Today was filled with a variety of small group activities.

Our apples were finally dry enough to finish our apple dolls. Using google eyes, pipe cleaners, yarn and felt two small groups took turns adding hair, arms, legs, eyes and clothes!

In housekeeping, another small group acted out selected scenes from Beauty and the Beast. We first looked at the book and a few friends turned to the pages that illustrated the scenes they were interested in exploring.

Addi was one of several chickens who were fed by Belle. We used this moment to stretch and exercise our gross motor muscles.

At first princesses Alma and Umi told the Beast to “go away!”. They soon relented and invited the Beast to be their friend. Today, the improv was guided with provoking questions such as “The Beast isn’t leaving the castle, what should we do?” or “I see the Beast is smiling, what does that say to you?”

The imaginative play morphed into Snow White (per Annie’s request!) in which Annie made an appearance as the princess who eats the apple and falls instantly. Annie has mastered this dramatic, graceful, tragic (yet totally safe!) fall. Kai snuck into the Beast costume and we were suddenly back in the castle where a tired and “kind on the inside” Beast was comforted by his friends!

We created a replica of the rose in the vase whose petals slowly fall. We counted the petals and will watch them fall one by one, counting as we go.

Melinda is playing several WF songs on her accordian and friends are singing along! Today she explored 4/4 time, counting to four and then teaching the singers to “sing now!”. They clapped this rhythm out and then used instruments to practice keeping the beat.

Be on the lookout for information for our WF Winter Concert!

Special Note: You may find some time black seeds on the floor in our science center. Rest assured that we do not have any little visitors, these seeds are from inside the bean pods in our sensory bin!

Also, we do have a cold being passed around the classroom. Symptoms include a runny nose, heavy coughing and chest congestion, plugged up ears, and post nasal drip. No fever reported so far.

For lunch we served cream cheese/carrots on whole wheat tortillas, roasted potatoes and applesauce.

Hope you are having moments of rest in your day.

Before the swimmers left, Melinda took an opportunity to remind Wee Friends where the toys in housekeeping go. Putting toys back in their designated spot is a skill we work on everyday.

 

 

Yesterday we began a conversation about shells. We specifically discussed snails, turtles, eggs and nuts. We talked about a shell’s purpose for the living creature inside. We explored an egg, walnut and seashell and then recreated these objects with felt.

 

When the swimmers departed, all corners of the classroom were in full gear!

 

Ada and Stephen have been enjoying spending alot of time together these last several days.

 

 

 

Nate and Alexandra prepared pies and muffins for……

 

 

 

BFF’s Umi and Alma!

 

 

 

 

Melinda created a tent over housekeeping and everyone played underneath.

 

 

For lunch we served chicken salad with apples, fruit salad and baked butternut squash.

Have a great day!

Gymnastics Monday!

Today Wee Friends worked with Miss Jennifer on the Rings and the Cartwheel mat (mini and full cartwheels). They practiced a skin the cat flip, lunges and h

andstands against the wall.

Back in the classroom we plunged into Beauty and the Beast. We finished adding definitions to our New Words to Learn Message Board.

 A word in the book that seems to be of particular interest is hideous. We’ve talked about the definition within the context of Beauty and the Beast and also discussed that it is the opposite of pretty.

 Our older friends created art with sparkly nail polish. We made it VERY CLEAR that this was a special art activity and they SHOULDN’T use Mom’s nail polish as paint! 🙂 Laurie takes full responsibility!!

  For our younger friends, we emptied several nail polish bottles and added water color.

We spent more time reading the story and studying the illustrations. The two scenes of greatest interest were 1) when Belle uses the mirror to discover her Father in the castle and 2) the Silly Girls who love Gaston. With a few new props and costumes, we acted these scenes out. Jane, Nate and Alma used words (in character) to tell the story. When Jane (as Belle) asked Nate (as Beast) to let her father go, he replied “no!” We discussed that Belle is a book lover.

The Silly Girls giggled (and sang an original/in the works composition!) when Gaston (Simon) walked by them.

