Yesterday friends waited and then clamored to see Eddie and his crew pour the cement to create new sidewalks! After seeing them work so hard, Kai suggested to Lisa “Let’s give the guys the rest of our popsicles!” They really appreciated it.

When Eddie returned today, a few friends ran to the window shouting out questions: “Eddie! Where is the jackhammer! Eddie! Where are your tools? Eddie, what are you doing?”

We opened the door, visited with Eddie, and got the answers to our questions.

Back inside, friends finished their bug puppets by choosing to either turn them into a mask with a headband or put a handle on the back to carry it.

Sharing. A life skill we use all of our lives. Today we introduced the concept of the “double dog dare”. We explained to our friends that this meant offering a friend (or yourself!) a very big challenge for the day. As friends began talking with one another, challenges such as “use words”, “don’t whine”, “be nice”, “share” were discussed. We ended the conversation with one big request –TO SHARE!-in the form of a new song “Why Should I Share?”. So far, the double dog dare has made for another peaceful day with friends enjoying one another and the classroom activities.

We’re moving away from bugs and out into the world!

Friends gathered around the art table to create one dimensional replicas of the earth. Our older friends discussed the concept of one dimensional art and our younger ones, color and color associations. We message boarded what the earth is made of and chose colors that represented the stated ideas.

 

On Monday, each friend will create their own Paper Mache globe to chart their journey around the earth!

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with apple slices. For lunch, we served farm fresh egg casserole, applesauce and celery sticks.

The Guisinger-Nickerson Family has extended an invitation to Wee Friends posted on the cubbies as you enter WF Classroom!

Have a great weekend!

Hello!

We started off our morning with a dance session that took place in the living room. Our friends made a circle and joined hands. They swayed from side to side while moving their feet to the beat!

Aiden loved the monkey book that was given to him by a friend. He touched the monkey with his fingers and laughed. His friends always bring him different toys to play with!

Jada and Ozzie asked to get the play-dough out. Jada rolled the play-dough into a straight line and said, “It’s a snake!” Ozzie built a big play-dough ball and stuck several straws into it.

While outside, Sloane and Jada headed over to the tricycles where they used their feet and push against the ground.

 

P.K. was in the house outside. Miss Mindy went up to the door to see what he was doing. P.K. opened the door and said, “Hi!”

The sun was shining today which made the sand feel very good on our feet. Jada and Marina kicked sand using their feet and toes!

Marina and Ozzie were sitting on the bench together. However, they were sitting backwards! They were talking to each other and laughing at how they were sitting.

Chloe headed to the house to practice her pouring skills. She started pouring sand from the plate to the sink. She used her hand to scoop the sand into the plate.

P.K. was entertaining a few of our Wee Friends. He was using different parts of his body such as his tongue to crack a few laughs! He also shook his head back and forth several times. He enjoyed the attention . He then headed to the house where he firmly brushed the sand off the counter with his hand.

Sloane washed her hands in the pretend sink in the house. Ellie practice her pouring skills using a bowl and plate to transfer the sand.

Marina made a birthday cake and pretended to blow out her candles!

Breakfast consisted of corn bran cereal with cantaloupe. AM snack was cucumbers. For lunch, our friends enjoyed soy butter sandwiches, pineapple and banana, and carrots. For our afternoon snack, Miss Tami made yummy blueberry smoothies. They were great! We also had whole wheat crackers.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

 

The afterglow from “Spring Joy!” continues! This morning, Elliott relaxed with “When the Cows Come Home” reciting lines from our play, out loud, when the pictures ‘rang a bell’!

What began as a Star Wars Space Station soon morphed into jackhammers which inspired lots of singing (with gusto!) “Jackhammer Joy!”

Today Kai requested that we make life-sized bug puppets. Friends flocked to have their bodies traced on paper and then worked side by side drawing the details of their imagined bug on their bug body.

Both our younger friends and older friends have been working hard writing and illustrating original stories. Everyone finished today and we gathered in the reading area to hear the original works of art!

