Hello!

There were multiple complex tracks that were built this morning. Addi, Max, and Jackson built a track that had many cars lined up to see a race. We talked about the word ‘spectator’ which means someone who watches an event. As a group, we counted the cars to see which track had more cars. Jackson commented, “They should have the same that way it’s equal!” (K.NS.7)

The dot paints were made available at the art table along with the art easel open for children to use.

It was a morning full of many creations!

I got out a sensory balloon and proceeded to move it back and forth between hands. A couple friends inquired about what I was doing which prompted a sensory balloon exploration at the island.

We used many different body parts to move the sand and flour throughout the balloon such as our hands, chin, tummy, and even our nose!

Jackson shouted, “I wonder what would happen if we put the balloon in water?!”—This prompted us to fill up a container with water. First, we started with the balloons that are full of sand. We went around the island guessing what we thought would happen: sink or float? The answers were varied so..we gently dropped it in the water. The result was: it sunk!

Next, we tested the balloon with flour. Again, we went around the table guessing what was going to happen. Surprisingly, the balloon with flour floated! We talked about why one sunk and one float and Jackson commented, “Maybe it’s because the sand balloon is heavier.”

We loved the anticipation of waiting to see what was going to happen!

In large group, we read ‘Froggy Plays Soccer.” This story was a hit because a few of our friends are currently involved in soccer! Stories are always much more meaningful when we can connect to the message. After reading the story, we dissected it, discussing the characters and setting. I asked the group what events took place throughout the story that they thought were important. Friends started shouting out things such as;

“Froggy used his hands!” (we found out you can’t use your hands unless you’re the goalie)

“Froggy picked his nose!” (an extra curricular activity while playing soccer apparently)

…and most importantly, “Froggy scored the winning goal!”

(K.RL.2.3)

We hope you have a terrific end to your week.

Breakfast– Kashi’s Blueberry Clusters and pears.

Lunch– Organic, brown rice with chicken, grapes, and cucumbers.

PM snack– Whole wheat crackers with sunflower butter.

Wee Sprout– Tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/29

Enjoy the pictures from today!

Breakfast was Kix and pears. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with cream cheese, pears, and carrots. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers and Colby Jack cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhsACeoIgDkQRcB9k-A

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

Children gathered at the table to explore the counting math box. Each child picked a number card and created the flower tower based on the number represented.

Lucy started at the smallest number, one, and continued to climb from there. She noticed that the towers were getting larger. “This nine tower is way bigger than the tower with just one circle!”, Lucy commented as she finished by completing the ten unit tower. (K.NS.7)

It was all about letting out creative juices flow this morning. Some used stencils. Some used just markers. Some even brought out the scissors.

In large group, we read ‘The Cow That Clucked’. The story started out by telling us that the main character, the cow, woke up one morning and had lost it’s moo! Instead of saying ‘moo’, it said ‘cluck’! The cow went all over the farm, which is where the story took place, asking all of his friends if they had taken his moo. FINALLY, the cow went to the hen and found out that they had switched voices!

We compared it to the following: imagine if Jackson and Addi woke up one morning sounding like each other! This of course became a game of ‘what if’.

We discussed the characters and setting as well as the main event; the cow losing his moo! (K.RL.2.3)

The theme during journals today was mountains and volcanoes! When one friend said they were drawing a volcano, the trend started! After the mountains and volcanoes were completed, friends drew different routes to navigate through the volcanoes/mountains. Lulu said, “See you go up this way to stay away from the bad part of the volcano.”

We hope you had a terrific day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with PPC strawberries.

Lunch– Ham and cream cheese rollups, tortillas, banana, and cucumbers.

PM snack– Popcorn and strawberries.

Wee Sprout– Peppers.

Have a fantastic evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/28

The big kids were taking turns on a trampoline when we came outside today. We enjoyed watching them for awhile, and then our friends who wanted to had a turn of their own!

Bikes were brought out when the trampoline was put away. I think some of our friends would be happy to scoot around on a bike all day if they could!

And of course we had to visit the sandbox! Our friends found containers to dump and fill with sand by using their hands or shovels. 

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and banana. Lunch consisted of whole wheat bread with chicken avocado, bananas, strawberries, and green beans. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and homemade apple chips. 

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhr4-38lyCfHpigQtJQ

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

**With the seasonal switch of the weather, please look in your child’s bathroom cubby to make sure that they have weather appropriate clothing! Thanks!

The welcome activity this morning was used in a multitude of ways.

For our younger friends, it was used as a way to count using one to one correspondence. We also talked about the different colors of the items as well as the size! Within the bin, there were airplanes, cars, trucks, bears, etc.

For our older friends, we focused on comparing the size of the items and putting them into order. There were bowls supplied and we discussed which bowl had the greatest number of items AND what bowl had the least amount of items. (K.NS.7).  A few children also took the initiate to make a pattern using the different colored items.

When our swimmers drove off to go to the Y, those of us back at school made apple chips! After I sliced all of the apples, we mixed a tiny bit of sugar and cinnamon so that the apples would be coated in the mixture. There were a few apple slices that didn’t work out so of course we had to taste test!

A few children helped me measure the ingredients as well as smelling the cinnamon. YUM! After a little over two hours cooking in the oven, we had apple chips! (the house smelled like a cup of fall!)

The final result!

We were all about the bikes when we went outside this morning. There wasn’t a whole lot of sun in the backyard this morning so most of us chose to wear a coat!

