Welcome back, Tami!!!!

While waiting for Crystal to arrive and tell us about Virginia….we danced to John Denver’s “Country Roads”!

When she arrived, one of the first things we learned is that the great state of Virginia is also called “The Birthplace of our Nation.”

Crystal spoke with her native accent and shared that in VA, you don’t say “Kai”, you say “Kah”. She also taught us “ya’ll”! When she said the number ten, it sounded like “tin”!

She showed us a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains and explained why they are blue. Friends practiced saying “Appalachia”, the southern way.

We learned that before Kai was born, she and David would hike many different mountains in VA. We also learned that Indiana doesn’t have an official mountain, only hills.

Then we learned that of all our nation’s presidents, 8 of them were born in Virginia!

Jane showed us a picture of our 29th president’s (Warren G. Harding) dog, “Laddie Boy”!

She showed us the Virginia state flag and we heard some Latin words: Sic Semper Tyrannis: “Thus always to tyrants”.

We gathered around the table and tasted a two VA favorite: ham biscuits and peanuts!

We saw a picture of how peanuts grow underground.

Thank you so much, Crystal, for teaching us about Virginia!

Wee Sprouts: Sweet peppers and cucumbers. Breakfast: Whole wheat bagels and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat sandwiches with turkey, mango/pineapple/banana/cucumbers.

See ya’ll later.

Happy Tuesday!

**We’re asking parents who have any extra grocery bags (for our dirty diapers) to please bring them in. Our supply is dwindling and we’re running out! Thanks so much!

Chloe started off her morning reading “We All Go Travelling By”. She flipped the pages as she was singing with the music! She loves starting her morning off with different books that also have a CD with music.

Zoey’s morning started with floor time. She started on her back and rolled to her belly. She propped herself up with her arms and reached for a toy. She is a big fan of floor time and gaining strength in different muscles in her body.

Later, she found her thumb as well as her feet. She is beginning to grasp both feet and pull them toward her. Lately, Zoey has been finding her thumb which comforts her.

Marina and Chloe enjoyed watching the rain outside as they jumped on the jungle gym this morning.

Clara and Emma joined one another on the jungle gym. Emma enjoyed standing at the bottom of the slide while slipping off at the end. Clara wiggled her way through a small hole on the side of the jungle gym. Their gross motor skills were in high gear!

P.K. gave Miss Marty a hug as she read a book to a group of friends.

Marina went around the classroom taking pictures of her friends. She said, “ Smile!” as her friends looked her way. Our friends are taking what they see in real life and applying it to their play within the classroom. For example, taking pictures and talking on the phone.

Ellie read a book about fish.There was a combination of talking going on. She knew most of the words that were in the story. To fill in the words that she didn’t know, she made it up. Not only does this show the skill of comprehending and memorizing what is read to you but the ability to make up your own story.

Emma enjoyed looking at the pictures in a Mickey book! She pointed to the characters and laughed out loud.

This morning our friends were involved in a sensory activity involving water color paint. We used a variety of colors.

Clara used all of the colors that were available. She stroked the paper very softly. While using her paintbrush, she dabbed the paper as well as brushed the paper making a line.

Chloe enjoyed looking at the colors that were in the glass containers. She used blue and as she was painting a blue stroke, she said, “Soft, nice”. She reiterated throughout her painting time to have soft and gentle strokes.

Marina took up most of the space provided to her on her paper. She took the tip of her brush and pushed it on the paper. Some of the paint splattered which she thought looked, “nice”. Her fingers got a little messy but she said, “Clean up later.”

P.K. took his time at the art easel. He approached it with caution and looked at the blank piece of paper. He looked in each container filled with paint before he began. While painting, he switched colors multiple times. When he was done with green, he did a great job at putting the green brush back where it belonged. He caught himself a few times putting the brush into the wrong color!

A work in progress this morning while painting with water colors!

For breakfast, our friends enjoyed cheerios and fresh pears. Lunch consisted of quiche, banana, corn, and cottage cheese. PM snack was rice cakes with soy butter.

Have a terrific evening!

-Mindy

 

Croissants and Jam! Croissants and Jam! Our Wee Friends are Parisians!!!

We had the great fortune this morning of having Simon’s mom, Alexandra, come and tell us the story of their trip to Paris.

They crossed the English Channel onboard an underwater train. Simon was hoping to see the water when he and his brother looked out the window, but he saw only the black of the tunnel walls. It took them 2 1/2 hours to cross 22 miles of water.  Elliott shared that, he too, has been on a train but it had three signals and was not underwater. Jane shared that she has been on a ferry when she went to visit her grandpa.

