Good Afternoon!

Today we celebrated a friends 2nd birthday.  We are so happy to celebrate with you.  Thank you for the delicious fruit and popcorn.

This morning we were busy building with the waffle blocks and working to interlock the pieces together.

We then headed into the kitchen to paint with watercolor cakes.  Miss Bekah gave us 2 brushes in our water; a thin and thicker bristle brush for us to choose from to create our watercolor masterpieces.

Then each of us took a turn swinging on the disc swing.

Cece enjoyed pushing and pulling a chair back and forth on the kitchen floor.

Breakfast:  Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh blueberries.

Lunch:  Farm fresh scrambled eggs with shredded mozzarella cheese, fresh carrot chips, whole grain wheat flatbread and fresh strawberries.

Afternoon Snack:  Colby-Jack block cheese with popcorn, fresh blueberries, blackberries and strawberries (birthday snack)

Wee Sprout:  Cucumbers

Have a wonderful evening!

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21

Good Afternoon!

We specifically talked about days of the week in PREK1 sign in today. Children signed under their favorite day of the week and shared why it’s their favorite. One of our oldest friends couldn’t decide! “My favorite days are Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Monday because it’s pasta day. Friday because I get sprinkle cookies. And Saturday because it’s gymnastics!”.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

This morning we engaged in some imaginative cooperative play at the round table welcome activity.  We used felt pieces to make ponds and rivers for our frogs.  Many friends chose to connect all of their ponds with felt bridges so their frogs could travel around the whole table.  There were many instances where younger kids spent time observing how older kids were engaging in complex cooperative games before engaging themselves.  Multiage environments are a wonderful place to learn the give and take of cooperative play!

In the art center several kids took advantage of some colorful new art paper.  They were inspired to make a variety of animals including dogs and butterflies.  The friends enjoyed playing with their butterflies together after they were finished.  The dropped the butterflies so they could flutter down to the ground like real butterflies.

PREK2:  During group we talked about days of the week based on what we eat for lunch that day.  We made a class list of our favorite “lunch day” of the week.  Some kids felt so passionately about their lunch that they struggled to chose just one favorite. The majority picked Monday as their favorite day based on their love of our pasta!

Breakfast– Overnight oatmeal with cinnamon and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat bread, fresh grapes, and fresh cucumber/green beans/pepper.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and raisins.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/green bean.

Have a wonderful night.

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-21

Good Afternoon!

Despite the rain, we found several indoor activities for our friends to engage in. Today we…

played with baby dolls in the housekeeping area and worked on wrapping them up in a blanket…

danced with silk scarves to the “Shake Your Sillies Out” song…

explored a water sensory bin with boats, bowls and pompoms…

built with the Mix-and-Match magnetic animal pieces…

and walked on a stepping stone path to feel the different textures under our feet.

Breakfast:  Corn Chex cereal and bananas.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat tortillas with peanut butter, 1/2 stick mozzarella cheese, fresh watermelon and cooked green beans.

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

Wee Sprout: Carrot chips.

Have a wonderful evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-20

Good Afternoon!

**Reminder: Wee Friends will be closed on Monday, May 26th for Memorial Day. Thanks!

We’re continuing to focus on calendars and what we use them for. A PREK1 group member yesterday shared that we use calendars to highlight birthdays so today, children worked at finding their birth month on the sign in activity. We talked about how there are 12 months in every year!

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

We have been observing tadpoles as a life science project in our class.  Today, we created a sensory rich imaginative play station around our study of tadpoles and frogs.  As I set up the habitat, we talked about what frogs and tadpoles need to survive.  We added rocks, water, plants and logs for them to climb on.  We added some bugs to the habitat for the frogs to eat.  We also added snakes, who share a habitat with the frogs.  We talked about how the snakes are predators to frogs, so the frogs needed to stay away from them.  We talked about ways the frogs could stay protected.  Most of the kids chose to build a fortress of plants, leaves and rocks where their frogs could hide from the snakes and eat their food in safety.  It was a morning rich in learning and cooperative play.

