Felt Rocks!

This morning, Paulina brought in her collection of wool. She led Wee Friends in an exploration on how to transform wool into felt. She describes:

“Continuing our rock sensorial explorations today, we explored the contrast between the cold rocks and warm wool. We also noticed that Fall is near and weather is getting cold. To make our rocks warmer and ready for winter, we learned how to felt wool and shape it into little coats for our rocks. The process involved taking little pieces of wool and laying them out flat on bubble wrap. We then dipped them into warm, soapy water and rubbed it with the bubble wrap. Finally, we let them dry outside in a sunny area.” As Paulina worked with each Wee Friend, she sang along to the action she was performing. (Ex: “rub rub rub-rub a dub dub” as the rocks were rubbed by the bubble wrap.)

This week, Addi has been very interested in the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty. Her interest has been contagious and many friends have enjoyed hearing the story read 4-5 times over the last couple days. Yesterday, during an improvisation, Ada laid perfectly still with her arms over her chest, just as Sleeping Beauty did in the book. When asked “What kind of flower is SB holding?” Alexandra exclaimed “A rose!” The parts of the story that have ignited the most interest are the rose that SB holds as she sleeps, Maleficent, the wicked fairy, the prince’s kiss and the sharp needle on the spinning wheel. To our classroom, we added briar roses in the archway, a spinning wheel and a basket of roses. We played Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and let the magic unfold!

Annie’s favorite part was pricking her finger and falling into a deep sleep. Stephen like to hold the rose up to the wheel and see how fast he could spin it!

 

Jane loved holding the roses and dancing. She also enjoyed telling Maleficent “Nothing happens to me when I touch the needle!” Nate willingly wore a black scarf to become Maleficent’s assistant, the black raven. Arleigh loves scary music and wanted to hear the scary beginning of our track over and over. Umi and Alma also love dancing. They found Angelina and the Princess and after hearing it read, pretended to be princess ballerinas.

 

 

 

Kai fully embodied the Prince offering friendly kisses to revive Sleeping Beauty. He noticed how Maleficent puts chains on the Prince and enjoyed the sensation of breaking free from the scarf chains he created. Macy hid all of our roses and led her friends on a Flower Hunt.

 

 

 

Soon we had an entire court of characters telling the story!

 

 

 

 

We ended our Creative Drama experience by gathering on our rose blanket and singing “Lavender Blue” with Paulina!

 

 

 

 

Melinda played “Tingalayo”, “Down by the Bay” and “Shake My Sillies Out” on the accordian. She changed the words to the last song and friends stretched, jumped, wiggled and hopped their sillies out!

 

 

 

 

When things settled and quieted, we connected that Paulina’s wool was the very thing that the spinning wheel could spin! A few older friends explored this further.

For lunch, we served turkey and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, cranberry/pear fruit salad and fresh cherry tomatoes.

Have a great day!

Annie, Jane, Kai and Macy went to swimming lessons this morning! Their system ( and all friends who leave the classroom for an activity) is to put their shoes on and find a spot in the kitchen to wait as Tami prepares for the journey.

At school there were many interesting conversations happening! Melinda led a discussion on where all the housekeeping materials belong. Friends know they are responsible, after playing with a toy, to return it to it’s ‘home’. This on-going discussion enables Wee Friends enjoy the personal success of having followed the direction “please return the toy to it’s place when you are done playing with it.”

 Kai, Ada, Annie and Jane were warning their friends about the ‘hot lava’ in hopscotch. The teacher asked “where is the hot lava?” On the red circle, of course! This sparked an interesting conversation about what the other colors in hopscotch may represent. Blue was, hands down, the cool ocean. Yellow was both a crawdad and a field of grass. Green was also a field of grass and a crab. These four friends expressed that red was fiery and hot while blue was cool and soft.

 When Jane started singing we jumped into our new WF Anthem and before we knew it the room filled up with the WF chorus belting out their new song.

 

 

 Owen and Umi spent a while in the science center together exploring The Visual Encyclopedia of Science. Owen shared his knowledge of ships with Umi, stopping for several minutes to study a special ship that retracts minerals from the ocean floor.

 

 Umi took her shoes off and put them back on several times, mastering this fine motor exercise (and taking care of an ouchie!).

 

 

When Melinda took Stephen and Owen outside to repair a bike wheel, ‘the girls’ gathered around the art table and created art with purple paper, pink paint. We dipped a straw into the paint and blew!

Alma and a few other friends blew, while Addi and Arleigh also used the straw as a paintbrush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When Addi requested that we read Sleeping Beauty, friends gathered and laid on the floor (just like SB) to listen to the book. After reading, we practiced bowing as princes and princesses. We took our exploration to the truck room and built castles.

Outside Melinda set up ” Knock Down the Gourd with a Ball”!!

For lunch we served melted cheese on whole wheat tortillas, peas and banana/pineapple fruit salad.

Have a terrific day!

This morning our Wee Friends were Gymnasts in Motion!

 

 

Miss Jennifer arrived just before 9am and gathered up her first group of gymnasts.

 

Each class began with a warm up that included stretching, sit-ups, push-ups, marching, walking on tip toes, to a name a few.

She introduced an octagonal rolling mat and friends learned a back roll.

 

 

 

Inside, it was a musical morning with Paulina singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and other musical explorations.

Friends created art with markers, do-a-dots and paint. For lunch we served whole wheat spaghetti with tuna and green peas, watermelon and cranberry/romaine salad.

Have a great day!

 

What began as a kindergarten math lesson, evolved into a morning of playing games!

