Happy Friday!  It was a project oriented day at Wee Friends!

Today we used our magnets to create art.  We placed a paper with our chosen colors on a tray along with a paper clip.  We used our magnet under our tray just like the sand.  This time we used it to slide our paper clip through the paint and move it around the paper to make a painting.

During our welcome activity we got to use a set of materials to invent a completely open ended project.  We started with tin foil, popcicle sticks, straws string and tape.  We got banners, kites, boats and puppets when we added our creative young minds.

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter, fresh bananas and fresh plums

Lunch: Turkey on whole wheat bread with fresh cucumbers, bell peppers, pears and orange slices

PM Snack: Colby jack cheese with wheat thins

Wee Sprouts: fresh tomatoes and cucumbers

Link to Photos:2023-10-06

Have a lovely fall weekend!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good afternoon on this rainy Thursday!

This morning, our friends used a variety of items to get their bodies moving. We took turns going down the tiny turf slide. We also walked on the liquid squares and on the stepping stones with our friends.

We got down the rain sticks which all have different items inside, like bells and foam shapes. We shook our sticks to listen to the variety of noises they each made.

We then made our way to kitchen to engage in a water sensory activity with Miss Bekah. She filled a bin with water, a strainer, boats, funnels, and various sponges with different shapes.

Breakfast: Whole grain Corn Chex with fresh watermelon.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with black beans, peach slices, and yellow bell pepper.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds with Whole grain Triscuits crackers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-10-05

Good Afternoon!

Children ventured on over to their PREK1 sign in this morning that asked them to use the book, ‘The Grouchy Ladybug’ to answer a question about the sequence of the story. They had to find a specific event and determine what happened right after that event.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence.

We read, ‘The Apple Pie Tree’ since we are peak apple picking time! When we finished reading the story, I read five different sentence strips and children worked together to put them in sequential order in which they happened in the story.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence.

PREK2: Today at group time we read “The Big Umbrella”.  At the end of the story we all picked who we might bring under our own big umbrella.

Magnetic exploration continued!  Today we experimented with black iron rich sand mixed with regular beach sand.  We put the two kinds of sand on a tray with a magnet underneath and observed how the magnet interacted with he sand.  We found that the black sand moved but the white sand did not and we learned that iron is what makes the black sand attracted to the magnet.  Several friends noticed that the grains of sand were standing  up like “spikes” or “hair”.  This was a strong area of interest and conversation.  Some pretended they were creating hair styles as they explored with the magnet.  Some said it looked like lots of tiny people were standing up and running around.  We learned that the particles of sand line up like that because they become magnetized when in contact with the magnet.  This makes them attracted to each other as well, causing them to arrange themselves in those interesting formations.

In the art center we created with play dough beads and pasta.  Some friends made faces while others made cakes or cinnamon rolls. 

The sensory bin was filled with black beads today.  Several friends experimented with pipes on different configurations and tried pouring the beads through the shapes they made. 

Breakfast: Whole grain cheerios with fresh watermelon.

Lunch: Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh carrots/bell peppers, and fresh peaches/plums.

PM Snack: Trail mix with pepita seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and granola.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh tomatoes and carrots.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos: 2023-10-05

Good Afternoon!

There has been continued interest in magnets in our classroom which has progressed from magnetic tiles, to a loose parts activity with magnets, evolving into today’s more in depth exploration of magnets.  We set up three trays to experiment with magnets in different ways.  Our first tray dealt with picking up magnetic objects of different mass, finding where the mass of an object exceeded  the magnetic force of our magnet.  The next tray offered an experiment testing which types of materials were magnetic and which were not.  We found in this experiment that only some metal is magnetic.  We learned that iron is magnetic and brass is not.  The last tray taught us about the two poles of the magnet.  We experimented with repelling and attracting magnetic poles.  A few of us had a conversation about the compass.  A couple of minds were blown to learn that the earth is actually a giant magnet having a north and south pole just like the magnet on our tray. 

The art center was covered in glue…mostly in conjunction with paper:)

House keeping was all about shoes today.  Our younger friends were happy to practice putting on and taking off shoes in this context!

PREK1:

PREK2: During Group we read the story “The Sandwich Swap”.  After the story we took a vote on which sandwich we would prefer.  We each put a tally mark up on the board. 

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh pears

Lunch: Boiled eggs with fresh carrots, tomatoes and watermelon

PM Snack: Popped corn with raisins

Wee Sprouts: Fresh green bell peppers and tomatoes

Link to Photos:2023-10-04

Enjoy the last hot day! (probably)

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good Afternoon!

This morning we engaged with some loose parts manipulatives.  We were busy placing them into our pan and pouring them back out onto our tray.  We also worked on our color recognition and patterning skills.  Dax and Hannah used a shape pattern card to follow the pattern using their shape bead pieces.

We then headed out to dance with our dancing scarves.  The friends shook them while dancing to the song, Shake Your Sillies Out.

