Thanks to Tami and everyone who attended the curriculum meeting last night! Our dialogue was inspiring, informative and fun!

A princess tea party started the day for a few friends. To the Disney tune “Cups and Saucers”, Jane and Macy balanced cups/saucers on their heads, standing as tall and still as they could to keep them on top. Umi demonstrated a princess ballet move “like Angelina Ballerina!”

Nate donned new pirate wear and brought Pirate Pete’s Giant Adventure by Kim Kennedy to share with his friends. Finn found a long red ribbon that became a rope on board the ship.

We discussed briefly the concept of a stained glass window. After showing our friends 2 illustrations, we dove into an art project using tempera paint and wax paper to create our own translucent windows.

Umi asked for pink paint. We discussed which colors, when combined, would create pink. She mixed them together and created her color of choice.

Crazy Eights are still the rage as we end the week! Young mathematicians continued to work on number recognition and matching. Lisa also invited friends to roll a dice and identify the number they rolled. They chose that many gold coins out of the treasure chest.

Simon was also interested in working on math today. He chose three questions to ask: How many pirate ships are at WF? How many fish are at WF? How many gold coins are at WF? Using a clip board and chart, he drew a line for each item he found. He then counted the lines out loud. A teacher drew the number he counted and he traced over it.

We are watching our older friends and observing how, for the last week, they have used the workbench as a hair salon, of sorts. After a week of using the work tools, Melinda offered them our barrette/twists and brush basket. We are excited to see how this interest will unfold.

We finished our classroom work this morning with music meditation. After a year and a half, we are still enjoying “What A Wonderful World” to calm our bodies and our minds…..all in preparation for running and jumping outdoors! 🙂

Today our Wee Sprouts are broccoli and carrots. Breakfast was Cheerios and raisins. For lunch, Lisa made pulled pork quesadillas with cheddar cheese and refried beans, avocado slices and pineapple. For snack we will serve pumpkin bread and bananas.

Have a terrific day and a restful weekend.

This morning, Lisa introduced Wee Friends to ribbon rings! Many friends spent many moments (on our new oval rug!) exploring all the different ways to interact with the rings. They danced with them, twirled them, used them as earrings, shoes, hats and ties!

Another small group began their day doing alphabet yoga on the oval rug! After yoga, a few friends sang “Pony Boy” (on the oval rug!) galloping on each others legs and laps! We moved forward/backwards and side to side as we sang.

We are really enjoying our oval rug.

All week long, Wee Friends have been choosing to work floor puzzles. Today, Melinda discussed elements of the farm yard picture, pointing out details as the picture came together.

It was a morning filled with many small group interactions filling each corner of the classroom! There were trains (of all sizes!) in motion, valentine card scissor work, card games and Caribbean music!

We also squeezed in a Spring Concert rehearsal. “Baa Baa Black Sheep” remains the favorite song to sing and act out. We are working very hard on “Sing a Song of Sixpence” and created beautiful choreography today to use as we sing it.

Our Wee Sprouts today were broccoli and carrots. Breakfast this morning was a bagel with cinnamon and apple slices. Lunch was melted ham and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, cucumber slices and a fruit salad with apples/mandarin oranges.

It’s not too late to join us this evening for our 7pm curriculum meeting. If you haven’t RSVP’d to Tami, feel free to email her today!

Have a terrific day!

Laurie

A small group of friends gathered this morning at the light table to work with plastic translucent rocks. We sorted the rocks into like colors and counted how many were in each pile. A few friends worked at creating patterns with the assortment of colors.

Finn inspired us to revisit last year’s pirate study. With scarves, a treasure chest filled with gold coins and our pirate music, we set sail!

Simon brought in a tornado in a bottle. He showed us how to create a funnel and when we played “Storm at Sea”, Simon shared his science experiment with his friends, who took turns creating a tornado as the music played. Finn, as Captain, used the housekeeping loft as a lookout, where he spotted crocodiles, dinosaurs and many other creatures. The ship docked and friends went on a treasure chest hunt. They found the hidden treasure box and brought it on deck, counting and exploring the texture of the coins inside.

