Happy Monday!

‘A Listening Walk’ is about the main character who goes on a walk with her dad and her dog. Instead of having a conversation, she was silent. She listened to the noises around her and soaked them in.

Afterwards, the members of K/PREK1 started chatting about rhyming words and how we can decipher what words rhyme. Each friend got a word card and had to find it’s rhyming match. As each child rolled up their mat, they were given a shape and they had to place the shape under the correct shape name! As they taped it under the name, we talked about a few characteristics that we noticed. For example, Penny said, “An octagon has eight sides!”

K.RF.3.1: Identify and produce rhyming words.

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

PREK2 group worked with shapes. Each member signed under a given shape. Miss Kim said, “Mack, sign under the triangle you see.”

As children signed their name under the correct shape, they talked about the number of sides on each shape.

We got a new class pet! Wee Friends is now the proud owner of a curly haired tarantula. A few things to know about our new class pet:

• Curly haired tarantulas can live for either four years (male) or ten years (female).
• We are going to keep our tarantula in it’s home. They like to burrow and don’t care for being held that often.
• Our tarantula will ‘molt’ which is where she will shed her exoskeleton. At this point, we’ll be able to tell if it’s a male or female.
• We have came up with three name selections as a class and tomorrow, we’ll take a vote!

We can’t wait to observe her (or him) in her habitat!

“Children are naturally creative. It is our job to give them the freedom, materials, and space to let their creativity blossom to its full potential.”

-Jean Vant Hul

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with butter and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and kidney/black beans, fresh pears/oranges, and fresh peppers/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers/cucumber.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/9

Happy Monday, I hope you all had a nice weekend.

This morning three of our friends were very happily engaged in playing with the baby dolls. They would take the small blankets available and wrap their babies up snug for either a snooze or a bottle.

The dramatic play center is a great way for our little ones to enhance their imaginations and create many wonderful ideas that they may be having. The sky’s the limit.

Breakfast: Whole wheat butter toast with clementine’s.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta noodles with black and kidney beans, corn and pears.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Have a nice night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljssYOXzMrVCImWrQJA?e=NhU6GT

Happy Friday!

K: Our kindergarteners had circuit time this morning where they worked through two different activities that focused around our FAB’s for the week.

We formed two groups of two so that each child had a partner to work with. The first activity required children to count the number of syllables in a word and then place a clip by the correct number. Grady and David were the first group to count syllables. They tried to count syllables using both methods: clapping and chin but kept coming back to the clapping method as they found this to be easier!

While Grady and David counted syllables together, Penny and N used picnic mats and picnic food to count using one to one correspondence. On each picnic mat, there were ten pictures of various foods with the numbers 1-10 written on the food. They placed ants on each food item to correspond with the number. Not only did this require children to use their one to one correspondence skills but it also required them to identify the given numbers. Grady turned to David at one point and asked, “What’s the number that has a 1 and a 0?”. They talked through it together, ultimately getting help from Penny and N. As a group, they came to the conclusion that the number Grady was referring to was 10!

K.RF.3.2 Orally segment words into syllables.

K.NS.4: Perform one-to-one correspondence tasks.

In K/PREK1, we read ‘My Magic Breath’. What a FANTASTIC story! ( I would highly recommend it). Throughout the book, children were able to use their breath to relive the good memories from the day and blow around the sad/mad times that they had. Not only were we able to practice our deep breathing but children vividly remembered what emotions they had felt throughout their morning.

Afterwards, children picked one card which had a friends name on it. They used either the clapping method or chin method to figure out how many syllables were in their friends name.

…and guess what we found out. We are a thoughtful, spunky, brave group of two syllable humans! We ALL (including myself) have two syllables in our names. What a bonding experience .

K.RF.3.2 Orally segment words into syllables.

In PREK2, children had to make a connection between the number of stickers they counted and the corresponding number! Children used their one to one correspondence skills as they counted the stickers present on their paper.

We hope you have a fantastic weekend!!

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh banana.

Lunch– Ham/turkey on whole wheat tortilla/flatbread, fresh pears, and fresh cucumber.

PM snack– Block cheese and pears.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/6

Happy Friday!

This morning we finished up our Wee Gallery tissue paper bleeding art activity and had so much fun! We really enjoyed watching all the colors drift away onto different parts of our papers.

We look forward to getting them put up in the gallery for us all to enjoy.

During our outside play, we had fun with the balls. We would kick them and sit together and roll them back and forth to one another. At times as we were rolling them, they would get stuck right smack dab in the middle of both friends. We then needed to put our cognitive skills to the test and see what we could do to get the balls moving along again.

Breakfast: Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and clementine’s.

Lunch: Whole wheat/grain tortilla with Turkey lunchmeat, corn and apples.

Snack: Whole grain cheese crackers and Mozzarella string cheese.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljso2yh2kEv_v1jTiNw?e=qX7KCw

Good Afternoon!

In K/PREK1 group, we read ‘Moody Cow’. Peter, or Moody Cow, as his friends nicknamed him, was having a rough go of things. One thing after another kept going wrong and it made him very moody! We talked about situations where we are in a crabby mood. Friends shared things that help them feel better when they’re in a poor mood. Peter’s grandfather helped his mood look up by helping him meditate!

