To all the wonderful Wee Friend parents and the Barbour family:Thank you for all the beautiful birthday cards (all 60 of them!!) and the lovely sentiments. You truly made my 60th birthday a memorable one!
Category Archives: Classroom Activity
WWF Daily Explorations, 6.6.11
Happy Monday! Please accept our apology, as we had some technical difficulties with our blog on Friday.
This morning Miss Paulina played with the children and our barn. They identified farm animals, their sounds, and baby animals. The children also did some yoga. While Miss Paulina was inside with this group of children, Miss Lisa had some of the smaller ones outside. The children and Miss Lisa were rolling the ball to one another, played in the sand, and enjoyed a nice swing ride while singing songs. We also have a new flashlight that shines in red, has different sequencing and light patterns, and was great for our hunt and exploration in our cave this morning. Alma and Umi once again transformed into a beautiful ballerina and princess. Miss Paulina sang, ¨Bow, Bow to Miss Melinda,¨ as the children danced. Finn requested ¨BINGO,¨and the firetruck song. It was then time to put on our firemen hats to sing with our firetruck song!
It has been brought to my attention that Marty is very rarely mentioned in our blog. Please know that Marty is a big asset to our team, and while Miss Paulina and myself are engaging in activities with the older children, Marty is often tending to our infants. She is a great multi-tasker, and is often seen with more than one baby in her arms! Marty is also our ¨resident hairstylist,¨ and we truly do appreciate all she does for us here at WWF!
Quote for the week, provided to us by Finn: ¨I sure am a lucky man!¨ We are the lucky ones to have your child with us! Make it a great week!
Just a reminder that we will be closed July 1-11 as we enjoy time with our families.
Lisa, Paulina, Amy and Marty
WWF Daily Explorations, 5.20.11
Gallery
Today our WWF played at the kitchen table with shaving cream. The children love spreading it through out the table and drawing shapes with their finger. The soft feeling and stickiness of it makes it a rich sensorial experience. From … Continue reading
WWF Daily Explorations, Friday 5.13.11
Hello!
Today is a very special day, it is Maite’s last day at WWF. We are all trying to get the most out of this day to catch as many memories as we can and give her all our love to take with her to Costa Rica. We LOVE you Maite and we will miss you TONS!!
Our morning was spent almost entirely outside today. Wee Wee Friends read with Lisa on the porch and played in the sand. They had music with Paulina sitting on blankets and using egg shakers. We sung songs that invited them to move to the beat twisting, naming and tapping on different parts of the body, bouncing, shaking and finally running, walking and jumping.
Today we tried painting in one big paper at the outside easel. They enjoyed the relative freedom of moving on to another space to paint (as in not only on their own paper). We also observed that the communication between them was more lively than when staying in their own space. It was also messier!!! so we did yet more clothes changes and some heavier hand (and arms, and face, and even hair!) washing. It was worth the effort, here’s the final product!
We would like to let you know that there are new WWF pictures on Flickr, here’s the link: WWF http://www.flickr.com/photos/weefriends/sets/72157626710618538/.
Because of all the water play and painting we will be doing this summer we are in urgent need of extra summer clothes and water sandals (plastic)!
FARM TRIP: For those riding with us on Monday, we plan to leave from WWF at 9:15.
Have a happy weekend!
Paulina, Lisa and Marty.
WWF Daily Explorations, Tuesday 5.3.11
Good afternoon!
It is time for traditional songs and rhymes at WWF. The children have enjoyed “Ring Around the Rosie” so much that we have decided to start adding more traditional sings to our repertoire. Rounds and silly dances seem to be of special interest right now. Today we had music out on the bridge area, where we were able to sing songs sitting at the steps and dance around in the wooded floor area.
Today we added these songs:
Outside time today was spent playing with the new toys under the log cabin. Cups, plates, pots, cooking utensils, chairs and a little table were added sparking a whole new way of playing under the cabin. Pit gravel was poured and transferred several times into all the different containers, children took turns sitting at the table and serving food for each other. This kind of play ties in so nicely with our birthday and picnic themes!
For lunch today we had scrambled eggs with cheese, carrots, mandarin oranges and whole-wheat toast with butter. I am happy to report that the menu for today was a total success!
Marty read “Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash” by Sarah Weeks. A funny story about a squash that grows so big, that Mrs. McNosh can fit inside and take her nap. They also read “The Runaway Bunny” by Margaret Wise Brown, another classic!
We are brainstorming ideas to make our good-bye time a little calmer. Starting today we will be reading a series of 3 music books on cd beginning at 4:45 every day. We would like to ask that if you are coming to pick up your child during that time, please try to come in quietly and either sit down with us to read the books or quietly take your child aside to get ready for good bye without disrupting the activity. If you need to talk to a teacher please make sure to do this far away from the reading area so that the children are not interrupted.
Have a wonderful rest of the day,
Paulina, Amy and Marty.
WWF Daily Explorations
Several of the children played grocery store this morning by filling their baskets, picking out food items, and taking their train ride home. Many were busy feeding their babies bottles, sitting them at the table, or swaddling and rocking with them. It is so great to seem them pretending. Many are still into our birthday theme, and love our pretend cake with candles.
Sunshine is here! We had noticed how the trees and tulips were blooming throughout this week and were eagerly awaiting for a sunny day to take a walk and observe the changing landscape. So wagons in hand, and Sloane in Miss Paulina´s back, off we went! We saw and conversed about colors, tulips, trees (especially Magnolia trees!), hyacinths, and dandelions.
Back at WWF’s children spent time playing at the playground. Outside children have been experimenting with a funnel in the rock area around the log cabin. Thanks to Amy’s idea. we have recycled some milk jugs, cutting them in half and making funnels. These have turned out to be interesting tools to be used in all sorts of ways.
Today the menu included whole-wheat pizza, lima beans, pineapple and apple. The children have done an exceptional job with serving themselves this week with a little assistance from the teachers. This afternoon they will be using an apple peeler to prepare our snack.
Wishing you and your family a weekend full of sunshine.
Paulina, Lisa and Marty
WWF Daily Explorations—science
Our bean seeds project has moved to the next stage! A few weeks ago wee wees dropped bean seeds on damped paper towels and enclosed them in plastic ziplock bags. We hung the bags on sunny windows and waited for them to sprout.
This week we noticed some of them not only had sprouted but also had their first leaves out. Yesterday we began to transfer some of those into little pots with soil to help them grow bigger.
To do this, we followed following process:
1. Children scooped organic potting soil into plastic cups and tapped the tops to pack the soil in to the cup.
2. with their fingers pushed a hole into the soil to insert the sprouted seed.
3. gently pushed the seedling into the hole and covered the roots with soil leaving stem and leaves out uncovered.
4. watered the plants using a turkey baster.
Project highlights:
–While working on this project children had a chance to touch and converse with the teacher about the parts of the plant they were handling. Roots were of special interest.
–touching and running their fingers through the potting soil.
–scooping and transferring soil from the big bucket to a small plastic cup.
–using gentle pressure for handling the seedling, tapping and pocking holes on the soil.
–learning to use a baster.
Be on the look for more pictures!!
Have a wonderful day,
WWF.
Sculpture Dough
Since the children had so much fun creating their wolf sculptures with salt dough, the children will now be able to make their own “Sculpture Dough” in the art area. They have a recipe card, the ingredients and the equipment to do everything independently. When their sculpture projects dry out, they will be able to paint them.
Facing our Inner Beasts
In celebration of the upcoming creative drama exploration, the children acted out animal characters with face paint.
