There’s a lot of building going on at Wee Friends. Today, if they weren’t building a puzzle, a Magna Tile structure, a fort or a wooden freeway….friends were picking out and decorating their own room in the Wee Friends House. This afternoon, we will invite friends to share their family photos (thank you!) and paste them in their room.

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods. Breakfast: Whole wheat English muffins with peanut butter and pear slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with chicken, peas and mandarin oranges. Snack: Rice cakes and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great weekend!

Hello!

We picked up where we left off yesterday: with our colorful blocks! To start off the day, we sat in them and talked about our morning.

Clara started off with her “one, two, three!” as she jumped off the blocks. These are an awesome tool for friends to use to increase their gross motor skills and strength their muscles. Plus, we work on counting!

P.K. jumped from block to block. He made sure his feet were steady. When he was finished, he said, “I jumped a lot!”

Children love to congregate in places. Lately, one of our favorites is at the jungle gym!

We shuffled over to the kitchen area where friends became involved in deep pretend play.

Daniel mixed up an orange in a bowl and gave it to one of his friends. It was like Thanksgiving dinner at one point! Friends were reaching, grabbing, and taking things from all over the table.

Lu Lu enjoyed floor time where she looked around at her friends and playing with different toys that her friends brought to her!

This afternoon, our stripped friends worked with a wooden cube with different shapes. Children took each shape and put it into the correct hole.

Once they were done, P.K. asked if he could have a turn. When it was finally his turn, he stacked the shapes instead.

Peek-A-Boo was the game of the day.

For breakfast, children had Chex and banana. Lunch consisted of egg and melted cheese rolled into a tortilla (YUM), mixed vegetables, and banana. PM snack was cranberry-orange muffins and Colby jack cheese slices.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

It’s a topic that comes up a lot in our lives at Wee Friends: how do we create an environment that will enable our friends to enjoy and celebrate their part in successful social negotiations? It’s hard not to jump in and solve it for them or do it for them. It’s hard to sit still and listen and carefully navigate the sometimes tricky communication dynamics of 3-5 year olds. But it happens. Everyday. And we WORK AT IT! Whew.

There’s one cash register on the table and one basket of coins but two friends want to play with it at the same time. As it turned out, our older Arleigh mentored our younger Marina.

There are two different books and each friend wants to hold both books at the same time and NOT share. With some support, friends agree to read one book at a time and then switch.

Two prima ballerinas are on a bus with only two spots. There is absolutely no room for anyone else.

But there are other friends who would like to ride the bus as well.

With no teacher guidance, THREE new spots were made and the bus filled with  girls not only rode around town, but had delicious snacks as well.

It’s the pay-off time of the year and everyone has enjoyed these great moments as a result of hard won negotiating skills. Not all the time…..but more and more each day. Happiness.

Wee Sprouts:

Breakfast: Kashi and apple slices. Lunch: Scrambled eggs and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, bananas and mixed veggie. Snack: Pretzels and Craisins.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

We started off the morning with the second part of our project from yesterday. To recall, we made a giant heart that we put in the classroom. Today, we started working on painting small individual hearts. Children used red, white, and pink paint to paint the hearts. We used the small sponges to make our glorious artwork!

Clara showed her beautiful smile all throughout the day! We love it when our friends are happy and laughing. We had a wonderful day!

While friends were waiting to transition into lunch time, we gathered on the floor and read books.

Since older friends were napping, Zoey and Lu Lu spent time in the classroom where they talked with one another. Zoey’s enjoying using the furniture throughout the classroom as she learns to walk.

Lu Lu reached for her toys and loved being back with her Wee Wee Friends. She’s becoming much more aware of her environment and her friends around her.

After nap time, the teachers brought out four colorful boxes that our friends can play with. We had them out a while back and put them away for a little bit. We decided it was a great time to reintroduce these stepping tools.

We sat in the box. We stood on the box. We stacked the boxes. We found out there are endless possibilities .

As Clara would say, “One…two…three!” Clara and Daniel took turns counting to three and then bending their knees and jumping high into the sky!

For breakfast, children had malto-meal. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with melted cheese, oranges/banana, and corn. PM snack was hard boiled eggs and whole grain crackers.

Zoey says “See ya later!”

-Mindy

Friends were very excited when Lisa asked them to 1) draw pictures of each family member and then tell stories for one another.