In large group, we read ‘Rosie To The Rescue’. After reading about Rosie, we looked at important things that we learned from the story such as the main characters as well as the setting. In the story, Rosie’s parents had left for the day and her aunt Lilly was watching her. Rosie was afraid that all of these horrible things were going to happy to her parents but if they did, she would come to their rescue! The end of the story was happy: her parents came home at the end of the day! (K.RL.2.3)

We hope you had a FABULOUS day!

Breakfast– Kix and pears.

Lunch– Chicken avocado sandwiches, banana, and cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Homemade apple chips and Colby Jack cheese.

Wee Sprouts– Cherry tomatoes.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/27

We had a busy Monday morning here at Wee Wee!

A few of us took a turn in the classroom swing…

We played with the transparent stackers and object permanence boxes…

Got messy in the kitchen with shaving cream…

And rounded off the morning by having a great time outside!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and kiwi. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with chicken, oranges, and peas. Afternoon snack was pretzels and cheddar cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhr0KdnRTAO73Yd4zBQ

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

Our FAB’s for the week:

K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).

K.NS.7: Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group.

K.NS.10: Separate sets of ten or fewer objects into equal groups.

We used the wooden connect 4 board in a couple different ways this morning.

Lulu and Addi played Connect 4, counting to see who was the first one to get four in a row of the same color. Lulu talked about patterns that she saw such as, “There’s two blacks and then one red right here!”

Miss Melinda and Jackson used the board in a different way. Miss Melinda put two or three rows of checkers, asking questions such as, “Which row has the most amount of checkers?” After discussing the terms most/least and more/less, Miss Melinda asked, “Are there two rows that are equal to one another?”

The term ‘equal to’ was discussed. Jackson said, “Oh. These two are equal because they’re the same!” (K.NS.7)

In kindergarten:

We continued this theme as we pulled out the trio blocks. Jackson built two tall towers and said, “These two are equal!” Addi built two side by side that were the same length as well. We introduced the equal sign as meaning exactly that; equal!

As we worked with the blocks, Addi and Jackson both built towers, comparing and contrasting the length of the towers they built. (K.NS.7)

Some of our friends helped us harvest vegetables that were ready in the garden.

In large group, we read ‘Tacky the Penguin’. We found it especially comical, often eliciting laughs from our friends. After we read the story, we talked about important things that make up the story such as the characters and setting. The characters were made up of a group of penguins as well as the hunters. We looked back in the story to help us with the names of all of the penguins.

When I asked what the setting was in the story, children weren’t too sure about what that exactly meant. I explained that the setting is where the story takes place; it could be many places! In this book, we found out that the setting was mainly outside with Jackson chipping it, “It looks like an iceberg!”

Finally, we talked about the problem; something that needs to be fixed in the story and sometimes it can be something bad. There were hunters in the story who tried to come and hunt the penguins. After we found out what the problem was, Maddie raised her hand and said, “But the penguins sang and the hunters ran away!”—we found our solution! (K.RL.2.3)

Addi used Maddie’s shirt as inspiration for her journal today!

Breakfast– English muffins with cream cheese and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and chicken, oranges, and cherry tomatoes/cauliflower.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprouts– Cauliflower.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/26

Happy Friday!

Jackson and Lucy worked with rubber heart trays and colored gems. First, they separated the gems by color and put certain colors in the trays while leaving the reminder gems in the glass jar.

Boy, was it a music filled morning!

Almost all of our friends gathered on the music rug where Miss Melinda turned on different nature music. We listened to the different sounds that we heard and thought of things they were representing. For instance, one of the songs had loud noises so Lucy suggested, “It could be bears stomping their feet!”

“The farmer takes the wife. The farmer takes the wife. Hi-ho the derrio. The farmer takes the wife.”

“The wife takes a child. The wife takes a child. Hi-ho the derrio. The wife takes a child.”

We formed a big circle and learned the song, ‘The Farmer in the Dell’. Jackson started off as a farmer and decided who his wife should be (Anna!). The song went on and on until all of our characters had been chosen!

The rhythm of the song and the makeup of the words allowed friends to sing along! We ended it by Tate becoming the cheese and standing alone in the circle!

Next came ‘Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush’. Friends followed Miss Melinda’s gestures and listened to the words in the music.

Finally, we headed back over to the piano area where everyone was given an instrument. Miss Melinda handed out one instrument at a time. Before friends got the instrument, we had to tell her what the instrument was called!

Music was turned on that had various instruments. Friends listened with their ears and when they heard their instrument, they began to play!

Journaling was a hit again today. We’re continuing to work on the journaling procedure with our younger friends. Everyone is enjoying being able to put words to their pictures.

In large group, we read two stories that belong to the ‘fiction’ category. ‘Bear’s Loose Tooth’ and ‘Zoom’ are made up stories; not real. We reviewed all of the stories that we read throughout the week and what type of book they are!

Breakfast– Rice cakes with no nut butter and grapes.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat bread, apples, and broccoli.

PM snack– Grapes, pretzels, and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Broccoli.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/23

Please note: We have a student from IUSB visiting for a couple hours every Monday morning for the next ten weeks. Welcome, Kaylee!

Enjoy the pictures!

Breakfast was Kix and strawberries. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, grapes, and peas. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhroO16z1l84tMxWp5Q

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

We had fun with bubble wrap this morning!

Our friends saw the bubble wrap unrolled on the floor and knew exactly what to do!

They ran up and down the plastic, listening to the loud pops and laughing with delight. They stomped their little feet until they were too tired to stomp anymore!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and peaches. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with cheese, peaches, and peas. Afternoon snack was pretzels and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhrlITAsVvgiWe2vhkQ

Have a great night!

Amanda