Good Afternoon!

**One last reminder: T-Shirt forms are due TODAY! Thanks!

Today’s morning message focused on letter writing (K.W.1). After reading the letter, children had to decipher who the letter was wrote to.

Wooden Montessori numbers were made available at the circle table for the welcome activity. Children took the wooden numbers and matched them with plastic numbers. We looked at each number and the characteristics that we saw.

Jackson wanted to EXPLORE something this morning. So, an activity was set up at the art table. Four at a time, children sat down with a glass of water. Shaving cream was added to the top of the water and water color was put to the side. With a dropper, children added a few drops of water color to the top of the shaving cream. Would the water color travel through the shaving cream to the water? Friends made guesses as to what was going to happen.

With the right amount of water color added, the liquid traveled through the shaving cream, eventually turning the water to a different color.

Chalk was put out this morning for friends to use. A friend asked Maddie what she was drawing and she responded, “A dead dinosaur!”—Our imaginations are awesome!

In large group, we read two different stories: There’s A Wocket In My Pocket and One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish.

First, we read ‘There’s A Wocket In My Pocket’. We revisited rhyming words throughout the story! We also worked one of our FAB’s into this book (K.CA.1-2). There were many fish! So, we took the number of fish and added 1 to that specific number. We eventually found a pattern!

After, we read ‘One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish’. At the beginning of the story, I stopped saying the rhyming words to see if my friends could use contextual clues to come up with the word instead. For example:

I read: “On his hook he had a book. On his book was “How to _____”

Large group friends: “Cook!”

Using the picture clues as well as the contextual rhyming clues, friends were able to complete the sentences based on their previous knowledge of rhyming words. In large group, we like to revisit FAB’s that we’ve focused on throughout the year.

“Childhood friendship is the most beautiful memory that can’t ever be replaced.”

Breakfast: Corn chex and apples.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs, variety of bread (bagels, tortillas, english muffins), peppers, and kiwi.

PM snack: Whole wheat crackers with cream cheese and raspberries.

Wee Sprouts: Peppers

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 11/15

Today we tried out our new cocoon swing…

Scooped, poured, and swished around corn in the sensory bin…

Played in a leaf pile…

And read stories together!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon and apple. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with chicken, banana, and peas. Afternoon snack was pretzels and cheddar cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhvBthg2e-y3084rtzw

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

**Wee Friends will be closed Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th in observance of the holiday. Thanks!

**Just a reminder, T-Shirt forms are due TOMORROW! (Tuesday)

**We will have a PJ Day on Wednesday, November 23rd. I’ll post another reminder next week!

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K.CA.1-2: Solve real-world problems, objects or drawings that involve addition subtraction within 10. Demonstrate the equation (e.g., 5=2+3 and 5=4+1)

We used various activities this morning that allowed children to solve problems using real world problems and objects. After friends signed in on the daily message, an addition abacus was on the circle table, waiting for children to explore!

Throughout the morning, children headed to various parts of the house, diving into different activities that interested them. The art table was open for children to express themselves.

Rosemary requested music this morning! We played a variety of music including fall songs and two of our favorites: ‘The Hokey Pokey’ and ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It’.

Miss Rebekah and a few friends started up a game of UNO. We had to use our knowledge of colors and numbers to participate in the game. Our older friends are always such a big help, teaching the younger kids how to play.

PLAY is often used as a term when discussing early childhood education. Here’s an article from NAEYC that explains PLAY and how it is absolutely vital to the social, emotional, physical and cognition development of our friends.

https://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/10-things-every-parent-should-know-about-play

Our outside environment is much of the same. Children have the option to play in the sandbox, rock area, little people, or just move throughout the backyard environment. We sure did love throwing leaves up in the air this morning and waiting to see what would happen when they were up in the air!

It’s always much more meaningful to children when THEY are the ones deciding what they’re involved and invested it. We offer the opportunities throughout the day and our friends decide what they want to do.

A friend asked Lulu why she always journals about a ‘map to a volcano’. Lulu responded, “Maddie and I like drawing different maps to a volcano everyday!” During journal time, it’s important for children to feel connected to what they’re journaling about. It wouldn’t be meaningful if I gave them a topic to write about everyday. Plus, we are able to talk about different topics during journal time. For example, maps!

Breakfast– Toast with butter and pears.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and chicken, banana, and carrots/broccoli.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and blueberries.

Wee Sprouts– Broccoli.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 11/14

This morning Miss Rebekah made us slime. The slime is made using equal parts of glue and liquid starch. Depending on it’s consistency we had to add more starch if it was too sticky or more glue if it was too slimy until it was just right. The children decided we needed 2 colors so we added liquid watercolor to make a batch of blue and a batch of green.

Those of us that were not doing slime were busy building with the magnatiles creating buildings for our animals.

Outside the buckets with pulleys were requested. Friends were busy filling their buckets with sand and then using their gross motors skills by pulling them up or lowering them down depending on the part of the sandbox where the sand was needed.

Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and oranges.

Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, bananas and snap peas.

Afternoon snack: Mozzarella string cheese and raisins.

Wee Sprouts: Broccoli

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to photos:https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhu9Gk3fLihqwZY3oOQ

Congratulation to the Bulla family, Franklin now has a baby brother! Welcome, Daniel Douglas!

