Good Afternoon!

**The farm is still OFF for this week. Reports are that the mosquitos are still quite a bother down at the farm. Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to go in the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep everyone up to date!

The welcome activity for today was a shape activity where children spun the spinner and put the correlating shape on their board! Rosemary sat with Miss Melinda as they played the game together. “Look! I rolled on the triangle!” said Rosemary as she put the piece on her board.

Meanwhile, a variety of ramps were made in the habitrail area. Different wooden blocks were used as many angles were tested using cars and little people.

When the swimmers went off to the Y, the rest of us went outside where it was smiles galore!

Swim report: It was a great swim session! Here were some of the comments that we heard..

“I got to go on a boat and swim with the noodle!”

“I jumped off the diving board into the deep end.”

“I put my head all the way under the water!”

“I used a rainbow colored noodle.”

In large group, we added another author to our author study! Today, we read ‘Bear Wants More’ and ‘Bear Feels Sick’. We looked over both stories and found out that Karma Wilson wrote the story, making her the author and Jane Chapman did the illustrations meaning that she drew the pictures. On each page, we looked at how the illustrations correlated with the words that were written on the page.

K.RL.3.2: Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in telling the story.

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

 

Our journaling time today allowed for friends to express themselves and relay what they were thinking at that moment!

In kindergarten:

This afternoon, Jackson and Addi created different shapes. After making the shapes, we used words such as sides and vertices (corners). As we made the shapes, we counted the long magnetic shapes as the sides and the magnetic balls as the vertices.

Two different sized triangles were made. After Addi made the first triangle, she proceeded to make a bigger triangle with longer sides. When asked what the shape was, she and Jackson were a little hesitant. This brought up the conversation of even though the triangles don’t look the SAME, they are still triangles. A triangle is a shape with three sides and three vertices. We put them up against each other to see the similarities and differences.

K.G.2: Compare shapes using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, and parts (e.g., number of sides, length of sides, and vertices).

After we made several shapes, the activity took a different turn.

Addi commented, “I’m going to make a pattern. Jackson offered to help and with great teamwork, they made two pattern strings!

Breakfast– Kix and blueberries.

Lunch– Shredded cheese and refried beans on tortillas, strawberries, and cucumbers/peppers.

PM snack– Sunflower seeds and pretzels.

Wee Sprouts– Cucumber.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/13

We spent some time at our new sensory table this morning, built by Miss Tami! It’s the perfect height for our friends to dive in hands first!

Our friends were absorbed in scooping up birdseed, making piles on the ledge, pouring, grabbing handfuls, and running theirs hands through the seeds and rice.

Thank you, Miss Tami!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with refried beans and cheese, peas, and strawberries. Afternoon snack was toasted whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhq51GdR_RGSRj40FMw

Have a good night!

Amanda

It was a perfect day to be outside! Getting to enjoy this great weather was a great way to start the week!

Breakfast was whole wheat bread with butter and cinnamon and oranges. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with red beans, bananas, and peas. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and kiwi berries.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhq05Ym27yHDz7tFz6w

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

**There is suspected case of roseola going through Wee Friends. It has NOT been confirmed by a doctor as it happened last week. It is a normal early childhood illness that starts with a high fever before contracting a rash a few days after the fever breaks. For more information: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/roseola/basics/symptoms/con-20023511

Jackson has been requesting goop for some time now. Today, we made it! Children gathered around the table with buckets. Each friend was given a batch of goop (mixture of water and corn starch).

The different properties of the goop are so interesting for friends! The liquid to solid aspect allows friends to wonder and question throughout the activity.

Almost all of our friends participated. When we have an activity like this going on, all friends are welcome to come participate but not forced.

It was a beautiful morning as the sun was shining. We spent the rest of our morning running throughout the yard, playing hide and seek, and climbing on different climbing structures.

In large group, we focused on the following FAB:

K.RL.3.2: Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in telling the story.

We are going to be doing an author study this week: focusing on five different authors and a variety of their stories! After we read ‘It’s Mine!’ and ‘Fish is Fish’, we talked about the author of these two stories, Leo Lionni. We looked at the words and the pictures on each page and talked about how the illustrations matched with what the author was trying to convey.

Breakfast– Toast with butter and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with kidney beans and butter, oranges, and cauliflower.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt and blueberries.

Wee Sprout– Green beans.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/12

Happy Friday!

**We’ve had several requests for a pajama day. We’re planning on next Friday, September 16th. Thanks!

Here are a few pictures from throughout the day.

Breakfast– Cheerios and kiwi berries.

Lunch– Melted mozzarella cheese on flat bread, green beans, and pears.

PM snack– Colby jack block cheese and mango.

Wee Sprout– Cucumber.

Have a terrific weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/9

We enjoyed our time painting in the kitchen this morning!

