Good Afternoon!

Social relationships are such an important aspect of the Wee Wee World. Not only are friendships transformed day to day but children learn about each other all the time. P.K. has formed a special bond with Zoey. He gets down on the floor and talks to her in the sweetest, most caring voice. She laughs and smiles at him which tells him that she is acknowledging him.

Zoey enjoys floor time. Not only does it allow her to work on her crawling skills but friends come down to her level and play with her. She is very aware of her surroundings. While drinking her bottle or playing independently, she is constantly turning her head and looking around to see what’s happening.

Emma loved sitting on a tree log today while playing with the rocks. It is a great sensorial activity for her. She loves picking up the rocks and feeling them within her hand.

Friends play pretend in the houses that are in the corners of the backyard. Children invite one another to play with them.

Marina enjoyed playing with a new green watering can. She could tell it was new and she said, “It’s new!”

Rocks allow children to work on pouring, dumping, and gathering.

Group play is a vital area while outside. Children sit together in the sand box and work with one another as they build castles or play pretend with trucks.

P.K. loved working with different terrains today. He moved on his belly from one height to another. He always enjoys his time with Clara.

Emma worked with insects today at the kitchen table. She used her hand to push the insect down toward the table. It then popped back up and she tried this over and over. She was very resilient!

While friends were napping, Zoey and Emma played with one another. Emma would come up to baby Zoey’s head and give her nice, gentle kisses.

Breakfast was cinnamon whole wheat toast with oranges. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortillas with soy butter, watermelon, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was watermelon and whole wheat crackers.

Tomorrow there will not be a blog post because of staffing circumstances.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

-Mindy

Today is the two for one blog.  Sorry, yesterday’s blog failed to upload and we didn’t notice until the evening time.   Rather that two posts, we have two days in one post!

Thursday

Today we had a great time at the farm. I forgot the camera memory card (oops!), but I did snap a few pictures with my phone as we went along. The first thing that caught everyone’s interest was the fuzzy caterpillar that Jane found. He was very active and the kids were entertained by him for quite some time.

Next we helped by washing the harvest of squash to prepare it for the farm garden cooperative.  After that we spent a very long time pulling green beans off of the dead stalks to later harvest the dried seeds at WF in the afternoon.

This morning, the main interest was an exploration in washing the farm animals with bubbly water.

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For breakfast we had whole wheat bagels and bananas.  For lunch we had whole wheat flat bread with PB, mixed veggies, and watermelon.  Snack was Sophia’s birthday treat: Fruit pizza.  Yum!  Wee sprouts were cucumbers.

Have a great evening,

Tami

Wednesday

 

Using unclaimed and glorious WF art, cut into strips, friends aspired to creating a paper chain. We first studied how the two ends of the paper come together. We discussed how to tape the ends together. We saw the circle we created and identified other circles on the table. We practiced slipping a long strip through the new circle. creating a chain.

Arleigh discovered a new way to use the chains. Ada tried it too, and added a flower.

Lisa played a rhyming game. Friends looked at a picture, identified the picture and matched a rhyming sound to the object they saw. They used the message board to explore other rhyming words.

Yesterday, Lea picked a flower and as she explored it, the moisture of the purple petal rubbed off on her hand. This morning, Mel picked a variety of flowers from our garden and led WF on a flower petal coloring explorations. Friends determined which petals could be used as color sources (like a pencil) and which could not.

She also added a few food items.

When Gordon’s delivers their fruit, they always include bubble wrap. Some friends pop the bubbles with one finger, others smash it with their whole hand.

Sophie has been working at pedaling the trike all week. Today it all came together! Congratulations, Sophie!

Each day, a mini-society is created in the Cottage Climber. When a teacher is able to sit back and listen to the conversations and negotiations, it is really astounding at how complex and detailed the mini-society is. What’s more astounding is the length of time the society occurs and the respect each member of the society gives to his/her chosen role.

Today is went like this: Jane was mother to baby Marina and teenager Macy. Arleigh was mother to Nate and in charge of the primary cooking space.

Jane asked Arleigh if she had any basil available.

