Favorite toy of the day? The cardboard box!
Boxes are a versatile, open-ended material. The best kind of play with boxes is unstructured play- play that has no end result in mind, which encourages creativity and imagination.
Our friends definitely enjoyed them!
Breakfast was Corn Chex cereal and blueberries. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with lentils and vegetables, bananas, and peppers. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.
Have a good night!
Amanda
*Announcement: Weather permitting, Group B [Riley, Naia, Maddie, Lulu, Tate, Maxwell and Lucy] will going on a farm trip on Monday, September 21st. As the farm can be a messy place at times, we ask that you please send your child to school in a pair of shoes that is okay to get dirty. Bringing an extra pair of shoes or well-fitting boots is perfectly fine as well. Thanks for understanding!
Today we brought out some new tangram puzzles—the alphabet in upper and lowercase letters. Friends searched for the matching shapes and then carefully put them in place. Cassie found the letters in her name:
At the art table this morning, friends were invited to work with sequins and glue. Besides being an engaging art project that worked fine motor skills (squeezing glue onto the paper, pinching to pick up the tiny sequins and carefully putting them in place), this work also had an element of sensory exploration. Many friends commented on how “sticky” the glue made their fingers and enjoyed the process of washing the glue off their hands afterward.
Kindergarten: Today the kindergartners worked on FAB K.G.4: Compose simple geometric shapes to form larger shapes (e.g. create a rectangle composed of two triangles). The favored shape of the day was octagons! Using pattern blocks we discovered that you could make an octagon a number of different ways: with 2 or 8 trapezoids (it depended on the size), 3 diamonds or 6 triangles. Recording the shapes in our math journals gave us an opportunity work with shapes in another medium and practice writing as well.
Enjoy your afternoon! –Jessica
Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes and bell peppers. Breakfast: Kix and fresh pears/bananas. Lunch: Quinoa and whole grain brown rice lentil pilaf with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and fresh bananas/strawberries. Snack: Graham crackers and pumpkin seeds.
The magna-tiles were brought out to play with in the kitchen this morning. Our friends used them to build towers and other creative structures.
David showed his friends how fun the tiles are to hold up to your eyes and see everything in different colors!
New toys were introduced to the classroom! The boxes are Montessori tools designed to develop hand-eye coordination and indirectly allows the children to experience object permanence.
Breakfast was hot wheat cereal and blueberries. Lunch consisted of farm fresh eggs with cheese, whole wheat bread, blueberries, and potatoes. Afternoon snack was rice cakes with hummus.
Have a great night!
Amanda
Journaling is an important part of our day here at Wee Friends. Our kindergarteners and older preschoolers journal every day after large group time, while our younger friends are often invited to journal during the morning, or whenever they choose to!
Although it is easy to dismiss young preschoolers’ drawing and writing as only “scribbles,” this is the first stage of learning how to write! These scribbles help children develop the necessary fine motor skills to be able to form letters later. Scribbles turn into drawings of basic shapes/pictures. Eventually, letter-like forms appear within children’s drawings.
The most important thing we are trying to do during journal time is to foster a love of writing. We want our children to understand that writing is a way to communicate their thoughts and feelings. For younger friends, after they finish their picture a teacher will help them write something about their drawing. As they get older, friends begin to write more on their own, eventually using “kid-spelling”.
Friends truly enjoy the process of creating a picture and then sharing what their drawing is about.
The first word most children gravitate towards is one that is important to them: their name! After learning to identify the individual letters in their name, children begin to try and write those letters. This is a process that takes time! Below, Eren has written an “N for Eren,” while Elizabeth, who has been working on journals for years, is able to clearly write her name in upper and lower case letters.
Please feel free to take a look at your child(ren)’s journal and see what they are writing about! All journals are kept on a bookshelf in the art room. Let us know if you have any questions about the writing/journaling process.
Kindergarten: Today kindergarteners played a shape game using dice and dot stampers. Besides identifying shapes, this game worked on counting, identifying numbers on a die, and graphing. It was a race to see which shape was landed on the most!
Have a wonderful Wednesday! –Jessica
Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: Hot wheat cereal and fresh strawberries. Lunch: Farm fresh egg casserole with whole wheat flatbread, fresh green beans/tomatoes and cantaloupe/strawberries. Snack: Homemade popcorn and bananas.
“There are three teachers of children: adults, other children, and their physical environment.” – Loris Malaguzzi
Loris Malaguzzi is the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach to early education and his work highlights the importance of the environment in learning. The organization and design of school space matters!
