotten stuck in the web!

Breakfast– Whole wheat bagel with butter and banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, banana, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.

Have a fantastic evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/22

Happy Friday!  Enjoy some of the pictures from our day!

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

Lunch:  English muffin cheese pizzas, cucumbers and fresh pineapple.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and cheddar block cheese.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullaYRC4WK8UWk7q3M7Q

Happy Friday!

Our three kindergarteners wrapped up their week by drawing a picture of their house and giving verbal details about it. We talked about houses and how they can differ from family to family, from city to city.

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

We read, ‘Tortoise and the Hare’ in K/PREK1 group today. It was a perfect book to show the similarities and differences between two friends. Towards the end of the book, we talked about both main characters. This lead into a question and answer session as children were rolling up their mats. Each child was asked to share one thing they do slowly or quickly. Several answers had to do with ice cream, whether it was eating it quickly or eating it slowly and savoring it. One friend shared that they play slowly outside so that they can enjoy it!

Siblings that we have at both sites were elated to see one another outside today! Our kids love checking in on their younger sibling while outdoors.

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

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh pineapple/banana, and fresh broccoli/green beans.

PM snack– Cheddar sliced cheese and goldfish.

Wee Sprout– Fresh broccoli/green beans.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures:WF 8/19

Good Afternoon!

What a fantastic Thursday—enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Kix and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh watermelon, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Pumpkin seeds with whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/18

Good Afternoon!

This morning we engaged in the habi-trail area, exploring the dancing color scarves before we danced with them.   We each chose a color and some friends were able to identify the color scarf they had or Miss Bekah said the color for them if they needed help.  We then danced to a song called Jiggle Your Scarf.  While we danced, the song directed us to jiggle our scarf on our nose, knees or toes.We then had to either turn around, touch the ground or freeze with it.  We had a blast!

We then headed outside to engage in our favorite activities.

Breakfast:  Kix cereal and fresh strawberries.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with shredded pork, cucumbers and watermelon.

Afternoon Snack:  Sunflower seeds and Wheat Thin crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a terrific evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullaR9-kpGqFv6ubZsNA

Good Afternoon!

We began our morning engaging in a variety of activities around the classroom.  Arthur and Emma built train tracks and drove trains around it, Paige and a friend played Ring-around-the Rosie, Dax engaged with the balls, Emily traced the leaf on the carpet on the wall and Eliza gave her baby kisses.

This morning Emily asked for the Bear Hunt Song.  After that song, we continued dancing to the Hokey Pokey and several other songs. Eliza was all smiles as she watched Miss Bekah do the motions to the Hokey Pokey.

We then headed into the kitchen to draw with markers in our journal binders.  A friend told Miss Tina “oh look there is a triangle,” and pointed to it on her paper.  It is wonderful to see when friends begin drawing shapes and can identify them.

We then headed outside to ride on the teeter-totter, play with trucks, look for bugs, dig in the sandbox and see our big brother.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole grain wheat toast with butter, fresh strawberries and cucumbers.

Afternoon Snack:  Blue corn chips and hummus.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullaN23LPAUNAJqdvmtw

Good Afternoon!

Today, we welcomed Miss Jena into our classroom! She is our new preschool teacher. The kiddos made her feel super welcome all morning long!

Kindergarten sign in required children to write their eye and hair color. Once they wrote their eye and hair color down, they searched the classroom for a peer who had the same eye and hair color. Then, they had to write their peers name for each.

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

After reading, ‘The Skin You Live In’, we continued to talk about eye and hair color. We charted each and figured out that we have equal parts blonde and brown hair. We are also blue eye heavy in our group!

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

Enjoy the pictures from the rest of our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh strawberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe/strawberries, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and applesauce.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/17

Good Afternoon!

Our three kindergartners were asked to write down three things that they see in their neighborhoods. While most answers were similar, there were a few that stuck out—like a river!

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

This theme extended into K/PREK1 group where we read one of my favorite books: Here and There by Kane Miller. If you enjoy talking about other cultures in your household, this is a must have book! A few other topics within the book are buying groceries, chores, and nature and how they differ from culture to culture, country to country.

We specifically focused on a few pages about how kids in other cultures get to school. K/PREK1 group members were shocked that some kids have to walk hours to get to school or take a cable car or even a canoe to get to school!

Once we were done reading, we took a pole focusing on six things that we may or may not see in our neighborhood. Once we were done, we came to the conclusion that our neighborhoods, for the most part, have tons of trees and grass while offering up chances to see animals as well as people and kids. I posed the following question:

“What would you do if your neighborhood didn’t have any grass? How would that make you feel?”

….I got stunned looks followed by, “Real bad!”

We talked about how some neighborhoods, like in New York City for example, don’t have any grass because it’s all big buildings with mostly streets surrounding it. This was quite eye opening!

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

Our welcome activity excited several children as they sat down to use tongs and colorful puff balls to fill in a wooden rainbow. It attracted Bo’s attention right as he walked in the door! A few children sorted by color while others extensively working on their fine motor skills as they placed the puff balls on the rainbow.

We finally got out our new playdough that we made last Friday! A few children commented, “Oh it’s so soft!”.

Tools were used to manipulate the playdough. A few of our favorites are the garlic press, rolling pin, and cookie dough cutouts.

Breakfast– Toasted oatmeal squares with fresh pineapple.

Lunch– Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fresh oranges, and fresh cucumber/broccoli.

PM snack– Whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon along with cheddar cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh broccoli/cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/16

Good Afternoon!

Today we……

climbed on the ladder and went down the slide of the habi-trail….

finger painted with blue, red and yellow….

before heading outside to play!

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Peanut butter on whole grain wheat tortillas, red bell peppers and fresh pears.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullaJg35uDxgUOs7G2lA

Happy Monday!

**Wee Friends will be closed Monday, September 5th for Labor Day.

Our school year officially kicked off today! We will start our 12 week FAB (Framework for Academic Balance) cycle in a few weeks and for now, we’re focusing on a few Social Studies FAB’s to get to know each other, how we’re different and similar, as well as the people and businesses that make up our community.

Our kindergarteners completed their first kindergarten sign in of the school year! They drew their family, noting specific characteristics for each member of their family.

In K/PREK1 group, we read ‘The Family Book’ which explored the various ways that a family can look! Afterwards, we talked about each of our families specifically. We found out that several group members have a family size of 4!

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

A new group of friends started PREK2 group today! After reading a story, they headed to the table to journal! Children love the chance to journal as they can draw a picture and they get to decide what the description is. At this age, they dictate to Miss Kim what they drew and she write it down on their journal. Eventually, they will start writing their own letters and words before being able to kid spell.

A few children asked for the Montessori squares. Some decided to place them strategically around the table while others built a tower. James placed the squares in order of size while a younger peer practiced balancing as he randomly placed the squares onto his tower.

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and kidney beans, fresh pineapple, and fresh cucumber/broccoli/carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with banana.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a wonderful night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/15