 Outside, we moved the sand rakes to the WeeWee side of the yard and raked and played in the leaves!

  

 

 

As sisters, Jane and Macy made marigold cake!

 

 

 

 

 Our Buddy System for lunch is going really well. At this point, each child knows who their lunch buddy is and what number (marked on the floor/wall) they stand near to take turns washing hands. Today, we took it a step further and marked (with washable marker!) their number on their hand. To this Kai replied “You can’t write on hands! You don’t do that in the world!” Arleigh, too, was concerned and expressed “ummm—we only write on paper!” We explained the purpose and then showed them it would wash right off as they washed their hands for lunch. All was well.

 For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, corn and bananas.

We hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

 

“The Earth is good to me, the earth is good to me,  for giving us the sun and the rain and the appleseed…”

Our field trip to Springhope Farms in Galien Michigan was better that we could have even hoped!  Our car trip over and back was smooth and uneventful.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  And the children, while excited, were self controlled and purposeful during every aspect of our trip.  And….we have apples….lots of apples! 

We started our trip with a hay ride to the orchard.  We sang our “Earth is Good to Me” song as we rode along in the wagon.  Nate and Stephen sat in the front and were mesmerized by the large tractor wheels. 

Every child received a bag for picking from whatever tree they chose.  We were picking from Jonagold and Melrose apple trees.  The owner, Bob, was helpful and spent time with the children talking to them about the tree, helping them pick, and answering questions.  All of the trees were laden with delicious, beautiful ripe apples all within the children’s reach. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

When we returned to the picnic area, we stopped for a small snack of dried apples (Thanks Alexandra, Simon’s mom!) and wheat crackers.  Bob brought out some of the most delicious apple cider I have ever had for all of the children as a nice surprise for our group.

 

The children then enjoyed the wide open space of the picnic area.  They played Red Light, Green Light (led by Alexandra) and the Monster Chasing game (led by Allison, Addi’s mom). 

 

 

 

 

 

WF purchased one apple for each member of every child’s family.  So don’t forget to take their bags home tonight. 

It was great company and a great experience.  I can’t thank Springhope Farms (and Bob) enough for sharing this day with us!

Have a great weekend! 

Each day at Wee Friends there are countless opportunities to explore math concepts-from the Magna-Tiles to the Trios; from Counting Songs to building blocks that friends jump off in Hopscotch. We count boo-boos and study shapes. We measure during science experiments and sort objects according to color/size and other attributes.

This week, it seems a Math Club has started to evolve! Each morning, Kai spends time on kindergarten level math. A few friends have been watching/listening as this concentrated math time has unfolded. Almost daily, Kai, Annie, Jane and Simon have expressed “It’s time to do math now!”

This week Kai has worked on number recognition, 1-10. Annie is incorporating letters in her work (particularly A and H), writing the same letters multiple times. Jane continues to cultivate our Fairy Tale study in her math work (2 shoes, one princess..). Simon is into robots and works with different shapes (and explanations!) to create them. The Math Club also continues to enjoy the Apple Tree Counting Game.

 

 

We started our apple dolls today! First we mixed some lemonade to soak the apples in.

 

 

 

We peeled the skin off and each Wee Friend used the end of a paint brush to dig out eyes, nose and mouth. We finished this part of the process by soaking the apple in the lemonade. Next, we’ll start the drying process.

 

 

We’ve officially finished Snow White and have begun studying Beauty and the Beast. Friends are starting to cast themselves and discuss scenes they find interesting. Today we created a Message Board exploring new words to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lunch we served peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat buns, mixed veggies and apples/bananas.

 

Have a great day!

In the WF Classroom, the children stayed busy before the farm trip doing math lessons and drawing at the art table.  Miss Laurie had some wonderful individual time with small “standby” group in the classroom while the larger group was at the farm.  Because the camera goes with the farm group, it is hard to see all the great things that can happen when the small number of children makes the group time so intimate.  A few of the things were:

 

• Miss Laurie read Pinocchio and the kids had conversations and dramatic play around this.
• They created pictures on orange paper with black paint.
• Outside, they gathered leaves from the yard and made a leaf mural on the outside art easel.  They also had a great time creating their own trees with leaves and the basketball hoops. 