Marta entered the society as a grandma preparing soup.

Mommy went to the store and her child was sad. Her child waved goodbye, waited and watched for Mommy to return.

 

Happiness.

The authority shifted and Jane made the decision to change locations for a quiet rest time.

We hear fights and laughter in this mini-society. We hear children working things out with words, compromise and surrenders. They are able to practice how to decide what to fight for and how let some things go, moving on to the next moment. The teachers are close by to help but also to give them space to sort things out, when appropriate. And then there are the daily jobs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all have to do ‘em. Here’s our new cot set-up team and they rock it out!!!

Oh yes…..we haven’t been able to find the two baby birds, but Mama is back, starting over.

Wee Sprouts: Tomatoes. Breakfast: WF garden carrot muffins and apple slices. Lunch: Whole grain rice with roast beef, bananas and peas. Snack: Orange, mango smoothies and cheddar cheese slices.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

This morning we started off by getting the play-dough out for our friends to play with. Children used a mixture of hammers, rolling pins, and cutouts. P.K. enjoyed using the train cookie dough cutter and said, “Choo-choo” as he squished down the play-dough with his hand.

Our friends did a great job sharing with each other.

The flowers smelled especially wonderful today! We checked to see if there were any tomatoes ready but they were still all green! We’ll have to wait until they turn red.

The passenger bike is a hot commodity. Our little friends like to sit on the bike while their big friends give them rides around the circular path. Marina was sure trying hard to pump her feet and push the peddles forward.

Emma enjoyed time in the sandbox. She swished her feet around allowing sand to fly up in the air. Once she was done in the sandbox, she travelled to the play house and then made her way to the slide!

Tandem sliding is such a popular activity! Friends love to count ‘1, 2, 3’ then shoot down the slide.

P.K. hopped off the swing and starting to laugh! The outside environment is a great way for children to run around and build relationships with their friends. We all know that the outdoors make us all feel happy especially on a gorgeous day like today!

While her older friends were napping, Zoey enjoyed attempting to crawl and rocking back and forth while on all fours.

Emma is continuing to advance in her walking skills. When she walks, she is becoming more stable and consistent. She is very on the go and loves walking around the Wee Wee Friends house! Her gross motor skills are sure getting a work out!

For breakfast, children had eggs with cheese and apples. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of whole grain rice with beef, banana, and green peas. PM snack was banana-mango smoothie and rice cakes with soy butter.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Good Afternoon!

Marina loved taking pictures of her friends and teachers this morning. She made sure to tell them to “cheese”!

Zoey is enjoying being able to move around the house. She is constantly scooting back but has yet to scoot forward. However, it is in her future! She’s becoming very mobile and it won’t be long until we having a crawling Zoey around the Wee Wee Friends house!

P.K loves showing off his funny face. When he is asked to show his funny face, he smiles extremely big! He loves making people laugh.

Children were offered a chance to go into the kitchen where they painted using circular sponges. We painted with light blue, pink, purple, and yellow.

Marina used the yellow paint. She pointed to her picture and said, “Yellow banana.”

P.K. painted his hand pink and purple. He took her hand and made a fist which allowed him to feel the paint go through his fingers.

Daniel made wavy lines with different colors of paint. When he was done with a color, he said, “All done” and pointed to another color.

Wow, did we have fun outside this morning! Miss Laurie from Wee Friends asked our Wee Wee Friends if they would like to do music. Marina, Clara, P.K. and Daniel happily joined in with their older friends.

Friends got to use different instruments. We went through every instrument and talked about the name of it and what it reminds us of. For instance, we held up the bells and a friend started singing ‘Jingle Bells’.

Clara and Daniel were enthused as they got to shake their instruments and make different noises.

We eventually got up and started walking in a circle while playing our instruments. Our friends did an excellent job at following directions such as ‘play your instrument above your head’.

Clara played her musical instrument by her knee.

Clara ran in a circle as she shook her maraca.  Marina loved the sound that her triangle made.

As we sat in a square shape along the blankets, we exhibited the knowledge of soft touches with our friends. We made sure to pat the backs of our friends with nice, soft touches.

