Good Afternoon!

We read, ‘Strictly No Elephants’ in K/PREK1 which is a book from our MACK collection! It’s one of our favorites because it opens our imagination and mind to the possibility of having unique animals as pets!

When we were done reading, each friend got a sentence to complete. I read their sentence aloud with two different words: a singular noun and a plural noun. They used the text around their word to determine whether or not the noun should be singular or plural.

K.W.6.1a: Nouns/Pronouns– Writing sentences that include singular and/or plural nouns (e.g., dog/dogs, cat/cats).

In PREK2, children worked together to fill in the missing spaces with the correct number!

We love puzzles. We love wooden puzzles. We love foam puzzles. We love challenging 48 piece puzzles. There are so many benefits to puzzles—the most obvious being fine motor skills. Below, I’ve attached two articles.

The first article is a short list of things to do at home (and school!) to help strengthen your child’s fine motor skills!

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/help-your-child-build-fine-motor-skills

The second article is a Teacher Tom blogpost about puzzles. In this blogpost, he says, “I like sitting with children as they sort through puzzles. For one thing, it’s a great exercise in non-intervention. As children turn pieces around and around trying to find the piece that fits, it can take every ounce of willpower to restrain myself from offering unsolicited advice. For another, even in a busy classroom, a child bent over a puzzle is a study in focus, their thoughts revealing themselves in the movements of their little fingers as they study shape and pattern, as they seek out the perfect fit. For most children, it’s a silent, solo activity, although they might team up with friends, talking their way through a process.”

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/first-puzzles-are-hard-then-you-turn.html

Oh my goodness! We’ve been loving the outside time we’ve been getting so far this week. The balance bikes have been our absolute favorite activity so far this season.

Breakfast– Whole Grain Cheerios with fresh apples.

Lunch– Homemade whole wheat pancake, sliced rotisserie chicken breast, fresh watermelon, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots.

Have a wonderful night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/15

Good Afternoon. I hope you are all having a wonderful day!!!

Today we want to wish Hannah a very Happy Third Birthday!! She is VERY excited about being three.

We were all happy about getting our hands deep into the sensory table bird seed mixture today! We used small colorful bowls, measuring cups, and small bowl like sifters to scoop and pour the mixture.

Then we headed outdoors. We love this whole going outside thing!  

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix (requested by the B-day girl) and apples.

Lunch: Whole wheat warmed tortillas with refried beans and shredded mozzarella cheese, sweet potatoes and watermelon.

Snack: HM Blueberry muffins with yogurt. (Hanna’s Birthday treat for us.)  

Wee Sprouts: Yellow Pepper.

have a fantastic night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullKBVY2ZeGrNdsnvKVw

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Good Afternoon and Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Today we engaged ourselves in all areas of the classroom. We read stories, played in the habi-trail/gross motor area, with musical instruments  amongst other activities. We had a great morning.

We then were happy to be able to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and some of the preschool classroom friends.  

Breakfast: Whole wheat butter toast with cinnamon and bandana.

Lunch: Whole wheat Penne pasta with marinara sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese, California blend vegetables, and banana.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.

Have a lovely evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullJ9ZUkOmWiz0lEqUjw

Good Afternoon!

HAPPY BIRHTDAY MAGGIE! Maggie turned four years old today! We loved getting to celebrate with her!

In K/PREK1 group, we read ‘101 Dalmatians’. After the book was finished, we talked about counting to 100 by 10’s. Today, we did it together but tomorrow, they’ll each get their turn to tackle this challenge!

K.NS.1: Count to at least 100 by ones and tens.

Children scattered throughout the environment, finding their place and diving into an activity. The circle table was full of friends exploring various levels of puzzles while the back of the house was busy with building materials.

The forecast for most of the upcoming week looks FANTASTIC! We were thrilled to be able to spend a substantial amount of time outside today!

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh apples/pears, and fresh carrots/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Cheddar cheese and Maggie’s birthday treat: homemade blueberry muffins!

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/14

We want to give a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our friend, Katherine today. She has now joined in our two year old club!!! To help her celebrate, Ms. Bekah got out our fun stacking/ numbered birthday cake.  

One of our older friends donated some new puzzles to or classroom today! They look like so much fun and we are excited to have all of our friends work on these colorful and cheerful puzzles.

We all had a great time feeling the soft, squishy playdoh today for a fun sensory activity.

We used golf tees, mallets to pound the doh, cookie cutters and many other objects to enhance our play.

Breakfast: Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat bread with turkey lunchmeat, mixed veggies and banana.

