Happy Friday!
What an end to the week!
“Learning is their journey. Let them navigate. Push them to explore. Watch them discover. Encourage their questions. Allow them to struggle. Support their thinking. Let them fly.”
Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh pears.
Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh grapes/pears, and fresh kale.
PM snack– Goldfish and block cheese.
Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.
Have a great weekend!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/4
Good Afternoon! I hope you have all had a great week.
“It’s okay to make mistakes. Mistakes help us grow!” ~Unknown
Boy oh Boy, did we have ALOT of fallen leaves in the outdoor play area today! So what better way to have some leaf fun then to get our small child size rakes and the roller buckets to rake them all up.
We raked up as many leaves as we could , then threw them into the roller buckets. We had a blast!! This fun activity can help enhance our hand-eye coordination and have a fun way to incorporate the use of our life skills.
Breakfast: Whole grain brown rice cakes with peanut butter and oranges.
Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with hummus, peas and kiwi and grapes.
Snack: Pretzels and Cheddar cheese cubes.
Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljuFbHXqcbfDbYQOBhw?e=7M68JC=-098765
Good Afternoon!
Chloe turned FIVE today! We are thankful we were able to celebrate with her and hope she had a spectacular day!
In K/PREK1, we read ‘Mortimer’ by Robert Munsch. We’ve read this book in the past so before we started reading, I wanted to see how much information, they recalled. They told me several characters that they remembered being integral to the story as well as the setting. As we read the story and came upon a certain character that we wrote down at the beginning, we put a red checkmark next to it!
Children were able to recall not only main characters but specific events as well! Using this type of authentic assessment allows me to gage what types of events children remember and to what detail.
K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).
Children transformed into paleontologists today! They searched for bones and dinosaur skeletons in sand and once they found them, they were able to dust it off.
When they took the bones and skeletons out, they used a pencil and paper to draw it. They used a ruler to see how long each were and drew it to size as much as possible.
Breakfast– Kix and fresh kiwi.
Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, fresh kiwi/oranges, and fresh pepper/cucumber.
PM snack– Chloe’s birthday treat: fresh strawberries with natural whipped cream and
Wee Sprout– Fresh pepper/cucumber.
Have a great night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/3
Good Afternoon.
This morning we worked on utilizing our fine motor skills by manipulating our hands with puzzles. We all love puzzles and we have many different levels of difficulty for our friends to try out. This also adds in using our cognitive skills by seeing just where that specific piece is supposed to go. 
During outdoor play a couple of the big kids from the other classroom invited us over to join in with their campfire fun. Our friends were more than happy to come in and join!
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with cream cheese and apples.
Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded chicken, corn and kiwi and grapes.
Snack: Pumpkin seeds and whole wheat Ritz crackers.
Wee Sprouts: Fresh tomatoes.
Have a wonderful night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljuBf-vvVJNN3d6FJAw?e=QSrZ2E
Good afternoon.
We beat the rain by engaging our bodies in some movement and gross motor fun. The big blocks were “boats” for us to row and stay a float from all the rain. What great imaginations we all have.
We then had some more fun by engaging in a sensory activity in the kitchen. We used corn kernels and paint to make beautiful fall like pictures. Corn kernels were added into a large bin and then paint was added. We then shook the bin all different ways to see how the paint would be spread onto our papers. It was so much fun!
Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with honey and pears.
Lunch: Scrambled eggs with cheese, whole wheat butter toast, fresh orange peppers and clementine’s.
Snack: Blue corn chips and refried beans.
Have a great night.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljuA5kZPjba9qmJ21GQ?e=VucYQK
Good Afternoon!
Enjoy a few pictures from our Wednesday!
Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh grapes.
Lunch– Scrambled eggs with whole wheat toast, fresh banana/strawberries, and fresh green beans.
PM snack– Blue corn chips with hummus.
Wee Sprout– Fresh green beans.
Have a great evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/2
Happy October!
What happens when children walk out and notice a HUGE, intricate spider web?
We grab materials to extend this exciting discovery!
Children patiently waited for their turn to draw what they saw. Items such as colored pencils, paper, and a clipboard were used to display what they observed. Several friends sat on the stool, drawing for at least 10 minutes. A few children were drawing 30 minutes after they sat down!
What a cool thing to document!
“While it is important to educate children, what is much more pressing is the need to love them. When education becomes more important than love, it is no longer education at all. For, tending to the delicate spirit of children is foundational if education is to fulfill its intended purpose of serving the greater whole.”