Emma enjoyed the sensorial opportunities that are available outside including rocks, grass, and sand. She loved when the sand was able to fall through her fingers.

Daniel made a track for his animals this morning. He lined the animals up on the track in a circular direction. The different types of animals were discussed as this activity continued on through the morning.

For breakfast, children had corn flakes and banana. AM snack was string cheese. Lunch consisted of tortillas with tuna, watermelon, and mixed fresh vegetables. PM snack was cheese and pretzels.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

While our swimmers were at the Y, we decided to spend the majority of our morning in our beautiful backyard!

When the WeeWees came out, we decided to create music on a big blanket. We have many new instruments and all our friends enjoyed learning how they created sound. We sang our Good Morning Song and counted how many claps each friend’s name has. We played our instruments high/low, soft/loud, hard/gently, and slow/fast. We listened to the sound each instrument made and talked about. We improvised horses galloping and snowflakes falling. We danced around the circle and also hopped, ran and tiptoed.

We found our voices.

Later, we created clipboard art with crayons. Jane and Macy “looked to see if the plants were good.” and recorded their findings. The swimmers returned and the church bells rang…inside we went to lunch.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers and snap peas. Breakfast: While wheat toast with cinnamon, and apple slices. Lunch: Tuna salad on whole wheat tortillas, watermelon and tomatoes/cucumber and peas, all from the WF garden! Snack: Elizabeth’s Birthday bread and bananas.

Have a great day.

 

Reminder: On Thursday, Tami will be taking the older group of friends to the farm. Swimming as usual tomorrow.

From the dark to the light…..or nighttime to daytime…or home to school!

When the WF staff met with Allison Pascarella last month (Speech Therapist and whole child expert), she asked us, as adults: “What do you need to start your day just right?”. We shared our Just Right morning routines and our ‘must haves’ like coffee, nature, good books, a good breakfast etc. She asked us what happens to us if we aren’t able to perform this morning routine that helps us start the day just right. She shared with us a handout called “Sensory Processing: What Can Go Wrong?”. We studied concepts and examples of how kids discriminate ‘sensory input’. We talked about what they could see, hear, smell, touch and taste as they begin their days. We discussed how each child is different and has completely different sensory input. We wondered and discussed (many of us are parents, too!) how it’s possible to meet various sensorial needs at one time! We learned that a child’s transition to school begins the moment they open their eyes and start their day. 

 

We are very interested in how your Wee Friend’s morning (pre-WF) went and how we can help the transition from home to school continue on the “Just Right” path. We also have terrific workshops materials and books in our Parent Lending Library should you be interested! We hope our dialogue can continue a,s together, we work through that sometimes tricky morning transition.

The light of our day continued when we moved outside to harvest our carrots and green beans. Beautiful earth! Friends picked, plucked, scrubbed and rinsed all of the carrots from the garden.

When we came inside, Mel led friends to a still life art exploration, using the WF garden vegetables.

As always, friends worked together, but at a pace appropriate to their age and skill.

Lisa worked on counting and patterning math concepts with a new game.

We worked with a new set of multicultural dolls, first studying the differences, and then matching like clothes and skin color.

Under the habitrail, friends worked together to build an airplane. The work always begins with a hearty round of “What Gonna Work, Teamwork!” and today, the song lasted almost as long as it took this group of friends to build their structure.

After we figured out how to get the little elastic loop around our middle finger, we played our new castanets.

Our post-lunch large group time is going smoothly. It’s a time of day we rarely photograph, but will aspire to more often, as it is a rich and focused time of day for Wee Friends, before they settle into their nap/quiet time.

With the start of our new year, we begin our FABS again! Remember the Framework for Academic Balance? They are the neatly compiled literacy and math standards we use to assess and guide our preschoolers and our kindergartener. This week’s FABS are: Literacy: K.1.10 Say rhyming words in response to an oral prompt. Math: K.1.2: Compare sets of up to 10 objects and identify sets as equal, more than or less than. K.1.3: Know that larger numbers describe sets with larger numbers and smaller numbers, smaller sets.

