Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a terrific holiday weekend.

In pre-k/k group this afternoon, we read, ‘My Brave Year of Firsts’. After we finished the story, I posed the question, “Who did the author write this book for?”. With resounding confidence, one of our kindergarteners shouted, “Us!”. We talked about the books that we read at Wee Friends and how they differ from books that our older siblings read or even the books that our parents read. A few children commented on how the library sorts books into sections for different people.  Towards the end of our conversation, friends shared different books that their sibling is reading or books that they’ve seen their parents read.

K.W.1: Write for specific purposes and audiences.

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Every morning, our two kindergarteners sign in a their special kindergarten sign in binders. This morning, they sat at the island and signed in together. Using colored counters, they found the answer to five different addition problems.

K.CA.1-2: Solve real world problems, objects, or drawings that involve addition and subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g., 5= 3 + 2 and 5= 4 + 1).

Most of our pre-k/k group friends are showing interest in writing out their journal descriptions. Our older friends are using kid spelling (identifying consonants and vowels) and will ask for teacher help if needed but our younger friends are focusing on writing the letters that they know (letter identification). Anna wrote her journal description by herself for the first time today. She drew ‘grandma grandpa’ so together, we looked for the letters to use to write those two words.

There are varying levels of ‘writing readiness’ so our older friends tend to help out their younger peers. The multi-age system during this important time is key to helping our older friends take the reigns and set the example for their younger classmates.

K.RF.4.3: Recognize long and short sounds for the five major vowels. (Only for children who are ready for this)

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

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and shredded pork, PPC mango/pears/banana, and PPC cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– PPC snap peas/cucumber.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 4/2

Happy Monday and Happy April! We hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend.

Today, friends were very excited to have the swing back. The swing is one of our favorite activities and we absolutely LOVE swinging back and forth, fast and slow and in a circular motion. As a very important life lesson, we practice holding on tightly to the ropes and sitting very still while we are in motion. It’s phenomenal to see how well our Wee Wee’s embrace learning!

The use of our cognitive skills are imperative at any age in the Wee Wee classroom. Even our youngest friends are learning through their play! Zoe is utilizing her cognitive, fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills by manipulating the floor Zaney Zoo Abacus.

Breakfast: Whole wheat whole grain toast with sun butter spread and oranges.

Lunch: Whole wheat Whole grain pasta with pork, corn and apples.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Spouts: Broccoli.

We hope you all have a fantastic evening!

Marty 

LINK TO PICTURES:   https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuli_4wLH9YiPm0qbB7CA

Good Afternoon!

I love reading a good article that challenges my thinking, forcing me to view an idea in a new or different way. We all have different ideas about what early education should be but at Wee Friends, we all understand that the children are the leaders in the classroom. They steer the curriculum based on their interests and developmental readiness. It is a team game here and by working together, we are ultimately preparing children to succeed and most importantly, leave here with the love of learning.

This morning. Lucy was showing a parent a pretend frog from the science area. They started having a conversation regarding whether or not the frog was poisonous. Right away, Lucy shouted, “Well, we’ll have to go research it!”. Of she went running to the science area where she pulled several non fiction stories about frogs.

We’re always researching topics that we have questions about. As teachers, we never stop learning too so most of the time, we’re learning together.

I’ve attached a few weekend reading articles (if you feel inclined ). The first one is about dramatic play and why it’s so important in the early childhood setting. We always have dramatic play going on at Wee Friends! The second article is written by a noted early childhood educator who explores the notion of preschoolers needing more play rather than scripted lessons.

http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/why-dramatic-play-matters/

https://news.yale.edu/2016/02/09/preschoolers-need-more-play-and-fewer-scripted-lessons-says-early-childhood-educator-erik

Our prominent pajama day/nail day was a hit! After, we had a runway show to show off our pajamas and freshly painted nails. Most of us love being in the spot light while others prefer to watch!

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and PPC banana.

Lunch– Homemade chicken avocado on whole wheat bread, PPC banana, and PPC snap peas/cucumber.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and banana.

Wee Sprout– PPC snap peas/cucumber.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/29

Good afternoon!

Today was a great day to utilize our fine motor skills. Whether we are coloring with markers/crayons to make beautiful creations in our journals or using our cognitive skills to place puzzle pieces into their correct slots, we love using our hands and fingers to manipulate activities.

