Happy Monday!

Miss Ashley’s first day was today! We enjoyed getting to know her and we’re so excited she’s a part of the Wee Friends teaching team!

This week, we’re going to be introducing greater than, less than, and equal to. When PREK1 kids came to sign in this morning, we compared two groups and had to determine which group had the most. Tomorrow, we’ll introduce the greater than, less than, and equal to signs.

Before we journaled, we read, ‘Elmer and the Lost Teddy’ in PREK1 group. Before we started reading, we talked about characters and the setting in stories. Once we were done reading, we talked about the characters that were in the story such as the lion, baby elephant, and Elmer and his cousin Wilbur!

This morning several of our friends enjoyed sorting costume jewelry during our welcome activity.  The activity encouraged sorting in a variety of ways.  Several chose to look for pairs and sort in groups of two.  We also found that some objects could be sorted into larger groups.  Other friends sorted by size.  Later on, couple of friends suggested that we turn the activity into a store, so they could pretend to buy and sell what they had sorted.  We put out some pretend coins and bills out and everyone enjoyed an imaginary business exchange for the rest of the morning!

PREK2:  Today we read the story “A Tale of Two Beasts”.  After the story we talked about the two characters and how their perspectives were different.  At the end of group time, we picked our favorite character from the story and put our name next to that character on our board. 

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, fresh strawberries/cantaloupe, and fresh peppers/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-30

Good Afternoon!

This morning several friends were busy in the housekeeping area.  Charlotte was eating an apple, Eleanor was cooking on the stove and blowing on her food to cool it down, and Charlotte and another friend were going on an adventure carrying their purses.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with playdough.  We worked our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills as we placed golf tees, while another friend pulled pieces of playdough off her big piece to make smaller pieces.  Another friend filled his plastic egg half with playdough to make a mold of it.

We then headed outside to get some fresh air and play with our favorite activities.

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

Lunch:  Whole grain penne pasta with shredded roast beef , mini cucumbers and fresh nectarines.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh strawberries.

Wee Sprout: Yellow bell pepper.

Have a great evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-30

Happy Friday!

PREK1 friends wrapped up their week by completely sign in earlier today. Each friend had to find their name on the board along with a group of shapes that were specific to them. There was one shape in their grouping that didn’t fit. They had to figure out what shape didn’t fit into the group and share why. Albert said, “This one is a circle and it’s not a triangle like these.”. Everyone was able to quickly identify their ‘misfit’ shape and explain why it didn’t fit into the group.

K.DA.1: Identify, sort, and classify objects by size, number, and other attributes. Identify objects that do not belong to a particular group and explain the reasoning used.

We’ve been focusing on book genres all week in PREK1 and we finally came to the final genre: nonfiction! We have a few different animal life cycle representations that are displayed in the science area. One of those displays is the life cycle of the ladybug. So, we dove into the book ‘Ladybug Life Cycle’ and used the displays to help us get a close look at each stage. Friends were interested to find out that ladybugs aren’t just black and red but yellow, brown, and white!

K.RL.3.1: Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g. fiction, nonfiction, fairytales, poems).

A couple of our young friends came up with a project idea earlier this week.  The project, referred to by its creators as “hook things together inventions”, was brought up yesterday afternoon in hopes that it could continue.  We brought the materials back out so the kids could continue to experiment and see the project through until they felt they had investigated all avenues!  Today we explored both new ideas and innovations to the old ones. Among our new ideas were an air plane with jet engines, a tiny umbrella and a pumpkin.

There is continued interest in the written word at Wee Friends!  Several kids have been very interested in a spelling game, using word cards and letter dice to sequence words.  Paige was clearly very pleased with her work!  Many of our younger journaling group have taken a leap from scribbling to making deliberate representational pictures and are beginning to write letters! It’s very exciting to see!

PREK2:  In group today we compared sizes.  We read the story “The Big Guy Took My Ball”.  We talked about the descriptive words large, small, big, little, and medium.  At the end of the story we came up to the board and picked a small, medium, or large “marble” to sort into a chart.  We used marbles given the strong interest in marble runs this week!

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh grapes.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh cantaloupe/grapes, and fresh pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– Goldfish and cheddar block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-27

Happy Friday!

Today we….

built with the waffle blocks…

worked on matching the bead colors to our pattern card and stringing the beads onto a pipe cleaner…

and then headed outside to ride bikes down the hill, practice our balancing skills on the balance beams, scoop in the sand, cook in the kitchen, and explore and point to all the different colored jewels in the cement.

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

Lunch:  Hummus on whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh cucumber slices and cantaloupe/tangerine slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Ritz crackers and Mild cheddar block cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Mini sweet peppers.

Have a great weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-27

Good Afternoon!

We’ve been working on sorting things this week based on different attributes. Today, PREK1 group members sorted food into different food groups such as fruits, vegetables, and sweets. We sorted foods such as a donut, strawberry, green bean, and carrot into the appropriate group!

Later on in group, we checked ‘poetry’ off of our book genre list by reading ‘It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles’. Each friend got to pick one poem to read so we read a total of six plus I read a few of my favorite poems from the book. A friend shared, “That looks like a long chapter book!”, before we started reading the book. We talked about the difference between poetry books and chapter books.

K.DA.1: Identify, sort, and classify objects by size, number, and other attributes. Identify objects that do not belong to a particular group and explain the reasoning used.

K.RL.3.1: Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g. fiction, nonfiction, fairytales, poems).

This morning we offered a ‘sorting by size’ welcome activity that came with the option of open ended imaginative play.  Friends enjoyed finding a small, medium, and large size of each animal.  Not only did they sort the animals, they buried them in sand, built them houses and made small, medium, and large foot prints with them.

