Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.
Please enjoy the pictures from our day.
Breakfast: Whole wheat butter toast and banana.
Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with marinara and shredded cheese, peas and banana.
Snack: Whole milk yogurt with graham crackers.
Wee Sprouts: Orange peppers.
Have a great night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES:https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljvUnmg-1p-s4oo7bVQ?e=DKA5yi
Good Afternoon!
Our MACK for this upcoming week is: Children will learn everyone has a gift they give to the world and even small children can contribute. Children will be able to name gifts they contribute to our community.
We started off the week by reading, ‘Giraffe’s Can’t Dance’ in K/PREK1, which dives into the feelings of the main character, Gerald the Giraffe, who can’t dance because he’s clumsy. His friends choose to be unkind to him, making fun of him and making him feel sad. Eventually, Gerald learns how to dance. We talked about the progression of his feelings throughout the story and what choices his friends could have made to make him feel better.
Before children started rolling up their mats, each child got their counting sheet and together, we counted by 10’s to 100. I asked each child to identify a different number by pointing to it on their number sheet.
K.NS.1: Count to at least 100 by ones and tens.
In PREK2, children were given a letter. As they went through the letter order as a group, friends raised their hand and placed their letter in the correct order when it was called. For example, Mack had the letter ‘S’ so when the group came to ‘S’, he raised his hand and placed his letter on the board.
Enjoy the pictures from the rest of our day!
Breakfast– Whole wheat bagels with butter/cinnamon and banana.
Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh apples/oranges, and fresh carrots.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with raisins.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.
Have a fantastic evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 11/4
Welcome to November!
**Wee Friends will be closed Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th for Thanksgiving.
I shared this article a few years back and wanted to share it again.
We have many friends who are in the stage of kid-spelling, or invented spelling. Invented spelling is where children write what they hear. For example, ‘friend’’ may be written ‘frend’’ or ‘breakfast’’ may be written ‘brkfst’. In kid spelling, children are NEVER wrong. They hear what they hear and over time, children start to hear more consonants and especially more vowels which are often challenging to detect and identify.
During our journal time (and for any child who is developmentally ready), kid spelling is encouraged. When we give children the letters to spell a word, they’re not getting the opportunity to connect a letter with its sound.
“Published in the January 2017 issue of the journal Developmental Psychology, the study concludes that the most valuable early literacy skill to encourage in kindergarten is neither alphabetic knowledge nor memorization of key sight words. In fact, it’s not a reading skill at all.
The best indicator of future success as a reader is actually a child’s ability to use invented spelling as he writes.”
We don’t push reading here (..again unless a child is developmentally ready) because if a child is pressured into reading before they’re ready, they often get the feeling that they’re ‘wrong’, which often makes reading ‘not fun’ in a child’s eyes. Reading should be an enjoyable activity but there are so many ‘pieces of the puzzle’ that have to come together before a child reads.
“To encourage development and progression of invented spelling, children should simply be encouraged to write. While writing has previously been thought of as a skill separate from reading, and one that can only be applied once a child has a basic grasp on reading, the new study suggests that writing and reading skills emerge concurrently, and that reading may actually rely more heavily on writing, rather than vice versa.”
Writing should be a free activity that simply includes a pencil/marker/crayon and a piece of paper. While letter formation is important in the later ages, activities such as work books tell children that there’s only one way to write an A. When they’re unable to write the A exactly like the book, they become frustrated and view this writing process as being wrong.
Learning to write is a process. Majority of the time, children don’t show interest in letters or sounds until 4 at the earliest. Obviously, there are a few exceptions to this but this is what we see for the most part.
Kid spelling on the journals below:
‘Three ghosts golden ninja’
‘A lava eagle with a lava man’
‘Dad mom me hearts windows door’
Enjoy a few pictures from the rest of our Friday!
Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pears.
Lunch– Ham/turkey and shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla/bread, fresh banana/apples, and fresh carrots/cucumber.
PM snack– String cheese and pretzels.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/cucumber.
Have a fantastic weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 11/1
Good Afternoon and Happy November.
Please Note: WWF will be closed Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th for the Thanksgiving holiday.
We kept very busy today! We read stories, we played in the sensory table and we engaged in fine motor activities.
We also engaged in a fun gross motor activity that was a BLAST!!!! We had a super fun time in this AWEOSME obstacle course.
Breakfast: Whole grain English muffins with cream cheese and apples.
Lunch: Whole wheat bread with turkey lunchmeat, snap peas and pears.
Snack: Whole grain cheese crackers, mozzarella string cheese stick’s.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljvQx8hVxbHtk4Az83g?e=FxezZT
Happy Halloween
and
Happy 6th Birthday, Grady!
Breakfast: Corn Chex and fresh pears.
Lunch: Brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, fresh pears/banana, and fresh pepper/cucumber.
PM snack: Grady’s birthday treat: popcorn and goldfish.
