Wow! August is here already!

Our summer’s just flying by. We spent this first day of August focusing on the makeup of books.

The welcome board had children distinguish between an author and an illustrator.

In large group this week, we’re reading different ‘Tacky’ stories focusing on the author and illustrator. All of the ‘Tacky’ stories have the same author and illustrator so when we read different stories about Tacky, we’ve been looking at how Tacky is portrayed. Today, we read ‘Tacky in Trouble’. Tacky got himself in quite a predicament, coming face to face with a BIG elephant. Tacky had to use his social skills to get him out of trouble, eventually making his way home.

Each day, we talk about the author and illustrator and what they’re role is in the making of the book. We’re keeping track of the different books written by Helen Lester (the author).

In the reading area, you can always see friends reading stories with one another. Even our youngest friends become familiar with print, learning what way to correctly turn the pages or understand that words describe the pictures in a book.

Breakfast– Kix and PPC grapes.

Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, PPC cantaloupe, and PPC cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter and our freshly baked garden zucchini.

Wee Sprout– Fresh red peppers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 8/1

Good Afternoon!

This morning we were busy building with magnatiles! Sophia decided to use the magnatiles to make a blanket to cover up her baby while Daniel used them to look through!

We worked on our fine motor skills this morning. We used a magnet builder or our fingers to help us take out the puzzle pieces to the magnetic puzzle. We also spent some time at the table drawing colorful pictures!

When it was time to go outside, we enjoyed many of our favorite activities!

Breakfast: Toasted whole grain wheat english muffins and pears.

Lunch:  Whole wheat pasta with black beans, pears and corn.

Afternoon Snack:  Whole grain wheat crackers with hummus.

Wee Sprouts:  Corn.

Have a great night!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliLxwX8f1WaV6EJa5Gg

Good Afternoon!

Today was a well rounded day consisting of;

Counting to 100 using one to one correspondence.

Getting extremely excited when the garbage truck honked at us!

Practicing our hand eye coordination by catching the big red bouncy balls with two hands.

Breakfast– Whole wheat toast with butter and pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and black beans, oranges/apples, and carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and PPC strawberries.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Link to pictures: WF 7/31

Today when we went outside the friends noticed that the sand was really wet. A friend said, “ it’s mud!” They helped scoop the sand that had washed out onto the sidewalk back into the sandbox. We then took the trucks and drove them around to make tracks in the mud! What fun we had!

It was a perfect day for looking for bugs!  We were so excited that we could find a lot of roly polies to put into our bug catchers! Our friends have great spying eyes for finding bugs in the rocks and under our stepping mats!

Breakfast: Whole grain Cheerios and banana.

Lunch: No nut butter on whole grain wheat bread, banana and corn.

Afternoon Snack: Goldfish crackers/pretzels and colby block cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Corn

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliLt2fy69nruCA_BPkw

Good Afternoon!

We saw many patterns in our play today. Lulu was working with colorful, wooden shapes and thought she had them matched up before shouting, “Oh! I should switch the green and red ones.” She noted that there wasn’t a pink half circle to match the triangle.

At the art table, friends took markers and dot paints to make patterns. Anna made vertical lines using every marker in the marker block and then repeating the same colors.

Children took advantage of several areas in the classroom that offer books. Ruby sat in the reading area and told her own story by looking at the pictures. Grady and Chloe read about spiders in the science area. They compared the size of different spiders that they read about.

As we headed outside, friends helped Miss Melinda pick some tomatoes that were ready. We quickly noticed that our sunflower has grown so much over the last few days. Miss Melinda also pointed out that our corn is in the beginning stages of growth! We’re so thankful for the fresh vegetables that we can eat from our garden.

Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios and watermelon.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, watermelon, and PPC cucumbers/cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– Peanuts and graham crackers.

Wee Sprout– PPC cucumbers.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 7/27

Sophia and Mack spent their morning outside exploring together! They stopped in the garden to look for ripe tomatoes, peaked under rocks for any hiding bugs, and walked around the yard looking at all the lovely plants and flowers.

