The conversation began early, at the breakfast table when a friend asked a teacher “What’s a boss?” and then expressed her understanding of it by expressing “My mom is the boss of me.” Mel reported that the conversation came up again in the habitrail and ended with the resolution of “we are the boss of ourselves, not each other.”

What began as a counting and number identification exercise, morphed into a group exploration of numbers using wooden blocks, number knowledge and paint.

A few swimmers reported that they jumped into the water all by themselves and also swam to the bottom of the pool. One friend said she got her eyes wet and everything!

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Raisin Bran and pear slices. Lunch: Melted cheddar cheese on whole wheat tortillas, watermelon and carrots. Snack: Cottage cheese and orange slices.

Have a great day.

Lisa’s Update: Lisa is doing well and is now comfortable at home, beginning her recovery from back surgery. She sends hugs to all! Here is her home address should you want to contact her: 23910 Edison Road, SB 46628

Please remember that Wee Friends is closed this Friday, March 29th. We will re-open Monday, April 1st.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN! Ben turns two today and we began our day preparing his Big 2 Birthday card.

We gathered in the reading area to welcome Debbie and tell her a bit about ourselves. Here’s what a few friends shared:

Sloane: “My mom is Dinah and my Dad is Pete! I like giraffes!”

Ada: “I like zebras. They are black and white.”

Jane: “You also like snakes.”

Macy: “I am Macy Wolfe Little.”

Finn: “My name is Finn. I’m four and I like pirates. I’m actually a captain.”

Marina: “Marina Georgia Cascarano! I like monkeys!”

Marta: “Marta Babushki Ciccone. I like squirrels.”

Eleanor: “One time I had a bad dream with my spider-it got stuck in my ear. Eleanor Susan Schulte and I like ALL animals.”

Sophie: “My favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz.”

Jane: “And some people call her Sophia.”

Elizabeth: “I’m still three and I like to dance. I like squirrels.”

Lea: “Squirrels!”

Mel played a game in which friends had to categorize and create piles, for a basket of random objects.

Finn’s desire to turn his feather into a writing instrument caught the attention of many a friend. Without real feathers, we turned straws into quills by adding a soft craft feather to the top, and snipping a fine point on the bottom. Friends dipped their quills into watercolor and began writing and creating art.

We bundled up and headed outside. A mini snail society emerged: mother, father and children, and crawled around the backyard.

Wee Sprouts: Broccoli. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat penne pasta with black beans, peas and Clementines. Snack: Ben’s birthday muffins and pears.

Have a great day!

Happy 1st Birthday Zoey Marie! You’re becoming such a wonderful little girl and we’re so happy we got to be apart of your first year!

**Throughout the week, we’ve had a couple illnesses going through Wee Wee Friends. Two children were out and their only symptom was vomiting. Another child went home with a fever. There are various things going through so hopefully we’ll all take the weekend to rest and relax .

Clara initiated a fort building activity this morning. Using the pillow and various blankets, friends went inside the cube that they turned into their fort! Miss Mindy helped them by draping the red curtains around the cube.

Zoey grabbed different books that she wanted to read with Miss Marty. Daniel and Clara joined in and listened. We read an Easter book today and let our friends know that Easters coming up soon! Children talked about the eggs that they saw and Clara pointed and said, “Chocolate?” There must be chocolate in Clara’s eggs .

Eve spent time this morning building with our colorful blocks. At the beginning, she worked with the different sized blocks. She realized that when she looked through the blocks, she could see our the other side.

When she was done stacking the blocks, there were three sets of two. With Miss Mindy, she counted the number of blocks that there were total.

A little snuggle time with friends was definitely needed this morning <3.

During the late morning, friends migrated to the habitrail where they began jumping and hopping along the walkway to get to the slide. Daniel and Clara yelled, “Jump, jump, jump!” Through different activities, we’re beginning to use our communication skills to tell others what we’re doing.

For breakfast, children had oatmeal with honey and cinnamon. We loved it! AM snack was a mixture of peas and corn. Lunch consisted of whole grain rice with beef, pineapple/banana, and broccoli. PM snack was cheddar cheese and crackers.

Have a terrific weekend.

-Mindy

For those of you who don’t know, On Wednesday morning, Lisa had back surgery. It was more complicated than was expected and she will be home recovering for the next 6 weeks. Tami saw her last night at the hospital and reported that Lisa is doing well and is expected to come home today.

A former IUSB classmate of Mindy’s, named Debbie Cassella, will be covering Lisa’s absence. Debbie, who will be receiving her Master’s in Education this May at IUSB, comes highly recommended to us. We had the pleasure of spending the morning with her and we welcome her aboard as Lisa convalesces.

9:20 Mel begins reading The Wizard of Oz.