Nate chose a book about 10 little kisses. After we read it, we counted out our own kisses, enough to match each number card on our felt board.

After two count throughs #’s 1-9, we caught falling stars and sang about putting them in our pocket. Max and Nate filled their stars with kisses.

Other friends gathered to make shapes with the star kisses. Friends saw different things when they looked at the shapes-a shark, a doggy and a wolf were a few of the perceptions shared.

Mel and friends wiggled to The Wiggles.

Charles Tazewell’s The Littlest Angel has been a book of interest since we have returned from vacation. Jada described a little boy who was thinking when she looked at the cover’s illustration.

The Master Builder.

The Master Puzzler.

We ended our morning by asking Arleigh, Jane and Macy to arrange all of our friends in a line, smallest to tallest.

Today’s smallest and tallest:

• We would like to collect some family pictures for an upcoming project! If you are willing to share 6 or more photos with us, please label who is in the photo and bring them over the next few days. Thank you!
• Please remember our parking policy: if during drop off/pick up you choose to park in front of Wee Friends, we ask that you limit the parking duration to ten minutes. If you are planning on staying longer, the church parking lot (at 29th and Wall) is available to you. Thank you so much for this courtesy!
• Don’t forget that on Friday the swimming/tumbling registration and fees are due, as well as the annual shot records.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots and celery sticks. Breakfast: Applesauce Malt-O-Meal. Lunch: Melted mozzarella on whole wheat tortillas, banana/mandarin oranges and corn. Snack: Peanut butter/yogurt dip with graham crackers.

Have a great day!

Good Afternoon!

Our friends are still getting used to the new gate. Teachers are still getting used to it too!

Bounce, bounce, bounce we went on the jungle gym. The gross motor activities that our friends partake in throughout the day allow children to let loose, work on their balance and stability, and engage with friends.

Peek-a-boo was a game that was played today. P.K. hid under the jungle gym and peaked through the floor boards at his friends.

There he is!

Zoey looked at friends through small spaces. She peaked her head up to find teachers and friends waving at her!

The school bus and fire truck got a work out this morning! Friends Eren and P.K. pushed them around the classroom while making interesting noises.

Eve took care of her baby all morning. Between feedings and naps, Eve enjoyed playing with her baby! The nurturing aspect of pretend play is a great skill that our friends are learning.

“Patience is a virtue.”

While a couple of friends entered the kitchen to begin painting, our other friends waited. We waited by the gate where we could watch our friends explore in the kitchen. We learned that we have to wait our turn and that soon we’ll get a chance.

We began our “after Christmas” project. Red paint was used to paint with on a long piece of white paper. We’re going to cut it into a red heart and the second stage of the project will occur tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Children moved around the paper so that multiple spots on the paper could be painted. Friends painted as much paper as possible!

Some of us also painted their hands and feet. It was sure a great sensory activity and a wonderful chance for friends to paint together. We sure did have a big canvas to paint .

P.K. saw his reflection in the mirror. He said, “Hi, P.K.”

When Daniel and P.K. were done with the art activity in the kitchen, they each grabbed a book and began reading.

Zoey has been enjoying standing on the bench and exploring the options that she has. She walked while holding the ledge. She bent down to get some toys. With the help of Miss Marty, she practiced walking around the classroom.

Music was turned on this afternoon and Eve spun and turned around to the different tunes we heard.

To end the day, P.K. explored his gross motor possibilities. He jumped on the jungle gym. He bent his knees and launched up into the air. He smiled when he was done and said, “I jumped!”

For breakfast, children had toast with soy butter and bananas. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of hummus on whole grain bread, bananas/oranges, and snap peas. PM snack was rice cakes with soy butter.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

• If you would like any of Miss Charlotte’s farm fresh eggs, please email Tami directly. $3 a dozen.
• WF would love your holiday cards if you are looking for a place to recycle them.
• ‘Tis the season of Winter Gear and our WF love their own Winter Gear! While we have an abundance of mittens, hats, snow pants and boots on site, many Wee Friends are very excited to wear their own special gear and become very upset if it is not available to them. Can you help us in this way: if your Wee Friend is particular about any of these items to make sure they come to school? Thank you so very much for your help in making the transition to outdoor play smooth for your child.

This is a great time of year in the preschool classroom. We’ve just come from the comfort of being with our families for two weeks. We’ve established healthy routines and made good friendships. We’ve settled into familiar processes and social interactions. We all know each a bit better and can now explore, in more detail, “Who am I, anyway?”!

