Happy Tuesday!

“Play turns out to be so stunningly essential to childhood, it’s like love, sunshine and broccoli all juiced together.” ~parklandplayers.com

With the fall season quickly sneaking up on us, we switched out our sensory table from the green moon sand to the more fall like corn and black bean mixture! Our friends LOVED using their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination skills, and being able to feel the hard texture of the corn and beans. Teachers also talked with our little ones about not eating this mixture as it was not edible and would taste very yucky, and the colors they saw in the sensory bin.

Our friend, Jack loves the habi-trail and all the fun and exciting things he can do while being engaged on it! He’s definitely utilizing his gross motor skills here by climbing up the ladder, getting up all the way to the top wrung, and then being ever so brave and jumping off into his Dad’s arms. Way to go jack!!!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and PPC banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat bread with avocado and shredded chicken, carrots, and PPC banana.

Snack: Homemade muffins from Miss Kim and our WF, and mozzarella string cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Garden fresh cucumbers.

Have a wonderful evening! 

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljOBb5vXT8X0g1wmL7Q

Happy Monday!

**Parents: Please clear out your child’s art cubbie at pick-up. Thanks!

An art experience was made available for this morning for children who wanted to partake. Using a box, construction paper, paint, and a pinecone, children created their own masterpiece. Children moved the box in different directions which made the pinecone transfer the paint to various areas on their construction paper. We really seemed to enjoy the process!

Our pre-k/k group started off the fall by going on their first farm trip. We saw several animals including turkeys and baby bunnies! Several friends requested to hold the bunnies: they were so soft!

It was the PERFECT morning for a walk. We ended up walking a little under two miles! On our walk, we heard several birds, spotted and held a frog, picked flowers off the ground, and ran freely.

**Parents of 3’s/young 4’s: keep a look out for a farm date (and a rain makeup date) within the next week!

“A child, more than anyone else, is a spontaneous observer of nature.”

-Maria Montessori

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and fresh apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, PPC grapes, and fresh broccoli/carrots.

PM snack– PPC mango with whole milk yogurt.

Wee Sprout– Fresh broccoli/carrots.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/10

Link to farm pictures: WF 9/10 FARM

“While we try to teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Today was pony tail day for a couple of our little ladies. Our friends love to get their hair brushed,  played with, sprayed with a little water, and the BEST part of all…. getting to choose the color of the pony that Miss Marty uses to make the actual pony tail. Our bigger friends getting their hair done that are more verbal can even tell Miss Marty how many ponies they want in their hair.  

 

We had a few friends ask for the swing today. Sometimes we like to spin really fast, lie down and swing slowly, and sometimes we just like to sit on the swing and swing freely! It’s a nice way to get some alone time and just relax.

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with Sunflower butter and banana.

Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, corn, and fresh PPC peaches and pears.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Have a wonderful evening.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljN8vs8gUsbwyP6d42A

Happy Friday!

In pre-k/k group, we read ‘Chicka Chicka 1-2-3’ and explored numbers up to 100. Afterwards, each child got one card with a certain number of dots on it. As they were excused to journaling, each child counted the number of dots on their card and taped it under the correct number. All children used their one to one correspondence skills by using their index finger to count the number of dots on their card.

K.NS.4: Perform one to one correspondence tasks.

K.NS.5: Count up to 20 objects arranged in a line, rectangular array, or a circle. Count up to 10 objects in a scattered configuration.

Here are a few pictures from the rest of our day!

Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.

Lunch– Turkey on whole wheat bread, PPC mango/banana, and fresh broccoli.

PM snack– PPC banana and cheddar block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh peppers/cherry tomatoes.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/7

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a fantastic week.

“It takes a big heart to shape a little mind.” ~@quotesgram

Our friends were extremely engaged in the gross motor area today! Whether is was playing on the habi-trail, siting/rocking their bodies on the soft star rockers, or walking and hopping on the stepping circles… We all had a blast!

Gross motor activities are a vital part of an early childhood program. While children are engaging themselves in all the fun gross motor activities they are strengthening their balance and coordination skills, their strength and endurance skills, and they are also able to start to understand that they need to be aware of the other children around them so that they or their friends do not get hurt. (Body Awareness)

We can also utilize all those same skills during our outdoor play! There are so many activities that our friends can engage their bodies and minds in. With the uneven terrain outdoors, our smaller friends really work at manipulating their bodies to make sure they have an awesome outdoor experience.

Breakfast: Whole grain bagels with cream cheese and fresh PPC peaches.

Lunch: Whole wheat bread with turkey, corn, and fresh PPC Pears.

Snack: Whole grain cheese crackers and mozzarella string cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Peas.

Have a wonderful weekend and GO IRISH!!!!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljN5U36PGemjbP5NSpQ

Good Afternoon!

In pre-k/k group, we read ‘The Gruffalo’. This is one of our favorites so throughout the story, children will recite the words if they know them. I also ask them to recall an event that’s coming up.

