Good Afternoon.

“Children see magic because they look for it.” ~Christopher Moore

This morning was a beautiful morning for our outdoor play. Evie had asked for a teacher to get out the “Bikes.” Our friends love zooming down the small hill and ending up at the bottom of the play area. This brings many smiles and much laughter. Friends also enjoy pushing their cars around the circular path while engaging with their friends.

Some friends then move onto the dramatic play area, where they are baking cookies. This center brings out so much of our little guy’s imaginations, it’s truly a wonderful thing for teachers to see. Not only do our friends get to utilize their imaginations, they also get to work on their social skills as they work together. 

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.

Lunch Whole grain brown rice with shredded beef, mixed veggies, and apples.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers and colby cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Peas.

have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljPAmKPZT38A-3xn-BQ

Good Morning! I am sorry for the late blog post, we were having some technical difficulties yesterday. Thanks for your understanding.

“It takes a big heart to shape a little mind.” ~Pintrest.com

Trucks are a HUGE interest in the Wee Wee world and have been for quite some time! Today, we saw a different kind of truck come down the street that we were equally excited to see. Friends rushed to the habi-trail windows to see!

We LOVE shaving cream sensory play. Miss Marty added in some blue water color to make our experience more exciting. Sponges, straws, and tongue depressors were also added for our little hands to manipulate the cream and do all kinds of fun things with.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix with banana.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs with cheese, peas and tomatoes, whole wheat butter toast, and fresh PPC pears.

Snack: Whole grain Rice cakes with Sunflower butter.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots.

Have a wonderful day!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulibF5idJ0_cmRPybWTA

Good Afternoon!

We want to wish Chloe a very happy birthday. She turned 4 today and we’re so thankful we were able to spend the day with her!

In pre-k/k group, we read, ‘Room On The Broom’ before discussing greater than and less than. We did the first one together and talked about the numbers 5 and 4. I asked, “Which number is bigger?”. Several friends commented that 5 was bigger than 4.

When working with greater than and less than at this age, using a crocodile’s mouth as a reference works well to introduce this concept at a fundamental level. For instance, I asked, “Okay so if 5 is bigger than 4, would a crocodile want 5 cakes or 4 cakes?”. Everyone answered 5 so when completing the problem, we made sure that the alligators mouth was open to the 5 since 5 was the bigger number!

K.NS.7: Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group.

Enjoy a few pictures from the rest of our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC blackberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, whole wheat tortillas, PPC banana/fresh clementines, and PPC broccoli/cucumbers.

PM snack– Chloe’s birthday treat: fresh peaches along with air popped popcorn with butter.

Wee Sprout– PPC broccoli/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

*We are having problems with our internet today so I will post the picture link tomorrow! Thanks!

Good Afternoon!

Children in the pre-k/k group are inquisitive about books. I can not get through a story without several friends asking various questions about the pictures or making comments about what’s going to happen next (this is AWESOME). Even though it takes a little longer to get through a story, it’s more meaningful and ultimately, children get more out of an experience where they can contribute and question anything and everything.

Today, we read ‘Ladybug Girl and the Best Playdate Ever’ which is a book that we’ve read before. Children immediately want to share their favorite part of the story or list different events that happened throughout the book. I use this as an authentic assessment to see how children are comprehending the books we’ve read and how specific the details are that they remember.

Once we were done reading the book, I asked our older friends to tell us one character that we learned about in the book. We were able to name all of the characters before talking about the setting of the book!

K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).

Our welcome activity was a measurement math box but we also identified which object had more or less cubes. This math box is also a great way for our fine motor skills to get a work out as the cubes are rather small as well as the boxes that they go into!

Miss Kim went downstairs and retrieved our fall/Halloween box which had several different manipulatives in it for us to explore. Using science tongs, we moved the manipulatives around our trays as well as put our imaginations on display. Some of the spiders ended up being poisonous! (our imaginations hard at work)

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

-Albert Einstein

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and PPC kiwi berries.

Lunch– Peanut butter on whole wheat flatbread, PPC pears/mango, and PPC green beans/cucumber.

PM snack– Cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and craisins.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/2

Good Afternoon!

“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.” ~Maria Montessori

The Wee Wee classroom LOVES to dance! What a fantastic way to get our bodies in motion and utilize our gross motor skills. Our friend’s twist and turn their bodies, and jump up and down to the upbeat tempos playing.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat/grain bread with peanut butter, corn, and apples.

Snack: Whole grain cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a nice night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljO5v2NhwJWiYnjaXCA

Happy October!

**As you are in the doctor’s office getting fall flu shots, please pick up an annual vaccine update for our files.

All children will need a vaccine update no later than Jan 1^{st .}

^{_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

In pre-k/k group, we read two short ‘Frog and Toad’ stories. Throughout each story, we stopped at important events that just happened and went over what had happened in the story so far. Not only did children work on recall of specific events but their comprehension of the entire story was evident at the end of group time. Once we finished both stories, we talked about the word ‘character’ and Lucy was quick to share, “Character is when we’re talking about someone that’s in the book!”. As a group, we came to the conclusion that there were only two characters that we learned about: Frog and Toad!