Wee Sprouts: Carrots. Breakfast: Chex and watermelon. Lunch: Chicken and noodles, bananas and corn on the cob (thanks, Matt D.!). Snack: Goldfish and apple slices.

Have a lovely day.

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

To start off our day, we went on a walk! The weather was beautiful and we saw many things with our eyes including dogs and flowers.

Here are pictures that were taken throughout the day after our lovely walk.

For breakfast, children had cinnamon toast and raisins. Lunch consisted of egg yolk noodles with chicken, banana, and corn. PM snack was string cheese and cucumbers.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

 

Happy Friday!

Here are some pictures that were taken throughout the day.

For breakfast, children had corn bran and raisins. AM snack was Colby Jack cheese slices. Lunch consisted of pita bread sandwiches with hummus, watermelon, and carrots. PM snack was string cheese and pretzels.

Have a great weekend!

-Mindy

What can learning look like when you are two, three, four or five years old?

Hearing how many syllables (claps) are in your name and then seeing what the number looks like.

Picking up a pair of scissors and experimenting with how to get your fingers inside the holes, and then how to cut with them.

Creating structures. Working along side friends and sharing materials. Talking with one another and negotiating what the group structure is becoming. At times surrendering, and other times fighting to have your way. Asking teachers to help in the sticky moments.

Taking care of something. Using tenderness and kindness. Pretending to be mommy or daddy, kitty or baby and sometimes all four at the same time!

Using sticky glue to paste, things, but also, to roll around your fingers and press down and glide on paper.

Working at your own pace with materials that make sense to you.

After learning to write you own name, practicing writing your friend’s names.

Figuring out how to pull a marker out and put it back in again.

Perfecting the J, C and Y.

S..t..r..e..t..c..h..i..n..g.. your muscles.

Learning about and tasting healthy food. Studying how healthy foods are prepared. Asking questions about it.

Discovering all the different ways one or two classroom materials can be used. Having conversations about safety.

Having a big kid job. Learning what the different ‘tinsels’ are and when to them.

Putting yourself to sleep.

What can learning look like when you are two or three or four or five?            It’s happening every moment.

Wee Sprouts: Sliced tomatoes. Breakfast: Corn Bran and raisins. Lunch: Whole wheat tortillas with hummus, watermelon and carrots. Snack: Goldfish, bananas and pears.

Enjoy your weekend.

Hope everyone is having a great afternoon!

P.K. started his morning off with building a train! He said, “Choo-choo” as he pushed it along. He put different colored shapes up on the top of the train. To do this, he used his fine motor skills and creativity as he assembled his train.

Sand is a wonderful sensorial play material. Friends love to run their hand along it and swish it in their hands.

Emma sat in the sand box and was ecstatic about the sand surrounding her. She sat in the middle of the sandbox and took her arms in front of her, pulling the sand upon her legs. She pounded the sand into the ground. As the sand was in her sands, she rubbed both hands together to feel the grittiness of the sand.

Friends used their arm and leg muscles to transport the green chairs from one side of the yard to the other.

Laughter is the best medicine. Smiles and laughter lit up the Wee Wee Friends environment today.

Marina held hands with her Wee Friend Elliot as they slid down the slide together. Outside is a great time for Wee Wee’s and Wee’s to build relationships even though they don’t see each other a lot throughout the day.

Emma was able to spend some quality time with her big sister, Sophie, while outside this morning! Emma climbed right in the truck as her sister piled it with sand!

Zoey’s personality is coming out more and more each day! She is beginning to open and close her mouth rapidly. Whether this is attributed to exploring her tongue and/or soon to be getting teeth, or whether it’s just fun, it’s very cute and her friends mimic her.

Our Wee Wee relationships build everyday. Whether children are the same age or two years apart, it’s amazing the social and personal capabilities these children exhibit.

“Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.”

For breakfast, children had cinnamon toast and apples. Everyone loved their breakfast and had multiple helpings! AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of egg casserole with cheese, mixed vegetables, and cinnamon applesauce (such a hit!). PM snack was rice cakes with soy butter and string cheese.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy