Good Afternoon!

***Wee Friends will be closed starting Monday, June 23rd through Friday, July 4th. We’ll reopen Monday, July 7th.

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PREK1 kiddos kicked off their week by identifying the state that they live in as well as talking about other states that they’ve been to! It was a great time to talk about travel as we’re coming off of a holiday weekend where we had many kids traveling to other states! Other states and cities that we identified were Santa Fe, New Mexico and Seattle, Washington as well as the state of Michigan!

During group, we read an excerpt from ‘Here and There’ which talks about how people live their lives differently all around the world. Today, we read about how children get to school depending on where they live. In Japan, children as young as six years old travel by train to school…all by themselves! Our kiddos had a hard time imagining that! We brought out the world map to identify countries that we learned about in the book such as Japan, the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Zambia!

Social Studies: K.3.2 Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand differences between a map and a globe.

Older friends began looking at maps as a way to find places this morning, so we created a project around the ideas they are learning about.  Older kids hid a treasure somewhere in the classroom.  They were challenged to draw a map to the hiding place and have a friends follow the map to find it. While drawing the maps, we thought about places and objects in the classroom we could include in the map to help the reader find the treasure.  Many friends included large classroom landmarks like the kitchen island or the round table.  Others included less obvious features that they noticed like fire extinguishers. Older friends were encouraged to give younger friends a turn to follow their map with a little help along the way .

We worked on planting outside in the garden today.  We added tomato plants and pepper plants to the garden.  Older friends helped plant while younger friends watered.

PREK2:  Older kids created maps this morning for younger friends to follow to hidden treasure.  At group today, we imagined where we, as the younger friends, might have hidden the treasure. 

Breakfast– Kix and fresh pears.

Lunch– Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fresh pears/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/carrot.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-27

Happy Friday!

This morning we were busy stacking the BounceBlocks to stand up on at the Habi-trail.

We then listened to Miss Tina read books to us from the reading step shelves.

We then headed into the kitchen with Miss Bekah to engage in the light table with the translucent beads and plastic eggs.  We were busy scooping up the beads and pouring them back together.  We also scooped it up in our hands to feel the texture and watch the beads run through our fingers. Several friends also worked at connecting their plastic egg halves to make the egg.

Our friends enjoyed playing together in various outdoor areas: the sandbox, the housekeeping area and the circle area. Cece enjoyed the fresh air and sun with us too.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas.

Lunch:  Hummus on multi-gran wheat bread, fresh honeydew melon and fresh carrot chips.

Afternoon Snack:  Goldfish crackers and mozzarella cheese stick.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-23

Happy Friday!

Older friends enjoyed an adventurous day at the farm!  We spent some time with the animals, then took a long hike through the woods, field and wetland.  We enjoyed exploring a secret pond in the woods where we got to wade into the shallow water with our rubber boots.  The kids loved the challenge of balancing on logs and walking through wild terrain!  They enjoyed it so much that on the way back they chose to walk in the jungle of plants along side the path, rather than the path.  It’s extremely beneficial for kids to tackle these kinds of challenges with their bodies and minds.  It builds strength, confidence, perseverance and a healthy sense of adventure!

Several friends pitched in today as we made three different batches of playdough! I had several helpers who measured and added the ingredients into our pot. Once the ingredients had all been added, they helped mix the dough. We chose three colors: teal, yellow, and purple!

Enjoy a few more pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and banana.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh honeydew melon/mango/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Pretzels, string cheese, and fresh honeydew melon.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely holiday weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-23

Good Afternoon!

Throughout the week, our PREK1 group has been talking about calendars and all that calendars entail and one of the ways that we constantly insert calendar words into our day such as days of the week is through the food that we serve at school. We inevitably hear the question, “What’s for lunch today?”, within the first five minutes of our day! Majority of our kids know that on Mondays, we have pasta or that on Thursday, we have rice. Our kids are so invested in the food that we serve, we figured it’d be a great way to authentically connect food to the days of the week.