Next week we will be transitioning into our Summer Study “Around the World in 55 days!”. With passports in hand we will visit the many states and countries represented in our own WF community! Our first stop, starting June 4th,  will be Chile…..

Wee Sprouts: snap peas and cucumber slices, Breakfast: Cheerios and cantaloupe, Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, bananas and carrot sticks.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon!

Ozzie started his Wednesday off by bringing in cars into the kitchen where the car tracks awaited for him! He made sure to line up the cars in a row and was very meticulous about where the cars parked.

 

Miss Marty walked over to the lego area where she found Sloane and Ozzie laying on the floor. She asked them what they were doing. Their response was, “We’re taking a nap!”

Ellie flashed a smile as she was reading stories to herself on the carpet!

Our friends spent a good portion of the morning in the kitchen where they used markers to draw on different kinds of paper. Olivia picked up two markers and colored with them on her paper.

After everyone was done coloring, they pitched in and helped clean up. Our friends each grabbed a wash cloth and made sure it was wet. They cleaned the table as well as the floor. This was a big help!

We headed to the bridge where our friends participated in music time. P.K. enjoyed touching the small and thin strings on the guitar. Children put their hands in the air and waved them around. They followed directions and twirled around as well.

Our friends witnessed an exciting project that is underway: the sidewalks are getting repaved! Marina thought it was a little too loud so she put her hands on her ears. Children asked about the ‘bobcat’ and why it was here. We talked to them about the sidewalks getting fixed and how they were going to fix them.

When music time was all over, we sang one last song. Sloane and Marina clapped their hands together when we were all done!

We travelled inside so we could put our instruments away and grab a snack. We immediately went outside to the backyard! Again, our friends found the bobcat! They talked to their friends about the cement that they could see.

We looked next door and who did we see? Our Wee Friends! They observed the ‘bobcat’ and talked about whether the cement was light or heavy.

Chloe and Ozzie grabbed the blue dogs. Chloe chose to ride hers and push herself with her feet while Ozzie decided to push his. He even started running!

Ellie played inside the wooden house where she filled different containers with rocks.

Sloane used a big shovel to scoop up sand and dump it into a cupcake container.

For breakfast, our friends had cheerios and banana. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of pita bread, hummus, mixed vegetables, and banana. PM snack was rice cakes with cream cheese and pears.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

Please remember to allow enough time at pickup for the short walk from the church parking lot since our parking section will be blocked off for the rest of the week while the sidewalks are being replaced.  Thanks so much for your cooperation in this!!!

What a beautiful day to explore the farm!  Please note that WWF will have a farm day on May 23rd, so the WF group will be taking a week off.  I don’t have as many pictures today since we forgot the camera.  We used our iPhones to snap a few moments to share.

Today at the farm we:

Took turns holding the baby chicks!

 

Caught and held chickens.  Both Ada and Vivian were thrilled to have been able to catch their first chickens!

We spent the rest of our time helping with the gardening.  The children took turns planting sunflowers, beans, and corn. They worked together to achieve the perfect spacing and to stay in straight rows!  Ada carefully placed the yellow flags at the end of the garden to designate the rows.  In between planting, the children enjoyed playing on the line of hay bales and collecting rocks out of the garden and putting them in buckets.

Back at WF the children spent much of the morning watching the sidewalks be demolished.  Miss Melinda and Miss Lisa took the children out to perform Jack Hammer Joy to the workers who appreciated the WF original song

Inside, the children worked on Spring Joy collages and spent quite a bit of time doing small group work surrounding the Slugs and Snail book!

Our breakfast today was toasted bagels and banana.  Lunch consisted of roast beef with whole wheat noodles, french cut green beans,  fresh pear slices.

Thanks!

Tami

 

 

x

 

Good Afternoon!

We’ve had a few requests for the tune, melody, and lyrics to the ‘ladybug’ song. Here is the link to the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhSgMqsAfM

Enjoy!