After admiring our Work of Art Cake, we decided we should bake a real cake. Friends took turns cracking, pouring and stirring all the blueberry muffin ingredients together. We discussed opposites thick and thin, and added a tub of water to stir. Friends explored a bowl with thick batter and a bowl of thin liquid. We discussed which muscles were needed to stir the thick batter and asked “Which bowl is easier to stir?”

Each friend stirred 20 strokes as Melinda helped friends count to 20 out loud.

Our classroom buzzed with experiential learning moments: Kai examining the tornado bottle wondering how water gets from one side to the other and “will it spill?”: Elliott stretching his gross motor muscles as he climbed up and down the habitrail: Through painting, Marta and Annie exercising fine motor finger muscles that cultivate the strength they will need in writing: Nate (after 2 days!) building up the courage and confidence to slide down the fireman’s pole independently: Umi cultivating compassion as she tenderly works with her baby doll.

Each day, we view our classroom through the lenses of possibility and together, with our Wee Friends, get excited about the educational moments that, as we say, naturally SPARK!

For breakfast, we served grits and oranges. For lunch, Lisa made chicken salad served in a whole wheat pita, cucumber slices and applesauce. For snack we will eat blueberry muffins!

Have a great day!

Laurie

Cameras Standby………..ACTION!

Wee Friends had a great time this morning with the Neverending Productions, the camera crew who came out to capture video for the commercial 4 C’s is producing on quality childcare in St. Joseph County.

They captured many great moments of our busy morning!

A small group of friends gathered around the felt board singing through nursery rhymes. We talked/sang through several and talked about story sequencing, placing felt numbers to felt pictures of the corresponding action. Humpty Dumpty captured their attention so we stopped, cracked a real egg, saved the shell, cracked it and then tried to piece it back together, all the while, talking about how the soldiers must have felt, how Humpty fell off the wall and how the texture of egg shells in their hands.

Lisa worked with Finn, Umi and Nate on sequencing the alphabet letter people. After working a while, Finn suggested that they create a pigeon out of the cards.

Later, she and Nate sorted puzzle pieces as Melinda and Jane ate an imaginary meal together.

The habitrail continues to draw Wee Friends up and down and all around! Friends are becoming comfortable with how their bodies move throughout the structure (teachers too!).

The princesses spent a lot of time running between their castle and the workbench where they continued to brush hair and play with a variety of construction tools. We learned a new vocabulary word: bed chamber, for the princesses were so tired they created a large mattress to lay upon.

Tami added paint to the light table this morning.

Today, Wee Sprouts are yellow bell peppers and carrots. For breakfast Lisa served Total Cereal and bananas. Lunch was Tami’s delicious farm fresh egg, potato and ham casserole, whole wheat toast, green beans and apple slices. Snack will be hummus and whole wheat pita bread.

Enjoy the warm day!

Laurie

An Invitation from Tami:

Thursday, February 2 – 7pm-8pm – Wee Friends Classroom

Fall 2012 Curriculum Meeting and Q&A

Fall 2012 will include a newly created plan to ensure well balanced coverage of the Indiana Academic Standard with our flourishing constructivist environment. Come learn more!

Please RSVP to the sign up sheet posted at WF so that Tami can plan refreshments.

Please make alternative childcare arrangements!

Friends spent the entire morning discovering the new jungle gym that Tami and Charles finished constructing this weekend. We are calling it the habitrail!

Via message board, we established 6 safety rules:

• 8 kids at a time allowed
• No blocks on blue and red mats
• Be respectful of each other
• Use inside voices
• Only bodies allowed on the jungle gym
• Walking and climbing, please.

