Good Afternoon.

We  started our Thursday off with jungle gym time where we could exercise and work on our gross motor skills.

Friends crawled through holes. We went down the slide. We worked hard!

Clara twirled and spun around waving her arms about. She loves to listen to music of all types. It sure does bring a smile to her face .

Throughout the morning, friends worked with different animals. We talked about the names of each animal and associating the name with a specific sound (cow-moo).

P.K. was in the kitchen this morning working with cars. We have a book in the kitchen with car tracks and roads to follow. P.K. took his own cars and followed the roads throughout the book.

Clara and Eve worked with their numbers and fine motor skills. There is a toy in the front of the house where friends work with numbers one through four as well as the colors red, yellow, green, and blue. They associate the number of holes in the wooden piece to the wood block.

Emma made music on the piano. She used one finger at a time to press the various keys.

Children gathered in the garden bed as they ran and threw leaves.

Besides standing while holding various items, another one of Zoeys favorite activities lately has been untying shoelaces!

“Where’s my bucket?”

P.K. rocked his baby to sleep after he wrapped her up in a blanket. He gave her kisses and said, “Night Night!”

Eren sat quietly playing with a Mickey toy. Friends enjoyed pushing or pressing the button to make the character pop up.

Children sat around our littlest friend to say hi. She was very fascinated with the fan and watched it spin around and around.

For breakfast, children had eggs and apples. Lunch consisted of melted cheese on whole wheat tortillas, mixed vegetables, and mixed fruit. PM snack was hard boiled eggs and animal crackers.

Have a wonderful night.

-Mindy

Many Wee Friends came in from the cool morning to warm themselves up to an exploration of warm sudsy water and droppers.

Others warmed their bodies up under the habitrail with building and balancing, swinging and stretching their gross motor muscles.

Others stilled their bodies with a good book.

Many of our pre-readers enjoy reading books out loud. We encourage this process by asking them to describe what they see illustrated on the page. We ask them questions about what they have described, encouraging more details to emerge. They are able to draw conclusions about what they see and make predictions about what will happen next. The road to reading starts early!

Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and pear slices. Lunch: Melted cheese sandwiches on whole grain flat bread, mixed veggies and pear/orange/apple fruit salad. Snack: Peanut butter and banana bites, with animal crackers.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

We started our morning off with sensory painting. Friends used different shaped sponges along with a multitude of paint colors.

Some of us chose to take the sponge and brush it across the paper while others chose to use the stamp approach.

At the end of the day, we always love to finish with our fingers and hands .

Our finished products!

Daniel sat with Miss Mindy to read a book. He pointed to each of the animals he noticed and bent down to give them kisses.

We spent time on the slide this morning. Daniel chose to slide down forward while P.K. looked backwards.

P.K. spent time in the log house where he worked with pebbles. He scooped them up and dumped them into a bucket. After a little while, P.K.’s brother Nate and friends joined in on the fun!

Clara ran as she pushed the grocery cart around the circle path.

We make sure that our friends are bundled up because it’s been so cold! Burrr..

Zoey practiced standing up while holding onto an object. She got brave a few times and went one handed!

Friends danced this afternoon when we put on music. We love to let loose and dance around the room. It’s interesting to see the dancing styles of each child .

Eren tends to go for the ‘staying in place and bouncing’ dancing style while Clara lets loose and swings her arms around and around.

 

Friends Zoey and Eren sat together while sharing different toys.

Our littlest new friend joined us today! She was very vocal and loved the attention she got from her friends.

For breakfast, children had corn bran and pears. AM snack was green peas. Lunch consisted of whole grain rice with pork, banana, and broccoli. PM snack was apples and whole wheat crackers.

Have a great night.

-Mindy

 

Apologies for keeping the camera on the shelf this morning! Friends had a busy and engaged morning singing, creating art, counting, playing a matching game, reading books and rehearsing our evolving reindeer act for “Jingle Bells”. We are taking advantage of every last sunshiny morning as the weather gradually gets colder.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumber slices. Breakfast: Oatmeal Squares and orange slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with beef, bananas and broccoli. Snack: Peanut butter yogurt and apple slices.

Have a great day!

 

Happy Election Tuesday!

Here are pictures that were taken throughout the day.

For breakfast, friends enjoyed corn flakes and banana. AM snack was banana. Lunch consisted of hummus on whole wheat bread, corn, and apples. PM snack was string cheese and hard boiled egg.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

It was an interesting lesson this morning, trying to explain to our 3-5 year old classroom what is means to vote. We gathered in the reading area and after an enchanting read aloud (Cinderella), and asked friends “What does it mean To Vote?” Elliott said you go to the library and Jane explained it means that you do something. We said-YES! Both of those answers were correct. From the steps of the Wee Friends Library, we went on to do something: have our own voting process! With voting straws in hand, friends elected what they wanted for lunch, cupcakes or green beans. They voted on who had the most decorated shirt on, Arleigh or Sophie. They voted on where they preferred to go on the next field trip, the zoo or the airport. We moved to the music center and, together with Whitney, sang The National Anthem.

We had an all American art exploration and picnic. The report from the pool is that it all went well. Friends are understanding the Tuesday routine from the Wee door to the poolside. And they are swimming swimmingly.

Wee Sprouts: Celery sticks and carrots. Breakfast: Raisin Bran and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat hummus sandwiches, corn and apple slices. Snack: Orange slices and yogurt.

May your evening bring you contentment and promise!