9:30

9:40

10am

Fanning the “spark” of an idea—–tents.

Wee Sprouts: Green Beans. Breakfast: Rice cakes with peanut butter and raisins. Lunch: Whole grain rice with pork, bananas/pineapple fruit salad and broccoli. Snack: Cheddar cheese and crackers.

Have a great weekend!

Good Afternoon.

It’s starting to look like spring in the Wee Wee house but it’s sure not looking that way outside! We are hoping it warms up so we can head outside for some much needed time running around in the outdoors.

P.K. asked for magnatiles so he and Daniel headed into the kitchen where they worked together to build a castle! After it fell down, P.K. said, “Kaboom!” They rebuilt it even higher the next time.

Group story reading is a must every day. Not only do the teachers love the bonding experience it brings but every kid loves the snuggle time. During reading time, relationships are built along with language growth.

Daniel worked with his shapes and fine motor skills as he attempted to put each shape into its correct hole in the house.

We found a lot of cars today that were hidden throughout the house! Friends enjoyed playing with the new cars and were sharing with one another extremely well.

Doctors visited us today! Dr. Clara, Dr. Zoey, and Dr. Daniel checked us out to make sure we weren’t sick! We all had a clean bill of health .

Lu Lu loved playing the piano. Along with using her fine motor skills, she smiled as the piano made noise.

A visitor could tell that we’re in the technological age. At one point this afternoon, every child had a phone in their hand. Whether they were talking to their Mommy on the phone or using it to take pictures, the phones were used to their maximum!

Friends paired off this afternoon.

Eve and Daniel sat in the rocker as they read ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ together. As Daniel read the book, Eve did the motions.

P.K. said, “Clara, sit on lap”. As they catapulted off the stair, P.K. screamed, “Tackle!” as they both plummeted to the ground. This happened over and over.

For breakfast, children had whole wheat toast with cinnamon and banana. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of hummus on pita, pears, and fresh green beans. PM snack was goldfish and hard boiled eggs.

Have a great night.

Many times, when we have created an imaginary world, friends will later repeat the story exactly as they previously told it. Today was no different. The request was made to rebuild the plane and friends fell into their roles and activities, exactly where they left off yesterday. A new storyline emerged on board today: mommies traveled with their babies.

We always offer friends music to listen to or sing as they play. Today’s inflight music selections were calming and soothing to our passenger’s ears. Most friends now have “their” song that they request as they create.

In another part of the classroom, friends learned and reviewed the colors of a streetlight, a stop sign and a yield sign. They used miniature cars around the table following the speed  and direction of the traffic signals.

Letter studies were happening all over the classroom today! With ink/letter stamps and crayons/sand boards, friends explored their letters. Connections popped up right and left and were expressed when they recognized a letter.

Yesterday, friends painted a new set of alphabet letters. When Mel held one letter up at a time, friends shouted out their guess.

Other moments of our morning were spent reading, creating habitats under the habitrail, rehearsing Thumbelina, counting teeth and learning to live peacefully in a wee society.

Wee Sprouts: Celery sticks. Breakfast: Raisin Bran and bananas. (thank you so much for getting breakfast eaters here on at/before 9am! Gratitude!) Lunch: Whole wheat tortillas with hummus, cole slaw and pear slices (just like onboard our flight to Albania). Snack: Cottage cheese and pineapple slices.

 

Hello!

Cars went zooming around the Wee Wee house today! As they slid down the ramp, friends made multiple noises such as “vroom” and “toot toot”!

There were two ramps that we shared with our friends.  This made Eren especially happy .

Friends took their turn in the kitchen where each child made a flower using their hand prints. Children picked the color that they would like to use to make their flower. After their flower was complete, friends were given the option of free for all finger painting if they wish. Of course, we opted for this.

“Is it our turn yet?” Friends enjoy standing at the gate watching their friends paint. We’re working on waiting our turn and being patient.

The sensorial aspects of finger painting are astounding! All of our friends looked at their hands after they dipped their hand in paint. They loved squishing the paint in between their fingers.

P.K. used his words to express how he was feeling. He said, “Wow, dirty hands! Wash them?”

Daniel used multiple techniques as he started painting. His first technique included taking his hand and pounding it on the paper. This caused the paint to splatter. He sure did enjoy this. After there was enough paint on the paper, he took his index finger and moved it around throughout the paint. The final result was a work of art with his finger mark trails all throughout the paper.

Eve was cautious about putting one color with the other. She made sure to keep the pink paint with the pink and yellow paint with the yellow.

Eren took both of his hands and put the two colors together. He loved the feeling of the paint squishing around between his hands.

Zoey explored the habitrail area. Since she’s really walking now, it’s fairly easy for her to navigate the habitrail .

Laughing and smiles took up our day.