This morning our older kids worked on a “Lunch Days of the Week Menu”.  Everyone who was interested and able made a menu of our school lunches for each day of the week. They used their kid-spelling to write each day of the week and what food was offered on that day.  Younger kids worked in pairs with older kids.  This way, the older kids could help show younger ones how to sound out and write letters.  This is also a great way for older kids to solidify what they have learned.

Everyone who made a menu helped set up the round table for a pretend lunch.  The kids set out cups, plates, and spoons at six place settings.  Younger kids “came to lunch” while older kids who worked on the project, served.  We served pasta, ham and cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, rice and PB sandwiches.  The meals were served with “peppers/cucumbers” for the wee sprouts plus “strawberries/apples”  for the fruit.  Activities like this teach kids writing, phonetic spelling, cooperation, and the opportunity for creative imaginative complex play.

Enjoy a few more pictures from our Thursday!

Breakfast– Kix and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh cantaloupe/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber/snap peas.

PM snack– Trail mix with sunflower/pumpkin seeds, raisins and granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/snap peas.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-22

Good afternoon!

Our friends started their morning in the front area, building with Magna-Tiles or holding them up to their face to look through the various colors.

A friend showed interest in pegs a few days ago so we brought them out for a peg and pegboard activity. We stacked the pegs to make “tall” or “big” towers like several of our friends described. We worked on identifying the color of the pegs as we stacked them. The friends also said what pegboard shape they wanted to switch theirs with, saying “turtle,” “heart,” “duck,” “butterfly,” or “boat.”

After two rainy days, our friends were eager to head outside to enjoy the sunshine. They engaged with baby dolls, either holding them or placing them in a green bucket to push/pull around the backyard. Charlotte practiced her gross motor skills by climbing on the log house.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh banana.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with red beans, fresh blueberries/apple, cooked corn and cucumber.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Wheat Thins crackers with sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout: Carrot chips.

Have a beautiful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-22

Good Afternoon!

Today we celebrated a friends 2nd birthday.  We are so happy to celebrate with you.  Thank you for the delicious fruit and popcorn.

This morning we were busy building with the waffle blocks and working to interlock the pieces together.

We then headed into the kitchen to paint with watercolor cakes.  Miss Bekah gave us 2 brushes in our water; a thin and thicker bristle brush for us to choose from to create our watercolor masterpieces.

Then each of us took a turn swinging on the disc swing.

Cece enjoyed pushing and pulling a chair back and forth on the kitchen floor.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh blueberries.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh carrot chips, whole grain wheat flatbread and fresh strawberries.

Afternoon Snack:  Colby-Jack block cheese with popcorn, fresh blueberries, blackberries and strawberries (birthday snack)

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers

Have a wonderful evening!

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21

Good Afternoon!

We specifically talked about days of the week in PREK1 sign in today. Children signed under their favorite day of the week and shared why it’s their favorite. One of our oldest friends couldn’t decide! “My favorite days are Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday because it’s pasta day. Friday because I get sprinkle cookies. And Saturday because it’s gymnastics!”.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

This morning we engaged in some imaginative cooperative play at the round table welcome activity.  We used felt pieces to make ponds and rivers for our frogs.  Many friends chose to connect all of their ponds with felt bridges so their frogs could travel around the whole table.  There were many instances where younger kids spent time observing how older kids were engaging in complex cooperative games before engaging themselves.  Multiage environments are a wonderful place to learn the give and take of cooperative play!

In the art center several kids took advantage of some colorful new art paper.  They were inspired to make a variety of animals including dogs and butterflies.  The friends enjoyed playing with their butterflies together after they were finished.  The dropped the butterflies so they could flutter down to the ground like real butterflies.

PREK2:  During group we talked about days of the week based on what we eat for lunch that day.  We made a class list of our favorite “lunch day” of the week.  Some kids felt so passionately about their lunch that they struggled to chose just one favorite. The majority picked Monday as their favorite day based on their love of our pasta!

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh grapes, and fresh cucumber/green beans/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/green bean.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21

Good Afternoon!