Gross motor activities are another way we enjoy our day, especially when the rain has a way of keeping us inside. However, we don’t let a little rain get us down! Tunnel play is a great way to get our bodies in motion. Our friend Emma, has figured out another way of having tunnel play that is just as much fun!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios, and Apples.

Lunch: Shredded chicken avocado salad on whole wheat bread, peas and apples.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee sprouts: Peas

Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy your Easter holiday! We will see you all on Monday.

Marty.

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuli_1oZlex54h4VVU2yw

Good Afternoon!

**Tomorrow is PAJAMA day!

**We want to apologize for the inconsistency of the blog. We’re in the process of moving it to another server as the one we currently have is causing a few issues. We love communicating to you about your child’s day so we really appreciate your understanding until we can get it resolved!

In pre-k/k group, we used our fingers to solve math problems. We discussed the addition or plus sign as well as the equal sign and what they mean in an equation. Children identified the first number and held that many fingers up. Together, we figured out how many more fingers we needed until we got to 10! Friends did a great job working together and helping one another out.

K.CA.4: Find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number for any number from 1 to 9. 

Ruby and Franklin complete a journal this morning. Ruby started by drawing a straight line and Franklin immediately asked, “Ruby! Are you writing an F for Franklin?”. Ruby smiled and said, “Yes, I am!”.

A group of us sanitized and cleaned our toys this morning! We talked about being a responsible member of a community and how making sure our toys stay clean and well taken care of is a big part of that.

We also talked about germs. A child said, “It still has a little scratch on it. I can’t get the germs off!”. This lead into a discussion about how we can’t see germs so that’s why it’s important to wash our hands and make sure we’re making safe, healthy choices! Lucy commented, “I bet these animals are super happy to be getting a bath this morning!” .

Breakfast– Whole wheat oatmeal with honey and PPC strawberries.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, PPC banana/fresh apples, and PPC cherry tomatoes/fresh carrots.

PM snack– Hummus and blue corn chips.

Wee Sprout– PPC cherry tomatoes/fresh carrots.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/28

Good afternoon.

Today was an exciting day for our Wee Wee Friends because we were able to go outside!!! Ohhh, the smiles teachers see when we tell the kids we are heading out. There is nothing better than seeing those bright smiles and the sheer happiness radiating from our friends.

While we were outside playing a couple of our friends found their sibling and had a great time joining them in their play. We are very grateful to have two sites so close to one another so our siblings can see one another at some point during their day. 

We absolutely love to see our older friends interact with our younger friends in the classroom. Mack has taken Daniel under his wing lately and they have been inseparable. The relationships that are formed while at Wee Wee Friends is nothing short of AWESOME!!! As teachers, we work hard on teaching our older friends to help out the younger ones and show them the ropes! We have great leaders in the making!! 

Breakfast: Whole Grain Cheerios and Apples.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs with cheese, whole wheat buttered toast, carrots, and oranges.

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with no nut butter and oranges.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots.

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuli_0GwPA7bloiBQvS4g

Good afternoon!

We apologize for the inconvenience of the blog being down the last couple of days. It has been a work in progress that is diligently being taken care of. Thank you for your patience and understanding!  

Sensory play comes in all forms of fun and exciting objects to play with. Today, our friends are engaged in the hard, uncooked spaghetti. We can break it, stack it into a pile, and place into cups. We even attempt to eat it at times. Sensory play is one of our favorite indoor activities.

We LOVE to use our imagination to call our mommies and daddies on the pretend cell phones. Emma and Mack also utilize their fine motor skills to text on the phones as well. Oh, the conversations we have!

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and Kiwi.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat tortilla with refried beans and shredded cheese, broccoli, and apples.

Snack: Whole grain wheat toast with butter and cinnamon and apples.

Wee Spouts: Peas.

Have a wonderful evening!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuli_xUa7Pf4mGwsJLiLQ

Good Afternoon!

Yesterday afternoon, a few of our older friends played a hopscotch game revolving around reading as well as word families. Maddie read the word before she jumped on it which prompted her younger peers to play as well! She helped them read the word and talked about the letters they saw and the sounds they heard.

Today, Lucy wanted to create an extension of that activity inside since we couldn’t make it outside this morning. She created her own hopscotch by taping paper together and writing the words we used yesterday. She took them to the science area and explored the activity that she made.

The rest of our morning looked a little something like this!

Breakfast– Corn chex and PPC mango/kiwi.

Lunch– Refried beans on whole wheat tortilla, PPC strawberries, and PPC cucumber/peppers.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers/cucumber.

Have a terrific night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/27