Enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with shredded beef, banana, and corn. Afternoon snack was pretzels and string cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPFrUQVp4YoJGiCCug
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good Afternoon!
In large group, we read ‘Watch Me Grow: Butterfly’ which falls under the non-fiction category. We learned a few new facts about butterflies!
For example, did you know that an adult butterfly only lives for about a month? Everyone found it interesting that once the caterpillar breaks free of it’s egg, it eats the egg as it’s first meal.
K.RL.3.1: Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, fairytales, poems).
At the art table, we saw various levels of development: practicing holding the marker the right way, using stencils, and creating a book!
Our friends use all of the building materials in the habitrail that are available. Children’s imaginations pour out and allow for our pretend play experiences to be meaningful and long lasting.
“Logic will get you from A to Z: imagination will get you everywhere.”
-Albert Einstein
The smell of fall and the cool air allowed for our outside time to be GREAT. Our Wee Friends are always anxious to see our Wee Wee Friends, building bonds that are strong by experiencing the outside environment together.
“Friendship isn’t a big thing; It’s a million little things.”
Breakfast– Kix and PPC pears.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded beef and cheese, PPC cantaloupe/bananas, and PPC green beans/cherry tomatoes.
PM snack– Cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese and PPC pears.
Wee Sprout– Cherry tomatoes.
Have a lovely night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 9/28
The bikes were brought out today and everyone grabbed one to ride down the hill!
Emma, Sophia, and Mack have been practicing their balancing skills on the large rocks around the backyard. They climb on top of them and say, “I’m big!”
Daniel and Franklin were so happy to see each other outside. They played a funny take away game with Franklins sunglasses.
Breakfast was Chex and apples. Wee sprout was mixed veggies. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs, whole wheat bread with butter, apples, cantaloupe, and mixed veggies. Afternoon snack was blue corn chips and string cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPAf1S0W3aSGONbMuw
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good Afternoon!
**We have a few birthdays coming up in the month of October so just another refresher about our food allergy policy: We do have a child with an allergy to all tree nuts (peanuts are okay). If you have any questions whether something is acceptable, please ask! Thank you.
**Just a reminder about Miss Charlotte’s party coming up on Saturday! It starts at 4 pm and has no set end time. There will be grilled meats and other sides (please feel free to bring a side!). If you have any other questions, please ask!
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The light table was brought out today along with colored counters. Lulu started off by using comparison words such as more and less after sorting the counters into groups. I posed the question, “How many counters would you have in your hand if you had none?”. Lulu smiled and said, “Mindy! I wouldn’t have any; I would have none!”. Maxwell and a few other friends quickly joined. Max took his pile of counters and sorted them by color. He commented, “I have more red counters than I do purple ones!”.
K.NS.9: Use correctly the words for comparison, including: one and many; none, some and all; more and less; most and least; and equal to, more than and less than.
After Lulu left the light table, she made the following statement: “I want to write a book.” So, we wrote a book! Lucy quickly showed interest as well so they teamed up together. They brainstormed about what kind of story they wanted to tell; nonfiction, fiction, or fairytale. They came up with the idea of re-telling ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in their own way.
Lucy and Lulu worked together by dictating the story to me while they took on the role as illustrators. “Mindy, do you know why the dad has a frown on his face? It’s because he misses Beauty!” Lucy and Lulu focused on their own illustrations which eventually turned into a story!
We put the book together once the illustrations were complete. Lucy asked if we could read it for large group, so we did along with another telling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Friends noted that the two telling’s of the story were different. So, we talked about how there of often many different variations of fairytales.
K.RL.3.1 Recognize familiar narrative text genres (e.g., fiction nonfiction, fairytales, poems).
Here are a few smiles to brighten your day.
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC blackberries.
Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled egg (with cheese) roll-ups on whole wheat flatbread, PPC cantaloupe, and PPC fresh green beans.
PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and PPC grapes.
Wee Sprout– PPC cherry tomatoes.
Have a lovely night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF, 9/27
This morning the children were building a variety of creations using various building materials.
Children chose to work together with another friend or a few friends to complete a sorting/color matching activity or a puzzle.
A few of us who were not at swimming lessons, helped Miss Rebekah make apple crisp as part of our afternoon snack. During snack time I heard Lulu say, “this is sooo good!”
We then enjoyed some fresh air outside playing in some of our favorite areas in the backyard.
Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and bananas.