Enjoy the pictures from today!

Breakfast was Cheerios and banana. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of hummus sandwiches, banana, and peas. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and cheese crackers.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhu5B4jrNkej0Pc0Ngg

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

*Note: There is a t-shirt order form attached to everyone’s daily sheet today .

An experiment was done this morning that focused on what objects moved when air was blown onto that certain object. Using a track as an incline, we tested various objects to see if they would move given an amount of air pressure. There were a few lighter objects that moved while the heavier objects (wooden blocks) did not move. Before we tested an object, we guessed as to what would happen!

A sensory art activity was made available at the art table this morning. Using Legos, children painted with different colored paints. Some children chose to make the Lego stamp all throughout their space while others chose to use it as a paint brush, making streaks throughout their paper.

The art experiences that we offer are process based. There is no guide to follow and children are able to explore the activity as they see fit. We are not looking for the product. The process is what keeps children coming back.

Here is a link to an article explaining process vs product:

http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/process-art-experiences

Jackson was just hunting around the classroom for something to explore so he and Miss Melinda ended up taking the insides of old markers out to add to our water color collection. As Jackson started working, other friends came around, watched, and offered to pitch in.

It was a gorgeous fall day. We were thankful for the time we were able to spend outside.

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”

Breakfast– Whole grain cheerios and pears.

Lunch– Organic, brown rice with chicken, PPC grapes, and cucumbers.

PM snack– Roasted chick peas and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprouts– Peppers.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 11/10

Today we played with finger puppets…

Stacked cups…

Enjoyed new books…

And played with pegs!

Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with chicken, banana, and corn. Afternoon snack was graham crackers and cheddar cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhu0O0jcPEFT-uTjipg

Have a great night!

Amanda

We had a busy day of playing in corn…

Writing in our notebooks…

Crawling through tunnels…

Playing Ring Around the Rosie…

And spending time together in the gross motor area!

Breakfast was toast with butter and apples. Wee sprout was peas. Lunch consisted of French toast casserole, apples, and peas. Afternoon snack was blue corn chips and string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhutuTpJ7BEMBhsVV0Q

Have a great night!

Amanda

*Please check your child’s art cubbies for any art work to take home. Thank you!

Enjoy some of the pictures from our day!

 

Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal and raspberries.

Lunch: French toast casserole, PPC cherry tomatoes, bananas and oranges.

Afternoon Snack: Popcorn with butter and raspberries.

Wee Sprouts: PPC cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy your evening!

Rebekah

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

Good Afternoon!

We have a few messages to pass along:

My name is Jessica Millen and I am a former WF teacher! I am now working for All IN 4 Pre-K, a campaign of Hoosier families, community advocates & business leaders working together to expand access to high-quality pre-k.

We are trying to collect stories from families about their experiences with high quality pre-k, just like the exceptional care and education your children receive at Wee Friends. These are important stories to share not only with our elected officials, but also the general public. If you would be willing to talk briefly to me or someone on our media team about the importance of early childhood education, please send me your contact information at [email protected].

To learn more about the campaign and get involved like us on Facebook or visit our website at www.allIN4prek.com. Thanks!

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Jennifer and Tom (Elijah’s parents) have reached out for help finding a nanny for their infant daughter. Here are a few words from Jennifer:

“I am sending this request to everyone I know in the South Bend area in the 1% chance someone could help!  I’m hoping to use the power of networking to find a part-time nanny for Agatha who will be 4 months old when I go back to work in January.

I will be lecturing and need to be on campus every day, but for about 3-4 hours.  The schedule is a bit flexible.

Even if someone you know can only do half of the time, I’d be interested in talking to her.  We might be able to arrange that 2 people split the schedule.”

**If you know anyone who would be interested in this opportunity, please contact us as we can forward it on to Tom and Jennifer.

Thank you!

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As everyone knows, it was an important day today! It was the WEE FRIENDS election!

In large group, we’ve talked about the election process and the President in general. So, we transferred what we already know plus some newly acquired information to cast our vote this morning!

To begin, we read, ‘I Want To Be President’! In this story, we learned important things that the President does such as helping people. We also learned that he lives in the White House and works in the Oval Office specifically.

After we read the story, we headed to the science area where Miss Melinda signed each voter in.

Once each child was signed in, they headed to the voting booth where they received their ballot and cast their vote!

Each child carried their vote to Miss Rebekah where they put their ballot in the box and received their sticker!

After all of our ballots were cast, we counted them as a class. The end result: Hillary Clinton-9 and Donald Trump-7.

We LOVED learning about the process of voting and in general, took it very seriously! A few of our friends headed to the real polls this morning with their parents and shared their experience.

The rest of our morning included:

Testing out our new swing!

Playdough!

Large Group:

We continued to explore the meaning of President and what goes in to an Election Day. After reading ‘Duck for President’, we took what we learned throughout the day to come up with what the President does and what he/she should exemplify.

“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”
  — Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady of the United States

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and pears.

Lunch– Homemade chicken avocado salad on whole wheat bagels, banana/oranges, and cucumbers/snap peas.

PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts– Cucumbers.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 11/8