WWF, 1/9/2025

Good afternoon!

Cece explored the toys that hung from her play mat. She tried to reach for them and finally has arms that are long enough to touch them.

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Our friends played with the plastic rings and placed them over their heads. Miss Bekah asked our friends what colors the rings were as they stacked them around their necks.

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We worked more on our color recognition skills with the Pop Puzzle Popper Fidget pieces.. We worked our fine motor skills as well by placing the blocks together to connect them.

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Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh pear.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded roast beef, fresh cucumbers and oranges.

Afternoon Snack: Peanut butter on whole wheat Ritz crackers and blueberries.

Wee Sprout: Green and yellow bell pepper.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-09

WF 01/09/2025

Good Afternoon!

Our PREK1 sign in continued to test our knowledge of various community helpers in our area. Each child chose a card from the bottom of the board that had a few clues written on it. After reading the clues, they shared what community helper they thought matched the clues. A few community helpers we learned about were lifeguards, plumbers, veterinarians, and teachers. One of our friends heard a conversation going on about plumbers and she immediately shared, “We had a problem with our drain and when my daddy couldn’t fix it, we had to call a plumber!”.

Social Studies: K.2.1 Give examples of people who are community helpers (inside the classroom and outside the classroom) and describe how they help us.

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This morning we enjoyed exploring new window blocks filled with natural materials.  Friends were emersed in the experience of building with them, watching how things moved inside the block and closely observing that materials inside all at the same time.  Some counted pinecones, others asked questions about fossil shark teeth, others built a “movie theater” with the blocks. 

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Our next painting experiment was underway this morning.  We tried using puff balls of all different sizes to make new kinds of marks.  Friends enjoyed using tweezers to dip each puff ball and then playfully move it on their paper.  Some dotted, others made wide sweeping marks.  Some even found that the tweezers themselves made interesting marks.  Allowing kids to simply explore with no set outcome creates a more experimental atmosphere around art leading to a deeper learning experience. 

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We hope you enjoy some more pictures from our day!

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Breakfast– Puffins with fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded pork, fresh pineapple/oranges/pears, and fresh cucumber/carrots/snap peas.

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

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots/snap peas.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-09

WWF, 1/8/2025

Happy Wednesday!

Reminder:  Wee Friends will be closed on Friday, February 21st for Parent Teacher Conferences.  If you are unable to make it for any reason or believe you have a conflict on that day, please let a teacher know for scheduling purposes.  Thank you!

We began our morning engaged in a variety of activities.  Charlotte and Eleanor rocked together in the rocking chair, Eleanor engaged with a baby doll and carried a purse around the classroom, a friend walked around the front circle with her beanie baby mouse, Cece engaged with her toys sitting in her chair, Charlotte walked around in the classroom in dress up tap shoes and another friend enjoyed going down the habi-trail slide.

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We headed into the kitchen to engage with playdough.  We had a cookie cutter, half of a plastic egg and cutting tools to cut the playdough to make a shape or see the different textured lines they cut into their playdough.

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Miss Bekah also brought down our Mix or Match Magnetic Animal sets.  The friends enjoyed building them correctly or mixed up using different animal pieces.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole grain wheat bread with butter, fresh blueberries/pineapple slices and green bell pepper slices.

Afternoon Snack: Blue corn tortilla chips with guacamole and fresh pineapple slices.

Wee Sprout:  Orange bell pepper

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-08

WF, 1/8/2025

Good Afternoon!

We continued with the theme of community helpers today for our PREK1 sign in. Each child came up to the board where they chose a card that had some sort of vehicle written on it. They had to match their vehicle to the community helper that uses that vehicle!

Social Studies: K.2.1 Give examples of people who are community helpers (inside the classroom and outside the classroom) and describe how they help us.

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Yesterday during a sorting activity, many of our kids were particularly interested in using the tiny colored puff balls, so today we tried using them in other ways.  We used them to create patterns on bords of different shapes.  We also added them to a variety of collage materials.  The kids spent the morning using the puff balls in different ways.

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The kids have been interested in using q-tips as an art material lately.  Since they tried painting with them, we have experimented with what else we can use to paint with.  Today we tried feather painting.  Many of us noticed that the feathers made different marks than the paint brush.  The more children experiment with combining a wide variety of materials in different ways, the more ways the brain builds to connect and express a child’s ideas!

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PREK2:  Today we talked about “community helpers” during group time.  We thought about some we are familiar with and had a group discussion about what we remembered about them.  When we talked about doctors, almost every hand went up to tell a story about going to the doctor.  Some of the things kids shared were: “I went  to the doctor when I had a cough”, “I got shots in my leg and got a pretty Band-Aid”, and “I got a sticker at the doctor”’.  At the end of group time, we drew a card that described something a doctor, a construction worker, or a fire fighter did.  We put our card under the right community helper on the board.

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Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat English muffins/flatbread, fresh pineapple/apples/oranges, and fresh broccoli/carrots/pepper/cucumber.

PM snack– Hummus with tortilla chips .

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/carrot/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-08

WWF, 1/7/2025

Good afternoon!

Our friends started off their morning with the “Beanie Bag Dance” song. Cece joined her friends and explored a bean bag.

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We used our imaginary play skills in the housekeeping area. Our friends pretended to cook with utensils and our fruits and veggies.

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We then headed into the kitchen for some sensory water play. We filled a tub with soapy water and some of our classroom toys. Our friends used sponges to wash and clean the toys. We also used cups to scoop the water and then pour it back into the bin..

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Breakfast: Whole grain Oatmeal Squares Brown Sugar cereal and fresh pear slices.

Lunch: Shredded chicken and fresh avocado salad, whole grain wheat tortilla, fresh apple slices and red bell peppers.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout: Cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-07

WF, 1/7/2025

Good Afternoon!

