Learning is their journey.
Let them navigate.
Push them to explore.
Watch them discover.
Encourage their questions.
Allow them to struggle.
Support their thinking.
Let them fly.
Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.
Lunch– Shredded mozzarella cheese on whole wheat flatbread, oranges/PPC grapes, and PPC peppers.
PM snack– Pretzels and string cheese.
Wee Sprout– PPC peppers and cherry tomatoes.
Have a lovely weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/6
Enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast was Kix and oranges. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flatbread with cheese, corn, and apples. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and block cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPdpxHxMJbvlYUeM7g
Have a great weekend!
Amanda
Today we ran…
Jumped…
And climbed! We love all the gross motor opportunities our outside environment provides us!
Breakfast was Kix and apples. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with shredded beef and cheese, corn, and banana. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and string cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPc78KCLG1N0fvrbWg
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good Afternoon!
The light table was set up this morning in the science area. We used a variety of manipulatives to talk about greater than and less than symbols. I associated the signs with an alligators mouth, the wide side wanting the bigger number. Lulu, Maddie, Lucy, and a few younger peers who joined in used the gems as counting manipulatives. The number cards 8 and 10 were put on the light table so older friends and their younger friends worked together to put the correct number of gems on the cards.
Afterwards, we talked about what number was the greatest and how the sign should go. “An alligator would want ten cupcakes instead of eight cupcakes because there’s more cupcakes!”, Lulu shared.
K.NS.7: Identify whether the number of objects in a one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group.
We continued with this theme in large group as we read ‘More Pies’ by Robert Munsch. In the story, Samuel is super hungry so he enters a pie eating contest and wins! After we read the story, we contemplated whether or not Samuel would rather have eight pies or six pies. The five children in large group took turns placing the greater than or less than sign up on the chalkboard.
Grady, Max, and David used different materials this morning to create with. Grady sorted the pegs into groups by color while Max placed the rubber bands on two different peg boards. David used mostly triangles to build a house using magnatiles.
There is no set instructions on how to interact with these activities; it is open for our own interpretation!
We felt the sun on our face and the sand on our toes this morning as we experienced the outside environment!
x
Breakfast– Kix and PPC pears.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded beef and cheese, banana/PPC grapes, and green beans.
PM snack– Woven wheat crackers and sunflower seeds.
Wee Sprout– PPC green beans and fresh cucumber.
Have a fantastic night.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/5
Good Afternoon!
**Halloween is coming up! We are going to continue with our tradition of taking a walk around the neighborhood in our Halloween costumes! We will start our parade at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, October 31st. If you can make it, please let a teacher know so we can get a head count! 
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I often look at the ‘Teach Tom’ blog to see if there’s any written articles that we can relate to here at Wee Friends. I just happened to read an article about forming lines today which seems appropriate.
Is it developmentally appropriate to expect 16 two-five year olds to form an orderly line? Absolutely not. The one time that we incorporate this into our day is while we’re outside at the drinking fountain. We are able to from an ‘age appropriate’ line but really, we implement this for order and the notion of ‘taking turns’ at the water fountain.
Throughout our day, we constantly ask ourselves: “Is this age appropriate for THIS child?”. We all know that children are different; what appropriate for one three year old may not be appropriate for another three year old.
Today, there were a couple examples of ‘forming lines’ that were entwined in our play. Franklin formed a line with his gingerbread while Elijah formed a line with all of the little people vehicles. Developmentally appropriate?: YES!
‘Forming lines’ Teacher Tom article:
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/marching-in-line.html
As for the rest of our day, it was one full of curiosity, relationship building, and intrigue.
..of course our infamous smiles!
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC strawberries.
Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat bread, banana/strawberries, and PPC cucumbers.
PM snack– Blue corn chips and refried beans.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.
Have a great evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/4
Enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast was Kix and apples. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, whole wheat bread with butter, oranges, and peas. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with hummus.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPYq6DUVdtiDkFiHBg
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good Afternoon. We would like to wish our friend Chloe a happy 3rd birthday! Thank you so much for our delicious fruit and veggie popsicles. We really enjoyed them!
In large group, we read ‘Sophie’s Masterpiece’. It is about a spider who finally finds a home with a young woman. Sophie makes a blanket for the young woman’s newborn baby. Throughout the story, we talked about the important elements that make up that story. Afterwards, we matched the sentence strips to the correct story element while discussing the role of the author and illustrator.
K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).
The word I would use to describe our day is creative. Children were busy being creative when drawing our pictures or making our building projects with the blocks.
The art table was very busy with many children creating drawings with markers. Ruby shared her picture with great excitement and said, “Look at all the colors!”
The carpet area was busy with creative children building.
A group of friends helped Miss Rebekah harvest the remaining tomatoes from the garden that were ready to eat. We were able to fill an entire bowl with cherry tomatoes to enjoy with our lunch!