Farm Day! Melinda and Tami had another fantastic day with sunshine and warm temperatures to be at the farm. 

We did the regular chores today…feeding the goats, chickens, and turkeys.  The children spent lots of time hand feeding the goats, Luna the cow and the horses some grain.  They are all gaining confidence in this very up close and personal interaction with the larger (and in the case of the goats, pushier) farm animals.

The kids spent some time harvesting the last of the green beans from Miss Charlotte’s garden. 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had some time for some horse back riding today!

And while the kids waited, we played with Sunscreen, the kitten.  Sunscreen is remarkably loving and laid back to be passed around for a long time without ever taking a break from her purring. 

 

 

 

 

We also spent time in the praire playing with the milk weed seed pods.  They are fully ripe on many of the plants.  The milk weed seeds are soft & irresistable to touch, blow, and throw in the air. 

 

 

Then, it ws back to WF for lunch of whole wheat couscous, french green beans and mandarin oranges.

A quick reminder for tomorrow: Tami and Melinda will be taking a large group of Wee Friends to the farm in the morning! Here’s the roster: Arleigh, Alma, Addi, Umi, Kai, Owen, Ada, Annie and Jane. Please make sure your child is here by 9am at the latest, with boots or closed toe shoes/socks and a jacket to wear to the farm.

Tami is also planning a field trip to the apple orchard Friday for everyone in the WF classroom! More details to follow.

The morning was filled with lots of counting! When our swimmers left for the Y, there were a few confused WF who thought they were also scheduled to go. Melinda created a calendar and helped friends count the days until the larger group of swimmers will go to the Y.

Next was “Five Little Monkies Swinging on a Tree…” Melinda began the game in hopscotch by pretending to be the alligator hiding in the jungle gym. Monkey friends would come along and “…Snap! Then there were three…”. She played the counting game again later in the reading area.

While the swimmers were still out, we gathered the rest of the WF and went for a long walk through the neighborhood. We studied the trees and felt prickly pine needles. We picked up some tiny pine cones and examined the very tall pine tree from which they fell. We caught a train passing by and stayed to watch the cars and hear the very loud train sounds. As we passed the church on the corner of 29th and Wall St., we pointed out our lunch bell high on the church steeple. Everyday at noon , the bells ring and WF have come to regard this as their lunch bell!

For lunch we served melted turkey and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, grapes and corn

Have a great day.

Gymnastics Monday!

Our Wee Friends are loving every moment on the gymnastic bus with Miss Jennifer. This morning, while our younger friends waited for their turn, we created apple art using laminated apples and dry erase markers.

Nate and Addi waited by the door and belted it out using magnetic spheres and rods as their microphones. Stephen continues to defend his right to be a princess too!

We read The Apple Doll again and checked in to see how our apple soaking in lemon juice was doing.

Macy noticed that the apple smelled like lemonade while Simon commented on how mushy the apple had become. We’ll let it dry out now and continue to study it as it changes form.

We are turning our reading area tree into an apple tree and many friends, using a picture of an apple as a model, created their own apples with red construction paper.

 

 

After Alexandra finished creating apples, she spent a long while working with scissors.

 

 

 

 

Kai and Macy worked collaboratively attaching the leaves to our tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Princesses Alma and Umi snuck away into the Lego/Castle loft, carefully navigating each step in their long gowns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We asked the question: “Have we finished our Snow White exploration?” There was a resounding “no!”. So we studied the dwarves, assembled dwarf like costumes and paraded around the classroom singing “Heigh-Ho”. The princesses ended up back at the cottage asleep and the dwarves examined them.

 

 

 

 

Everyone gathered to receive a rose. Jane has planned the continuation of our Fairy Tale Study: next we will study Beauty and the Beast. She explained “The princess doesn’t go to sleep, but there is a very mean beast.” Our friends are still making their own connections on how the fairy tales we’ve read are similar/different. After that we will explore Cinderella.

