Happy Friday!

Children quickly found their name and chose a page of stickers. The stickers were placed in different ways on the black piece of paper. A few of our older friends took the stickers and placed them in a specific way on their letters.

We’ve been talking about the similarities and differences between all of us this week and today, children used various items to create their face on a piece of cardboard! Friends were so descriptive as they added various characteristics to their face.

Mack and David gathered nature items around the environment to use in their art. They placed the leaves that they had collected in different ways and when they were done, they were eager to share with their peers!

“Sometimes giving yourself a break is the very thing you need.”

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

Lunch– Melted shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, fresh strawberries, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Block cheddar cheese and pretzels.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/23

Good Afternoon!

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

“No one is you, and that is your superpower.”

K/PREK1: Chloe chose two poses from the Zoo Animal Yoga chart. First, we transitioned into the ‘bear’ pose before conquering the ‘hippo’ pose. The hippo pose gave us life! It is one of our favorites so far. As we were in this pose, we practiced our deep breathing which really helped as we transitioned into our story.

We read ‘The Skin You Live In’ which focused on skin color specifically when talking about the differences and similarities between us. As I started reading, I had each child hold out their arm and observe it: the nicks, scrapes, and markings that they have which we came back to later on in group time. Franklin said, “Grady and I have the same skin!”—I had them both hold their arms out and we noticed different markings on their arms which make them unique.

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

PREK2: A map was used as a tool to talk about people that live around the world and how we’re all similar! Even though people live in different places, they can do the same things. Each member shared a way that we’re the same as people that live elsewhere.

Our new friends are transitioning very well into their new normal routine while our older children are doing a great job at showing them the ropes and helping them feel comfortable.

One of our new friends was at the island and a four year old came up to sit by him and asked, “Do you want a snap pea, buddy?”

We LOVE when our veteran peers take ownership of that ‘helper’ role!

Breakfast– Quaker Oatmeal Squares and fresh peaches.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh watermelon, and fresh carrots/snap peas.

PM snack– Walnuts, fresh watermelon, and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas.

Have a wonderful night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/22

Good afternoon.

Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and pears.

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

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Snap Peas.

Have a nice evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljrsjQeePI8FMZ13YSw?e=dpuA6H

Good Afternoon.

“Childhood friendship is the most beautiful memory that can’t ever be replaced.” ~www.iampoopsie.com

Whether we are new friends getting to know one another better, or if we are old friends reuniting… We are ALL excited and happy to be together.

Friendships are so important! Establishing friendships in early childhood is one of the major developmental tasks of early childhood. According to Cambridge Schools, “Friends, beginning in the toddler stage, can help children feel good about themselves, help the child adapt more easily to early childhood environments and help the child build self confidence.” 

There’s nothing better than friends that make your day happy and bright in every way.

Baby Nesta seems to be getting quite a lot of attention and making some big kids friends in the process. EVERYBODY LOVES BABIES!!!!! What a great day.  

Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with honey and apples.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs with whole wheat butter toast, fresh peppers and pears.

Snack: Pumpkin seeds and clementine’s.

Wee Sprouts: Snap Peas.

Have a fantastic night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljrl54rIhoMrGQcS4tg?e=MKl2qv

Good Afternoon!

K/PREK1: Chloe started us off by choosing ‘Unicorn Yoga’ for our first ever yoga session. She chose two poses that she’d like to do: ‘Create a Rainbow’ and ‘Pretend to be a Unicorn’. The purpose of this exercise that we’ve decided to implement into group is to move our bodies in a calming way before sitting down to read and do an activity. This requires our bodies to remain somewhat still so moving our bodies in a calm, effective way helps us accomplish that task!

We read ‘I Like Myself’ which focused on different aspects of ourselves that may seem ‘different’ than others. We talked about unique qualities that each of us possess.

Afterwards we charted two physical characteristics. Once we graphed our eye and hair color, we counted the x’s to get the totals! When we finished sharing and charting our eye color, several friends quickly commented, “We have a tie!”—children counted the x’s quickly and noticed that each column had the same number: four!

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

PREK2 group had a conversation about things that make us the same. On their web that they created together, you can find ‘being 4 years old’ and ‘liking ice cream’ as qualities that every member of group possesses!

Our morning provocation invited children to create their own face (or a family members!) using yarn, buttons, beads, and pipe cleansers. Daniel made his face but then quickly shared, “I’m going to make daddy’s face too!”

As children constructed their face, they talked with their peers about the color of yarn they were using or why they grabbed blue buttons instead of brown. Some friends even used their imagination: using yellow, brown, and black hair to top off their face.

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and banana.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, fresh cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Tortilla chips and hummus.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/21

Good Afternoon!