At Wee Friends we are very aware of the impact of the environment on learning. Here are just a few examples of the ways in which the WF environment enhances learning as a “third teacher.”
This afternoon, friends got out the readily available cake material and worked together to build it. This led to counting the numbers on the cake out loud; there was lots of excitement upon reaching 10! Friends had ample space to work and build and know where materials are located.
A library full of easily accessible books at children’s level, along with comfortable and well-lit reading spaces encourages lots of reading.
Ample “loose parts” such as logs, buckets and tubes entices friends to work their gross motor skills and experiment with the movement of both their bodies and objects.
The environment is important! WF teachers are always observing and looking for ways to improve and enhance our physical spaces. For an interesting take on the concept of the “third teacher” check out this book, The Third Teacher, filled with practical ideas to improve the environments in which children learn.
Kindergarten: Today the kindergarteners worked with a game similar to “chomp” but with shapes. After pulling a shape from the jar, we discussed its attributes (number of sides, vertices, etc.) But watch out, if you get the chomp/oops shape, you have to put all the shapes back! This was such an engaging activity we brought it down to the art table so other friends could join too.
Have a wonderful day! –Jessica
Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: Kashi’s Blueberry Clusters and fresh strawberries. Lunch: Whole wheat tortillas with cream cheese and lunch meat, cucumbers/tomatoes and fresh pears. Snack: Homemade granola with cheddar cheese.
Hello!
Rosemary picked the wooden pegs to play with this morning in the kitchen. While inserting the pegs, she would repeatedly count to two.
Franklin’s attention was caught by a leaf he found in the sandbox. He spent much of his outside time feeling it with his fingers and waving it through the air.
David cooked away in the kitchen! He picked out tasty treats to put in his bowls and cups.
Breakfast was Whole Grain cheerios and blueberries. Lunch consisted of turkey and crème cheese on flat bread, cucumbers, and watermelon. Afternoon snack was cheddar cheese and wheat crackers.
Have a great night!
Amanda
At the art table outside, Rosemary drew “circles!” and “stars!”
David had a blast going down the slide many times on his belly.
Ruby pulled books from the shelf to enjoy, and Franklin read about Dinosaurs!
Breakfast was whole wheat bagels with butter and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, pears, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was organic whole milk yogurt and bananas.
Have a good night!
Amanda
Good afternoon! Yesterday, our friend Elizabeth celebrated her 6th birthday! Happy happy birthday dear Elizabeth. We hope you had a fabulous day. You’ve grown so much, but you still have some pretty fabulous expressions!
This morning friends gathered to help decorate Elizabeth’s birthday “6” card. This activity helped us practice our fine motor skills through gluing and gave us an opportunity to talk about different shapes and their attributes. One of our math FABs this week is 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). This is a continuation of our work from last week, only now we are delving a little deeper into shapes and their qualities with friends who are ready for it.
This morning was filled with book reading and tower building:
Lots of concentrated work at the art table and in the sandbox:
Also, by friends’ request, the outside art easel was opened up!
Kindergarten: Today Elliott chose to continue his work on shapes and created a “shape monster.” As he drew each shape, Elliott said the shape’s name and in some cases, counted the sides. He found this work very funny and ended up naming his creation “MNTR HOUS” (monster house). Elizabeth chose to work on her alphabet book and completed several pages filled with words and pictures that not only match the letter but are meaningful to her.
Have a wonderful Monday! –Jessica
Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole grain bread with cream cheese and fresh pears. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with shredded beef, mixed vegetables and watermelon. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and cantaloupe.
Hello! Even though the rain kept us inside this morning, we kept busy!
We played Connect Four and worked with play dough:
We built mazes and helped the teachers clean up:
We colored pictures and listened to stories:
We created people and had a parade, complete with flags:
And of course, read lots of books!
Luckily the weather cleared up this afternoon and we’ve taken FULL advantage:
Have a wonderful weekend! –Jessica
Wee Sprouts: Carrots and peppers. Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and bananas. Lunch: French Toast casserole made with farm fresh eggs and whole wheat bread, fresh broccoli and grapes/strawberries. Snack: Whole Grain Goldfish and mozzarella cheese sticks.
Today, we had water play with ice cubes!
Rosemary was excited to see the ice. She picked up an ice cube and said “cold!”
Anna and Rosemary both ate their ice and thought it was “yummy.”
Ruby and David loved splashing in their bowls!
And when all the ice melted, there was refreshing, cold water to enjoy.
Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and bananas. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with red beans, watermelon, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.
Have a good night!
Amanda
