Good afternoon!

This morning, Miss Bekah made an obstacle course for us to use.  We walked on the stepping circles and then up on the habi-trail and walked down the slide.

We then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.  We walked/ran down the hill, dug in the sandbox, engaged in water play on the deck and rode the teeter totter with our big brother.

Eleanor engaged with a ball while lying on her tummy and sat at the table for the first time to enjoy her lunch.

Breakfast: Whole grain brown rice cake with peanut butter and apple slices.

Lunch: Rotisserie chicken lunch meat with whole wheat flatbread, fresh pear, and cucumber.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Goldfish crackers with Colby-jack block cheese.

Wee Sprout: Red bell peppers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-08-18

Good Afternoon!

This morning, there was a lot of interest around what was happening with the butterfly inside the chrysalis we have metamorphizing in our classroom.  We decided to create a fun little activity where we could create the metamorphosis process with play dough.  We wrapped the play dough around the caterpillar making a chrysalis and then pretended to make the butterfly come out.  We also made leaves out of the playdough for the caterpillar to eat remembering how our caterpillar did this.  Hannah asked if the butterfly uses leaves to make a chrysalis which spurred a conversation about the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon.  We talked about how butterflies tend to have their skin harden and change into the chrysalis while moths tend to build a cocoon around themselves with leaves and silk.

Our new journal group began this morning and some our our youngest friends participated in their journal group for the first time.  Katherine made a picture of “Her name” and Arthur made “A cat, s turtle, a basket and a car”.

Breakfast: Kicks cereal with fresh bananas

Lunch: Brown rice with chicken and Green peppers, cucumbers and cantaloupe

PM snack: peanuts with whole wheat crackers

Wee sprouts: fresh cucumbers, zucchini and pear tomatoes, Thank you Asher!

Link to Photos:2023-08-17

Have a great day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good afternoon!

This morning our friends engaged with the waffle blocks. Some friends would hold up their pieces and identify the color of the block while others worked on connecting different pieces together.

We then made our way to the kitchen with Miss Bekah for some sensory play in our moon sand table. We practiced our scooping and pouring skills with different tools.

Our friends were really interested in the rain and hearing the thunder. They watched as the rain fell softly and then switched to a loud downpour.

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios cereal with fresh oranges/ leftover overnight oatmeal.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded turkey, yellow cherry tomatoes (from Ben’s garden), and strawberry slices.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Triscuits crackers and hummus.

Have a wonderful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-08-17

Good Afternoon!

Today in PREK1 group, we focused strictly on neighbors and neighborhoods. First, we read a few pages from the book, ‘Here and There’. Its a book that talks about various aspects of life from all over the world. Today, we looked at different countries and what they look like when your looking out of a window. We compared the pictures that we saw to how South Bend looks! Afterwards, we created a web where we added things that we see in our neighborhood!

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

Many of our younger friends have been intrigued with our soap dispenser and wanting to practice hand washing over and over.  This morning we created a sensory table around this interest.  We had a variety of colored soapy water pumps and containers so our friends could practice pumping the soap and picking it up with eye droppers.  These skills take some practice with hand eye coordination as well as order and  sequence, building both cognitive and physical development as our young friends play.  Opportunities for prolonged use of these materials sets the stage for imaginative play and friendship building…since many of our newest friends share an interest in soap dispensers

Thinking of families this morning we set out bears of all sizes and colors.  Many friends made families with Moms Dads and babies.  We added tongs and several different containers to encourage sorting by shape and color during play.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with strawberries

Lunch: Boiled eggs with fresh oranges, watermelon and cucumbers

PM Snack: Tortilla chips with hummus

Wee Sprouts: cucumbers and tomatoes

Link to Photos: 2023-08-16

Have a lovely day!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good Afternoon!

This morning Ben and Hannah worked on stacking the shapes on their stacking pole.

Dax and Ben turned the top rung of the habi-trail ladder into a train.

Hannah asked for the object permanence boxes so we worked to place the balls and coins in the hole or slot and watched as they reappeared in the drawer and tray.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with playdough.  We used a variety of tools to cut it with and asked a teacher to show us how we could make our playdough into balls.

