Hello!

**Just a reminder, that we are closed Monday May 27th for Memorial Day. We’ll see you on Tuesday .

****Also, we’re asking parents of Wee Wee friends to bring in a fever reducer for their child. Lately, we’ve been having fevers and various ailments that allow for this type of medicine to be given. If you would like us to give your child medicine when they’re feeling down/fever/etc, please bring in your choice of fever reducer.

We spent a lot of time this morning listening to different songs such as “You Are My Sunshine” and “Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes”! Friends used their soft touches and dance with their babies.

All the dancing tired us out!

For breakfast, children had whole wheat bagels with cinnamon and apples. Lunch consisted of ham and cheese on pita bread, watermelon, and broccoli. PM snack was pretzels and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

I love emergent curriculum.  I just do.  Last night I watched this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQBUccxBr4 from Britain’s Got Talent Show.  For me it was unbelievably artistic and emotionally moving.  So I just had to share it.  It actually wasn’t my intention to get the kids involved in this, but as I was sharing it with Melinda, the WF crew gathered around.  Many watched it from start to finish.  Then some watched it again.  And yet again.  They were fascinated. 

So, in the way of emergent curriculum Melinda and I set up a sheet and projector so the children could explore the concepts of light and shadow.  So for an extended time, most children were gathered in the shadow area and all were disappointed when we had to pull it down for lunch time. 

As the children took turns being the audience and being the shadow, Melinda talked with them.  They explored together how the distance between an object and its light source affects the size of the shadow.  They recognized the projector as a source of light and its importance to the process of creating shadows.  They waited for turns. They all were in close proximity as the audience and they navigated this. The shadow dancers explored how turning different ways influenced how their shadow appeared. 

The shadow puppets this morning in an example of true emergent curriculum as a small spark was unintentionally introduced to the children, the WF teachers saw the opening and provided materials to explore the concept, and the children were completely absorbed in the moment. 

Check out the photo album for wonderful moments that happened before the shadow puppets as the WFer’s played together, created a thank you message for Officer Burns, did some large group message boarding, were introduced to some new music from Mel, danced, listened to stories, and played outside (briefly before we got rained out)!

Breakfast was whole wheat bagels and banana.  WeeSprouts were cukes.  Lunch was whole wheat flat bread with melted mozzarella and ham, broccoli, and watermelon.  Snack will be cream cheese and wheat crackers.

Have a great day!

Tami

Good Afternoon!

Water play. While it can be messy, children need to explore water and the concepts that come along with it. Friends gathered by twos at the sink to indulge in the water play! Eren enjoyed taking a measuring cup and filling it with water..just before dumping it everywhere . It’s about the exploration though. Whether water gets everywhere or not, a sensory experience occurred. A favorite motion of these children is to splash. Splash friends. Splash teachers. Their learning that when they splash the water and move it around, people and things get wet!

For breakfast, children had chex and banana. Lunch consisted of cheese and refried beans on tortilla, pears, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was cottage cheese and animal crackers.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Just a reminder that we are closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday!

Today Officer Burns visited our classroom!

He taught us a lot about what it means to be a policeman and he also asked us some very interesting questions:

• What is a stranger and what do you say to a person you don’t know?”
• If the phone rings in your house, do you answer it?
• Do you answer the door if someone knocks on it? Do you open the door if it is someone you don’t know?
• When do you dial 911? When so you not dial 911?
• If you are at the park or another public place and a stranger asks you to come with them, what do you say?”

Wee Friends had lots of excellent responses to these questions as well as lots of questions for Officer Burns.

After our discussion, Officer Burns let friends sit in and explore his car.

As has become the routine, Mailman Kevin happened to pass by just as we were getting into the car!

As friends finished their car tour, they came inside and created a message board about what they saw.

Everyone got a souvenir badge and Officer Burns was on his way—sounding the siren and flashing the lights as we said goodbye!

Thank you Officer Burns! Come back anytime!

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Cereal and bananas. Lunch: Cheese and bean tortillas, pears and mixed veggies. Snack: Apple slices and nuts.

Have a great day!

Good Afternoon!

**Just to inform our parents, we have multiple illnesses going through Wee Wee currently. These include: fever/diarrhea, fever/sore throat, and fever/vomiting. These may or may not be related but fever seems to be the underlying factor. To refresh, if you’re child has a fever of 100 degrees or above, they must be fever free for 24 hours without the help of medicine (Motrin, Tylenol, etc.) to return. Thanks!

Since numbers were lower than usual, friends played intently with one another. Between having play time in the house and outside time (thanks rain for staying away), friends were worn out. The result: another excellent naptime! It really shows that when children have a good nap time, their afternoons are terrific!