Breakfast: Kashi wheat squares and banana.
Lunch: Red pepper hummus on whole grain wheat flatbread, bananas/strawberries and cherry tomatoes/cauliflower.
Afternoon Snack: Mozzarella block cheese and Chloe’s birthday snack, Fruit/Veggie popsicles.
Wee Sprouts: Fresh cauliflower.
Have a great evening!
Rebekah
Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPRJkZ2i6ogM9zuYNA
PARENTING ENRICHMENT MEETING OPPORTUNITY:
There are Parent Enrichment Meetings at the Family Psychology of South Bend and at ECDC of Saint Mary’s College. These events are open to the public and there is no charge for attending these meetings. Registration is required via email.
“Please encourage parents of children ages 2-12 to join us at the Family Psychology of South Bend for our series on “Winning Your Child’s Cooperation” on the first Monday of each month at noon (Oct.-Dec. and Feb.-May). We will also be at ECDC of St. Mary’s College to share information on “Peaceful Mornings and Bedtime Routines” on Tuesday 10/24 and Tuesday 12/12 at 4 pm. Parents can attend any one meeting or as many meetings as they would like.”
To register, email [email protected].
If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please ask!
~
Emma and Sophia enjoyed time in the sandbox together this morning. Friends love pretending to make things with the sand, such as cupcakes and pancakes. Today Sophia said they were making a “happy birthday for you.” Sophia and Emma scooped sand into buckets while singing parts of the Happy Birthday song.
The bucket carts were out today, along with the bikes and baby dolls. Friends love to place the baby dolls in the carts and pretend that they’re strollers. They waved goodbye as they took their babies on a walk!
Aggie and Daniel were all about books today! They enjoyed looking at the books, but dumping them into a pile on the floor was much more fun!
Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flat bread with hummus, apples, and corn. Afternoon snack was whole wheat bagel and string cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPRhYHHBqHA1vaPCGQ
Have a good night!
Amanda
PARENTING ENRICHMENT MEETING OPPORTUNITY:
There are Parent Enrichment Meetings at the Family Psychology of South Bend and at ECDC of Saint Mary’s College. These events are open to the public and there is no charge for attending these meetings. Registration is required via email.
“Please encourage parents of children ages 2-12 to join us at the Family Psychology of South Bend for our series on “Winning Your Child’s Cooperation” on the first Monday of each month at noon (Oct.-Dec. and Feb.-May). We will also be at ECDC of St. Mary’s College to share information on “Peaceful Mornings and Bedtime Routines” on Tuesday 10/24 and Tuesday 12/12 at 4 pm. Parents can attend any one meeting or as many meetings as they would like.”
To register, email [email protected].
If you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please ask!
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“The soul is healed by being with children.”
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Large group travelled to the farm this morning. On Monday’s, Miss Charlotte also has a group of home schooled children who help her around the farm. They were focusing on different seeds today. After they picked different seeds, we reaped the benefits: fresh peppers!
The word ecstatic doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt when we saw Taffy. We’ve been wanting to ride Taffy all fall but we haven’t seen him. Maddie, Lulu, and Lucy took their turns and practiced getting on Taffy the correct way.
We had a lovely morning outside, enjoying the farm environment.
In large group, we read the story ‘Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes’. Before we started reading about Pete, we talked about certain things that make up a story: characters, setting, and the events. We identified each and what they mean before we started reading the story!
Pete the Cat got brand new white shoes BUT he started stepping in things that made his shoes turn colors. For examples, when he stepped in strawberries, his shoes turned red. When he stepped in blueberries, his shoes turned blue. When he stepped in mud, his shoes turned brown. Whatever happened to his shoes, he was happy and didn’t let it bring him down. We talked about the setting, character, and events of this story and wrote them down.
K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, and events).
Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and PPC apples.
Lunch– Whole grain pasta with shredded chicken and butter, oranges, and fresh cucumbers.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with oranges/grapes.
Wee Sprout– Carrots/green beans.
Have a great evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/2
Link to farm pictures: WF FARM 10/2
Good Afternoon!
Even at this age, relationships form and stick. Today, we welcomed back Naia for the day who used to come to Wee Friends. She hasn’t been here in nearly two years and yet, she still had specific memories of friends and her experience while here. It’s at this age where children learn how to form positive relationships with adults and peers.
This article goes into detail about the importance of relationships in the early childhood setting as well as the ins and outs of different relationship aspects.
https://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201211/Manaster.pdf
“Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write, and count. It is a small window of time to learn and develop at the pace that is right for each individual child. Earlier is not better.”
-Magda Gerber
Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.
Lunch– Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, banana/PPC grapes, and cauliflower.
PM snack– Banana, goldfish, and string cheese.
Wee Sprout– PPC peppers/green beans.
Have a wonderful weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 9/29