Good Afternoon!

Children ventured on over to their PREK1 sign in this morning that asked them to use the book, ‘The Grouchy Ladybug’ to answer a question about the sequence of the story. They had to find a specific event and determine what happened right after that event.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence.

We read, ‘The Apple Pie Tree’ since we are peak apple picking time! When we finished reading the story, I read five different sentence strips and children worked together to put them in sequential order in which they happened in the story.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence.

PREK2: Today at group time we read “The Big Umbrella”.  At the end of the story we all picked who we might bring under our own big umbrella.

Magnetic exploration continued!  Today we experimented with black iron rich sand mixed with regular beach sand.  We put the two kinds of sand on a tray with a magnet underneath and observed how the magnet interacted with he sand.  We found that the black sand moved but the white sand did not and we learned that iron is what makes the black sand attracted to the magnet.  Several friends noticed that the grains of sand were standing  up like “spikes” or “hair”.  This was a strong area of interest and conversation.  Some pretended they were creating hair styles as they explored with the magnet.  Some said it looked like lots of tiny people were standing up and running around.  We learned that the particles of sand line up like that because they become magnetized when in contact with the magnet.  This makes them attracted to each other as well, causing them to arrange themselves in those interesting formations.

In the art center we created with play dough beads and pasta.  Some friends made faces while others made cakes or cinnamon rolls. 

The sensory bin was filled with black beads today.  Several friends experimented with pipes on different configurations and tried pouring the beads through the shapes they made. 

Breakfast: Whole grain cheerios with fresh watermelon.

Lunch: Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh carrots/bell peppers, and fresh peaches/plums.

PM Snack: Trail mix with pepita seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and granola.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh tomatoes and carrots.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to Photos: 2023-10-05

Good Afternoon!

There has been continued interest in magnets in our classroom which has progressed from magnetic tiles, to a loose parts activity with magnets, evolving into today’s more in depth exploration of magnets.  We set up three trays to experiment with magnets in different ways.  Our first tray dealt with picking up magnetic objects of different mass, finding where the mass of an object exceeded  the magnetic force of our magnet.  The next tray offered an experiment testing which types of materials were magnetic and which were not.  We found in this experiment that only some metal is magnetic.  We learned that iron is magnetic and brass is not.  The last tray taught us about the two poles of the magnet.  We experimented with repelling and attracting magnetic poles.  A few of us had a conversation about the compass.  A couple of minds were blown to learn that the earth is actually a giant magnet having a north and south pole just like the magnet on our tray. 

The art center was covered in glue…mostly in conjunction with paper:)

House keeping was all about shoes today.  Our younger friends were happy to practice putting on and taking off shoes in this context!

PREK1:

PREK2: During Group we read the story “The Sandwich Swap”.  After the story we took a vote on which sandwich we would prefer.  We each put a tally mark up on the board. 

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh pears

Lunch: Boiled eggs with fresh carrots, tomatoes and watermelon

PM Snack: Popped corn with raisins

Wee Sprouts: Fresh green bell peppers and tomatoes

Link to Photos:2023-10-04

Enjoy the last hot day! (probably)

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good Afternoon!

This morning we engaged with some loose parts manipulatives.  We were busy placing them into our pan and pouring them back out onto our tray.  We also worked on our color recognition and patterning skills.  Dax and Hannah used a shape pattern card to follow the pattern using their shape bead pieces.

We then headed out to dance with our dancing scarves.  The friends shook them while dancing to the song, Shake Your Sillies Out.

We then headed outside.  We helped pick weeds and took them to the yard waste bin and worked at tossing our balls up in the air and into the basketball hoop.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and bananas.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs, fresh oranges, fresh cherry tomatoes and whole grain wheat bread toasted with butter.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain Ritz crackers and peanut butter.

Wee Sprouts:  Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-10-04

Good afternoon!

This morning our friends danced to different Jim Gill songs. One of the songs, “Silly Dance Contest,” prompts our friends to show off their silliest moves so our friends spun around and twisted their bodies.

Eleanor played with the rainbow beads and Eden explored the Magna-tiles.

We then made our way to the kitchen to engage in a loose parts activity. We were given wooden rings, a variety of metal containers, and spoons to play with.

