Good Afternoon!
Enjoy a few pictures from our day!
Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and fresh PPC banana.
Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded pork, fresh PPC blueberries and carrots.
Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat crackers with hummus.
Have a great evening!
Rebekah
Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljMVOGiJWCDbyHEIyAw
Good afternoon.
“Always kiss your children goodnight – even if they’re already asleep.” ~ H. Jackson Brown
Today the colorful stacker tower was high on the list of activities to engage ourselves in. This is a dual learning activity for our friends and their little hands to manipulate. The activity enhances our fine motor skills, builds on our color recognition, strengthens our cognitive abilities to stack the circles from largest to smallest as well as strengthen our hand-eye coordination. The classroom offers a few different styles of this activity and our friends enjoy each and every one of them.
Happy faces equal an even happier day!! 
Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios with PPC banana.
Lunch: Scrambled eggs with cheese, peas, whole wheat butter toast and PPC pear.
Snack: Whole wheat crackers with cream cheese.
Wee Sprouts: Peas.
Have a wonderful evening!
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljMNtQ9RhZZ782l2mJw
Good Afternoon!
Children became engaged quickly this morning in different sections of the house. Franklin and one of his peers manipulated the unifix cubes. Franklin used the unifix tray and filled in every space from 1 to 10, noticing that each space required more cubes. After, he used his index finger to count each cube which displayed his one to one correspondence skills.
Ruby built with magnatiles for most of the morning. With the light shining in through the back door, the magnatile colors reflected onto the floor which added a special dimension to her creation.
Anna and Chloe each finished several ‘Melissa and Doug’ wooden puzzles at the island. Anna did three 48 piece puzzles. At first, she asked for help but once she got going, she realized she was able to finish them without much help at all!
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.”
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC mango.
Lunch– Scrambled eggs with a mixture of whole wheat breads (bagel, english muffin, bread), fresh strawberries, and PPC green beans/cherry tomatoes.
PM snack– Blue corn chips and hummus.
Wee Sprout– PPC green beans/cherry tomatoes.
Have a lovely night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 7/25
Good Afternoon!
In pre-k/k group, we read ‘Small Pig’ which is a story about a small pig who leaves home after his owner cleans his pig pen! He searches the city for nice, soft mud. He thought he found some but it turned out to be cement! With the help of firefighters and policemen, he was able to get unstuck and head back home with his owners.
After we finished reading the story, we talked about ‘cause and effect’ at a fundamental level. I picked out two main events that occurred in the book. We read each event and as a group, we talked about what happened because of each event. Maddie was eager to share her thoughts with her peers!
Miss Tami brought in paper weights of all different shapes and sizes yesterday. Today, we got the light table out and explored the paper weights using the light table as well as the light from my phone. We put the light at different angles on each paper weight. Children loved holding them (they’re heavy!) and exploring them intently.
We were able to have a lot of one on one time this morning.
Anna sat at the circle table with the sand paper letters. We took turns holding a letter and we talked about that letter as well as words that start with it. For example, Anna held the letter ‘t’. I came up the with words ‘Tucker’, ‘train’, and ‘turtle’. Using her knowledge of letters, she was able to match the beginning sounds that she was hearing to the letter ‘t’!
Maddie used wooden blocks to create an intricate structure. A teacher talked with her about what she was making and the shapes that she was using. Her final product was a house and bakery. The small shapes were the decorations in each space.
“We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn or thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions—if they have any—and helping them explore the things they are most interested in.”
-John Holt
Breakfast– Kix and PPC pears.
Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat flatbread, mixed fresh fruit, and PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.
PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and block cheese.
Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.
Have a terrific evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 7/24
Happy Tuesday!
“Happiness is homemade!” ~Author Unknown
The dramatic play center was a very happening place today! Our friends love to use their imaginations and find interesting clothing items to put on themselves. Whether it is a hat, a dress or a cape, it is a fun filled dress up party!
According to, kaplanco.com, “Dramatic play can be defined as a type of play where children accept and assign roles, and then act them out. It is a time when they break through the walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, and dramatize situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play.”
Friends asked for the tunnels this morning during our indoor play! Two tunnels are always better than one, so we went all out and had double the tunnel fun! Our little guys love to crawl through really fast to get to the other side and then do it all over again.
Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal with PPC banana.
Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with hummus, corn, and PPC banana.
Snack: Whole grain bagels with butter and cinnamon, and PPC blueberries.
Wee Sprouts: Fresh Cucumber.
Have a wonderful evening.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljMJ1HLVGX18PnQMKLw
Good Afternoon!
What is emergent writing? According the NAEYC, emergent writing is “young children’s first attempts at the writing process”. There are several stages of emergent writing. Most of our pre-k/k group children are in the ‘invented or phonetic spelling’ (or kid spelling as we call it) or the ‘beginning word and phrase writing’. We have journal time everyday after group time which is a time where I can evaluate their writing readiness while pushing them slightly outside of their comfort zone.
Today, Lucy finished her journal and gave it to me so I could dictate her words. Instead, I asked if she’d want to write it and I’d help her with the sounds of different letters. She kid spelled ‘litneg bolt’ for ‘lightning bolt’. Most children hear consonant sounds before vowels sounds so each child’s kid spelling is unique to them and their development at that time. Not every child writes at the same pace; every child is unique and once they’re ready, that’s the time to explore and strengthen their written language skills.
