Good Afternoon!

We began our morning engaged in a variety of activities.  Several friends worked their fine motor skills as they worked on the activities on the Zany Zoo Activity Cube, stacked wooden loose parts on a stacker, remembered that our front door is magnetic and made a collage with the Magna-Tiles on it, and watched the birds at the bird feeders out the window.

We then headed into the kitchen to engage with our dominos and pom-poms loose parts activity.  We also had a bowl, cup, spoon and tongs on our tray.  We could use them to explore picking the items up or put them into, or however we wanted to use the items to explore with and play.

We then headed outside on this beautiful day. We rode bikes and teeter totters, drew with chalk on the chalkboard and sidewalk, and played peek-a-boo and smiled at our friend through the window of the little house.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toasted with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain penne pasta with marinara and shredded cheddar cheese, fresh plum slices and sugar snap peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a great evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-19

Happy Monday!

**Wee Friends will be closed on Monday, September 2nd for Labor Day.

Today, we officially kick off our academic school year of 2024-2025! As we dive into our curriculum, we wanted to share a little bit about what that looks like, how it was created, and how we implement it everyday. Our curriculum was written by our director and owner, Tami.

The following descriptions are taken from our blog and if you’d like to learn more about our program curriculum, please visit our blog: https://weefriendskids.com/about-us/program-philosophy/

At Wee Friends, our ultimate curriculum goal is to foster a love of learning and inquisitiveness that will translate into a lifelong quest for knowledge while simultaneously assuring that every Wee Friend child is prepared for the academic and social challenges of elementary school. Our constructivist approach to education blends the best of emergent curriculum with thoughtful academic learning goals outlined in our Framework for Academic Balance Curriculum (FAB). Our classroom values the whole child so we meet social emotional developmental goals in our Mindful Attention with Curiosity and Kindness Curriculum (MACK).

To ensure the right ratio of child initiated academic activities to teacher directed Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) academic activities, our Framework for Academic Balance ensures our older preschoolers and kindergartners have been offered activities that encompass the Indiana Academic Standards for Kindergarten.  Our FAB curriculum does not compromise or change our constructivist learning environment because the activities are always connected to our emergent curriculum and incorporated naturally into our day.

Our FAB cycles begin each September and include math and literacy goals over a 12 week time frame. Science and social study topics are covered in intervals between the 12 week cycles. In addition to our FAB curriculum, children participate in daily routines that support their academic growth including daily journaling, individual and group story times, message boards, pop up teacher-directed and/or teacher supported learning activities, and an abundance of educational materials at their disposal for self-initiated learning.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We started off our morning implementing PREK1 sign in again! PREK1 group members came to the sign in board where we talked about their family and how many family members live in their household.

Later on in PREK1 group, we dove deeper into our families by documenting the people that make up our family. After reading, ‘The Family Book’ by Todd Park, we talked about how different families can look. For example, one of our friends may have two mommy’s or another friend may have a mommy and daddy who don’t live together. We love to identify the diverse characteristics of our group while also noticing the similarities too!

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

As mentioned above, we are talking about family and home life this week.  Today we used freshly made colored play dough to match with little families and to spur some imaginative play around the subject.  Imaginative play is a great way for kids to process what they are learning.

PREK2:  During group time today we enjoyed a deep breathing “story” called “hot chocolate breath” to get our bodies into a calm state.  We read the book, “Love You Forever”.  Afterwards, we talked about how in the story there were two people in the family, a mother and a son.  We each talked about who is in our own family and made a group list.

Enjoy some more phots from the day!

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

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with shredded chicken, fresh plums/cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/snap peas/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/snap peas.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-08-19

Happy Friday! 

We are saying goodbye to Hannah today as she graduates from Wee Friends and heads off to a new school.  We will miss her inquisitive mind, her ideas for experiments and projects and all her amazing organizing skills keeping the classroom tidy  We wish you all the best on your new adventure Hannah!

On her last day at Wee Friends Hannah chose Clay as her special project idea.  We just recieved a new type of clay for our classroom called plasticine clay.  I thought it was the perfect day to bring it out into the art center. The kids were amazingly skilled at building with the clay!  Among the creations were: “A queen with a thrown, a baby in a bassinet, a table with a candle on it, a dog dressed up in clothes, a train car, a forest, suitcases and cheese”

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh apple slices

Lunch: Hummus on flat bread with fresh bananas, pears, carrots and cucumbers

PM Snack: Mozzarella cheese with pretzels

Wee Sprouts: Garden fresh Cherry tomatoes and carrots

Enjoy the weekend!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Pictures:2024-08-16

Happy Friday!

We began our morning engaged in a variety of activities.  We used our imaginative play skills as we played with the horses, stacked wooden loose parts on the stackers, listened to Miss Bekah read us our favorite books and rode the rainbow mat like a teeter totter.

We then headed into the kitchen to use our dot markers and make colorful dots onto a coffee filter.  We all used a variety of colors.  They are on display on the windows of the classroom.

We then headed outside to scoop the wet sand in the sandbox, scoop rocks in the rock area with a shovel or our hand and place in a bucket, use our imaginative play skills while playing in the housekeeping area and the little house,  drove the trucks, and rode the bikes and teeter totter.

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

Lunch:  Hummus on whole grain wheat bread, banana and fresh mini sweet peppers.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels and mild cheddar block cheese slices.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.

Have a great weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-16

Good Afternoon!