We headed outside to engage in a different sensory activity. We used tongs and scoops to pick up pom poms in a tub of water.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with fresh apples.

Lunch: Refried beans and shredded mozzarella cheese on whole wheat flatbread, plum slices and cucumber.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain wheat bagel with cream cheese and peaches.

Wee Sprout: Yellow bell pepper.

Have a beautiful evening!

Tina and Rebekah

Link to pictures: 2023-10-03

Good afternoon!

In PREK1 group as well as our morning sign in, we talked about different parts of the day, specifically morning, afternoon, and night/evening. Children shared activities that they do at each time during the day and we documented them on paper. This sparked conversations about similarities in routine between children such as, “I read a book before bedtime too!”.

PREK2:  In group today we read the story “I’m The Best”.  After the story we were given two different ways we might talk about being good at doing things.   We could either say “I’m better than you” or “We are both good at things”.  We talked about why one way of saying this might hurt someone’s feelings and the would not hurt feelings.

This morning we made oatmeal play dough.  It’s a simple mixture of oatmeal, flour and water that gives some new and interesting textures to explore.  This dough reminded a lot of our friends of bread, pancakes or cookies so there was a lot of “baking” going on! 

At our welcome activity we had the opportunity to make strings of large colored beads.  Younger friends could practice the fine motor skill of stringing the beads while older friends could create patterns like the ones on the bead pattern boards.  A couple of older friends rose to the challenge of “how many beads can you fit on the rope?”. They worked together to string them.  It took some cooperation with such a long rope.  They counted 33 beads on the rope when they were finished…or worn out from stinging beads :).

In the building area a zoo building project emerged. Using magnetic tiles, some friends worked together to create an individual compartment for every single animal we had!

…and outside we were loving some last of the warm season outdoor water exploration!

Breakfast: Kix cereal with fresh pineapple.

Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat tortilla, fresh bananas, and fresh carrots/ tomatoes.

PM Snack: Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh red pepper.

Have a great night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to photos: 2023-10-03

Happy October!

The friends began their morning engaged with cars; driving them down the ramps or around the carpet, using their imaginative play skills with the animals while using the blocks and train station and building with Duplos.

We then headed into the kitchen for a sensory experience with shaving cream. We added real leaves and glitter to change the texture of it.  We also worked at tearing our leaves into smaller pieces, while covering our hands and trays with the shaving cream.

The babies engaged with a wooden car carrier truck and playing together in the housekeeping area with cooking items.

When we headed outside, we engaged in a variety of different activities.  We tossed a ball, pushed a baby doll around in the cart, rode a bike down the hill, used our imaginative play skills with a baby doll and had it sit on a stool around the table and dug with a shovel in the sand.

Breakfast:  Whole grain wheat bread toast with butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh watermelon.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with black beans, fresh watermelon/peaches and broccoli.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts:  Red bell pepper slices.

Have a marvelous evening!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures:  2023-10-02

Good morning!

Children took turns signing in on the PREK1 message board this morning. They wrote their name under their birthday month. We noticed that most of our friends have a birthday towards the end of the year!

In PREK1 group, we stayed with the theme of months and read, ‘A Child’s Calendar’. This week, we’ll be diving into calendars, why we use them, and what we can find on a calendar.

K.M.2: Understand concepts of time, including: morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, day, week, month, and year. Understand that clocks and calendars are tools that measure time.

PREK2:  This week’s MACK book theme centers around defining and recognizing friendships. Today, our small group read “Kindness Starts with You.” This story give several examples of ways friends can show kindness to each other! Afterwards, each friend came to the front to explain one way they could show kindness while at school by choosing examples from the book or making up their own!

This morning we explored a loose parts tray.  We had a choice of bolts, a variety of washers, rings, carabiners and magnets.  We could experiment with any way we wanted to put them together.  One friend chose to make a “scrap magnet”, an enormous electromagnet that is used to move large objects.  Other friends realized when a bolt was connected to the magnet, it too became magnetized and could hold objects. 

In the art center we enjoyed some water color painting!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, fresh watermelon/pineapple, and fresh cucumber/pepper/tomato.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/tomato/pepper.