In addition to the literacy and math skills board games offer, there is an opportunity for our friends to continue developing an understanding of how to work together in a group, how to articulate themselves, how to work with a leader (Jane goes first, Macy is second etc…) and how to take turns.

 

With these developing social skills, friends gain confidence and pride in their ability to help others and successfully navigate their social course throughout the day.

 

 

Last year of WF anthem was “Wee Friends, Wee Friends, mighty, mighty Wee Friends….” We are kicking off this new school year with a new anthem! To the tune of “This Land is Your Land” we have been practicing:

I am your Friend,

You are my Friend,

We are all Friends at Wee Friends.

I am your Friend,

You are my Friend,

We are all Friends at Wee Friends!

Today, Melinda led the chorus of singers on her accordian. We sang our new anthem. The Wee Friends Chorus is amazing!

 

 

 

Today for lunch, we served ground turkey cheese melts on whole wheat bread, cantelope and fresh WF tomatoes.

Have a terrific weekend!

Today was the first day of swimming!

This morning a group of friends were building in the truck room with wooden blocks. Two friends determined that what they built was a cave. Another friend insisted the piled up blocks was a slide. After much conversation friends understood that it could be both things at once! We discussed the idea that what one friend has in mind may be completely different than the other friend-but both are ok!

We set out Play-Doh this morning and one of our toddlers exclaimed “I cut this in half!” after using a plastic rotary ‘blade’ to do so. We continued this mathematical concept by discussing half/whole and other shapes being created.

When Melinda began playing her accordian, friends gathered quickly to sing/dance. After a while, the musicians settled into a comfortable rhythm, finding an instrument and seating position to make music. Each friend found his/her place whether it was dancing, singing or beating a drum.

With our classroom dynamic changing (new friends/different ages etc) it is exciting for us to see friends find their WF voice! Many of our friends who were previously younger are taking on a leadership role that includes helping/teaching friends.

For lunch we served ham/cheese on whole wheat tortillas, fruit salad and mixed veggies. Have a great day!

Together with Creative Curriculum for Preschool, Wee Friends regularly incorporates Foundations to the Indiana Academic Standards for Young Children into the planned and emergent lessons each day. Three of the standards directly involve teaching our friends to follow directions.

F.7.4 Follow one-step spoken directions without prompts (e.g., Get your shoe).

F.7.12 Follow two-step spoken directions with prompts. (e.g., pick up your plate and take it to the kitchen)

F.7.31 Understand and follow a one-step direction. (e.g., get the red shoe)

Here are some ways this translates into our play-based/child initiated environment.

This morning Annie asked if she could continue working with beads. The one step direction to create art is well understood: please sit down on a chair or stool. The two step direction to produce beadwork is also clear: hold the pipe cleaner with one hand and place the bead onto the pipe cleaner.

 

During Creative Music we made a circle of dinosaur nests. As we sang the one step direction was: walk in a circle on the nests.

 

 

 

Missy Little brought in a new collection of stickers-Thank You!!! Melinda’s directive was clear: choose THREE stickers and stick then to your paper. Friends counted as they stuck stickers to the paper. When friends chose to stick more stickers on the reminder was “…I see you chose 6 stickers….remember the direction was to stick 3…let’s count how many you have on your paper…” and the lesson is further explored.

Early Childhood Today Journal contributor Susan A. Miller, EdD suggests “Preschoolers’ individual learning styles also influence how they receive, understand, and follow directions. Analytic children enjoy having directions broken down into small parts step-by-step; global learners need to see or understand the whole picture. A child who learns best visually says, “Let me see how to do it,” while the auditory child says, “Tell me the way to do it,” and the tactile child states, “Let me do it.” It’s important to give children directions that relate to their learning styles and involve open-ended questions and two-way communication.”

We are always working toward cultivating cooperation and developing listening skills in a variety of cross curricular opportunities as we guide our friends through their busy days! As language develops and vocabulary expands, comprehension increases and the benefits of these covert learning opportunities come to light!

For lunch we served cheese pizza on whole wheat muffins with homemade WF marinara! Along with the pizza we had watermelon (Thank You, Jennae G.!) and carrots.

Have a terrific weekend and remember WF is closed Monday! See you Tuesday!

 

Paulina came to school today with new glasses! The children’s observation of this led to a fine motor activity: creating eye glasses with pipe cleaners.

 

Jane knows every lyric to Puff the Magic Dragon. When a few friends put hand puppets on (including the dragon!), we played the song and followed along to the beautifully illustrated book. Jane turned the pages and led the chorus of singers as they belted out the refrain!

Singing Puff led us to a music exploration using our rhythm sticks. We practiced rhythm by tapping our sticks together in different ways, listening and following directions and exploring the musical dynamic ‘rest’. We stretched our bodies and accelerated our heartbeats by moving to Hap Palmer’s Stuff it in the Closet. Creative Music ended with a sensorial meditation in which friends were visited by butterflies (fingers), caterpillars (kitchen sponge), swishy fish (drops of water) and snowflakes (bag of ice).

Paulina led a small group to the front porch where she read My Granny Went to Market by Stella Blackstone. She read it in English but in the book, as Granny visited other countries, they discussed different languages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They practiced counting in Spanish and sang the Spanish version of Wheels on the Bus.

Outside, Melinda supervised friends as they lathered up WF chairs with shaving cream. Friends gave the chairs a good scrubbing!

For lunch we served ham and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, WF cucumbers/carrots with Ranch and fresh peaches-thank you, Matt D.!

We hope you are enjoying your day!