Happy Monday!

Hope you’ve been having a great day! We sure did!

Pretend play such as kitchen and dress up were important parts of our day. Whether it’s dressing up in a cape or rocking a baby to sleep, children take these actions from something they’ve seen before. Clara has been very nurturing when holding and rocking the baby. Wherever she sees these certain actions, they’ve been brought into her play at the Wee Wee house!

Daniel enjoyed dressing up in capes today along with a dress. He spun around so he could see his dress fly in the air. When children need help with putting something on, we remind them to say, “please” or “help”. These actions allow children to communicate what they need and also showing good manners.

Clara said, “help please” when she wanted the magician cape on.

We bundled up and went outside where we saw frost on the ground!

Friends P.K. and Daniel headed to the log house where they enjoyed climbing on the logs.

Emma walked around and observed her surroundings. She stood by the fence as she watched her friends slide down the slide!

Clara gave her friend Eve a push as she was riding a bike. It’s lovely when our friends help each other out!

“I’m going bye-bye,” said Daniel.

P.K. worked on his balancing skills as he went from one log to the next. These were very small logs which was challenging. Once he was done, he stood on the logs and jumped into the grass. He enjoyed this very much .

With the temperature being so cold, friends quickly found out that when they sat on the slide, it was a little chilly on the bum. We talked about the weather and why the slide was cold to the touch.

Our friends took it in stride and went down as fast as they could!

We headed to the play house where friends took part in group play. Our vocabulary is growing oh so much and it’s great to see our friends communicating during their play.

A group gathered over by the jungle gym where they interacted with one another. P.K. made Zoey laugh by making silly faces!

Zoey showed her friends how she can stand up now! She did this multiple times throughout the day. Next for Zoey…walking!!

Children partook in different gross motor skills such as jumping on the jungle gym and then sliding down.

For breakfast, friends enjoyed whole wheat toast with soy butter and pears. AM snack was fresh cucumbers. Lunch consisted of chicken noodle soup, pears, peas, and bread with butter. PM snack was string cheese and apple cinnamon muffins.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

We were so inspired by Friday’s Halloween Parade that we have decided to do it again in December! This time we will be singing carols! The dates we have set are Wednesday, Dec. 5th @ 10:30 and Monday, December 10th @ 3:45. Please feel to join us for either or both outings as we bring holiday cheer to our neighbors!

This morning, Elliott took a short break from his work piecing together four parts of a paper wheel. “Will you save my creation?” he asked. It’s a phrase we hear throughout our days at Wee Friends. We hear it much more than “my stuff”, “this” or even “my things”. It is a descriptive phrase that we have cultivated in our learning environment to help our friends experience the glorious feeling of building something and then taking ownership of their work. Their Creation. We hear it at the art table, with Magna-Tiles and wooden blocks, at the workbench and in the sand box. Their Creations are everywhere and the act of creating is what makes up the hours in a Wee Day. We create.

 

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with cinnamon and bananas. Lunch: Chicken soup, whole wheat tortillas, peas and fruit salad. Snack: Cheddar cheese slice and Whole wheat crackers.

Have a great day.

Happy Friday!

We listened to music this morning and children used circular rings to articulate their movements. Children put the rings around their neck, arms, legs, and stomachs.

We put them on the ground where friends could step into the circles with their feet.

The rings were a nice touch to our music time .

Clara spent a good amount of time working with a blanket and her baby. She articulated the movement of rolling the baby up in the blanket.

We had gross motor work this morning that included running and sliding on our gross motor object.

Clara relaxed and put her feet up this morning!

Zoey crawled through the half circle and played peek-a-boo with her friends!

Our littlest friend grabbed onto a toy and brought it close to her body. She liked the sound it made! It jingled when she shook it.

This afternoon we stood at the door as we watched our Wee Friends do their Halloween parade. It was much nicer weather than on Wednesday! We had fun waving and saying hi to our friends!

Zoey practiced standing this afternoon. Her leg muscles are sure strong! After achieving an important milestone, our friends are always proud of themselves as well as one another .

For breakfast, children had eggs with cheese and raisins. AM snack was green peas. Lunch consisted of ham and cream cheese rollups, carrots, and pears. PM snack was bananas and animal crackers.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

The day has been abuzz with the much anticipated Halloween Parade! Wee Friends started early by preparing The Grand Marshal baton.

We napped, snacked and then got into costume!

A HUGE WEE FRIENDS THANKS to Fabrizio (aka: Baboo) for acting as our Grand Marshal. His spirit and enthusiasm are contagious!

We explained safety rules, buddied up and did a practice run (walk!).

Baboo coached Wee Friends on starting with their right feet to march left and right. Several Wee Friends knew which was their right foot!  And with that, we  were on our way. Thanks to the parents who joined us and met us on our route and to the terrific River Park neighbors who cheered us on!

Wee Friends, Wee Friends, Mighty Mighty Wee Friends, we play games, we sing songs. Wee Friends, Wee Friends, Mighty Mighty Wee Friends, we grow friendships all day long!

 

It’s Fall again! Leaves have fallen on you! And if by chance you stomp in them, you might lose a shoe!!! It’s Fall again!!!

Second shoe down.

Back to school for the Piñata!

And with bags full of treats and lots of excitement, we wish you a Happy Halloween weekend!

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods. Breakfast: Kashi and bananas. Lunch: Cream cheese ham rolls, pear slices and carrots. Snack: Goldfish and craisins.