Kai recognized that the French flag had the colors of the US flag, but the design of the Italian flag.

They visited many museums. Nate recognized the Louvre and the famous Mona Lisa: “I have that on my TV at home!” he shared. Simon’s favorite place was a work of art that he got to be inside of!

Alexandra taught Wee Friends many French phrases and introduced us to Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, which she read aloud.

Afterwards, she shared a favorite Parisian snack: croissants and jam! She explained that  French children always drink cocoa with their croissants!

THANK YOU Alexandra and Simon for bringing Paris to WF and for the opportunity to learn about, yet another, rich city in our World of Wonder!

Other great Tuesday moments:

Wee Sprouts: Carrots and cherry tomatoes. Breakfast: Corn Flakes and apple slices. Lunch: mini quiche, grapes and cottage cheese.

Au revoir.

We’re headed to Virginia!

Last week friends listened to Margie Palatini’s book on tape Piggy Pie, over and over! This  morning Crystal shared with us that her great state of Virginia is famous for ham! So we sat down with wooden piggies, sheep, cows and angels and began painting a farm diorama. We can’t wait to hear more about Virginia when Crystal visits us on Wednesday.

…or one might say a Virginia piggy habitat.

Simon, who has just returned from England and Paris, offered to share design ideas from the farm he visited in Kent.

Wee Sprouts… Breakfast: Whole wheat toast and peanut butter with raisins. Lunch: with cucumbers and fruit salad.

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Friday!

Yesterday for snack, our friends enjoyed blueberry yogurt. They sure liked it!

While Ellie was on vacation, she celebrated her 3rd birthday! Today at Wee Wee Friends, we celebrated with her. She brought in a delicious treat to share with her friends.

Clara and Emma studied themselves in the mirror. They loved seeing their reflection and making silly faces. Clara touched the mirror with her hand and Emma put her face close to the mirror! Our friends are very interested in their reflection and what they see in the mirror.

Ellie also looked at herself in the mirror. She admired the hat she was wearing and said, “I like it!”

Ellie noticed that Miss Marty had gum in her mouth. Our friends watched as Miss Marty blew multiple bubbles!

Chloe sat quietly as she worked with a castle. She used different toys along with the castle itself such as people and cars.

After a few days of having an icky cold, Zoey got back in the swing of things at Wee Wee Friends! She was smiles and loved seeing her friends! Children gave Zoey toys to play with throughout the day. She is growing everyday and we are enjoying watching her make personal relationships with her friends and teachers.

We travelled outside where our older Wee Friends were able to get their face painted! Miss Lisa offered to paint Marina and P.K’s faces!

Marina had a sun painted on her cheek.

P.K. had “PK” painted on his forehead! He enjoyed this very much!

A few of the girls sat over in the chairs looking at the sun. They enjoyed the warm weather since it’s been raining the past few days.

New chalk was brought out for our friends to play with! Clara, Ellie and Marina enjoyed drawing with the chalk. They started at the chalk board and then headed to the cement where they also drew pictures.

Chloe got two plates outside and played pretend. She brought her food up to her friends for them to eat. Our friends’ ability to play pretend is great and growing everyday!

Clara ran to the door as she let everyone know she was ready for lunch! Chloe soon followed and we headed in for lunch!

For breakfast, children had English muffins with cinnamon and apples. AM snack was corn. Lunch consisted of turkey sandwiches with whole wheat bread, mixed vegetables, and pears. PM snack was a very special treat that Ellie brought in for her birthday! It was a delicious carrot, oatmeal, and raisin bar. We loved it! Thanks to Ellie and her family!

Have a great weekend!

See you Monday!

-Mindy

 

Today we leave The Land of the Midnight Sun and set our sights on Virginia! Next Wednesday, Kai’s mom, Crystal, will come and share information about her home state. It’s the first (and only..so far!) trip within our own USA that we will have made! We can’t wait Crystal!

Friends spent most of this amazing morning outside. Every inch of the WF playground is used for creative play.

 

The sensational sensorial rocks and sand have been ice cream, smoothies, pies and today chef Finn created Stinky Soup. He used his T-shirt pocket as a hook to carry around his pot. 

The trees have been elevators and have great leaves to pick and pull and become something….

The garden ledges and log posts are balance beams and scary passages to scary places.

Buckets are swimming pools for slugs and beetles.

The deck, sandbox, climbing cottage and swing are communal spots where friends talk, build friendships, fight for their rights and learn to work together.

The sidewalks become singing paths, airplane strips, race tracks and bike paths.