Breakfast was Kix and banana. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with turkey, banana, and mixed veggies. Afternoon snack was pretzels with cheddar cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliLp6iHxYVcZg53jpZw

Have a good night!

Amanda

We had a great morning outside today. Our friends enjoyed pretending the stone walkway was a giant slide and they scooted from the top to the bottom.

The sandbox is a favorite spot of everyone’s, especially Daniel! It’s always his first stop every time he gets outside.

Our two year olds love riding the big bikes around the track with their older friends.  The art table was also open, which is one of Mack’s favorite outside spots.

Breakfast was Chex and apples. Wee sprout was carrots. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread with butter, banana, and carrots. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with hummus and watermelon.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliLo27vs8Hw3BX_kvVw

Have a good night!

Amanda

We had a great morning outside today. Our friends enjoyed pretending the stone walkway was a giant slide and they scooted from the top to the bottom.

The sandbox is a favorite spot of everyone’s, especially Daniel! It’s always his first stop every time he gets outside.

Our two year olds love riding the big bikes around the track with their older friends.  The art table was also open, which is one of Mack’s favorite outside spots.

Breakfast was Chex and apples. Wee sprout was carrots. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread with butter, banana, and carrots. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with hummus and watermelon.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIuliLo27vs8Hw3BX_kvVw

Have a good night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

A sensory activity was requested this morning so we turned the art table into a shaving cream exploration! We added toy cars, plastic shapes, and different tools to our shaving cream. Almost all of our friends came to the table to manipulate the shaving cream with their hands. Children used words to describe the shaving cream; ‘soft’, ‘gooey’, and ‘smooth’ were just a few descriptions that we heard!

We were able to extend this sensory experience for our older friends by having them write different letters with their index finger in the shaving cream. Lulu, Tate, and Maddie wrote their name as well as writing other various letters.

The rest of the day included outside time, group time after lunch, and journaling! Friends in large group took the opportunity to write down their thoughts on paper. Today, Lulu drew ‘A little land’.

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and banana.

Lunch– Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, whole wheat bread, watermelon, and PPC cauliflower.

PM snack– Air popped popcorn and banana.

Wee Sprout– Cauliflower.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 7/26

Good Afternoon!

In large group, we read ‘The Foot Book’.  Before we started reading, we tried to define the word ‘opposite’. Here are some things we heard;

“You know, it’s like down and up.”

“Opposite mean different.”

“Like cold ice cream and hot soup.”

After giving a few examples and explaining what ‘opposite’ means, we started in on ‘The Foot Book’. During the story, the author gave many examples of opposites accompanied by pictures to go along with the words. After the story was done, we talked about words that were written out on sentence strips.

For example, I would explain that this certain word is a part of the day when most children come to school and various friends shouted out, “Morning!” We talked about what the opposite of morning would be and together, we tried to look for a word starting with ‘n’ for night!

Together, we found all of the opposites!

During journal time, Maddie and Lulu were excited to share what they had drawn on their journal page. They both took the initiative to write out the wording by themselves with a little assistance. Using their kid spelling skills, they wrote down their explanation of their journal.

This morning, the circle table was buzzing with a rotation of puzzles. We use authentic assessment MANY times a day to determine what each child is ready for. As we assess while watching a child complete an activity, we can determine if they’re ready for a more challenging activity.

For example, this morning Anna was working on foam puzzles. She did these with relative ease so we bumped her up to smaller puzzles including a princess 12-piece and a Dora 9- piece puzzle. She did these easily without assistance so we offered a 24 wooden piece puzzle. This puzzle was a little too challenging so a teacher helped Anna at times.

Reflecting and assessing on each child’s individual experience can only help make sure that children are challenged but not to the point of frustration.

Stencils were used at the art table outside to create different patterns. Maddie even created a map of the backyard and walked around to find where she was at!

Breakfast– Cranberry Almond Crunch with grapes.

Lunch– Whole wheat English muffins with hummus, PPC strawberries, and PPC broccoli.

PM snack– Cottage cheese and pretzels.

Wee Sprout– PPC peppers and fresh carrots.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 7/25