WF, 10/11/2017

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“Play is the highest expression of human development, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.”

-Friedrich Froebel

There are several crucial aspects of our day including (these are just a few!):

Fine motor activities allow for children to problem solve, push their personal boundaries, and strengthen hand/finger muscles. Lulu and Franklin partook in separate fine motor activities this morning. Lulu challenged herself by attempting a new pattern that she’d never done before while Franklin used his hand muscles to connect gingerbreads together.

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Sensory activities allow children to explore using all of our senses. Our sense of touch is the one we utilize the most and this morning, children took turns at the corn sensory bin. Friends used bowls, spoons, and funnels as well as their hands to transport the corn around the bin.

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Gross motor play is vital to our everyday flow. On a rainy day like today, we usually don’t get to enjoy our outside environment. This doesn’t mean that we still don’t need to move our bodies in a productive and positive way. A group of children set up a gross motor obstacle course using a tunnel from downstairs. Our friends jumped, rolled, and ran in the habitrail area.

A friend was kicking in the housekeeping area. Instead of saying ‘no’, we were able to give him an alternative: “I can see that you want to kick. The housekeeping area isn’t the place for that but if you still feel like you need to kick, we can find a wall to kick or find space in the habitrail area to move your body that way.”

It’s all about turning a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’! (in an appropriate manner of course!) Smile

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“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and banana.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat bread, PPC pears, and PPC broccoli.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn with butter and banana.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumbers.

Have a lovely night.

-Mindy

The link is not working so I will try to post it with tomorrows blog! Sorry!

WF, 10-10-2017

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Good Afternoon! 

In large group, we read ‘Bob the Dog’ and talked about the important events that made up the story. After we finished the story, we put the events into the correct order. As a a group, we discussed how if one event was out of place, the story wouldn’t make sense. A friend shouted, “That’s the authors job; to have the story make sense!”

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence. (2006 standard)

Everyday after we read our story, we complete the calendar for the day by talking about the month, year, and day as well as any special birthdays or holidays that we see. A couple months ago, I started highlighting the weekend days so that children knew the days that they were at school versus the days that they stayed at home.

K.M.2: Understand concepts of time, including: morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, day, week, month, and year. Understand that clocks and calendars are tools that measure time.

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Yesterday the friends that went for a walk around the block collected some leaves to bring back to Wee Friends. This morning we made a group collage by sticking the leaves on a large piece of contact paper. We then placed another piece over them to seal it together. You can find our collage hanging in the science area.

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Playdough is one of our favorite sensory activities. We made two batches of playdough a few weeks ago. One of the batches we added a nice smelling scent of cinnamon. The children were busy making animals and pretend food to share with their friends and teachers.

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We then headed outside for some bike riding, climbing and to work on our balancing skills.

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Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and fresh pears.

Lunch: Red pepper hummus on whole grain wheat tortillas, oranges/strawberries and cherry tomatoes/peppers.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat crackers and peanuts.

Wee Sprouts:  Peppers.

Have a great evening!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPpwOcmisPHBZjdT8w

WWF 10/10

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We switched our corn and bean sensory bin out for moonsand! Friends were very interested in the different tools that were in this bin. There were tongs, popsicle sticks, and scoopers of all sizes. The first thing our friends did was use a cup to build a birthday cake in. They decorated the cake with a few popsicle sticks sticking out of it. Sophia packed moonsand into a measuring cup, tipped it out into her hand, and said it was a cupcake!

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Breakfast was Kashi’s Blueberry Clusters and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with hummus, grapes, and corn. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with butter and tomatoes.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliPoY1NZhotnyBDhdYQ

Have a good night!

Amanda

WF, 10/9/2017

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Good Afternoon!

This week, we’re focusing on concepts of time. We read, ‘There’s A Nightmare In My Closet’ and afterwards, we made a list of things we do in the morning, afternoon, and night whether we’re at home or at Wee Friends. Through making the list, we found that some of our daily routines differ between peers!

K.M.2: Understand concepts of time, including: morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, day, week, month, and year. Understand that clocks and calendars are tools that measure time.

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When we got to the farm, we were able to watch Miss Charlotte milk a goat! She told us that the milk from a goat is good for our skin but we were a little skeptical of that.

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We were all ecstatic when we saw kittens! An older friend told us that they are five weeks old. Every friend took a turn petting the kittens; we LOVED them and are hopeful we’ll see them again next week.

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We took a short nature walk and noticed that the leaves are really changing colors! Friends used their sense of sight to look for different colored leaves.

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When we got back to the farm from our nature walk, we noticed that the turkeys were getting ready to leave the farm. Miss Charlotte takes such good care of her animals but sometimes, such as the turkeys, they have an ultimate end place. We talked about how when we eat any type of meat whether it’s ham, turkey, or chicken, it has to come from somewhere! We watched as the turkeys were gathered and put into a trailer before they left Prairie Winds Farm.

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Our non-farm goers took a nature walk themselves this morning to look at the leaves changing color. Our friends observed leaves that had fallen as well as leaves that were still on the trees.

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Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and oranges.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with butter and red beans, oranges/banana, and cucumber.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with pumpkin flax seed granola.

Wee Sprout– Cucumber.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/9

Link to farm pictures: WF 10/9 FARM

WF, 10/6/2017

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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.

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Breakfast– Rice cakes with peanut butter and PPC pears.

Lunch– Shredded mozzarella cheese on whole wheat flatbread, oranges/PPC grapes, and PPC peppers.

PM snack– Pretzels and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers and cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 10/6