WF 1/13/2017

Happy Friday!

This morning, we had a fruit taste testing experience. I put a grapefruit and mango in the middle of the island. We smelled each piece of fruit before I cut them as well as after to see if there was a difference.

First, we tasted the grapefruit which was overwhelmingly a success! We talked about the taste of the grapefruit and Jackson offered up, “It tastes sour!”

We cut up the mango and I explained that there’s a big seed in the middle so we have to eat around it. Friends said that the mango was sweeter than the grapefruit.

We love to expand our taste buds and try new things!

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Rosemary and Anna used the rubber bands to make designs on the boards. Their fine motor skills allowed them to expand the bands and hook them onto the stubs on the board. Rosemary commented, “Mine are going this way!”

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We were able to make it outside this morning. This made us ALL so happy. After we got outside, we observed ice all around us including the flower pot and on the trees!

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Of course, we had to taste the ice and many of us commented on how cold it was.

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Rosemary and Tate found it difficult to dig in the sand and rocks. We talked about how both areas are frozen because of how cold it is outside!

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In large group, we first read a story titled, ‘Hurty Feelings’. It centered around a hippopotamus who always got her feelings hurt even when given a compliment. At the end of the story, she learned how to take compliments positively instead of in a negative way. We discussed ways we can be a good friend.

There were many words in the story that were new to us so when we came upon a word we didn’t know the definition to, we talked about it. The following words were discussed; fragile, weep, wail, loneliness, pudgy, and trunk (when referring to an elephant). We’re quite inquisitive when it comes to new words so we talked about each word and any examples. We discussed the word loneliness and friends began to understand that it refers to playing alone or being by yourself. A friend commented, “Sometimes I feel lonely when I don’t have any friends to play with.”

A web was created on the chalkboard and each friend came up with a suggestion, ranging from ‘saying I’m sorry’ to ‘touch gently’.

Everyday, we look at the calendar and count how many days we’ve marked off. Not only does this allow us to work on our one to one correspondence skills but it expands our number sense knowledge.

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We had a GREAT week back to school.

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Breakfast– Rice cakes with no nut butter and blueberries.

Lunch– Hummus on tortillas, blueberries/clementine’s, and cherry tomatoes/cauliflower.

PM snack– Pretzels and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Cauliflower.

Have a terrific weekend!

-Mindy

 Link to pictures: WF 1/13

WF 1/12/2017

Good Afternoon!

There were many ‘P’ activities that drew our attention today including:

Puzzles.

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Pattern blocks.

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Play-dough.

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In large group, we read a story called, ‘Something Might Happen’. The storyline of the book revolved around the main character who was scared of everything that COULD happen. After the story was finished, we had a discussion about what we’re scared of. There were many of us, teacher included, that are scared of the dark and scary nightmares. As a group, we talked about how even if we have scary nightmares, we wake up and get hugs from mommy and daddy which help us feel all better. It’s important to be aware of our emotions and how certain things make us feel.

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Breakfast– Cheerios and blueberries.

Lunch– Organic, brown rice with quinoa and chicken, banana, and PPC broccoli.

PM snack– Roasted chick peas and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Cucumbers and green beans.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/12

WWF 1/12

We started our morning in the kitchen playing with shaving cream. Franklin pretended it was soap and rubbed his hands together while saying, “Frankie washing!”

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We played dress up while also listening and dancing to music. A few of our friends asked for their picture to be taken after putting on a new hat.

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A lot of our day was spent in the habitrail area. The soft stars were popular today. Ruby pretended one of them was a cave that she needed to crawl through.

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Breakfast was toast with butter and cinnamon and pear. Wee sprout was mixed veggies. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with quinoa, blueberries, clementine’s, and mixed veggies. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh5oWAovE88wSFNc-Ow

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, 1/11/2017

Good Afternoon!

It was quite a hands on Wednesday here at Wee Friends.

We tested our puzzle abilities by challenging ourselves with new puzzles that we’ve never done before. A few friends who normally do the 24 piece wooden puzzles decided to try the 48 piece puzzles. Lucy and Calix teamed up and finished a few by working together.

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A group of friends started their morning off by learning how to play the game ‘I Spy’. The game had children using their sight to find various items on their piece of card board. Once they found all of their items, they hit the buzzer (this was their FAVORITE part!).

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The art table opened up after breakfast to allow children the opportunity to create! Maddie used several materials to build a bed for her yellow giraffe.

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Jackson requested that we investigate volcanoes so Miss Melinda called a couple friends over to the art table to explore this idea more. Using red tubs and glass bottles, we created our own volcanoes! Each child took a spoon and poured a spoonful of baking soda into their glass jar before vinegar was added. Once the vinegar was added, friends anxiously waited to see what would happen. When the liquid started to bubble over the top, friends wanted to see this over and over again!