Art and science combined this morning as our finger painting got experimental!  The kids were so excited about making monoprints that we set out some art paper and let them have at it, making as many prints as they wanted.  Having this opportunity allows children to really get creative.  When given the time and space to experiment with materials, children can begin to ask themselves, “I wonder what will happen when I try it this way?”. When allowed more time and space to independently figure out the answer to that question, deeply meaningful learning takes place.

During this experimental process, some beautiful and spontaneous events took place.  One friend chose to write her name on the back of her paper while it was laying on top of her painted tray.  When she lifted it, she discovered that writing on the back of the paper would transfer a NEW type of image! She was so excited by this discovery that she tried it again and again!  Other friends followed suit, trying the technique with their own artwork.  Another beautiful thing that happened was the decision friends made to work collaboratively, sharing their creative ideas in paint and allowing them to intermingle.

Why is this art project important to my child’s education? Studies show that as society continues to advance in technology, the jobs available to our children at the time when they are heading off to college will require this set of skills; creativity, critical thinking, complex problem solving as well as the ability to work cooperatively and collaboratively.  Our kids are learning these very important ways of working and thinking right now in their early childhood classroom.

Breakfast– Puffins cereal with fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded pork, fresh oranges/banana, and fresh cherry tomatoes/carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole wheat crackers with peanut butter and pumpkin/sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes/carrots.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-15

Good Afternoon!

This morning, our friends discovered that their Magna-Tiles stick to the door. Our friends all took turns putting their tiles on the door and making a beautiful collage of colorful shapes.

We then went on a bear hunt with Miss Bekah. Every friend chose a special teddy bear to go on a bear hunt with.

Our friends were engaged with the wooden ring loose parts. Our friends used their imaginative skills to pretend that they were bracelets. Some of them placed one on each of their hands and waved while saying “hi!”.

We made our way to the kitchen to play with pegs and pegboards. We worked on placing our pegs in the holes and stacking them to make towers. Eleanor pretended that the pegs were candles and sang “happy birthday to mommy.”

Our friends then made their way to the reading steps to read. Some friends took turns choosing a different book for Miss Bekah to read to them.

Breakfast:  Corn Chex cereal and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with red beans, fresh plums and cucumbers.

Afternoon Snack: Sunflower seeds with whole grain wheat Triscuits crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Mini sweet peppers.

Have a beautiful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-15

Good Afternoon! It was a colorful day at Wee Friends!

There have been quite a few friends wanting to put their hands in paint while painting at the easel lately.  Today we geared an activity toward that interest with some finger painting and monoprint art.  Everyone picked a tray on colors they liked.  They mixed the colors with their fingers, spread the colors in a solid block over their tray, then drew lines, circles and pictures in the paint.  They enjoyed erasing the images with their hand and drawing new ones.  When someone got an image they really liked we used a piece of paper to press over the image to make a monoprint transfer. 

We hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures from out day!

Breakfast- Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch- Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla, fresh cantaloupe/plums, and fresh pepper/cucumber.

PM snack- humus with blue corn chips

Wee Sprout- Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures:2024-08-14

Happy Wednesday!

This morning after breakfast, Miss Tina got out our finger puppets and wooden occupational people.  We enjoyed sitting and working to place the finger puppets on our fingers and snuggle them.  We then used our imaginative skills as we played with the wooden occupational people.

Several of us then climbed up on the habi-trail and went down the slide or worked to climb onto the ladder.

We then headed into the kitchen for a different drawing experience.  Miss Bekah taped a marker onto the back of a wooden car and we drove our cars across our papers and watched our marker lines appear onto our papers to create our drawings.

We then headed outside to play.  The favorite spot for everyone many times through out the morning was the sandbox.  We were busy scooping and pouring, making circle prints with our funnel.  A few of us also enjoyed riding on the teeter totters.

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

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, fresh oranges, red bell peppers and whole grain wheat English muffin toasted with buttery spread.

Afternoon Snack:  Refried beans and cracked wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-14

Good afternoon!

This morning, our friends enjoyed reading a book, going up the habi-trail ladder, climbing on BounceBlocks towers, hiding under the habi-trail, and using their imaginative skills to pretend their plastic block was a boat.

We then made our way to the kitchen for some water play. Our friends enjoyed using a slotted ladle or bowl, plastic steamboats, and a funnel to engage with the soapy water.

We then made our way outside for some of our favorite activities. We explored the playhouse, rode bikes up and down the hill, and sat in the shaded grass area with a friend.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch: Whole grain wheat tortilla with peanut butter, mild cheddar cheese block, pineapple and cucumber.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout: Yellow bell pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-13

Good Afternoon!

We are saying goodbye to William today as he graduates from Wee Friends and heads off to his new school!  We will all miss his leadership in organizing group games or projects, his fun loving attitude and most of all his questions . We have a class list of project ideas that Wee Friends have created this year.  William had added Rain Sticks to the list, so today we made sure to make Williams rain sticks for a special activity on his last day!

Can you believe the boxes are still a center of Wee Friends imaginative play?!  Today friends worked together pretending to be building houses.  They used wood chips as saws.  They added logs as a fence around the houses and fit an amazing number of friends into the houses to play.  As they came out of their box house it was like watching a clown car unload.  It’s a testament to their cooperative play skills to be able to work together in such close quarters and be able to talk through problem solving.  Some adults can’t do that!  Way to go Wee Friends!

Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios with banana.

Lunch– Homemade english muffin pizzas with shredded cheese and optional turkey pepperoni, fresh pineapple/cantaloupe, and fresh cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2024-08-13