For breakfast, children had cheesy eggs with oranges. AM snack was green peas. Lunch consisted of egg casserole with bread, banana, and corn. PM snack was animal crackers with soy butter.

Have a wonderful night.

 

A quick reminder about our breakfast service! 9am is our target time to put breakfast away so that we can move on to table top lessons and activities. We will assume that if your Wee Friend arrives after 9am, they will have eaten breakfast at home. While we’ll never deny your child food if they haven’t eaten,  if you drop your child off after 9:00, we will direct them to the Wee Sprouts, which we serve, unlimited,  all day.  Don’t hesitate to come to us with questions about our breakfast routine!

Today our Block Puzzle piece of art was hung in the housekeeping loft. But before it went up, we took one last chance to recreate work of art into a game board. First, we added plastic bears and a die, counting and moving from block to block. Then we added trucks and tiny dinosaurs which were used to pattern and create lines. We added our mega dinos and pretended they were on the attack.

Jane: “We are going on a long trip.”

Teacher: “We are going to India!”

Jane: “No, we are going to Albania.”

Marta: “Would you like the pasta with eggs?”

Long billowy curtain sheers became our airplane and we studied yesterday’s plane sketch to remind ourselves who we wanted to be in our airplane exploration. Then we took off….to Albania. A flight that lasted “1800 hours”. There were two captains in the cockpit who controlled an aircraft carrying passengers and flight attendants. As friends imagined their trip, we wrote down words they used. Later, we talked about and defined the words. There was A LOT of food on this flight.

The Wee baby dolls were well cared for this morning, under the loving touches of several Wee Friends. They were coddled, fed and tucked in as the girls negotiated materials, who was who and what happens next.

Mel read Cinderella. Friends who heard the story rushed to the art table to create costumes for a character they had met in the book.

Wee Sprouts! Farm fresh egg casserole! Our snack to day will be whole wheat bagels and cream cheese.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

Lu Lu enjoyed her floor time today! Between friends bringing her different toys throughout the day and laughing with her friends, she had an eventful day!

She worked on strengthening her core by bending over to reach for toys that were slightly out of her reach. This movement and ability to bend will strengthen different parts of the body. The feeling of independence while playing is an important one that all of our friends enjoy when that time comes.

The gross motor area is one of varying abilities. When we go down the slide, we have to keep our body in check or we might get hurt. There are times when children are by the ladder where we really have to watch where our body is and to make sure we stay safe at all times. Controlling our body along with balance is an important part of our day!

Lately, we’ve been working with colors wherever we see them. There are certain books that friends point out the different colors that they notice. The stackable blocks are another aspect of color acknowledgement. Today, when P.K. was working with the stackable blocks we looked around the room to see what other colors we could see. P.K. pointed to his shirt and said, “Red!” There’s that point in a toddlers life where the verbal aspect of development spikes. Most of our friends are at that moment . Conversations throughout the past couple of weeks have increased in vocabulary!

Relationships grow every day. Daniel was away on a family vacation last week and our friends sure did miss him! P.K. and Daniel spent all morning together. They joined each other under the habitrail where they kicked their feet up to the sky. It’s wonderful to see two friends just laughing together, building relationships.

Magnatiles were their next stop. Sharing and taking turns was evident throughout their play. When the tower fell over, they laughed and started building again. Their perseverance was awesome!

P.K. said, “Look, a triangle!” The recognition of this shape was great!

Literacy and book reading ended our Tuesday. Throughout independent reading and partner/group reading, friends are extending their vocabulary by listening to friends or their teachers.

For breakfast, children had whole wheat bagels with butter and cinnamon along with bananas. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with melted cheese and ham, apples, and corn. PM snack was string cheese and pretzels.

Have a terrific evening.

 

When one Wee Friend has an idea, the teachers hustle to execute the friend’s vision and invite as many friends as possible to invest in the vision. This morning the suggestion was to make “the biggest airplane in the world.” First, we decided to sketch out a design. Before we knew it, several friends had gathered at the table to find their place and voice in the exploration.

Emergent art=we set out the materials and friends use them in a developmentally appropriate way-usually!) to create a work of art. This morning, foam shapes, glue, felt, Styrofoam and pom pom balls were made available.

Forts. Kids love forts. Small, safe, comfy places to curl up, hide out, and make believe in.

Literacy FAB K.6.2-Use tools such as drawings to model and solve problems. For the last two days in our post-lunch large group, we have read a “life skills” themed book. Next, we’ve brainstormed different friendship conflicts. Lastly, we’ve drawn our solutions in an artistic way.

Wee Sprouts: Celery sticks. Breakfast: Corn flakes and apples. Lunch: Whole grain flatbread with cheese and ham, apple/raisin fruit salad and corn. Snack: Yogurt and apple slices.

Have a great day!