This morning at the art center, a couple of friends asked to paint.  They made pictures of haunted houses and began to splatter black paint on the pictures for effect.  It was a great idea, so we created a place to do this in a little more controlled way.  We looked at a Jackson Pollock painting and talked about using paint to drip and splatter in our own “abstract expressionist” art.  The kids started by painting a piece of mat board with blocks of color.  Then they used squeeze bottles to drip, then toothbrushes or paint brushes to splatter and spray.  The paintings were wildly dynamic and colorful!

PREK2:  We have been talking about seasons at group time.  Today we read “All The World” which covers several activities that are only able to take place in the summer.  At the end of the book we thought about our favorite thing to do in the summer time that we are unable to do in the winter.

Breakfast– Puffins cereal with fresh blueberries.

Lunch– Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh cucumber/green beans.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper/green bean.

Have a fantastic night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-20

Happy Monday!

PREK1 group members came to sign in this morning where we talked about the number of days in a given month. We looked at a few months, specifically May and June to see if they have the same number of days. Children quickly figured out that the statement on the board was false!

Later on in group, after reading ‘What Do You Do With An Idea?’, we did our daily calendar activity. Our calendar activity consists of our ‘mat guard’ for the week crossing off the current day. All together, we say aloud the date: “Today is Monday, May 19th 2025.”. At the beginning of the calendar year, we work together to make a calendar for the year using our favorite journal entries from the current year. This makes it super unique and special to us as kids can’t wait to get to the month that has their journal entry!

We also talked about why we use a calendar. Some ideas that were shared were:

1. So we can know what day/month/year it is!

2. A place to write birthdays and holidays.

3. When vacations are coming up.

Social Studies: K.1.5 Explain that calendars are used to represent days of the week and months of the year.

Today friends explored a sensory science activity.  Kids were encouraged to mix and experiment in an open-ended way using color, water and a variety of tools.  Some enjoyed mixing the colors to make hues of green.  Others experimented with displacing the water in the jars as they added sensory balls to their mixtures.  Kids got plenty of time to practice fine motor, focused attention, creative problem solving and cognitive development.

PREK2:  This week older kids are talking about keeping track of the year using a calendar.  Though its a bit complicated an idea for some of our youngest, our group could talk about keeping track of time though the awareness of seasonal change.  We talked about different times in the year as a group.  Then we each came up to the board to sort what season we might do or see different things.  Our older kids in the group enjoyed chiming in to help the youngest kids if they were stumped on what season their card belonged to.  This not only helped younger kids, it helped older kids to gain more from the activity through teaching others. 

Breakfast– Toasted whole wheat bread with butter and fresh watermelon.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh mango/pear/banana/orange, and fresh cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with granola and fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-19

Reminder:  Wee Friends will be closed next Monday, May 26th for Memorial Day.  Thank you.

This morning we engaged in kinetic sand, with rocks, seashells and dinosaurs in the blue tray in the kitchen.  The friends molded the sand in their hands and walked the dinosaurs around in it.  A friend held up a rock and said “fossil”  as we had talked about them from a previous activity outside.  Clark held up a sea shell, not knowing what it was, and Miss Bekah told him and his friends what he was holding up.

Cece and another friend engaged in a sensory activity exploring the feel of pom-poms in their hands.

We then headed outside to engage in our favorite activities.  Arthur came down to play with Cece on her mat, Clark and another friend drove the small construction cars on the balance beams, a friend carried a baby doll, Charlotte worked on her balancing skills, walking down the balance beam, and Eleanor pulled her baby dolls in the cart.

Breakfast:  Multi-grain wheat bread toast with buttery spread and cinnamon/sugar mixture and fresh oranges.

Lunch:  Whole grain wheat penne pasta with red beans, fresh sugar snap peas and watermelon.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole milk yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumber.

Have a great evening!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures:  2025-05-19

Happy Friday!

This morning we engaged in the blue tray table with shaving cream.  Miss Bekah added cars/trucks, rubber bugs and people for us to use to enhance our play.

We then headed outside to get some fresh air and engage in water play.