We then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather, engaged in scooping and raking the sand and drawing lines with chalk on the chalkboard and cement.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh zucchini, cantaloupe and whole grain wheat bread with butter.

Afternoon Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with cream cheese and pear slices.

Wee Sprouts:  Orange bell pepper.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-08-16

Good Afternoon!

It’s been a summer full of goodbyes and we added two more today when we said goodbye to Millie and Rowan! They have both been at Wee Friends for several years where they spent time in our infant/toddler classroom before becoming a mainstay in our preschool classroom. We are going to miss you both and can’t wait to hear all about kindergarten!

We’re continuing to explore our FAB for the week. Today, we focused on comparing and contrasting physical characteristics of members in our group, specifically focusing on eye color and hair color. Once we were done graphing the results, we compared the results and talked about which group had the most and least.

We read, ‘Same, Same, but Different’ from our MACK collection. It follows two children who are the same age and become pen-pals. While they have the same things and do the same activities, it looks quite different because they live in different places in the world.

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

Since we are talking about families this week, we explored block build homes for block families during our welcome activity. We found the adults and children we wanted to use to create a family and then chose blocks to build a place for the family to live. 

It was a finger painting day at in the art center! Several of our friends have shown a lot of interest in touching the paint and feeling it on their hands. So today everyone who wanted to have their hands in paint chose two primary colors to put on their tray. They were able to touch, smear, and swirl the paint as long as they wanted to, enjoying the sensory experience and experimenting with the beautiful ways they could pull the paint into lines and shapes, watching it fade from two primary colors into one secondary color. When they were finished or had made some interesting designs they wanted to capture, we pressed paper over the top and pulled a mono print of their work. 

Breakfast: Toasted oatmeal squares with fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread with fresh pineapple/pears and fresh cucumbers/carrots.

PM Snack: Rowan’s goodbye treat: fruit popsicles and string cheese.

Wee Sprout: Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos:2023-08-15

Good afternoon!

This morning we filled up the cube with small stuffed animals, watched the fish swim around their tank, practiced throwing balls, used our imaginative skills in the play kitchen, and engaged with our baby toys.

We then worked on stacking different shapes on their corresponding peg, pieced together the Interstar connectors, and explored different insects.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with cantaloupe slices.

Lunch: Refried beans and shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, fresh strawberries and carrot chips.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with peanut butter and apple slices.

Wee Sprout: Zucchini.

Have a beautiful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-08-15

Happy Monday!

Today, we welcomed Nesta back into our classroom! She and her family moved overseas for a year and thankfully, Nesta was able to come back to Wee Friends!

PREK1 group focused on families today. Each child shared their household family size. When everyone was done sharing, we compared and contrasted the family sizes of our group! We read, ‘The Family Book’ that talked about the different ways a family can look.

Social Studies: K.3.6 Identify and compare similarities and differences in families, classmates, neighbors and neighborhoods, and ethnic and cultural groups.

Enjoy a few pictures from the rest of our Monday!

Breakfast– Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh cantaloupe/pineapple, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-08-14

Good ffternoon!  Today we welcomed backed several friends from vacation and almost had the entire class back. Enjoy some pictures from our day.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat English Muffins with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh pear slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat elbow macaroni with shredded turkey, fresh cantaloupe and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Red bell pepper.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-08-14

Happy Friday!

Daniel and his family have been apart of Wee Friends for nearly nine years where both of the boys started as infants and went all the way through their kindergarten years. He heads off to first grade and we say ‘see you later’ to him and his amazing family. Thank you for being such a crucial part of the Wee Friends family over the last several years. We’ll miss you, Daniel and family!

Everyone enjoyed the pompoms and water activity this morning!  It was an interesting  sensory experience with the wet pompoms.  Everyone quickly  realized the pompoms absorbed water like a sponge.  Several friends experimented, squeezing them out, then using an eye dropper to add water and observe the effects.  Our younger friends were enthralled by the fine motor work of catching the floating pompoms with tongs, cups or turkey basters. 

Breakfast- Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch- Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh watermelon/peaches, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack- Daniel’s goodbye snack: popcorn with sugar free popsicles.

Wee Sprout- Fresh cucumber.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-08-11