Lunch: Hummus on whole grain wheat tortillas, fresh cucumbers from our garden and PPC blackberries/bananas.
Afternoon Snack: Homemade apple crisp, peanuts and pretzels.
Wee Sprouts: Fresh cucumbers.
Enjoy your evening!
Rebekah
Link to pictures: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO5tQt7TxNNuQPFD2g
Today we went on a worm hunt…
Played peek-a-boo…
Revisited the sandbox over and over…
And played with the magnetic puzzles!
Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, apples, blackberries, and corn. Afternoon snack was homemade apple crisp and toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO4i4aHadDfnPaXGmg
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good Afternoon!
**The next tentative farm trip for GROUP A (Riley, Maddie, Lulu, Lucy, Max) will be Monday, October 2nd.
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Today was the 3’s farm trip!
Our goal for the 3’s farm trip is for children to start becoming comfortable with the farm environment. There are rules at the farm that we enforce to keep our bodies safe as well as the animals safe. The morning can take a lot out of us so our focus is to make sure that it’s a positive experience where children can partake in a few activities the farm has to offer.
There were a few friends who hadn’t been in the weehicle before so we talked about how to act in the van. We did a GREAT job!
When we arrived at the farm, we headed to the barn where we had the opportunity to pet baby bunnies. There were older children at the farm today helping Miss Charlotte who were such a help to us!
Chickens said hi to us too before we decided to go feed the turkeys. We went to find wildflowers that the turkeys like so that we could feed them a snack.
One of our rules at the farm is to use walking feet unless a teacher or Miss Charlotte tells you that it’s okay to run. When we hit the open areas, friends were free to run! We LOVED this part! We came upon the swing and friends took turns swinging on the swing.
Miss Charlotte gave us the okay to take turns sitting on the tractor! A few of us even felt like we were on a rollercoaster! 
We had a great farm experience today!
While we were away at the farm, Miss Melinda made goop! Friends got out red bins and took turns at the table, working the goop through their hands. It was a great sensory experience that kept our interest all morning!
Breakfast– Cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese and pears.
Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with black beans and butter, oranges, and PPC cauliflower.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with PPC strawberries.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.
Have a lovely night.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 9/25
Link to FARM pictures: WF 9/25 FARM
Enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and apples. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with black beans, pears, and corn. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and block cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliO0Kfn967sO893UCKQ
Have a good night!
Amanda
Happy Friday!
Today we played music…
Made a birthday cake…
Played in the sandbox together…
And went on a successful bug hunt!
Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and oranges. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flat bread with refried beans and cheese, pears, and corn. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and string cheese.
Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliOxAaJDogXsc1D_nmw
Enjoy your weekend!
Amanda
Good Afternoon!
**Just one last reminder that GROUP B (Grady, Anna, Elijah, Brycen, David, and Nina) will go to the farm on Monday, September 25th. We’ll leave between 9:50 and 10:00 am. It is supposed to be warm so please dress your child appropriately. Also, make sure they have appropriate ‘farm’ shoes (rain boots or tennis shoes). Franklin, Forrest, Ruby, Chloe, and Emma will need a parent to drive them to and from the farm (optional of course!) 
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What is guided play? Guided play maintains the joyful child-directed aspects of free play but adds an additional focus on learning goals through light adult scaffolding. It offers an opportunity for exploration in a context specifically designed to foster a learning goal.
(Information obtained from ‘The Case of Brain Science and Guided Play: A Developing Story’ written by Breanna Hassinger-Das, Kath Hirsh-Pasek, and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff)
Throughout the day, we as teachers make sure that we’re observing play, ready to jump in at anytime to foster an idea or answer a question. For instance, this week we’ve been talking about sides and vertices of geometric shapes. A group of children were playing with blocks in the habitrail area this morning. A teacher sat down and through conversation, children discussed sides of various shapes that they were building with. They were able to take their play experience just a little further than they would’ve if a teacher had been there to guide their play.
Attached is the link of the article that goes into detail about guided play and how beneficial it is in the preschool setting.
Our goal as teachers is to make sure that children have ample meaningful learning experiences each and every day.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”- Margaret Mead
http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/case-brain-science-guided-play
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A snapshot of our day!
Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.
Lunch– Black beans and shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, PPC apples, and roasted acorn squash.
PM snack– PPC grapes/pears and block cheese.
Wee Sprout– Cucumbers and carrots.
Have a fantastic weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 9/22