The garden is a daily biology lesson as friends watch plants, flowers and vegetables grow and see bugs of every kind creeping around.  Have we mentioned a HUGE THANKS to the Chadderton/Tank family for the automatic sprinkler timers they installed last Friday? Thank you for helping the garden grow!

And happy Friday.

 

Wee Sprouts: Pea Pods. Breakfast: Chex and pears. Lunch: Turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread, apple slices and mixed veggies.

Name Day in the Land of the Midnight Sun

On Monday, Amy taught us that in Sweden, each day has a designated name of honor, making it a Name Day. Today, Wee Friends celebrated their names, first by counting the letters in their names and then by tracing as many letters as they could in salt. The texture and softness of the salt was inviting…so too was the taste….

Lisa found The Name Game. We acted out each lyric.

She also found the definitions for each friend’s name. We gathered at the art table to begin creating self portraits inspired by our name’s meaning.

We acted out another book that Nate brought in called:

We ended our good manners exploration with our French Hip Hop song “Mind Your Manners”.

Sydney guided her friends in gymnastics routines. She set up an age appropriate balance beam and helped her friends walk across.

Friendships continue to grow as Wee Friends work together, talk together and learn to negotiate the sometimes turbulent pirate waters of their play!

Nate began his day jumping into a water volcano.  To support his imagination and interest in the rain, we collected rain water, a tub, a cooking funnel and a measuring cup and created our own water volcano.

We have all enjoyed creating the embroidered Wee Friends House and are so close to completing it!

Wee Sprouts: snap peas. Breakfast: Chex and bananas. Lunch: Cheese filled ravioli, broccoli, and cantaloupe.

Hope you’re having a great day.

Good Afternoon!

Our Thursday morning started with gross motor activity. Ellie worked on her jumping skills as she put her hands firmly on a level surface and jumped with her legs. Her feet went high into the air but she kept her balance. Also on her agenda this morning was dancing! She watched as her feet moved to the music. Chloe worked on wiggling through various holes in the jungle gym. She had to maneuver a few times but she accomplished her goal!

Children got a chance to paint this morning. Our patience and ability to sit at an activity is growing! We all did such a great job making beautiful artwork along with listening to directions and tips that teachers gave us such as using a variety of techniques (brush, hand, sponge, etc.).

We used different colors such as blue, orange, pink, and purple.

P.K. and Clara mixed different colors together as they painted.

P.K. noticed he got blue paint on her finger and he said, “Oh, No!”

Clara used all of the paint available! She loved getting the paint on her hands and then pushing her hands down on the paper.

Emma played with different animals as well as looking at her reflection in the mirror! She covered her eyes to hide from herself. She then popped her hands off her face and smiled. She is beginning to notice that when she covers her eyes, she can’t see anything! Emma had a great time playing this game.

For breakfast, children had kix and oranges. Lunch consisted of wonderful cheese ravioli and broccoli along with banana and bread. PM snack was apples and yogurt.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Happy Wednesday!

We’re excited to have Ellie back at Wee Wee Friends after an exciting family vacation that she took over the past couple of weeks!

Marina sat as Miss Melinda read her stories. She showed initiative by picking out certain books that she liked. She saw a book on the floor and pointed and said, “I’ve read that today.”

Children danced as music played. We clapped and twisted our bodies.

Marina and Clara played pretend in the kitchen. They shared utensils and worked together to make lunch!

Clara listened to the music that came from a toy by the door. She used her arm to pull the toy so that it made beautiful music!

Outside, children colored on boxes using markers. They worked on their fine motor skills while outside in the sun! Great teamwork took place as children worked together to color the box.

While her friends were quietly napping, Emma snuggled up in the corner where she read herself books. She enjoyed the quiet time and the chance to read new books!

For breakfast, children had Chex and apples. AM snack was cucumbers and banana. Lunch consisted of ham rollups with cream cheese, oranges, and broccoli. PM snack was animal crackers and raisins.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

 

Ice Sculptures in the Land of the Midnight Sun

After researching Swedish ice sculptures, Lisa created several for Wee Friends. Adding plastic jewels, airplanes and blue paint to water, she froze them over night and brought them in this morning for friends to explore. She also froze multi-colored ice cubes!

Many observations were made by Wee Friends: Why does it melt? Can we eat it? My hands are freezing! It’s an iceberg! Where did it go? Can I keep it? To continue our exploration, we filled a bin up with ice cubes. We spoke at length about how water takes different forms in different temperatures. We challenged friends to hold onto an ice +cube for as long as they could to see what happened!

We are getting ready for the next stage of our sunflowers: popping the seeds out!

Wee Sprouts: carrots. Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and pear slices. Lunch: Ham rolls with cream cheese, mandarin oranges and peas.

Have a great day.