For breakfast, children had whole wheat toast with soy butter and oranges. Lunch consisted of chicken salad, whole wheat toast, oranges, and corn. PM snack was cheddar cheese slices and goldfish.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

This Thursday, Tami is planning on taking Group A to the farm: Ada, Finn, Elliott, Lea, Sophia, Max and Caleb.

The swimmers came back with a report of “Awesome!” for the day!

The classroom was quiet, with independent works that included creating a railroad with popsicle sticks, window gazing (”One day I’ll get on the Weehicle!” ), singing along to Mel at the piano and feeding the caterpillars WHO ATE ALL THE LEAVES OVERNIGHT!

Have a great day.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Cheerios and bananas. Lunch: Chicken salad on whole wheat bread, orange slices and corn. Snack: Granola and yogurt.

 

Happy Monday!

This past Saturday, we attended a professional development session where the topic was the Reggio Emilia approach to education. We visited Stanley Clark and talked with a preschool teacher. Not only was the session very informational but we were able to tour the school as well. It’s an interesting approach to education. I have attached an article below that further describes the approach. One thing that stuck out during our session along within the article is the following:

“In Reggio Emilia they have a coined expression: “A child has a hundred languages”. They try to unite and develop all these languages; innovation, construction, fantasy, art, music, dance, building, writing, talking, signing, science, body and soul… The multiple languages are used to help children build knowledge and understand the world around them. The natural environment is incorporated as much as possible.”

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Reggio_Emilia/

As for our day, it was spent cuddling and spending some time outside. Most of our kids were tired today! Busy weekends perhaps? We all took excellent naps but we sure did love those cuddles and snuggles in the morning! We were sure refreshed this afternoon!

For breakfast, children had cheerios and banana. Lunch consisted of whole grain noodles with chicken, cucumbers, and mixed fruit. PM snack was rice cakes with cream cheese and craisins.

Have a lovely evening!

-Mindy

 

Today we welcome Caleb to our Wee Friends summer classroom! Caleb’s little sister Eve is a Wee Wee. Welcome, Caleb! We’re so happy you’re here!

Saturday morning the WF/WWF staff met at The Stanley Clark School for a morning of Professional Development. Sarah Lotter, 3/4’s Teacher, presented to us the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching early childhood education. We marveled at how similar our teaching philosophies/practices are and enjoyed the solidarity that accompanies positive, honest dialogue! Thanks to Sarah and The Stanley Clark School for having us!

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding our Eastern Tent Caterpillars. Ada found a baby caterpillar this morning. Melinda pulled three caterpillar books off our science center shelf and friends got busy researching this particular caterpillar.

In another part of the classroom, Caleb became very interested in The Snail’s Pace.

Marta and Elliott built a highway “with a hole right here for the monsters” shared Elliott.

After we read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, we added linking chains and counted. We matched chains to the illustration of the caterpillar.

Friends practiced the art of negotiation because everyone wanted to sit and spin at the same time.

Elizabeth asked for her princess music (Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty). We began to play it and friends created a story based on the colors, tones and textures they heard in the music. Marta started the exploration by asking “where’s the witch?” when the music was dark and sharp and edgy. We added props, capes and words and created Sleeping Beauty. We even had a Peaceful Fairy (Jane) who showered kisses onto the sleeping princess.

Have a peaceful day.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Peanut butter on wheat toast with bananas. Lunch: Penne pasta with chicken, cucumber slices and apple/banana/pineapple fruit salad. Snack: Cottage cheese and oranges.

 

Happy Friday!

We spent our day saying our goodbyes to P.K.! P.K. is going to another early childhood center to be with his brothers. He’s grown into such an amazing boy during his time here at Wee Wee Friends. Good luck Peter Kevin! We’ll miss you!

 

For breakfast, children had cheesy eggs and oranges. Lunch consisted of flatbread with hummus, mixed fruit, and cauliflower. PM snack was cheddar cheese slices and raisins.

Have a terrific weekend!

-Mindy

Elliott’s sister Lucinda (Lucy!) visited us today! Wee Friends were so happy to meet her.

We painted gourds that will, later, be turned into bird houses.

We found paper flames throughout our classroom and used our water hoses to extinguish the fire.

Melinda read a new book about bodies (Thank you, Finn, Jen and Lindsay!) and listened to the accompanying CD.

We hope you have a wonderful, restful weekend.

Wee Sprouts: Celery sticks. Breakfast: Applesauce Cream of Wheat and oranges. Lunch: Whole grain tortillas with hummus, orange slices and cauliflower. Snack: Graham crackers and peanut butter.