Wee Friends welcomes our newest friend, Ada! We’re so glad you’re here!

We jumped right into our Monday sewing with embroidery hoops.

 

We sang all three of our “Hello!” songs and then worked with rhythm sticks singing and tapping to “We are Family” and Hap Palmer’s slow/fast song. We took our rhythm sticks around the classroom and experimented tapping on hard and soft surfaces, listening for differences and discussing it.

In the truck room this morning a friend pointed out that his Trio creation was higher than his friend’s Magna-Tile creation. It led us to a comparison game in which we chose two objects and determined which was higher or lower.

 We enjoyed being outside this morning, spending cool moments singing on the swing and hot moments making sand creations!  For lunch we served whole wheat pasta with tuna fish, cantelope and cucumber/orange/lettuce salad.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy your day.

Wee Friends, Wee Friends, Mighty mighty Wee Friends!

We play games, we sing songs!

Wee Friends, Wee Friends, Mighty mighty Wee Friends!

We grow friendships all day long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lunch we served pizza on whole wheat English muffins, corn and fruit salad.

Enjoy your weekend!

Today our classroom was SPINNING with activity!!!!!!!

Tumblers said a final goodbye to Ms. Patti and the Y. She awarded WF gymnasts with trophies!

We explained to our toddlers that soon they too will be tumbling with Ms. Jennifer on the gymnastics bus! They jumped up and down with excitement and with full voices expressed “we walk down the steps and get on the bus!” They also talked about the “trampolina”!

 

We created music, first by visiting the beach and feeling the waves wash over us……and then we spun our bodies around the circular table for “The Ants Go Marching”.

The younger children also had a marvelous time sharing a large tub of sudsy water. They swirled water with their hands, dumped & poured with measuring cups, squeezed droppers, and squirted basters & syringes.

For art today, the children excitedly worked cooperatively with the lazy susan, round paper and markers to create “spin art”. They noticed how the lines changed when the marker was held still versus moving their hand with the marker. The final product was colorful and unique!

For lunch, we continued spinning! We had tortilla spin art (ham, cream cheese, and whole wheat tortilla spirals), cantaloupe, and carrots.

Have a great day!

WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR?

Melinda started our morning art activity with this message board question. After a long discussion and using our mirror, the kids determined that “color” (of hair, eyes, skin) and “size” (nose, eyes, hair) are the two things that really make people look different. They then set to work with the materials to create a replica of their faces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Other morning interests were:

• sorting the foam pieces looking for round pieces to use as eyes.
• lots of “shoe” play
• some dancing to country music
• an impromptu minor league hockey game (made with trios) in the block room
• an enjoyable cloudy and rather cool outside time

For lunch we had: roast beef & brown rice, cucumbers and pineapple/banana slices.

Have a great day!

Today Melinda led a science experiment about absorption. She gathered several objects with varying degrees of density and porosity. Using blue paint, friends used a dropper to determine which objects absorbed the paint and which didn’t.

To the tune of “Kookaburra”, we sang

“Stephen sits under the Wee Friend’s Tree,

Merry, Merry Wee-ee Friend is he!

Dance, Stephen! Dance, Stephen!

Gay your life must be!”

Many friends enjoyed sitting, hopping, clapping and twirling under the WF Family Tree!

We continued creating music singing a rhythm game that incorporated 3/4 and 4/4 time but using friend’s family names instead of numbers: “Kai, Dylan, Mom and Dad” or “Mom, Dad, Addi”.

We ended creative music time with “The Ants Go Marching” hiding under the table “to get out of the rain, boom, boom, boom!!”

For lunch we served a cucumber from our garden, strawberries/granny smith apples and whole wheat pasta with chicken and marinara.

Oh Yes! We did start the morning with push ups!

 

Have a great day!

 

 

 

Our life sized shoe has been the highlight today! Friends have filled it with pillows, dishes, books and blankets.

 

For the last several afternoons, friends have been constructing a cardboard house with various materials. This experience culminated with a discussion yesterday about different types of houses (including our own) . We explored National Geographic photographs of different houses around the world.

To exercise fine motor muscles and hand/eye coordination we’ve been threading with yarn and cardboard.

 

What began as a threading exploration grew into a collage creation and then feather duster art connecting feathers to straws!

Simon shared his family collage with us! We learned about his family, special friends and also where they lived! He also shared pictures of himself as a baby!

We celebrated Simon and Oliver by singing and dancing to “We Are Family” (the Sister Sledge arrangement!)

 

We ended our creative music time with a ZigZag Meditation where friends created a zigzag formation with their bodies by laying heads on tummies!

 

 

For lunch we served refried rice with chicken and veggies, snap peas and applesauce. This afternoon we are indulging in a rare (but exciting!) movie fest with a popcorn snack!

Have a terrific weekend!