Wee Sprout: Fresh cucumber/pepper.
Have a lovely evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/31
Good Afternoon and Happy Halloween. (Boooooooooo!)
Please enjoy the pictures from our day!
Breakfast: Whole grain Chex cereal and pears.
Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken and cheese, broccoli, and apples.
Snack:Whole wheat Ritz crackers and pumpkin seeds.
Have a great night and enjoy Trick or Treating!
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljvN7kbKK5nsFnXvy0Q?e=Kj9Hd3
Good Afternoon.
We were all very excited to see and hear the workers across the street sawing down a very large tree stump today! We stood at the habi-trails windows for quite some time in sheer amazement!
Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with honey and apples.
Lunch: Scrambled eggs with shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes and muskmelon.
Snack: Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese/peanut butter. (Kids choice)
Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes.
Have a great evening.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljvNYVxYGjLV7oJKa2w?e=SWc0db
Good Afternoon!
We have a classroom full of storytellers: children who tell stories purely based on imagination. Our imaginations run wild, full of unicorns, fairies, and rainbows, which turn into a detailed, concrete story.
“And then there the lies of storytellers, those fabrications, exaggerations, and outright balderdash that comprise a really good story. We excuse these untruths because, most of the time, we know from the start that the storyteller, the novelist, or the movie maker is creating something, that it didn’t really happen. We’re in on it, and in a very real sense, we are co-creators in that we suspend our disbelief and become part of the story. The fascinating thing about stories is that they are made up of “lies,” yet very often they convey a greater truth far more directly and clearly than we can ever hope to convey it through truth alone.”
While we can think of these fabricated stories as ‘lies’, it shows how detailed and imaginative children can be.
“When young children lie it’s generally quite easy to catch them out, and we should, gently, call them on it when their intent is to deceive, harm, or manipulate. But when their lies are of the “because I can” variety, such as about a stuffed teddy that talks or, as one girl insisted for the better part of a year, that she is, in fact, really a fairy, our better approach is to “believe” them as they practice creating the stories that they need to create in order to make sense of themselves and their world.”
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/10/creating-stories-they-need-to-create.html
_________________________________________________________________________________________
In K/PREK1, we read ‘I Am Enough’ which goes along with our MACK for the week (Children will celebrate the differences and similarities that connect all people). Afterwards, we worked together to sort notecards into three categories: words, numbers, and letters. Each member got two cards and they had to decide what bag to put it into. Once all of the notecards were sorted, we counted the cards in each bag and quickly realized that each bag had four cards in it, prompting the response, “They’re equal!”
K.RV.2.2: Identify and sort pictures of objects into categories (e.g., colors, shapes, opposites)
Enjoy the pictures from our Wednesday!
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh honeydew melon.
Lunch– Scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortillas, fresh apples/banana, and fresh cucumber/cherry tomatoes.
PM snack– Hummus and blue corn tortilla chips.
Wee Sprouts– Fresh cucumber/pepper.
Have a great evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/30
Good Afternoon!
Yesterday in K/PREK1 group, we identified three different ending punctuation marks: period, exclamation point, and question mark. There were four sentences written that were taken from the ‘Frog and Toad’ story that we read and together, we finished each sentence by adding the correct punctuation.
Today, we specifically worked on ‘question mark’. Once we finished reading our story, each child had the opportunity to ask a question. We discussed what a question looks like and what it sounds like. There were a few friends who needed some assistance so their older peers helped them turn their thoughts into a question.
K.W.6.2b: Punctuation– Recognizing and naming end punctuation.
In PREK2, Miss Kim gave each child four cards with different numbers on them. Together, they worked to put the cards in numerical order. Children identified the numbers that they had as well as what order they had to go in.
A science experiment was offered at the art table as children melted brains..but don’t worry! Friends were adamant that, “These aren’t real brains!”
Last week, children took water and food coloring and filled two molds which we froze until we were ready to use them. Today, they were placed in bins and once children started putting water and salt on it, friends were quick to realize there were creepy, crawly toys in the frozen mold too!
Breakfast– Kix and banana.
Lunch– Melted shredded cheese and refried beans on whole wheat flatbread, fresh honeydew melon, and fresh kale/pepper.
PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and homemade kale/banana/almond milk smoothie.
Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers/kale.
Have a lovely evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/29
Good Afternoon.
Today we all excited about getting our bodies in motion, and what better way than by engaging ourselves on the ever so popular habi-trail slide?!?!
Nesta even went a step further and did a little trick for us all at the end of her slide adventure! She attempted to do a summersault!
We then went into the kitchen to finish up our pumpkin painting and extended our fine motor experience by finger painting on pieces of large white paper. We all had a great time.
Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal and banana.
Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded Colby jack cheese, snap peas and banana.
Snack: Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.
Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.
Have a fantastic night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljvIIB73brgK-NpNo9Q?e=FLyhwb