~ Vince Gowmon
Breakfast– Corn Chex and fresh pears.
Lunch– Melted cheese and refried beans on whole wheat tortilla, fresh pineapple, and fresh cherry tomatoes/snap peas.
PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and cottage cheese.
Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes and snap peas.
Have a lovely evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 10/1
WOW!!! Happy October. Where is this year going???
With that being said… Here are some upcoming dates that WWF/WF will be closed.
November 28th and 29th for our annual Thanksgiving holiday and December 23rd to January 6th, 2020.
It looks as though today will be the last of our hot summer days, so we decided to have some sensory play fun in the water table.
Friends loved the feel of the cool water on our hands and bodies while we engaged in the water toy activities available. The bright red pump that our water comes out of is ALWAYS a big hit and we LOVE pumping the lever to watch the water flow out and down the table as well.
We always love to take walks around the outdoor environment to see what we can see. Today we found this amazing spider web on some of our plants! That spider sure did work hard on building his web! Great job, Mr. Spider.
Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.
Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with refried beans and shredded Colby jack cheese, sweet potatoes, and strawberries.
Snack: Whole wheat/grain cinnamon raisin bagels with butter.
Wee Sprouts: Snap peas/green beans.
Have a fantastic evening.
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljt53fU3XGxS9_nTJKw?e=5E5ThF
Happy Monday!
Tami reposted this Teacher Tom article over the weekend it rings true! Social conflicts are a big part of our day, especially because we have a multi-age classroom. Our three year old’s aren’t quite ready for the ‘rule play’ that our five year old’s are ready for. We do them NO favors by solving their problems for them. Our goal is to give them the language to feel comfortable and confident enough to solve them on their own (with time of course!). The real world is full of conflict so we can assume that a preschool classroom is also full of conflict. What better time to learn how to solve our problems by using words than when children are young.
“It’s messy and makes us uncomfortable, but children are always motivated by the real world and there are few things more real than conflict. So often, as adults, we view playground conflict as failure, but if we are to raise our children to take care of themselves and to take care of others, we have to understand that conflict is as central to child’s play as running, jumping, laughing, and singing. They will only learn how to do it through practice. And, believe it or not, it’s part of why they like coming to school.”
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/09/conflict-is-ugly-messy-fraught-and.html
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K/PREK1 read ‘The Gruffalo’ which focuses on the journey of several main characters. After we finished reading, friends raised their hand, sharing different characters that they noticed throughout the story. Afterwards, we talked about the word ‘setting’ and what it means. ‘The Gruffalo’ really only has one setting so it was easy to identify.
As each child was asked to roll up their mat, they came up to the tray and had to solve a problem first. There were two groups of hexagons that they had to count and then decide which group was bigger. Once they identified the bigger group, they solved the problem by placing the correct alligator in the middle of the two groups. There were a few problems that had an equal number of hexagons in each group so we talked about what an ‘equal sign’ is used for!
K.RL.2.3: Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).
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.
In PREK2, each child was given a specific number of spiders. They counted their spiders and had to lay out the same number of rings. Children matched their spiders to the correct number of rings!
We’re transitioning our classroom from summer to fall so today, children came to the art table to create their very own spider. They were given several materials to use and they got to decide what they wanted their spider to look like!
Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter/cinnamon and fresh pears.
Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh apples, and fresh carrots/cucumber.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with fresh oranges.
Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers/cucumber.
Have a terrific evening.
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 9/30
Good Afternoon. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.
Today we welcomed our IUSB student, Cecilia to join the classroom for a total of ten weeks. Cecilia will be with us every Monday from 8:30-10:30. Cecilia will be here to observe our classroom and join in and help our friends with their wants and needs. We look forward to helping her achieve her Early Childhood/Education degree.
Caroline was very quick to warm up and ask Miss Cecilia to read some stories to her. 
We have many play cell phones in the classroom and our friends LOVE engaging with them.
Some of our little ones “text,” some “call” their mommies and daddies, while others LOVE saying, “Cheese” to take pictures! Even Nesta has started picking up random toys and holding them up to her face and says, “Cheese!”
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and oranges.
Lunch: Whole wheat pasta noodles with shredded Colby-jack cheese and marinara sauce, corn and pears.
Snack: Whole milk yogurt with granola.
Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.
Have a great evening!
Marty
LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljt1sQGMKTp814dUFlw?e=Z58D3x