So, we began our day with our message board sign in asking “What color are my eyes?”

A small group of friends gathered in housekeeping to sing “Green eyes, green eyes, if you have green eyes, please stand up!? We explored eye color, hair color, clothes colors and patterns and other body parts.

Lisa invited friends to the art table to create self portraits using markers, blue and yarn.

Melinda cut up celery stalks for Wee Sprouts and invited friends to the easel to explore how the bottom stump of the stalk could create shapes and patterns.

When friends finished with the art portion of their self portrait, they moved to the message board to write an original story about themselves.

Have you noticed the new bulletin boards Tami installed opposite the habitrail? This functional art will also absorb the sounds of Wee Friend Folly!

Marta and Elliott worked very hard on a block and Little People negotiation. One of the friends wanted to play with the Little People and the other was concerned that it would create too big a mess. With a little language side coaching, they resolved that the Little People could come out and they proceeded to hide them deep within in the layers of blocks they stacked. Like many of our friends, months of hard work and practice led them to this moment-a peaceful and accommodating exchange!

Today in post lunch small groups Lisa read “Never Talk to Strangers” by Irma Joyce and Laurie read “Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride!” by Kate DiCamillo. Our older preschool friends are beginning an in –depth alphabet letter study: identifying letters by sight and sound.

Breakfast: Kix and bananas. Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat bread, pea pods and orange slices. Snack: Rice cakes and peanut butter.

Welcome Back!

Hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

**We ventured outside for about five minutes this morning (chilly and snow covered backyard). While we were all dressed warm, if you could please make sure to send your child with a warm coat, snow pants, gloves, hat, and boots everyday. We found out this morning that our friends don’t like their hands getting wet . The cloth gloves don’t work that well because they get wet fairly easily. Our friends love to play with the snow and it makes it difficult to do so with cloth gloves. If you have the water resistant type gloves to bring in that would be terrific! Thanks so much!

We all got back in the swing of things today. Our friends observed and tested out our new structural addition to the WWF establishment: a new gate from the play area to the kitchen!

Miss Tami also put in a new mirror by the cube where the felt board used to be. We loved looking at our reflection in the mirror.

Friends gathered in the cube where they played with wooden shapes. They built a tower by placing one block on top of another.

A few of our friends enjoyed working with trains this morning. Daniel put different cars and trains in a row one after another. P.K. took the wooden trains around the room.

Daniel also put out different farm animals on the floor. We went through the different animals and the noises that they make.

Children got into reading books for a while this morning. It was a great transitional activity for the start of the day.

Emma enjoyed worked with the abacus.

The kitchen was the hot place to be this afternoon.

Daniel and P.K. enjoyed some quiet time on the jungle gym.

For breakfast, children had cheerios and apples. Lunch consisted of whole wheat noodles with chicken, broccoli, and banana. PM snack was pretzels and string cheese.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

Reminders:

• If you are planning on enrolling your Wee Friend in gymnastics this spring, pick up the form that’s taped to your child’s cubby and return it, with the fee BY FRIDAY JANUARY 11th.
• Same with swimming: pick up the form taped to your child’s cubby and return to Tami by FRIDAY JANUARY 11th.

Friends jumped right into Wee Friends 2013, creating a mellow and engaged morning, working with favorite materials and activities.

Our new numbered cake stackers were a huge hit!

Mel invited friends to play charades, acting out different characters and actions.

She invited some gamers to the art table to play a seek and find board game.

We pulled out the alphabet sock puppets and studied letters. Friends were excited when they found “their letters”!

Nate started singing our “Jack and the Beanstalk” song using only B sounds. We all joined him exploring the way ‘B’ felt in our mouth when we sang! Friends recognized not only their own letters, but friend’s letters as well. Other friends decided to wear their sock puppets and we played “Happy Feet” and danced around!

 

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with chicken, broccoli and bananas. Snack: Pretzels and cheddar cheese.

Have a great day!

Wee Friends is closed Monday, December 24-Friday, January 4. We will re-open Monday, January 7.

On behalf of Tami and the Wee Friends teachers, we wish you a happy, restful and safe holiday! See you  in 2013!

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Cheerios and apple slices. Lunch: Pizza, corn and apple slices. Snack: Pretzels and cheese sticks.