Everyone was overjoyed to be back outside after all of the rain!  Friends played tag or hide and go seek, played in the sandbox and road bikes all morning!

We hope you enjoy a few more pictures from our day!

PREK2: During group today we read the story, “When Sophie Gets Angry”.  After the story we talked about what happened at the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.  We made a list on the board, creating a simple sequence of when things we remembered from the story had happened.

Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios with banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh pineapple/pears, and fresh carrots/pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole wheat round crackers with peanut butter and sunflower/pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots/pepper.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-09-26

Good afternoon!

Our friends enjoyed dancing this morning. We followed along to “Listen and Move” and “We All Fall Down.” They walked, galloped, tip toed, hopped, ran and skated all around the front of the classroom with their friends.

We also read books on our own or with Julie, our visiting IUSB student. They all chose different books from the shelf for her to read to them.

We made our way to the kitchen to engage with some sensory play. Miss Bekah gave each friend some shaving cream and then sprinkled baking soda and added a little water on it to thicken the cream. Our friends mixed it together and watched as it crumbled into small, white pieces that we could manipulate.

We chose bears from the basket and listened to “Going on a Bear Hunt” with our friends. We walked around the front with our bears or snuggled with them on the reading step. Julie tickled Eleanor with one of the bears, which made her laugh.

We then made our way outside to play. We rode bikes down the hill, practiced our balance skills on the balance beam course, scooped sand in the sandbox and explored the logs in the log area.

Breakfast: Whole grain Puffins cereal with fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, sweet potatoes and fresh pear.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds with whole grain wheat Triscuits crackers.

Wee Sprout: Red mini sweet peppers.

Have a terrific evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-26

Good Afternoon!

PREK1 kiddos kicked off their Wednesday by completing a sign in task that focused on sorting items based on similar characteristics. We talked about how we can sort things by size, color, and shape and today, we focused on sorting shapes based on color! Each friend came to the board where they chose one card. They flipped it over, looked at their shape, and sorted it based on color.

Later on in PREK1 group, we read ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Throughout the week, we’ve been reading books from different genres. Monday called for a fiction story and today, we introduced Fairy Tales! We talked about different characters that are in fairytale stories and throughout the book, a few friends raised their hands to share characters from other fairytales that they have read.

K.DA.1: Identify, sort, and classify objects by size, number, and other attributes. Identify objects that do not belong to a particular group and explain the reasoning used.

K.RL.3.1: Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g. fiction, nonfiction, fairytales, poems).

We enjoyed some spontaneous child lead learning experiences this morning!  Ryan and Arthur wanted to use stethoscopes to hook two baskets together in the housekeeping area.  Talking about the interest with them, it became apparent that we could build upon it!  After looking through our materials, we created a building station encouraging ways to hook things together in inventive ways.  We provided strips of fabric, clothes pins, cardboard squares and TP rolls.  The kids spent all morning experimenting with what they could make!

In the art center a similar situation occurred where one of our creative friends wanted to cut up envelopes for collage.  She shared that she was interested in the patterned paper inside the envelope.  In response we set out a variety of patterned colored paper, providing an array of paper collaging materials!  At Wee Friends we try to listen to what kids are telling us about their interests through their play.  Our job is often simply to offer avenues for further exploration, opening more doors for meaningful learning!

PREK2:  During group today we read the story “Ruby Has a Worry”. Before we read the story, we talked about things that made us worried.  As a group, we found that trying new food, monsters, the dark, spiders and daddy long legs were some of the things that make us feel worried.  We found that as we shared, that several other friends shared the same worry.  After reading the story and talking as a group, we found that sharing a worry makes it smaller!

Breakfast: Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh nectarines.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat flatbread, fresh pineapple/apples/oranges, and fresh snap peas/cucumber/pepper.

PM Snack: Hummus with blue corn chips.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh cucumbers and snap peas.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-25

Good Afternoon!  Another cold and rainy morning, that kept us inside, but we were busy.

We looked out at the rain out the window, engaged with a stuffed animal, built with our new shape blocks with our artwork inside, climbed on the habi-trail, and fed a baby doll a bottle.

We then headed into the kitchen to draw with markers.  We filled our papers full of colorful continuous lines and made small dots with the tips of our markers.  We filled both sides of our papers with our drawings.

We then headed out to engage with the rhythm sticks and shaker instruments.  We followed along to “Tap Your Sticks” by Hap Palmer with our rhythm sticks. When we shook our rain stick instruments, it sounded like it was raining inside, just like it was outside.

We then engaged with our object permanence boxes and watched our ball or coin disappear in the hole or slot and then reappear in the drawer or tray.  We also worked our fine motor skills as we stacked our shapes onto their stacking pole.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded mozzarella cheese, whole wheat English muffins with butter, fresh cantaloupe and red mini sweet bell pepper.

Afternoon Snack: Fresh guacamole with blue corn tortilla chips and 1/2 mozzarella cheese stick.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-09-25

Good afternoon!

Enjoy some pictures from our (rainy) day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh nectarine slices.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat tortilla with peanut butter, 1/2 mozzarella cheese stick, fresh watermelon and red mini sweet pepper.

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

Wee Sprout: Cucumbers.

Have a beautiful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-09-24

Good Afternoon!

We explored sizes in an open ended way at the circle table this morning!  In the center of the table, there were three sizes of each shape and each gem.  Many friends chose to create imaginative play scenarios, making and decorating cookies or treats of different shapes and sizes.  We were able to casually talk about size, shape and how they were categorized through child lead play.

Please enjoy some more phots from our day!

Breakfast: Chex cereal with fresh pears

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat bread with fresh cucumbers/carrots and pineapple/apple slices

PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese

Wee Sprouts: Fresh carrots and cucumbers

Enjoy the rest of your day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-09-24