We provided paint brushes, but most friends decided finger painting was the way to go.

The more fingers you use, the more paint you can get on the paper! Whole hands work even better!

Breakfast was Chex and pear. Lunch consisted of whole wheat flat bread with cheese, grapes, and corn. Afternoon snack was string cheese and cheese crackers.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhqsm9x6-LcCBs8w_qg

Have a great night!

Amanda

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice, bananas, and mixed veggies. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with cheese.

Link to photos:https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhqpTHgY2sQsyturyBg

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

Let’s talk about shapes!

Children were greeted with a shape welcome activity as well as a sign in board! This week, we’ve been introducing the topic of shapes which goes with one of our FAB’s for the week:

(K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.).

Calix sat at the island experimenting with different foam shapes. When he put two triangles together, we noticed that the shape was now a diamond!

Addi got out a sketching book where she created a cat and a dolphin. As she drew those animals, we looked for shapes that she was using. She noticed that the cat’s ears were the shape of a triangle!

In kindergarten today:

K.W.2.1: Write most uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, correctly shaping and spacing.

Trays and shaving cream were used to write letters. The first thing of course was to write our names! The letters that friends are usually most familiar with and most comfortable with are those in our name! “My favorite letter is A because my name starts with an A!”, Addi commented.

After we wrote our names, we wrote a few words that we knew such as M-O-M.

Lastly, we experimented with the rest of the letters. Maddie said, “But I can’t write an X.” We took the laminated letter paper and looked for an ‘X’. Once we found it, she hesitantly wrote an ‘X’. She smiled and screamed, “I did it! I wrote an ‘X’!”

Children are never forced to do anything but if they want to try or do something a little out of their comfort zone, we are always right here to support.

“Look! I have snow hands!” Letters and sensory fun: what’s better than that?

After we finished, Addi and Maddie helped me get out cots and set the table. Our older friends are stepping up and really taking charge of the classroom and helping out!

Rain was on the horizon so we got in our running before we got wet! A couple children did many laps, working off some of their energy.

In large group, we focused on shapes by reading ‘The Shape of Me’ and ‘When A Line Bends..A Shape Begins’.

First, we read ‘The Shape of Me’. We talked about how everybody has their own shape; no two are alike. A child commented, “Your shape is bigger than mine!”—yes, yes it is.

As we read, ‘When A Line Bends…A Shape Begins’ we noted all of the shapes that were expressed throughout the book. Each shape had the descriptions and characteristics that we notice. Children pointed out how many sides each shape has. When oval and circle came about, the comment, “Those don’t have any straight lines!” was made.

Our Thursday was spectacular.

Breakfast– Bagels with sunflower butter and grapes.

Lunch– Organic brown rice with shredded beef, banana/strawberries, and peppers.

PM snack– Pumpkin seeds and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts– Peppers.

Have a great night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/8

Enjoy the pictures from today and yesterday!

Today we built towers…

Identified animals and gave them some snuggles…

Sang the alphabet….

And did some dancing!

Breakfast was toast with butter and cinnamon and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with cheese, bananas, and peas. Afternoon snack was pretzels with string cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulhqhVdVb9o0hVwOGVOw

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

Miss Melinda started off our morning with music! As she played the piano, many friends shouted out what song she was playing. A few children went and stood right next to her, singing along.

A sensory activity was offered this morning that involved aluminum foil, circular paint brushes, and a variety of paint.

The activity was open to interpretation. Some children moved the paint brush in an up and down motion, making dots on their foil. Others took their brush and moved it horizontally on the foil.

The first group noticed that the foil made noise when they touched it. “Paper doesn’t do that!”

In kindergarten today, we made shapes with popsicle sticks. Using the sticks, we made a variety of shapes including, square, triangle, trapezoid, and a few others! After we made all of the shapes with the sticks, we walked throughout the house looking for various shapes. It took us forever to find a triangle! FINALLY, we found a triangle shape on a puzzle.

One of the things we really focused on and will continue to do throughout the week is looking at all of the shapes with four sides and how they differ. Today, we worked with the square and rectangle. We found many examples of each throughout the house!

(K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube)

In large group, we read two different stories that focused on letters. While the FAB for the week is to WRITE most uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet, first we have to make sure that we can identify these letters confidently. The difference between uppercase and lowercase letters were discussed as well as letters that we’re familiar with. The various comments were made:

“That’s an L for Lulu!”

“An M! We can spell mom: M-O-M.”

“That ‘l’ has a tie on it!” (during Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)

We hope you had a great day, just like we did!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and grapes.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and chicken, cherry tomatoes/cucumber, and PPC strawberries.

PM snack– Blue corn chips with refried beans.

Wee Sprout– Cherry tomatoes.

Have a lovely night!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 9/7