In the article I’ve posted below, it suggests different activities to do in the classroom where children are exposed to written language.
At Wee Friends, reading books is a crucial and main part of the day. Teachers read a variety of text including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Children see letters and words in every book they read along with working on comprehension and understanding different parts of the book (characters, setting, etc.).
Every morning, children are asked (if they want) to sign in on the message board. Children often notice different letters that they recognize as well as working on their name by signing in!
“Both preschool writing instruction and home writing experiences are essential components of helping children develop writing skills. A major advantage of the home-school connection is that children see the value of what they learn in school when parents actively participate in the same type of activities at home.”
**The article is longer but has some good ‘emergent writing’ information 
.
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing
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The rest of our day involved a science class where different children took on the role as ‘the teacher’ while their peers played ‘the students’.
Franklin became frustrated when his train track wasn’t hooking together so with the help of a teacher and a few peers, we were able to complete the track! Several peers ran over to his train track while attaching trains together as they went around the track.
Our morning ended with fresh kale from our garden: YUM!
Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and fresh apples.
Lunch– Whole grain noodles with butter and kidney beans, PPC pears, and PPC broccoli/cherry tomatoes.
PM snack– PPC banana with whole milk yogurt.
Wee Sprout– PPC broccoli/cherry tomatoes.
Have a great night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 7/23
Hello and Happy Monday. We hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
“They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
WWF receives a magazine called YC (young children) and the current issue is all about Infants and Toddlers. I was so excited to read some of the articles and learn more about the ever changing times we have in the infant/toddler world.
The most important article I read was called, “The Heart of Serving Infants and Toddlers.”
There were several bolded sections I read that we at WWF strive for every day in our classroom.
1. Careful, peaceful observations. ~ Recognize that infants and toddlers need to develop a strong and reciprocal relationship with at least one other person in the environment and have a low enough child-to-teacher ratio to address the need. Interpret children’s intentions by carefully and peacefully observing, paying close attention to body language, cues, and gestures.
2. Teachers invite children to engage. ~Invite infants to engage and then wait for their approval, asking again later if necessary.
3. Unhurried time. ~ Recognize that infants may prefer an unhurried approach to their individual care routines, learning, and development, and adapt to their pace.
4. Offering choices. ~ Offer infants and toddlers choices about what is going to happen to them, and wait for their response.
5. Supporting rather than intervening. ~ Support infants and toddlers in their learning and be available, but resist the urge to intervene unnecessarily.
6. Resecting the whole team. ~ Recognize the need to deeply respect children, families, and the whole teaching team.
ENJOY THE PICTURES FROM OUR DAY.
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Sunflower butter and oranges.
Lunch: Whole grain pasta with butter and kidney beans, corn and PPC blueberries.
Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.
Have a wonderful evening.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljMIOl_6AmMIRq9wacQ
Happy Friday!
“Let me love you a little more before you’re not little anymore.” ~MTBottles.ca
Today we utilized our fine motor skills, our hand-eye coordination, our color recognition skills and painted at the easel. Mack asked for the color blue, while another friend asked for “lello”(yellow). We also love to mix the paints together to see what color we end up with. That’s the best part!!! 
Outside play is always one of the best parts of our day, especially when it’s so beautiful out. We had tons of fun in the sand box, playing with the little people and trucks and in the kitchen center. Mingling with our older WF friends is ALWAYS a plus as well.
Breakfast: Whole grain English muffins with cream cheese and oranges.
Lunch: Whole grain oven baked English muffins with ham slices and shredded cheese, corn and apples.
Snack: Graham crackers and block colby cheese.
Wee Sprouts: Corn
Have a fabulous weekend, we’ll see you on Monday morning.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljMFI66guA8-LzjwQBw
Good Afternoon!
One of our kindergarteners wrote a story this morning that he wants to turn into a movie. He sounded out majority of the words by himself, only needing a small teacher presence. He was over joyed every time he finished a sentence, running to peers and teachers to share his work. The amount of pride and excitement just radiated from his face.
One of our most important jobs as a Wee Friends teacher is to listen. We listen to what children are saying and listen to what they’re NOT saying. As our kindergartener was writing his story, he came up with all of the sentences using his imagination but a teacher sat to extend or help with the process of writing a story.
He created a cover and we transformed his words and thoughts into a book!
Here are a few pictures from our Friday!
Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC mango.
Lunch– Whole wheat english muffin with ham and shredded cheese, PPC banana, and PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.
PM snack– Block cheese and pretzels.
Wee Sprout– PPC cucumber/fresh carrots.
Have a great weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 7/20
Good Afternoon!
Our Wee Friends spend a lot of time together, giving them the opportunity to form strong bonds resulting in friendships that last longer than their time here at Wee Friends. Since our classroom is multi-age, children play with peers that are younger and older than themselves. For our children who have been here since infancy, they’ve had years to form bonds with peers as well as teachers.
There are sibling pairs that are at WF and WWF so when we go outside, they are so excited to see their sibling!
Forming positive relationships at this age is important to development. We cherish the bonds we have with one another and make sure that every child’s social/emotional development is at the forefront.
“You make each day a special day, by just your being you.”
-Mister Rogers
Breakfast– Whole grain Cheerios with PPC banana.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded beef, fresh oranges/PPC banana, and fresh carrots/PPC cucumber.
PM snack– Triscuits and sunflower seeds.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/PPC cucumber.
Have a fantastic night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 7/19