What started out as an afternoon stamp letter project, just kept growing…

and…

GROWING…

until.. it turned into a big tree for our family tree project!

Remember to bring in your child’s leaf to add to our tree!

This morning, as I (Tami) walked through the Wee Wee classroom with the paint rollers that I had dug up from their basement, Emergent Curriculum (and a silly grin) were the only two words I needed to say to explain everything.

From Wikipedia, Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum based on the student’s interest and passions as well as the teacher’s. To plan an emergent curriculum requires observation, documentation, creative brainstorming, flexibility and patience. Rather than starting with a lesson plan which requires a “hook” to get the children interested, emergent curriculum starts with the children’s interests.

This morning, emerging from our Family Study, the teachers facilitated activities that allowed the children to follow their interests in the Old Lady and the Shoe fable by

• singing
• acting it out in costume
• converting their own shoes in to houses in the art room
• by creating a life sized shoe for dramatic play

For lunch today we had whole wheat tortillas with peanut butter, cantaloupe with blueberries and fresh zucchini from our garden. The kids at the round table all enjoyed the Lazy Susan that Miss Laurie brought in to help with passing of the bowls!

Today was another steamy morning! Instead of braving the heat today, we found many different ways to stay busy inside.

For an art exploration today, the kids used colorful circle screens to make eye catching glue collages. Some kids talked about their circle “families” and others created their pictures to be beautiful summer flowers. The younger children had a great time using the glue with the paint brushes and experimenting with the sticky properties of glue and how their hands stuck together.

Melinda led the group in a music/movement activity along to a CD (Lead Belly) that the Oliver and Simon brought to share. The music had very southern country/ folk style and the kids had to figure out how to move to this different style of music! Later, we had another music time that focused on using instruments. This time was started as an energetic spirited music time and ended in music meditation on individual rugs.

Storytime was found multiple times today in different rooms with different groups of children. One particularly fun moment for Taylor was during her BOB book reading time, she managed to gather a whole group of younger kids as an audience!

For lunch today we had chicken and rice with broccoli (prepared for us by Marty’s daughter Breania!), fresh mangos and banana, fresh sweet pea pods.

Today we welcomed Alma (our first WeeWee graduate) to Wee Friends!

Congratulations Alma, and Welcome!

This morning, a handful of friends traced alphabet letters with a marker. Other friends sorted heart, star and circle shapes into like groups. F.6.2 Combine strokes and shapes to represent letters. F.6.10 Use the correct grasp of writing tool. F.3.9 Sort a group of objects by more than one way. F.3.10 Name groups of objects.

 

Our girls (especially!) are spending a lot of time with the baby dolls, wrapping, feeding, washing, rocking and singing to them. F.3.28 Pretend to take care of a doll by feeding and other activities. F.3.29 Play the role of different family members through dramatic play. F.3.30 Discuss members of the family and their roles.

Shaving Cream!

All of our friends enjoyed getting ooey gooey creating art with shaving cream, tempera paints and construction paper. F.2.16 Demonstrate increasing skill in using different art materials. (e.g., paper, paint, clay, scraps, buttons). F.2.19 Use a variety of materials (e.g., crayons, paint, clay, markers) to create original work.

Before rest time we read Grandparents Around the World, discussing our own grandparents: their real names, what we call them and which country or state they live (lived) in. We asked “Do your grandparents live close or far?” F.3.32 Ask questions about families. F.5.4 Notice people’s skin and explore the differences. F.5.7 Discuss how grandparents and older people look and act different from children.

For lunch, we served whole wheat pizza with turkey, cheddar and cream cheese, watermelon and WF fresh lettuce with cucumber/carrots.

Have a great day!

“Bucket!!”

 

Several weeks ago, Nate and Owen (thanks, too, Aimee and Kevin!) brought Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? to Wee Friends! This “Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids” led us to a conversation about the ways we can treat others (and fill their buckets!) with kindness. After reading the story, each friend received a bucket with their name on it and then made a kindness deposit into a friend’s bucket. We decided whenever we saw these kindnesses occur, we would shout “bucket!” The buckets are hung in the art room so friends can make regular deposits.

 

Some older Wee Friends sorted and patterned old thread spools. A few younger friends created families of spools, identifying mother, father, baby etc….

 

 

Our Family Study is well underway and we would like to invite you to create a family collage with your child!
Today or tomorrow you will find a piece of construction paper in your child’s cubby upon which you can glue pictures of your family that your Wee Friend would like to share with his/her classmates. Some ideas to ignite your imaginations are: pictures of your house, beloved pets, favorite dollies, vacations, food-anything that says “this is me!”. Create them at your leisure over the next couple weeks and when you are ready, your child can bring them to school and share them!

DON’T FORGET TO BRING A SWIMSUIT FOR YOUR CHILD!

For lunch today we served whole wheat pasta with carrots, blueberries and yogurt/cinnamon dressing, corn and string cheese.