Before we read our book in K/PREK1, we talked about a new change that will be coming to our group time tomorrow. Each week, we have one child who is the mat guard/song starter. Starting tomorrow, instead of a song starter, we’re transitioning to a yoga starter! The yoga starter will pick a page of yoga poses and choose two poses to demonstrate to their peers while their peers follow their directions. Once we’re done, we’ll transition into our story.

We read ‘In The City’ which focused on cities and what we would find. We used Chicago as a reference since majority of our friends have been to Chicago. A type of housing, apartments, was identified in the story. After we finished the story, we looked at eight pictures of different types of housing. The housing types we identified ranged from igloo to boat house.

Even though they looked very different, a few similarities we talked about: each had some sort of roof to cover peoples heads and each house had a door to enter through.

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

The morning provocation offered children the opportunity to take gems and trace shapes and lines. Emma and Sophia used specific colors while Jack lined his gems up right after the other.

A piece of cardboard was on the table which prompted interest from Franklin. He asked if he could paint it which lead to several friends using variations of the color blue to paint cardboard. Most of our friends used the entire space!

“Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write and count. Childhood is a small window of time to learn and develop at the pace which is right for each individual child.”

-Magda Gerber

Breakfast– Kix and fresh banana.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh watermelon/strawberries, and fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/20

Good Afternoon.

“Whenever children say “Let’s pretend”, a new landscape f possibilities for learning is revealed. When children pretend, they try on new feelings, roles and ideas. They stretch their minds along with their imaginations.” ~ Curtis & Carter 

Today friends went into the kitchen area and manipulated their hands and fingers with the colorful pegs and peg boards. This is a very fun and exciting fine motor activity for all of our friends to enjoy.

We can utilize the peg boards to fill all of the holes in the certain shaped board or we can place each of the pegs into the small holes on the peg to build a tall peg tower. We can also begin to learn and understand the different colors of the pegs. Or even better….. we can place the hole portion of the peg on our fingers! Fun times.  

LOOOOOK!!!! A little someone is beginning to roll over! Roll, little buddy, roll.

We absolutely LOVE watching our little guys achieve their milestones.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and apples.

Lunch: Whole wheat/grain tortillas with hummus, corn and strawberries.

Snack: Whole wheat/grain bagels with peanut butter.

Have a nice night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljrhm6r6_0P_GxOchOg?e=KSIdQy

Happy Monday!

What an exciting start to our week! We welcomed three new friends into our classroom! AND our four kindergarteners officially started their kindergarten year!

One of the differences in kindergarten is sign in procedure. While everyone else signs in on the welcome message board, kindergarteners have their own special sign in binder that is geared toward the current FAB.

This week’s FAB is:

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

In our K/PREK1 group, we read ‘Most People’ which focuses on choices the people make, the good and the bad. Children shared their observations while looking at the picture. One of the pictures showed a grocery story owner outside of his store, looking at his window that was broken. David raised his hand and commented, “I think the owner is sad and saying “What happened?!””

We talked about the differences in people that we noticed, physically and otherwise. Afterwards, we completed two webs: one discussing the similarities and one discussing the differences in people. We used the book as a resource as well as the members of our group! I asked, “What is a similarity between Grady and Penny?”.

We started our new journals today! Each child has their own bound journal that they’ll use during this time (for both K/PREK1 and PREK2).

In PREK2, children discussed eye colors and how they’re the same or different depending on the color! Each friend got to document their eye color by placing their eye color under the correct category. At the end, children noticed that there were more blue eyed children than brown.

This mornings provocation allowed children to use their imagination. Tongs, different sized fluff balls, and two glass jars were made available. Some friends chose to take the balls and line the perimeter of their tray while others sorted them by size or color.

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with butter and cinnamon along with fresh grapes.

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

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with fresh peaches.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/19

Happy Monday!

We officially welcomed our new friend, Ellen today. We are very excited to have Ellie in the classroom and watch her achieve her many milestones.

We also welcome (back) Nesta into the classroom. She was on an extended vacation in Vermont over the summer. We are so happy that Nesta and her family are back.

Evie (Nesta’s big sister) has transitioned over to the Wee Friends pre-school classroom. She was very excited to be back and see all of her friends!  

We all look forward to a wonderful Fall/Winter season!

Breakfast: Whole wheat/grain English muffins with butter and Apples.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with butter and kidney and black beans, mixed vegetables and clementine’s.

Snack: Fresh cucumbers and Mozzarella cheese stick.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljrgrvZCtGbbTkIq4TQ?e=RAbgsS

Happy Friday!

The last few weeks, we’ve said goodbye to several friends. Yesterday, we said ‘see you later’ to Ruby as she headed off to big girl school. Monday, we’ll greet new friends who will join our classroom. Things are changing all around us .

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people. different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

-Jimmy Carter

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

Lunch– Ham/turkey on whole wheat tortilla, fresh watermelon, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Goldfish  and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a terrific weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/16