Have a great night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-10-02

Happy Friday!

The older friends headed into the kitchen with Miss Tina to do a leaf collage with real leaves.  We spread glue onto our piece of cardboard with a brush and then filled it full of colorful leaves.

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We then headed outside to push our bikes up the hill, ride them down the hill and take a little break, sitting on the bench with a friend.

Breakfast:  Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese and fresh pear slices.

Lunch:  Ham lunch meat on whole grain wheat tortillas, bananas and peas.

Afternoon Snack:  Colby jack cheese slices and Pretzels.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah and Tina

Link to pictures: 2023-09-29

Happy Friday!

Our PREK1 friends ended their week by coming to the sign in board where they were asked to identify the setting for the story, ‘Froggy’s Lemonade Stand’. They got to choose from three options and friends were quick to point out that the setting was in the yard! A few children also pointed out that a setting from the story was also the kitchen where Froggy made the lemonade.

For PREK1 group, we read the story, ‘Arthur’s Nose’. Before I started reading, I asked, “Who do you think may be a character in the story?”—the group shouted, “Arthur!”. We hit on the fact that the title often times tells us quite a lot!

Afterwards, we dissected the story by talking about the characters, setting, and several events that happened in the story. The members of our group have done a great job this week identifying characters and the setting of stories as well as coming up with specific events that occurred.

Today we discovered that we have a dragon fly larvae living among the tadpoles! While we were feeding them this morning a couple of friends found the creature that did not belong…so we learned all about the new animal this morning. Ms. Linsey was able to capture the insect so we could observe it more closely along with the tadpoles. We talked about how the two kinds of animals are the same and how they are different. One observation was that both animals swim, so we learned that they are both aquatic animals. We also learned what the word aquatic means. Another observation was that they have about the same coloring. We learned that since both animals live in the same environment, this must be the color that helps them hide the best. We learned that many animals are the same color as their environment so that they can hide easily. We noticed some differences too, like the number of legs. We talked about how one animal is an insect while the other is an amphibian, leading to different body plans. We drew pictures of the two animals in our tadpole journals and recorded (mostly dictated) our observations. Here is all of our hard work!

We did finger painting and mono prints in the art center today! We learned that a print is like a reflection so if we write our name in the paint, our print will always be backwards. 

Enjoy a few more pictures from our day.

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pears.

Lunch: Turkey on whole wheat bread, fresh watermelon, and fresh cucumber/carrot.

PM snack: Pretzels, banana, and string cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh carrots/pepper/tomatoes.

Link to Photos: 2023-09-29

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Wee Friends Teachers

Good Afternoon!

PREK1 friends were asked to come sign in this morning! When they got to the board, they were given three different numbers and they had to determine which number was less than 13. We talked about number sequence and every child signed their name under the number 10!

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.

Later on in group, we read ‘Jump Frog Jump’ before introducing a new concept: greater than, less than, and equal to signs. I associated the greater than and less than signs to an alligator eating food. For example, would an alligator want to eat 10 pieces of pizza or 13 pieces of pizza? It would want to eat the bigger number so the mouth of the alligator will open to the bigger number. Then, we introduced the equal sign when the two numbers are the same.

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.

PREK2:  Today during group we read “Pie In The Sky”.  We counted several item through out the book. Since the book was about a making a cherry pie, we counted a group of ten cherries at the end.  We each got a chance to try.

Today during our welcome activity we explored different ways to group numbers in a way that was fun and hands- on.  We had a few different levels of difficulty so everyone could be challenged in a way that fit their developmental level.  We had trays with groups of twos and fives, a ten-twenty- thirty tray and a one hundred tray grouped in tens.  Some older friends were able to count thirty objects and talk about groups of ten.  Other friends were able to count to ten, others just began to count…but  everyone seemed to agree that 100 buttons is a lot!

Breakfast- Toasted oatmeal squares with banana.

Lunch- Brown rice with shredded pork and butter, fresh honeydew melon, and fresh carrots/pepper/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack- Whole wheat crackers with peanut butter and seed mixture.

Wee Sprout- Fresh carrots/pepper/cucumber.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2023-09-28