Snack: Banana bread (from our birthday girl) and cheddar cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullJ42Ks0uiBi-HbDH5w

Happy Friday!

We celebrated James’ birthday a day early today! Tomorrow he turns four years old! We loved the pumpkin bread and celebrating your birthday with you!

We’ve continued working on our paper mache robot! Today, we added a head and continued to apply paper mache to the robots body.

We are thrilled to be heading into the spring season here in a few weeks. But first, hello Daylight Savings .

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch– Ham and cream cheese roll ups, whole wheat tortilla, fresh watermelon, and fresh carrots/cucumber.

PM snack– James’ birthday pumpkin bread and

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/carrots/cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/11

Happy Friday Eve!

We read, ‘Frog and Toad: Ice Cream’ in K/PREK1 group. It led into a discussion about seasons. Mack immediately said, “We’d eat ice cream outside probably in the summer!”

After we finished the story, we gathered in a circle on the floor with four laminated sheets in the middle of the group. On each sheet read one of the four seasons. We put all of the small laminated squares in a pile and as each friend chose a square, they put it in the appropriate season!

Some of the squares had snow related events which friends put in the winter category while the fall activities were about pumpkins and leaves. When we finished, each season had six activities that had been placed on the mats.

K.RV.2.2: Identify and sort pictures of objects into categories (e.g., colors, shapes, opposites).

In PREK2 group, friends worked together to place the numbers 1 through 20 in order! Children were able to identify the number as well as where it came in the number line.

Teacher Tom’s blog post from a few days back revolved around dramatic play and how children navigate it. There’s dramatic play happening all around our classroom: in the habitrail area, at the art table, on the building rug. Friends are always inserting their imagination into their play—it’s what makes it relevant and meaningful to them because they’re taking control of the scenario and play experience.

“I’m fairy,” she told me. Then before I had a chance to respond, she added with wide open eyes, “A real fairy.”

“I’m a firefighter.” “I’m a gorilla.” “I’m a princess.” “I’m the fastest runner in the world.”

One can also think of it as children telling themselves aspirational stories about themselves in the present tense. Indeed, when a child declares, “I’m a fairy” then flits away, she becomes a fairy and only a cruel adult would tell her different. We chuckle as if it’s a kind of childish nonsense, but I invite my fellow adults to consider taking her at her word. When she says, “I’m a fairy,” believe her.

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2022/03/im-fairy-real-fairy.html

I am going to venture out and say that we like being outside consistently!

Breakfast– Toasted oatmeal squares with fresh pineapple.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded pork, fresh oranges/banana, and fresh cucumber/pepper/snap peas.

PM snack– Peanuts and graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/snap peas.

Have a great night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/10

Good Afternoon. I hope you are all having a wonderful day! We can all look forward to next week with our temps in the 60’s  YAY!!!!!!    

This morning a friend asked if we could color in our journal binders. We absolutely love it when our little ones take an interest in any activity and express their interest to us.

With the temperatures being a tad chilly this morning for our Wee Wee’s, we thought it would be fun to get a little energy out by having an obstacle course of gross motor activities. We engaged in the tunnel, the big blocks, along with the soft star climber.

Arthur worked on his hand-eye coordination skills by manipulating the colorful circle balls onto the stick like area of the wooden board to stack the balls. He did a GREAT job!  

Breakfast: Kids choice: Whole grain Chex and or Kix cereal with apples.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with butter and shredded cheese, sweet potatoes, pears.

Snack: Pumpkin seeds and whole wheat Triscuit crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Broccoli

Have a fantastic evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullJ0Plw_Pqs076IqFdQ

Good Afternoon.

PLEASE NOTE: We will continue to go outdoors even on the chiller days, weather permitting…… Please bring your child’s WINTER COAT, HAT AND GLOVES. Thank you so much!

This morning we were excited to go in the kitchen and color on a large piece of paper with either markers or crayons. We made gorgeous pictures with bright colors.

We had fun outside playing all around the environment.

Emma really enjoyed teetering away on the teeter-totter, while Emily enjoyed walking down the rocks working on her balance. The sun felt very nice!

Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and oranges.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat tortilla, broccoli, and oranges.

Snack: Refried beans and Blue corn chips.

Wee Sprouts: Corn.

Have a great night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIullJt01CDFZrofJakTkw

Happy Wednesday!

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat tortilla, fresh pineapple/apple, and fresh cucumber/snap peas.

PM snack– Hummus with blue corn chips.

Wee Sprout– Fresh snap peas/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 3/9