When friends weren’t climbing, sliding, stretching, hopping, crawling, laughing and pretending on the habitrail, they were squeezing, rolling, pushing, picking, pinching and molding a variety of objects with Play-Doh.

Marta made Band-Aids. Umi and Marta worked on a chocolate cake. First, Alexandra rolled several pieces of dough flat, then she rolled them up and expressed “These are my ham and cheese rolls!”. Simon created everything from a birdhouse to a pyramid. Finn made a bridge. Stephen made cupcakes.

Annie and Arleigh chose the workbench to brush hair, using a file and a screwdriver!

We finished our morning outside enjoy the sleds!

Today, our Wee Sprouts are tomatoes and cucumbers. For breakfast we served peanut butter on whole wheat toast and bananas. Lunch was whole wheat pasta with red beans, mixed veggies and fruit salad.

Have a great day!

Wee Sprouts!

This morning Elliott’s mom shared with us that when Elliott was riding in the car to school he looked around and asked “What happened to my house?”! Our new vegetable snack bar (now named Wee Sprouts!) not only nourished Elliott (and others!) but gave us an opportunity to make a vocabulary connection by exploring a pea’s house: the pod!

It was a morning filled with creativity and connections!

• Lisa continued the “Bah Bah Black Sheep” study by discussing simple facts as friends created art with yarn and paint. She introduced new vocabulary words “ewe” and “ram”. They talked about where lambs live and identified letters that make up the word “lamb”. Lisa brought in a wool mitten for friends to feel.
• After reading The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by Sam McBratney, a small group of friends acted the story out. Most of the action centered around the mice climbing the stairs and finding the cat in the dark at the top of the stairs. Simon (grandpa mouse) and Jane (baby mouse) adopted character voices. After they told their story, we sat down and sang an original tune with a verse from the book. Using building blocks, we tapped out rhythms and explored loud/soft dynamics. Simon led a construction project building the stairs from the book.
• Our princesses continued to work on their cake.

Note from Tami: Moments ago, Taco (our hamster) died. Tami plans on telling the kids next week.

For breakfast, we served cheerios and bananas. For lunch Lisa made ham rolls with cream cheese, peas and fruit salad with pears and apple.

Enjoy your weekend!

Let your light shine! Yesterday Stephen and Simon walked around the classroom hand in hand singing our walking song “We’ll Go Walking”. Elliott worked diligently on a domino track, laying dominoes flat and on their sides.

Today, a small group of friends joined Lisa in the reading area for a read-thru and sing-a-long of “Twinkle Twinkle”.

Afterwards, a large group of friends gathered at the art table to trace, cut out and glitter paint stars. We will use these as props for our Spring Concert!

We have a few princesses in the house who are interested in reviving the Sleeping Beauty study. During imaginative play in our housekeeping center, the girls have been very interested in looking at a wedding cake magazine. We (literally!) built on this interest by finding three boxes of various sizes and creating our own cake. First, the girls identified small/medium/large. Next, they decided how they wanted their cake to stack. Finally, they chose a variety of colors and began painting. The process of painting drew in many friends and a beautiful work of art was created!

Lisa guided friends on a train excursion! Finn was the conductor. He asked for tickets and friends jumped on board. He also served food and they discussed the different shapes of the mentioned food. They went to see Grandma, but Finn spotted a dinosaur out the window. They hurried to a cave, came back to an imagined campsite and made a huge fire with yellow car tracks. They cooked hamburgers and put up imaginary tents.

And then……laid under the stars!

Using a flashlight, Lisa created an imaginary star and friends watched it fall, flitter, dance and land on different friends. We sang “Twinkle Twinkle” and made a wish……….

Here’s wishing your day is wonderful!

(Breakfast: cinnamon toast and bananas – Lunch: chicken pot pie, peas and applesauce)

Oh Happy Day!

It was a flutter of fun in the Wee World this morning!