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

Lunch:  Black Forest Ham lunch meat and mild cheddar cheese slice roll-ups, fresh sugar snap peas and bananas.

Afternoon Snack:  Pretzels, mozzarella cheese stick and fresh pear.

Wee Sprout:  Cucumber.

Have a great weekend!

WWF Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-16

Happy Friday!

This morning we worked at a “garden building” activity.  We used kinetic sand and Lincoln Logs to build garden beds.  Next we planted “seeds”.  We used tiny shovels and rakes to prepare the garden as we planted.  Lastly we pretended our seeds grew and added plants and flowers to our gardens.

Outside, we put our practice into action planting our first seeds in our real garden.  We made a furrow and older kids took turns planting snap pea seeds in the furrow.  Younger kids got a chance to be the first to water the new seeds with watering cans.  This was a popular activity and everyone ended up doing some watering.  The seeds are well saturated!

PREK2:  During group today we read “Up in the Garden Down in the Dirt”.  We talked about the things that were happening in the book that were similar to what we did today in our own class garden.  After the story, we each answered the question: “what would you plant in your own garden?”

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana.

Lunch– Turkey and sliced cheese on whole wheat bread, fresh honeydew melon/strawberries/banana, and fresh green beans/cucumber.

PM snack– Goldfish and cheddar block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-16

Good Afternoon!

The market was back open for business this morning as it had as much interest today as it did yesterday! So many spontaneous conversations and learning opportunities happened when the children in our multi-age classroom worked together, buying and selling goods with one another. There was even some bartering happening:

Child 1: “These apples are three dollars.”

Child 2: “How about I give you four dollars for two apples?”

Open play opportunities such as this one are crucial to development for many reasons. Play requires a lot of different dynamics and below, I’ve posted a short article about essential aspects of meaningful play. Majority of this play experience required absolutely no teacher input mainly because children did a fantastic job cooperating with one another and when that wasn’t possible, an older friend immediately stepped in, trying to help their peers solve the problem. We work for years on helping children gain the confidence and wording to help solve their problems when they arise. Our older friends are at that point where they’re jumping in with their younger peers, being the “teacher” in the situation as they help their younger peers navigate social dilemmas.

It has been an amazing thing to watch the last few days!

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play

This morning several kids repurposed a big group water color painting from outside, to make skirts and dresses.  A group of older kids carefully attached strips of watercolor painted paper to a waist band.  As they worked, they problem solved and shared ideas about how best to put everything together.  Our oldest friends were very helpful showing interested younger friends how to make the skirts.  It was an imaginative and artistic group project. 

Many of our friends enjoyed the rich sensory experience and fine motor practice at the light table this morning as they covered the tree with blue rings.

PREK2: We read the book “The Magnificent Thing” in group today.  After the story we make a class list of what we would make if we had the ability to make anything we wanted.  We have also had some thoughtful journals made with great care from our younger friends this week!

Breakfast– Toasted oatmeal squares with fresh strawberries.

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

PM snack– Whole wheat crackers with peanut butter and a mixture of sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber/snap peas.

Have a lovely night!

-Wee Friends Teachers

Link to pictures: 2025-05-15

Good Afternoon!

We started off our morning by marching with rhythm sticks. Our friends listened and followed along to Ants Go Marching as they marched around the front.

We then made our way to the kitchen for sensory play with playdough. Our friends used their hands to manipulate the dough at first and then integrated tools into their play. Miss Bekah discussed how using our hands to engage with the dough helped strengthen our hand muscles. They used their fine motor skills to pull apart the dough with their fingers and roll them into “balls” or “snakes” as some of our friends shared.

We headed outside on this warm morning to cool off with water play at the table. Our friends explored two different water play activities with their friends.

Breakfast:  Kix cereal and fresh pear slices.

Lunch:  Whole grain brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh strawberries and cooked corn.

Afternoon Snack: Whole grain Ritz crackers with peanut butter and fresh pineapple slices.

Wee Sprout:  Yellow bell peppers.

Have a terrific evening!

WWF Teachers

Link pictures: 2025-05-15