After the story was done, as I dismissed one child at a time, they picked a word card and we read it together. As a group, we figured out how many syllables were in each word. Lucy came up and picked the word ‘Fox’. Together, we determined that it is a one syllable word so she taped it underneath the one syllable category. We continued on as each child got to place their word in the correct category.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

Today, our younger friends got to explore the letter box. Franklin and a peer were able to identify almost all of their uppercase letters while needing a little assistance matching them to the lowercase letters.

Penny was able to match all of her uppercase and lowercase letters which made her ecstatic. Ruby identified letters that she knew and inquired about letters that she was unsure of.

An extension that can be created for this activity for children who know all of their letters is to have them say a word that starts with each letter which incorporates letter sounds.

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Several friends used their fine motor skills to make bead bracelets using beads and pipe cleaners. Our older friends enjoy incorporating a pattern into their bracelet.

The rest of our morning was busy as we weren’t able to go outside. Children floated from the art easel, to the sensory bin, to puzzles and circle table activities.

“I do not teach anyone. I only provide the environment in which they can learn.”

-Albert Einstein

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters with PPC peaches.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded chicken, PPC peaches/fresh apples, and fresh cherry tomatoes.

PM snack–  Sunflower seeds and graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cherry tomatoes from Chloe’s family! (thank you!)

Have a fantastic night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/6

Happy rainy Thursday!

“Education begins the moment we see children as innately wise and capable beings. Only then can we play along in their world.” ~Vince Gowman

We had a fabulous and busy morning on this rainy Thursday! We listened to music while engaging ourselves with the instruments, we played with the stepping circles, painted, jumped on the trampoline, and read many stories.

Evie utilized her cognitive skills along with her recognition of color to match the stepping circles to the floor water color mats! What a fabulous idea!!

As we are quickly approaching the fall season, we decided what better way to spruce up our classroom than painting with fall like colors. Miss Marty asked friends prior to our painting session what colors they thought we would begin to see in the fall? Jack said, “Brown” and Daniel Said, “Blue.” So we painted with Brown, Yellow, Red, and Green.

Make sure to look on the wall bamboo frames for your child’s colorful paintings.

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal with PPC banana.

Lunch: Whole grain rice with shredded chicken, corn, and fresh PPC blueberries

Snack: Whole wheat Ritz crackers with hummus.

Have a wonderful evening!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljN1u2TgXeETncsgP2g

Good Afternoon and Happy Wednesday!

“You cannot make people learn. You can only provide the right conditions for learning to happen.” ~Vince Gowman

Engaged children equal happy children, and we as teachers fully believe that children learn through their play. Through play, children learn how to interact with others and develop critical lifelong skills. According to The Genius of Play, there are six benefits that play an important role in a child’s life.

1. Physical

2. Emotional

3. Social

4. Cognitive

5. Creative

6. Communication

We work daily to achieve and maintain these six benefits to further in the development of each child in our classroom.  

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs, peas, whole wheat toast with butter, and fresh PPC peaches.

Snack: Pretzels and Monterey Jack cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Garden fresh Cucumbers.

Have a great night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuljN0SiEbf6_vqRQLSlw

Good Afternoon!

Max and Lucy explored two activities this morning that targeted two different FAB’s that we’re working on this week. They each took a turn at each activity and helped each other out in the process.

Maxwell first explored the syllable clip card game where he looked at each picture and using two different methods (clap and chin), found out the syllable count for each picture. Once he was able to figure out the syllable count, he clipped the correct number on each card.

Lucy interacted with the letter recognition box where she matched uppercase letters to their lowercase counterpart.

Both of these activities focused on these specific FAB’s but we also used our ever growing fine motor skills during each activity.

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and PPC pears.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with whole wheat flatbread, PPC banana/fresh apples, and garden cucumbers.

PM snack– Blue corn chips with homemade salsa using tomatoes from our garden and refried beans.

Wee Sprout– Fresh garden cucumbers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/5

Good Afternoon!

“Do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move. If you show them, they will want to do it themselves.”

-Maria Montessori

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In pre-k/k group, we read ‘The Grouchy Ladybug’. Throughout the story, we noticed several specific animals that were discussed so after we completed calendar, children were dismissed by retelling me an animal that was in the story. Once they said an animal, we all worked together to figure out how many syllables were in each animal.

To count syllables, we use two different methods. The first method is the clapping method. We clap how many sounds we hear in each word. The second method (and our favorite) is the chin method. Children put their hand under their chin and say the word slowly, counting how many times their chin moves. For example, gorilla: when your hand is put under your chin, your chin moves three times when saying the word gor-ill-a.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

Enjoy a few pictures from our day!

Breakfast– Corn chex and fresh apples.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, PPC banana, and PPC cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

PM snack– Mixture of whole wheat bagel and english muffins with cream cheese and PPC pears.

Wee Sprout– PPC cherry tomatoes/cucumber.

Have a fantastic night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/4