To quote Kai: “Jane’s in that dress and I’m the happy guy in the other pink one.” We have all enjoyed so much laughter today!

We are knee deep into an Alphabet Study and among other materials, are using nursery rhymes to explore letters.

A small group started their day off with a reading of “Bah-Bah Black Sheep”, We took turns acting out the sheep, master, dame and boy.

Using our alphabet little puzzle people, Lisa spent 45 minutes or more in the reading area exploring letters with friends. They identified letters, created a girl/boy pattern and sang multiple rounds of “The ABC Song”

Mel played Crazy Eights with our older friends working on number recognition, suit recognition and matching the two.

After our creative drama experience, a small group of friends gathered at the art table for a sensorial/fine motor exploration. Using short pieces of yarn and socks, we filled ‘bags of wool’. Friends determined if it was easier to stuff a lot of wool into the bag at one time or just a little. Ultimately, most friends held the bag with one hand and used their pincer grasp to get strands of wool into the bag. Opposites were discussed: empty/full, large/small and soft/hard.

Simon filled his sock to the top and after trying to put it on, came up with the idea of a sock puppet. So out came the sock puppets! When filled they became hot dogs, arrows and objects of great curiosity!

As always, friends played independently and collaboratively in all corners of the classroom.

Before heading outside, we had our first concert rehearsal, singing through “Bah Bah Black Sheep”, “Pat-A-Cake” and “Sing A Song of Sixpence”. At one point, Alexandra stood before her classmates leading a review of “Pat-A-Cake”. Before she started, she waved sheepishly to her fans and it was a moment of great fun and laughter!

For breakfast, we served oatmeal and oranges. Lunch was hummus on whole wheat tortillas, cucumbers and and oranges.

As per Tami’s request, here are a few things she wanted to communicate:

1) The WF landline is up and running again. There was a malfunction that has been resolved! Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused when you tried to reach us.

2) Tami is buried in paperwork right now making final preparations for the upcoming Zoning Board meeting. She has received your emails re: her latest email and will be responding to each of you soon. Thanks for your patience and support!

3) Lastly, Tami is planning Parent/Teacher Conferences for March. She will be in touch with you soon regarding signing up for a time to meet.

Have a terrific day!

Laurie

Thank you Simon and Alexandra G. for the beautiful crystal serving dish! It’s lovely in our snack bar!

Today we worked on “Sing A Song of Sixpence”. We listened to a recording of it read and sung for familiarity and then practiced singing it ourselves. Using a message board, we studied two new vocabulary words: sixpence and dainty. We looked at an old coin and imagined what a sixpence might look like. Using our big play-sac, some friends donned blackbird costumes and flew in and out of the “pie”.

Once inside, Jane (as Queen) examined what her pie felt like. Squeals of delight came from within as friends felt her touch on their heads.

Afterwards Lisa and Mel invited friends to the art table for further exploration on “pie”. Using a tin pan filled with paint, straws and foam letters, the teachers invite friends to stick their hand in the pie and guess what they were feeling.

Questions arose such as “Is it cold or hot?” and “Is it smooth or bumpy?”

Next came the finger painting art experience.

Wee Friends found so much joy in the Ooey Gooey painting experience. We spoke about what kind of pie they were creating based on the colors they chose to paint with. Friends made banana, grape, blueberry, raspberry and coconut pies.

Our art lesson came to a natural close with a good ‘ol round of finger painting Pat-A-Cake.

Friends dispersed and became involved in a variety of different works.

Using the concept of “four and twenty” a few of our older friends engaged in math lesson in which they:

• identified the numbers 4 and 20
• drew the corresponding number of dots below the number
• Using a grid of five columns and 5 rows, counted out and drew a blackbird in each square.
• starting with #1, wrote the corresponding number in each square.

For breakfast we served Chex cereal and bananas. For lunch we served toasted ham and roast beef on whole wheat pita bread, corn and tangerines. Have a terrific day!

Laurie