We then headed outside.  We helped pick weeds and took them to the yard waste bin and worked at tossing our balls up in the air and into the basketball hoop.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, fresh oranges, fresh cherry tomatoes and whole grain wheat bread toasted with butter.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain Ritz crackers and peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-10-04

Good afternoon!

This morning our friends danced to different Jim Gill songs. One of the songs, “Silly Dance Contest,” prompts our friends to show off their silliest moves so our friends spun around and twisted their bodies.

Eleanor played with the rainbow beads and Eden explored the Magna-tiles.

We then made our way to the kitchen to engage in a loose parts activity. We were given wooden rings, a variety of metal containers, and spoons to play with.

We headed outside to engage in a different sensory activity. We used tongs and scoops to pick up pom poms in a tub of water.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh apples.

Lunch: Refried beans and shredded mozzarella cheese on whole wheat flatbread, plum slices and cucumber.

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

Wee Sprout: Yellow bell pepper.

Have a beautiful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-10-03

Good afternoon!

In PREK1 group as well as our morning sign in, we talked about different parts of the day, specifically morning, afternoon, and night/evening. Children shared activities that they do at each time during the day and we documented them on paper. This sparked conversations about similarities in routine between children such as, “I read a book before bedtime too!”.

PREK2:  In group today we read the story “I’m The Best”.  After the story we were given two different ways we might talk about being good at doing things.   We could either say “I’m better than you” or “We are both good at things”.  We talked about why one way of saying this might hurt someone’s feelings and the would not hurt feelings.

This morning we made oatmeal play dough.  It’s a simple mixture of oatmeal, flour and water that gives some new and interesting textures to explore.  This dough reminded a lot of our friends of bread, pancakes or cookies so there was a lot of “baking” going on! 

At our welcome activity we had the opportunity to make strings of large colored beads.  Younger friends could practice the fine motor skill of stringing the beads while older friends could create patterns like the ones on the bead pattern boards.  A couple of older friends rose to the challenge of “how many beads can you fit on the rope?”. They worked together to string them.  It took some cooperation with such a long rope.  They counted 33 beads on the rope when they were finished…or worn out from stinging beads :).

In the building area a zoo building project emerged. Using magnetic tiles, some friends worked together to create an individual compartment for every single animal we had!

…and outside we were loving some last of the warm season outdoor water exploration!

Breakfast: Kix cereal with fresh pineapple.

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat tortilla, fresh bananas, and fresh carrots/ tomatoes.

PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh red pepper.

Have a great night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to photos: 2023-10-03

Happy October!

The friends began their morning engaged with cars; driving them down the ramps or around the carpet, using their imaginative play skills with the animals while using the blocks and train station and building with Duplos.

We then headed into the kitchen for a sensory experience with shaving cream. We added real leaves and glitter to change the texture of it.  We also worked at tearing our leaves into smaller pieces, while covering our hands and trays with the shaving cream.

The babies engaged with a wooden car carrier truck and playing together in the housekeeping area with cooking items.

When we headed outside, we engaged in a variety of different activities.  We tossed a ball, pushed a baby doll around in the cart, rode a bike down the hill, used our imaginative play skills with a baby doll and had it sit on a stool around the table and dug with a shovel in the sand.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toast with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh watermelon.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with black beans, fresh watermelon/peaches and broccoli.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell pepper slices.

Have a marvelous evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-10-02

Good morning!

Children took turns signing in on the PREK1 message board this morning. They wrote their name under their birthday month. We noticed that most of our friends have a birthday towards the end of the year!

In PREK1 group, we stayed with the theme of months and read, ‘A Child’s Calendar’. This week, we’ll be diving into calendars, why we use them, and what we can find on a calendar.

K.M.2: Understand concepts of time, including: morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, day, week, month, and year. Understand that clocks and calendars are tools that measure time.

PREK2:  This week’s MACK book theme centers around defining and recognizing friendships. Today, our small group read “Kindness Starts with You.” This story give several examples of ways friends can show kindness to each other! Afterwards, each friend came to the front to explain one way they could show kindness while at school by choosing examples from the book or making up their own!

This morning we explored a loose parts tray.  We had a choice of bolts, a variety of washers, rings, carabiners and magnets.  We could experiment with any way we wanted to put them together.  One friend chose to make a “scrap magnet”, an enormous electromagnet that is used to move large objects.  Other friends realized when a bolt was connected to the magnet, it too became magnetized and could hold objects. 

In the art center we enjoyed some water color painting!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, fresh watermelon/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/pepper/tomato.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/tomato/pepper.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-10-02

Happy Friday!

The older friends headed into the kitchen with Miss Tina to do a leaf collage with real leaves.  We spread glue onto our piece of cardboard with a brush and then filled it full of colorful leaves.

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We then headed outside to push our bikes up the hill, ride them down the hill and take a little break, sitting on the bench with a friend.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh pear slices.

Lunch:  Ham lunch meat on whole grain wheat tortillas, bananas and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Colby jack cheese slices and Pretzels.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-09-29