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Just look at our faces Smile.

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The sensory table was made available again this morning as friends moved the moon sand throughout the container using various materials such as cups, spoons, and rolling pins.

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Large group explored their thoughts and put them on paper. From pools to fairy gardens, our creativity was bursting!

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After reading, “Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?”, which contained various nursery tales, we discussed rules that we follow at home. Earlier in the week, we came up with a list of rules that we follow here at school. So, today we shared rules that our Mommy’s and Daddy’s make us follow at home. We had a hard time choosing just one so many children shared multiple rules that they follow at home. Addi shared that she’s not supposed to work with her daddy’s tools. She looked at her friends and said, “I can’t work with them because they’re for grown ups and they could hurt me!”

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and pears/kiwi.

Lunch– Refried bean and melted shredded cheese tortillas, PPC green grapes, and cucumbers.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn and raisins.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers.

Have a terrific night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/11

WF, 01-10-2017

This morning Miss Melinda offered a musical activity. First the children listened  and danced to some songs on a CD. Then they were given a rhythm stick to use as they walked throughout the house tapping their sticks on different items to check the different sounds they made. Afterwards she placed water at different levels in beakers and they tapped gently to listen for the different timbres.

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For a sensory experience, the moon sand table and art easel were available for the children to enjoy digging and building castles or painting using long brush strokes to make lines down the paper.

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The children were busy enjoying a good book, playing a board game together, building with the color viewer blocks in the new loft or building with magnatiles.

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Breakfast: Corn Chex cereal and pears.

Lunch: No Nut butter sandwiches on multigrain bread, oranges, tomatoes and green beans.

Afternoon Snack: Toasted whole wheat bagel and colby jack block cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Green beans.

Have a great night!

Rebekah

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh5gSRf5K-rA0MTBijQ

WWF 1/10

Today we decorated hearts with dot paints…

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Cooked together in housekeeping…

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Raced through tunnels…

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And were great helpers when a big truck brought our groceries!

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Breakfast was Corn Chex and blueberries. Wee sprouts was mixed veggies. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with cheese, bananas, and peas. Afternoon snack was whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh5hL8MFYeqALDdnLhg

Have a great night!

Amanda

WF, Welcome Back!, 1/9/2017

Welcome Back!

FAB’s for the week:

Social Studies: K.2.3 Give examples of classroom and school rules and explain how each helps us.

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.

First, a BIG thank you to Miss Tami and her husband, Charles, on another spectacular Wee Friends renovation. The habitrail and art area got a facelift including new shelving, colored wood on the walls, and a new small loft, among other things. We all loved exploring this morning to find new things in the environment. We appreciate all of your work!

We were all so happy to get back into our Wee Friends routine today! Friends moved throughout the house, observing the new additions before diving into their play.

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The housekeeping area was busy all morning as children used several props within their play. Anna, Rosemary, and Tate gathered a few babies along with blankets and proceeded to read stories to them. As they were reading, Tate noticed a ‘T’ and said, “That’s a T for my name: Tate!”

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There are also new bins for all of our toys! We had a group meeting pertaining to the rules with the new loft and allowing all of our friends to become acquainted with the new features, such as the new bins!

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The new loft was utilized a lot this morning. As a group, we decided on what toys we should allow up in the loft. We came to the conclusion that the colored blocks would work well!

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Jackson and Addi started a new sign in this morning that focuses on writing using writing strips. Since the sentence strips are somewhat new, I assisted Jackson by scaffolding his experience by demonstrating how upper case and lower case letters look like on the sentence strip. He took another colored marker and traced my letters, allowing him to get the feeling of the letters. Throughout the week, sentence strips will be made available so that we can become more comfortable using them.

Not only will the sentence strips help increase our writing experience but it allows us to work on spacing, capitalization, and letter formation.

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We welcomed Tate and Lucy into our large group today! Jackson and Addi did a great job showing Tate and Lucy the procedure for going to large group as well as journaling.

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We read a story together before making a list of some classroom rules that we follow here at school. After we made the list, we talked about why these rules are important. The consensus was that these rules keep us SAFE. A few friends shared personal stories about getting hurt and how it made them feel—“Which is why it’s important to follow the rules!”, stated a friend.

(Social Studies: K.2.3 Give examples of classroom and school rules and explain how each helps us)

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Breakfast– English muffin with no nut butter and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and chicken, apples, and mixed vegetables.

PM snack-Whole milk yogurt with blueberries.

Wee Sprout– Carrots.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/9