Happy Monday!

We kicked off our week by introducing simple addition problems for our PREK1 sign in. Each friend found their name and after that, we worked with their specific addition problem. Each problem had representatives for the numbers underneath such as stars or hearts to give children something to count as they were working through their addition problem. A few friends wanted to write their number total while others requested a little help such as tracing the number.

K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g. 5=3+2 and 5=4+1).

We continued this topic in group after we read, ‘Caps For Sale’. We used the content in the story to aid in our addition problems! Each friend got a turn with the tray and counters that represented the ‘caps’ in their problem. For example, Paige added 3 gray caps and 3 red caps and got a total of 6!

K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g. 5=3+2 and 5=4+1).

This morning in the art center there were two waves of child lead projects.  It was fabulous to watch it all unfold and evolve!  We started with friends wanting to build or finish projects they had been working on last week.  As this went on someone decided to make a puppet and began talking about the puppet show they had put on a couple of weeks ago.  Others joined the conversation and switched to puppet making after they had completed what they were working on.  We in turn, switched materials to puppet making supplies.  Projects and shows went on all morning!  The beauty of emergent curriculum is being able to change gears at a moments notice based only on where interest takes the learning material of the day!

Other friends explored sand and wooded building materials at the round table.  They made beds, houses and fences for their farm animals and enjoyed imaginative play around what they had made.  Some worked alone and played with others at the table while others chose to work in pairs.  We like offering the option to meet the social needs of out students wherever they are.  In a multi-age early childhood environment those needs may change on a daily basis :).

PREK2: During group we read the story “Albert the Fix-It Man”.  In the story, Albert’s friends make food for him to show him kindness when he is sick.  We thought of something we would want to make for someone to show them kindness.  Everyone went with food .

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Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh clementines

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with chicken, fresh watermelon/grapes, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM Snack: Whole milk yogurt with banana.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh cucumbers and red bell peppers.

Have a lovely afternoon!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-18

Good Afternoon!

Reminder:  Wee Friends will be closed next Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29th for Thanksgiving break  Thank you.

We began our morning dancing and acting out the movements to our favorite songs.  We first went on a Bear Hunt with our stuffed animals. We then were all sleeping bunnies to the song, See The Bunnies Sleeping?.  We then got down the rhythm sticks to tap with while marching to the Ants Go Marching.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage in loose parts with wooden shapes and animals.  The friends explored the animals and made the sounds of them.  We talked about the names of the different shapes and Eleanor was sorting her shapes and stacking the matching shapes together.

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We then headed outside to play.  The friends were climbing up the rock paths along the slides and then sliding down the slide, building with the Outlast blocks and cars, cooked in the housekeeping area and dug in the sandbox,

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

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

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh blackberries.

Wee Sprouts:  Snap peas.

Have a marvelous evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-18

Happy Friday!

We went into the kitchen to glue foam shapes onto a piece of construction paper.  We were each given a glue bottle to work on our fine motor skills to squeeze the glue from the bottle to work on strengthening our hand muscles.  The younger friends were then given a brush to spread their glue onto their papers.  Look at the colorful collages we made!

Enjoy the pictures from the rest of our day!

Breakfast:  Whole grain rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh apple slices.

Lunch:  Turkey and cream cheese roll-ups, fresh green grapes and snap peas.

Afternoon Snack: Goldfish /cheddar square crackers and Colby-Monterey-jack block cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell peppers.

Have a great weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-15

Happy Friday!  We hope you enjoy some photos from our day!

**Reminder: Wee Friends will be closed on Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th for Thanksgiving Break. Thanks!

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh clementines.

Lunch: Chicken breast sandwiches on flat bread/tortilla,  fresh green beans/peppers and fresh banana/cantaloupe/pineapple.

PM Snack: A birthday treat: Watermelon shark and cheddar cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh pea pods, green beans, pepper.

Have a great weekend!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Pictures: 2024-11-15

Good Afternoon!

Our PREK1 sign in message focused on verbs, specifically action verbs! Each child came up and found their name on the board. We read aloud their sentence, focusing on the missing word which was an action verb! Children used the surrounding context clues in their sentence to choose the right verb.

For example, Ryan’s sentence read, “I ______ the soccer ball with my dad.”. I gave him a couple of options such as swim and build which he said didn’t make sense. Once I came to the word kick, he said, “Yes! That fits!”.

K.W.6.1b: Verbs—Writing sentences that include verbs.

This morning we explored a loose parts magnetic activity.  We chose from a wide variety of magnet shapes and used them to build using a coffee can.  There are several kids who the round table activates really appeal to.  They usually contain an open ended imaginative building component, clear individual spaces and something novel.  This seems to attract kids that have a need for calm focus. The art center offers this as well but in a little bit broader and less defined way.  Offering these spaces is important for all children in a busy classroom. 