Despite the rain, we found several indoor activities for our friends to engage in. Today we…

played with baby dolls in the housekeeping area and worked on wrapping them up in a blanket…

danced with silk scarves to the “Shake Your Sillies Out” song…

explored a water sensory bin with boats, bowls and pompoms…

built with the Mix-and-Match magnetic animal pieces…

and walked on a stepping stone path to feel the different textures under our feet.

Breakfast:  Corn Chex cereal and bananas.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat tortillas with peanut butter, 1/2 stick mozzarella cheese, fresh watermelon and cooked green beans.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese and fresh pear.

Wee Sprout: Carrot chips.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-20

Good Afternoon!

**Reminder: Wee Friends will be closed on Monday, May 26th for Memorial Day. Thanks!

We’re continuing to focus on calendars and what we use them for. A PREK1 group member yesterday shared that we use calendars to highlight birthdays so today, children worked at finding their birth month on the sign in activity. We talked about how there are 12 months in every year!

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

We have been observing tadpoles as a life science project in our class.  Today, we created a sensory rich imaginative play station around our study of tadpoles and frogs.  As I set up the habitat, we talked about what frogs and tadpoles need to survive.  We added rocks, water, plants and logs for them to climb on.  We added some bugs to the habitat for the frogs to eat.  We also added snakes, who share a habitat with the frogs.  We talked about how the snakes are predators to frogs, so the frogs needed to stay away from them.  We talked about ways the frogs could stay protected.  Most of the kids chose to build a fortress of plants, leaves and rocks where their frogs could hide from the snakes and eat their food in safety.  It was a morning rich in learning and cooperative play.

This morning at the art center, a couple of friends asked to paint.  They made pictures of haunted houses and began to splatter black paint on the pictures for effect.  It was a great idea, so we created a place to do this in a little more controlled way.  We looked at a Jackson Pollock painting and talked about using paint to drip and splatter in our own “abstract expressionist” art.  The kids started by painting a piece of mat board with blocks of color.  Then they used squeeze bottles to drip, then toothbrushes or paint brushes to splatter and spray.  The paintings were wildly dynamic and colorful!

PREK2:  We have been talking about seasons at group time.  Today we read “All The World” which covers several activities that are only able to take place in the summer.  At the end of the book we thought about our favorite thing to do in the summer time that we are unable to do in the winter.

Breakfast– Puffins cereal with fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh cucumber/green beans.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/green bean.

Have a fantastic night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-20

Happy Monday!

PREK1 group members came to sign in this morning where we talked about the number of days in a given month. We looked at a few months, specifically May and June to see if they have the same number of days. Children quickly figured out that the statement on the board was false!

Later on in group, after reading ‘What Do You Do With An Idea?’, we did our daily calendar activity. Our calendar activity consists of our ‘mat guard’ for the week crossing off the current day. All together, we say aloud the date: “Today is Monday, May 19th 2025.”. At the beginning of the calendar year, we work together to make a calendar for the year using our favorite journal entries from the current year. This makes it super unique and special to us as kids can’t wait to get to the month that has their journal entry!

We also talked about why we use a calendar. Some ideas that were shared were:

1. So we can know what day/month/year it is!

2. A place to write birthdays and holidays.

3. When vacations are coming up.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

Today friends explored a sensory science activity.  Kids were encouraged to mix and experiment in an open-ended way using color, water and a variety of tools.  Some enjoyed mixing the colors to make hues of green.  Others experimented with displacing the water in the jars as they added sensory balls to their mixtures.  Kids got plenty of time to practice fine motor, focused attention, creative problem solving and cognitive development.

PREK2:  This week older kids are talking about keeping track of the year using a calendar.  Though its a bit complicated an idea for some of our youngest, our group could talk about keeping track of time though the awareness of seasonal change.  We talked about different times in the year as a group.  Then we each came up to the board to sort what season we might do or see different things.  Our older kids in the group enjoyed chiming in to help the youngest kids if they were stumped on what season their card belonged to.  This not only helped younger kids, it helped older kids to gain more from the activity through teaching others. 

Breakfast– Toasted whole wheat bread with butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh mango/pear/banana/orange, and fresh cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola and fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-19