Side note: Before we even started reading, we were looking at the cover and a four year old friend asked, “So is this a fiction story?”. This question made us think back to last week when we worked on text genre and by discussing this futher, we came to the conclusion that it was in fact a fiction story (you know..because Frogs and Toads don’t wear sweaters in real life!”) .

K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, setting, or events).

Anna was anxious to explore the table options for our welcome activity. She used a green dice and rolled it. Each time, she rolled the dice, counted the dots on the dice side facing upwards and counted out the number of gems to match!

Miss Melinda had a ton of helpers this morning as they took apart the garden. It was quite productive for us this year as we were able to eat green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers in plenty!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and organic banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and shredded chicken, PPC kiwi berries/banana, and PPC cucumbers/peppers.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with PPC blackberries.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers/broccoli.

Have a fantastic night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/1

Happy Monday!

Our friends were all in a happy and playful mood this Monday. Although they seemed a little taken aback with different teachers, that didn’t seem to hinder their upbeat spirits. A few of them got out the climbing arches and pretended they were horses.

We turned on some music this morning and we bounced and spun around to the music. Our friends even tried to keep the beat with the music by hitting the rug, and then the bare floors. They discovered that both have different sounds when they hit the different parts of the floor.

Of course, they were excited to go outside. When they had their coats on they hustled to the gate to go outside. While outside, we played in the rocks, filled our insect jars, rocked on the teeter-totter, and played “peek-a-boo” in the playhouses.

Breakfast: Whole wheat bread with sunflower butter, PPC nectarine

Wee Sprout: Frozen corn

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with chicken, frozen broccoli, and PPC banana

PM snack: Whole milk vanilla/regular yogurt, graham crackers

Have a great evening!

Kim

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljO19bUZdGrHbjSQYAg

Good Afternoon!

We’ve been diving into different text genres this week in pre-k/k group. Today, we read a book about apple and pumpkin picking which children quickly said that it was a ‘real’ book. I asked, “What kind of book is it then if it’s real?”. Several friends shouted, “Nonfiction!”. Throughout group time, characteristics of each text genres have been shared and examples of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and fairy tales have been talked about at length.

Our favorite memories of apple picking or painting pumpkins were shared as we read through the story. We’re been working on raising our hands when we have a question or want to share something with the group to make sure we’re being respectful of our peers around us!

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

Most of our friends came to the art table where they used q-tips to paint one side of their paper. When they were done, they unfolded the paper and made a print of their painting on the other side! Children chose to use the q-tip to dot as well as using it as a paint brush.

Earlier this morning, several friends were seen reading in groups of two. Even though we’re not technically reading at this point in our development, children still work on their letter recognition, turning the pages the correct way, and understanding that the pictures help to tell the story.

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat bread with ham, fresh apples, and PPC cucumber/green beans.

PM snack– Sliced cheese and pretzels.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/green beans.

Have a great weekend.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/28

Happy Friday! I hope you have all had a great week.

“Happiness is….. laughing with a toddler about something entirely nonsensical.” ~ lastlemon.com

This morning was full of sensorial fun. Teachers introduced the water beads back into the classroom. Friends were able to feel the soft, slippery feel of the bead, recognize what color of beads they were engaged with, and utilize the scoopers to enhance their hand-eye coordination skills while scooping up the beads and place them into the bowls. They had a blast!!!  

The outdoor environment is full of fun, full of uneven terrain, and full of learning opportunities for our little ones. The slide area is just one opportunity for our friend’s to gain confidence in their gross motor climbing abilities. Rocks and a log are placed around and in the middle of the slides for a different way of climbing up to the platform to get on the slides to slide down. We love to watch our friends climb away and display their confidence in themselves. 

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon, and fresh peaches.

Lunch: Whole grain flatbread with Turkey, garden fresh tomatoes, and apples.

Snack: Pretzels and Mozzarella string cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a fantastic weekend. ~GO IRISH

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljOxoVNCwmAhSVel-aw

Good Afternoon!

**With the change in weather, please make sure your child is coming to Wee Friends with the appropriate clothing (i.e., light jacket for morning). We ask that any child who is wearing a dress also have shorts or pants on underneath. Thank you!

In pre-k/k group, we have been talking about different genres of books. Yesterday, we read ‘Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs’ and how it belongs in the ‘fiction’ category. Today, we read ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. Children shared that it is a fiction story but we also talked about the genre of fairytales. Lucy commented that in fairytales, you can hear, “Once upon a time…” or “..happily ever after.”. We shared some characters that we may see in fairytales, specifically princes and princesses.

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

Our excitement this morning could not be contained! We used healthy ingredients to make cookies. Usually, healthy and cookies don’t go together but our whole wheat (sugar free) apple-oatmeal cookies were amazing! Children did such a great job helping and measuring ingredients which made the process a true team effort.

“Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their ‘innocence’ and of the greater possibilities of their future…let us treat them..with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.”

-Maria Montessori

Breakfast– Corn chex and PPC pears.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded pork, PPC apples, and PPC cucumber/fresh garden tomatoes.

PM snack– Homemade (and sugar free) whole wheat apple-oatmeal cookies and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/fresh garden tomatoes.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/27