Here’s an example of how our studies connect to our journaling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with chicken, carrot/peas and apples. Have a great day!!!

 This morning, Kai, Macy and Annie continued studying the pictures/scenes in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. As they read they identified “there’s Simon!” (the raven) or “there’s me!” (Kai, the prince). Annie found herself as Snow White and Macy recognized herself as Kai’s horse.

Yesterday, many friends created beadwork. This interest continued this morning as friends gathered to create crowns, bracelets and necklaces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After more conversation about the characteristics of the seven dwarves, Nate found a dwarves cap and Heigh-Ho’d around the classroom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few friends enjoyed an apple tree counting game. They rolled the dice and moved a poker chip from apple to apple ’til they made it to the apple in the center of the tree. They practiced counting dots on the dice and number recognition on the apples. They counted out loud as they moved around the board.

 There were lots of structures being created in the truck room this morning. Owen built a castle out of Magna-Tiles. Simon and Alma worked collaboratively to make a wrecking ship. Stephen made a sledge hammer out of Trios.

 

Melinda led each Wee Friend through the multiple-direction process of making silly putty. Glue, water, food coloring, liquid starch, Borax and alot of elbow grease!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Our older friends assisted our younger friends. They measured, counted tablespoons, poured, scooped, stirred and squished, identified colors to dye their putty, pulled apart and asked lots of questions!

 

Melinda read The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven. We demonstrated how to make an apple doll by peeling the skin, cutting out eyes and a mouth, sticking it onto a stick and dressing it. We extended this exercise into another science experiment by soaking the apple head (just like Susanna in the story) in a lemon bath to see if it will preserve the doll. We’ll take it out Monday and slowly dry it. Next week each Wee Friend will have a chance to make their own apple headed doll.

 We also read The True Tale of Johnny Appleseed by Margaret Hodges. We continued our conversation about the man, noticing many interesting things about Johnny from the fabulous illustrations. We got to talking about apple seeds and learned that they are poisonous! We collected the seeds from the apples we served at lunch and studied them. We learned that if you accidently eat one or two seeds from one or two apples it’s not a big deal. If you eat a whole backpack full then you would get very sick. Annie lent us her backpack for a visual demonstration of how many seeds it would take to get really sick. We imagined that Johnny Appleseed probably had a sack that full of seeds. But he didn’t eat them! 🙂

For lunch we served pita pocket pizzas, broccoli and apples!

It was another morning filled with imaginative play surrounding the fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Melinda asked the question, “What is the difference between a castle and a palace?” We researched the details (Simon nailed it without research!) and explored what each may look like. We also discussed who lives in a castle and who lives in a palace.

 

 

Kai was particularly interested in the horses so he chose a drawing technique book and studied how to draw a horse. The message board castle drawing had two guards and a bird. Kai assigned Macy and Stephen as guards and Simon as the Black Raven and wrote their names above their picture.

 

 

Our princesses carry their imaginative princess play to a fine motor experience: Polly Pocket like princess dolls. The girls work very diligently to put the rubbery/slippery dresses on the doll and then take them off again. It’s an amazing workout for those small finger muscles!

 

 

After spending time dancing with Arleigh, Umi and Alma moved to hopscotch, built a springboard three blocks high and practiced jumping off! Umi explained that it was part of their house.

 

 

 

Almost daily, Nate gravitates to the truck room to build something. Today he built a vertical Magna-Tile tower independently.

 

 

 

On her accordian, Melinda taught a small group of friends where Middle C is located and what it sounds like. They sang “Heigh-Ho” and several other familiar tunes.

 

 

 

 

All of our WF were invited into the reading are to review where housekeeping toys belong. Melinda demonstrated how to properly put away a few of the many small pieces that make up housekeeping.

 

 

 

We have a new parachute! Each friend held onto a handle and we shook it slow/medium/fast; we crawled underneath it; we walked across it; we traveled in a circle with it; we bounced a ball on it….Melinda brought it just in time as we will find ourselves inside more and more as the season turns.

 

For lunch we had long grain rice with beef, bananas/pears and roasted butternut squash.

 

Have a great day!