**Wee Friends will be closed on Friday, February 21st for Parent Teacher Conferences. If you are unable to make it for any reason or believe you have a conflict on that day, please let a teacher know for scheduling purposes. Thank you!

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Throughout the week, we’ll be diving into community helpers in our area and how they help us. Today, we focused in on the tools that community helpers need to do their jobs. During our sign in activity, children chose one card from the bottom of the board that had one tool written on it. They had to match it to the correct community helper and then write their name!

Social Studies: K.2.1 Give examples of people who are community helpers (inside the classroom and outside the classroom) and describe how they help us.

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After we read, ‘I Want To Be A Firefighter’ in PREK1 group, we focused in on four community  helpers: builder, farmer, firefighter, and chef. Our initial goal was to come up with three tools for each helper but we surpassed that goal! When we started having an open conversation about each helper, friends to quick to shout out tools that would be needed to do that job. The seven members of group did an amazing job working together to come up with a large list for each community helper!

Social Studies: K.2.1 Give examples of people who are community helpers (inside the classroom and outside the classroom) and describe how they help us.

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This morning we explored different colors of playdough that we could mix.  Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to try making multicolored creations.  There was a cake and a veggie spaghetti concoction that spurred a great little imaginative play moment amongst those at the table!  Friends took turns sharing what dish they made and offering a “taste” to friends.

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Friends enjoyed an obstacle course that offered ways to hop, jump, scoot, balance and crawl in order to get some much needed exercise this morning! Friends enjoyed counting to “five jumps”…and also noticing if anyone accidently made it to six :).

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The round table offered color sorting activities with different objects on each tray.  Many enjoyed trying each tray! When Paige sat down, she noticed that the colors mimicked those in the rainbow so she immediately voice, “I need to put these in the right order!”, and proceeded to sort them based on the colors of the rainbow before she got to sorting them!

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PREK2: In group today we read the story “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More”.  We enjoyed guessing what part of his body the boy in the story would paint next.  At the end, we talked about what the boy could do to clean up the mess.  The kids felt he could wipe up the paint or take a bath.  We talked about jobs we do to help in the classroom and jobs that are teachers do.  Then we each came up to the board to get a job card.  We sorted the cards after we decided whose job it was.

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Breakfast– Kix and fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Homemade chicken avocado salad on whole wheat bread, fresh oranges/banana, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber/pepper.

Have a lovely night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-07

WWF, 1/6/2025

Happy New Year and welcome back!  Our friends were so excited to see their friends and teachers this morning!

We began our morning Going On A Bear Hunt with the stuffed animals, walking around the front circle.

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The teachers switched the sensory table to moon sand.  We worked on scooping the sand with different size scoops, shovels and spoons and pouring the mixture into another cup or back into the table.  We also explored the different sea animals in with the moon sand.

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We also enjoyed climbing up and sliding down the slide.

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Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with peanut butter and fresh clementine oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain penne pasta with shredded roast beef, fresh clementine oranges/apple slices and cucumber slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprout:  Green bell peppers.

Have a great evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-06

WF, 1/6/2024

Happy Monday! Welcome back!

PREK1 kiddos kicked off their morning completely sign in where we revisited some classroom rules since we’ve been gone for a few weeks! Kids found their name on the board and a corresponding area in the classroom such as art area, habitrail, outside, or building rug. They had to say aloud a rule that we follow in that certain space and why we have that rule.

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This group has gotten so skilled at thinking outside the box with materials.  We can give them any group of materials and they are able to come up with a creative solution to utilize them!  The kids used paper towel rolls cut into small pieces, round pieces of cardboard, cardboard mesh packing material, q-tips, popsicle sticks, tape, markers, yarn, glue, paint and a variety of paper sizes to create all morning long!  The ability to use so many materials as young children is a building process that has been unfolding all year. Many of the kids used EVERY material in their creations!   Having the opportunity to combine so many different materials allows for an explosion in creative thinking and fine motor ability.  This combination of skills literally goes hand in hand with brain development.  Having the ability to make more complex things with their hands actually allows the brain to invent more complex thoughts, and so more complex webs of neural pathways!  It’s all so exciting! 

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Later in the morning some friends in the science area were choosing to use our spherical magnetic building manipulatives in a way they were not intended…which allowed us to see what the kids were actually interested in doing and responding with “emergent curriculum”.  We set up some large tubes and soft balls to experiment with on the building rug.  The kids ran with it!  This is emergent curriculum.

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PREK2:  Today, after the long break, we remembered class rules and how they keep our classroom safe.  We read the story “Know and Follow Rules”.  We talked about why we  have these rules and how how they keep us safe.  The kids helped brainstorm what might happen if those rule were not there .  At the end of the story, the kids picked the class rule that they felt best at remembering!

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

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, fresh pears/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-01-06

WF 12/20/2024

Good afternoon ! We hope everyone has a warm happy and safe winter break!  Please you enjoy some pictures from our day!

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Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh clementines

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat tortillas with fresh broccoli/peppers and apple/pineapple

PM Snack: Fresh baked vegan chocolate chip muffins with whole milk yogurt and cheese

Wee Sprouts:fresh cucumbers and peppers

Have a wonderful holiday!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-12-20

WWF, 12/20/2024

Happy Friday!  Enjoy the pictures from our day!

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

Lunch:  Refried beans and shredded cheddar cheese on whole grain wheat flatbread, fresh mini cucumbers and fresh apple/pineapple slices.

Afternoon Snack:  Homemade vegan mini chocolate chip muffins (made by Miss Ashley and the preschool class), mozzarella cheese stick and fresh mini cucumbers.

Wee Sprout:  Red bell peppers.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you in January.

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-12-20