Several kids took off on the collage mixed media painting idea today.  Watching our two older girls painting their collage today sparked interest in other friends to try this art project as well.  Others finished projects they had drying from yesterday.  What a busy day for so many individual project ideas!

Water play is always popular in the sensory bin.  It allows friends to explore different ways to divert and move water.  Water is also a calming sensory experience for most children and feels quite grounding to them as they play.

PREK2: We read the story “The Way I Feel” at group today.  We talked about ways we can calm our bodles when we have big feelings.  It was not surprising how many friends mentioned various calming activities from our Mindfulness shelf.  So many children in our class have learned to utilize these activities for emotional regulation. 

Breakfast– Puffins with fresh banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh cantaloupe/pineapple, and fresh snap peas/pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– A birthday treat: fruit rolls with pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a lovely evening!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-14

Good Afternoon!

This morning, we went on a bear hunt with our friends. We all chose a bear out of the basket and marched around the front of our classroom along to the “Going On A Bear Hunt” song. Even Cece joined in!

We then made our way to the kitchen to engage in loose parts play. We each had a tray with a bowl, spoon, tongs, pom-poms and dominoes. We worked our fine motor skills while trying to squeeze the tongs to pick up the pom-poms. Some of our friends also held the domino up to their ear and pretended that it was a phone.

We used our imaginative play skills in the housekeeping area with our friends. We all pretended to eat play food or mixed items in a bowl to pretend we were cooking.

Breakfast:  Whole grain Cheerios cereal and fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, cucumber, fresh pineapple slices and green grapes.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat Ritz crackers with peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts:  Green bell peppers.

Have a beautiful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to picture: 2024-11-14

Good Afternoon!

Today, we manipulated playdough with our hands and several tools…

and then headed outside to ride bikes, play with baby dolls, and engage in the housekeeping area.

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded Monterey-jack cheese, fresh cantaloupe, red bell peppers and whole grain wheat bread.

Afternoon Snack: Cream cheese on whole wheat tortilla.

Wee Sprouts:  Corn.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-13

Good Afternoon!

There has been quite the sustained interest in building three dimensional projects with recycled material!  A few kids tend to check the art center materials bin every morning to see if there are any new building materials in it!  Today friends used carboard pieces to make rockets, binoculars and airplanes.  When the materials ran out and others were still hoping to make more, we turned to tongue depressors and popsicle sticks.  We got more airplanes, some ships and a picture frame! With the amount of building going on, we could use more materials.

 If anyone has any TP or paper towel rolls, paper egg cartons, or any other interesting carboard shapes that might arrive as packing material, please send it in so it can become a creative building project! 

Our creative builders used loose parts at the round table to build playgrounds, houses, barns, traps and slides for animals.  What great creative problem solving and critical thinking skills this group is developing!

The kids became aware that their bodies needed to move, so we simply added a little structure to support the need to move in new ways.  Teachers set up sensory squares and circles to hop around the building rug! Everyone had a wonderful time!

PREK2: Today we read the story “Thank You Earth” which talks about all of the beautiful things the earth offers.  We thought of all the different things we notice when we are outside and made a class list.  The PREK2 journal group has continued to think of all sorts of creative ideas to journal about! 

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh oranges/strawberries.

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

PM snack– Air-popped corn with raisins

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/broccoli/pepper.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-13

Good Afternoon!

We started off our morning by engaging with the waffle blocks. Our friends worked independently connecting the blocks together or collaborating with a friend to make a row of waffle blocks.

Our friends then moved over to the front door to explore the Magna-Tiles. They placed their pieces on the magnetic door and made a wonderful collage of Magna-Tiles!

We then headed outside to scoop in the sandbox, ride bikes down the hill, and practice our balance skills on the balance beam course.

Breakfast:  Puffins/Corn Chex cereal and fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded Colby-Jack cheese, chicken/avocado salad, fresh oranges and corn.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with peanut butter.

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-12

Good Afternoon!

We offered another activity at the art table that cultivated children’s interest in letters! Today, we added playdough and letter stamp cutouts. Arthur immediately found his A while other friends searched for letters that they knew.

At the circle table, various manipulatives were made available for children to explore. Paper cups, rubber cars, and various sized popsicle sticks were offered and immediately, friends started thinking about what they could do with the materials. Paige gathered all of the materials to make…a racetrack!

A few friends sat with Miss Linsey as they made a scale using the materials. On each side of the scale, Miss Linsey placed a rubber car and the popsicle stick stayed even. But when she took one of the cars away, the popsicle stick immediately went up at one side because it was now uneven.

Enjoy a few more pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Corn Chex with fresh strawberries.

Lunch– Homemade chicken avocado on whole wheat bread, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh green beans/cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/green beans/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-11-12