For those of you arriving in the early morning, you may have seen or heard about our exciting visitor today, “a kitty cat”!

The sweet young calico was a huge source of entertainment for the Wee Frienders. The cat’s presence led to many deep conversations about what it means to be a stray cat, how we use microchips for tracking animals and what cats eat. We also saw first hand that cats can climb trees!

After a check at the vet to see if the kitten had a microchip or owner, we discovered that the kitten is female and 7-8 weeks old.

Amanda from WWF graciously decided to adopt the kitten! We are so happy the kitten will have a loving and safe home with Amanda. We look forward to pictures!

Have a great Tuesday! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers and carrots. Breakfast: Whole Grain Cheerios and fresh blackberries. Lunch: Whole wheat English muffin with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, fresh green beans and watermelon. Snack: Homemade popcorn with butter and cantaloupe.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Annabelle and David are each one year old now! Happy birthday to them both!

Rosemary was a big help today by bringing toys to the babies. She even cooked something up in the kitchen and brought it to Franklin to try.

Anna loves picking out books from the shelf and reading them herself!

Breakfast was toasted whole wheat bagels with butter and pears. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with chicken, blueberries, and mixed vegetables. Afternoon snack was blueberries, raspberries, and string cheese.

Have a good night!

Amanda

*Bathing Suits: As warmer summer weather has arrived, we have more opportunities to explore water outside. We have enough extra bathing suits for all the Wee Frienders, but if you prefer, feel free to bring in your child’s own bathing suit for water play. Thank you!

A brief sample of our day: tap-dancin’, nature explorin’

home buildin’, slug findin’

and paintin’!

Hope your week is off to a great start! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Carrots and red bell peppers. Breakfast: Toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and fresh apple slices. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with turkey, mixed vegetables and fresh oranges. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and fresh blueberries.

In the words of an excited Wee Friender: “TODAY WE GET TO DO WATER PLAY!”

Oh, the joy of water play!

We also had a special afternoon snack: Tami’s homemade popsicles (organic strawberries and whole milk yogurt). No better way to beat the heat!

Have a wonderful weekend! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Cornflakes and raisins. Lunch: Whole wheat flat bread with mozzarella cheese, bananas, carrots and wax beans. Snack: Organic strawberry and whole milk yogurt popsicles.

Happy Friday!

There was water play outside this morning. Rosemary had lots of fun playing in the water table and sprinkler.

The rings were a popular toy of choice with our friends this afternoon.

Annabelle and Ruby also enjoyed playing with the shakers.

Breakfast was Kashi and fresh strawberries. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with mozzarella cheese, bananas, and green beans. Snack was cheddar cheese and crackers.

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

 

Hello, everyone!

David and Annabelle had fun chasing each other around the habitrail this afternoon.

Rosemary read some stories in the fresh air and again, later, in the classroom swing.

Breakfast was bagels with butter and fresh strawberries. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown cheesy rice, peaches, and peas. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.

Have a good night!

Amanda

 

Today has been all about those fine motor skills! In large group we continued our constellation study with a sewing constellation activity. Friends chose a constellation and then used a needle and yarn to connect the stars.

Sewing is a challenging task that often requires a lot of repetition. Many friends demonstrated their perseverance by undoing their work when the yarn got tangled and trying again!

This morning friends were eager to bead, another activity that challenges children’s fine motor skills. There is an atmosphere of calm concentration over the art table when beads and pipe cleaners are out.

Today friends also took turns loading the constellations they drew yesterday into our oatmeal container planetarium. We went into the bathroom as it was the darkest place in the house.

We turned off all the lights, shined a flashlight through the bottom, and gasped in awe at the stars! Friends directed their constellations to shine on the ceiling, wall and even Miss Jessica. It was difficult to capture the stars on camera but you can see our glowing planetarium:

Later, friends discovered that you don’t need to be in the dark to see the constellations! If you look through the hole where the flashlight normally goes and hold the container up to the light, the constellations are visible. Wee Frienders are always thinkin’!

Happy Thursday. –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Grape tomatoes. Breakfast: Whole grain bagels with butter and fresh strawberries. Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded beef, yellow string beans and fresh peaches. Snack: Peanuts and wheat thins.

Hi, everyone. I hope you all are having a great day.

Rosemary made many pictures at the art table this morning. She would scribble with the marker and say, “Circle!”

Franklin joined his friends in the sandbox for the first time today and really enjoyed his new sensory experience!

Annabelle has developed a real love for our classroom fish. She gave them kisses through the glass and followed them down the length of the tank as they swam.

For breakfast, the kids ate Kix cereal and fresh strawberries. Lunch consisted of farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat bread, grapes, and broccoli. Snack was raisins and string cheese.

Have a good night!

Amanda

Hello! This morning friends were invited to work with a set of manipulatives that they hadn’t seen in a while. The novelty of new materials drew many friends into this multi-step process. First, friends rolled a die and identified the number. Next, they counted out the correct number of blocks and snapped them together. Finally, they measured their blocks with a ruler to see how many inches tall the stack was. This activity also incorporated additional math skills as friends added their stacks together.

Friends took the manipulatives one step further and explored other ways to use the blocks. At one point, Elliott constructed a square and then measured each side, finding out each side was the same length!

With the beautiful weather, the bikes and sandbox were a popular choice outside today.

In large group, recent talk among friends sparked an interest in constellations. Today we read a non-fiction book to find out more information about them. We then drew either our own made-up constellations or those that exist in the night sky and poked holes in the stars. We are still figuring out how to make the room or a box dark enough to see the constellations when a flashlight shines behind them. A work in progress!

May your day be as exciting as it is to have TWO draw four cards! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal and fresh pears. Lunch: Farm fresh eggs, whole wheat tortillas, fresh broccoli and bananas. Snack: Refried beans and blue corn chips.  

Good Afternoon!

We want to send a big birthday shout out to Owen! He turned the big ‘5’ today! Happy birthday, Owen!

In the habitrail this morning, a little plotting was going on. Owen and Elliott stood and surveyed the gross motor area. A conversation took place as to what to build with the wooden blocks. After they talked about it, their plan was put into action!

Friends were invited to the table this morning to create origami. First, children followed a ten step process to create a candy bowl. Following that, water bombs were made. It was a strenuous process that allowed for friends to follow specific directions in hopes of creating a certain object. A few friends who enjoyed the activity looked through the origami book to plot their next creation.

The art easel was a big hit today as children took turns using different colors of paint. It’s wonderful when we can bring our indoor activities, outdoors!

A group gathered near the garage where plums were dissected. In the backyard, there is a big plum tree. Plums randomly fall and friends took the opportunity to use this as a learning experience. Children took pieces of wood to break open the plums. In the middle, we found a seed! Many seeds were collected and friends were quite diligent in this effort.

 

Wee Sprouts: Breakfast: Kashi’s wheat squares and strawberries. Lunch: Peanut butter on whole wheat bread, fresh yellow wax beans, and ppc watermelon. Snack: Owen’s birthday snack (trail mix) and pears. 

Have a terrific night!

-Mindy