After we read Moody Cow, each friend got a piece of paper with various drawings on it. They each had quiet time and counted the items on their paper. I saw some children count with a finger while others counted in their head. Once they got the number, they came up to the board and tapped their piece of paper under the corresponding number.

K.NS.4: Perform one-to-one correspondence tasks.

K.NS.5: Count up to 20 objects arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle. Count up to 10 objects in a scattered configuration.

Moods were a theme today as PREK2 identified emotions that they were feeling. Our feelings ranged from creative to silly to happy. As a class, we try to identify different emotions that we’re feeling which helps us work through our social situations.

Tip of the day from Penny: when you have a bug bite in the middle of your back, use the corner of the wall to relieve the itch!

A look into our Thursday! We hope you had a fantastic day!

Breakfast– Corn Chex and banana.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, fresh cantaloupe, and fresh peppers.

PM snack– Peanuts and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/5

Good Afternoon.

PLEASE NOTE: With the cooler temps settling in, please make sure your child/ren have warm back up clothing and sweatshirts or light jackets. Thank You.

This morning we had three of our friends travel off to the church at the corner of the street for Miss Melinda’s MusikGarten class. Miss Annastecia chaperoned and I was told all three of our friends had an AMAZING time!!! We look forward to see how well they all progress.

We then all had a fantastic time outside digging in the sand! Our bigger kids work hard on telling and showing our baby friends that we do not eat the sand. What GOOD friends we all are.  

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and clementine’s.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, squash bites and banana.

Snack: Whole wheat crackers with cream cheese/peanut butter. (Kids choice)

Wee Sprouts: Garden Fresh cucumbers.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljslB6JKTco4CqZsb1w?e=smtRHB

Good Afternoon.

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Oatmeal with honey and apples.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs, whole wheat butter toast, sweet potatoes and watermelon.

Snack: Blue corn chips with refried beans.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumber

Have a great night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljskXn5wQ7O7CSqy_bA?e=yQXTCI

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh apples.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh honeydew melon, and fresh cucumbers.

PM snack– Hummus and blue corn chips.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas.

Have a lovely evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/4

Happy Tuesday!

Today, we officially kicked off our newest asset to the our classroom: Mindful Attention with Curiosity and Kindness Curriculum (MACK). In our classroom, social and emotional learning opportunities are always present. Our MACK curriculum provides us teachers with direct-teaching learning goals in 5 areas over a 12 week cycle, similar to our FAB’s.

As Tami was creating our MACK curriculum, not only were various resources added to our environment but she added more than 60 books that we’re able to pull from which cover our MACK topics:

• Mindfulness: Paying attention on purpose in the present moment with kindness and curiosity.
• Emotions: Recognizing and naming emotions in themselves and others.
• Acts of Kindness and Friendship: Defining and demonstrating kindness and exploring facets of friendship.
• Peace and Diversity: Celebrating the differences and similarities that connect all people.
• Gratitude: Learning about gratitude and recognizing things they are grateful for in their lives.

The books we’ve added to our environment for our MACK curriculum can be found on the blog! We’re thrilled to add this to our resources and our every day life here at Wee Friends!

We (Mindy, Kim, and Annastecia) can’t thank Tami enough for all of her hard work this summer to get the MACK ready for this Fall!

The MACK we’ll be focusing on this week:

MACK Week 1: Children will learn that mindfulness involves paying attention on purpose in the present moment with curiosity and kindness. Children will use their senses to describe what they are feeling and seeing in the world around them.

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In K/PREK1, we read ‘Yoga Bunny’ which went along with our yoga session that Franklin headed up!

Afterwards, we started talking about syllables and how we figure out how many syllables are in a word.

Each member of our group got to pick one word and we read it aloud together before they tried to figure out how many syllables were in their word. Once they did, they taped their word under the correct category.

Two ways we can figure out how many syllables are in a word:

• Chin method!: Place your hand under your chin and count how many times your chin moves when saying the word.
• Clapping method! Clap how many singular sounds you hear in a word. For example, ba-nan-a.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

In PREK2 group, children used ants to cover individual pieces of food that were at the picnic! On Mack’s watermelon, he had to match the number that was present and place 10 ants on his watermelon. This activity focused on children’s one to one correspondence skills as they placed each ant on the picnic blanket.

A peak into the rest of our day!

Breakfast- Quaker Oatmeal Squares and fresh apple.

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

PM snack– Raisins and whole wheat english muffins with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/3

Good Afternoon.

Today friends noticed rather quickly that new pictures of them were placed in the photo frames around the classroom. They LOVED seeing themselves and their friends. When a certain child would notice themselves or a friend, they would point to that picture and happily say the name of whom was in that specific picture.  

We then went into the kitchen area to do a fun art project with Miss Annastecia. With the Fall season quickly approaching, we engaged in sensory and fine motor activity. We painted with Duplo blocks onto leaf and pumpkin shapes. We were also able to talk about the recognition of the paint colors we used.

Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal with apples.

Lunch: Whole wheat warmed tortilla with shredded mozzarella cheese, peas and clementine’s.

Snack: Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots.

Have a nice night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljsdK9IabxT4qORrTwg?e=Bd4KU4