Our Wee Wee Friends started off their morning with drawing using markers. Many of our friends sat at the kitchen table where they drew with markers on white paper.

 

Chloe used an orange marker to color with. After she was done, she pointed to the picture on her paper.

Ozzie was very concentrated in the kitchen while playing with cars. Not only was he working with cars but he was also working with numbers. A pretend parking lot was made out of construction paper. Numbers were put on the top of the cars that corresponded to the numbered parking spot. We talked about matching and using the numbers to figure out where each car was supposed to go.

Sloane later joined in on the action. Sloane and Ozzie worked together to figure out where each car should park.

We headed outside where out friends found a surprise in the backyard! It was the special car that our Wee Friends used in their play last night (which by the way was AMAZING)! Our friends did a great job at taking turns driving the car and letting their other friends have turns.

Olivia, Sloane, and Marina went and got bouncy balls to bounce on. They were different sizes and colors. As they were bouncing, Miss Paulina went and grabbed her guitar. She started singing, “We’re gonna…bounce, bounce, bounce…!” Our friends listened to her words and stopped when she said stop! They were really listening with their ears.

Ellie grabbed the blue ball and used it for a variety of things. First, she laid on top of it and bounced a little. Then, she put it on the ground and kicked it with her foot! Ellie sure did kick the ball hard. Her leg muscles are growing and her coordination was fantastic!

Clara sat on the bench watching her friends play and then decided to go play with P.K. in the house. P.K. went into the house and they were playing hide and seek through the window!

Chloe rocked on the teeter totter. She balance herself in the middle so she wouldn’t fall off. Her gross motor skills are blooming and continually improving.

Aiden had floor time on the cork floor. He’s been testing out different kinds of floor such as carpet, cork floor, and our number mat underneath the jungle gym. He’s beginning to get on all fours and rock. His verbal language is increasing. He likes making different sounds and using his lips and tongue to make noises.

Our breakfast consisted of eggs and toast. AM snack was cucumbers. Lunch was chicken salad, pita bread, pineapple, and corn. PM snack was string cheese, snap peas, and a little something special from “Chef Breania”…… strawberry cupcakes, with fresh strawberries on top. 

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

The WF teachers cannot express how delightful it was to share the evening with all of the WF/WWF kids, families and friends!  This morning has been busy, so I thought that I would just share some pictures from last night.  Everyone should have gotten notification of the videos that Charles blogged earlier today. (THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL HUBBY WHO SKILLFULLY HANDLED OUR TECH LAST NIGHT AND POSTED THE VIDEOS THIS MORNING!!!)

Breakfast was corn chex and raisins.  Lunch was hummus on whole wheat tortillas, cucumbers and apple slices. 

Happy Monday!

We spent most of our morning outside! Sloane and Olivia played in the house together while Ozzie practiced his balancing skills on the tree stumps. P.K. sat near plants and the tree stumps. He observed different nature objects around him. He felt the tree stump and the leaves with his hand.

  

While outside, Ellie laughed at someone she thought was very funny! Marina and Olivia stood along the railing and used their arms to hold them up along with their legs.

  

Aiden and Clara had the house all to themselves while their older friends slept! Aiden loved playing in his bouncy seat while Clara stood beside him. Clara also played with the toys on Aiden’s seat. They were laughing together and Clara retrieved a couple toys for Aiden which was very thoughtful!

 

Clara worked with the felt board using different felt shapes.

 

Aiden had floor time where he moved himself over to the bouncy seat where he felt the floor of his seat. The bottom is rigidity with line marks. He moved his hand across the lines multiple times. Clara sat with Miss Mindy and read books. She helped turn the pages in the correct direction and even pointed at some of the pictures.

 

Also, don’t forget about the potluck that is taking place tonight! It will start around 5:30 with our Wee Friends putting on a special performance at 6:00! Food will follow the performance. We look forward to seeing you there!

Breakfast this morning was cheerios and apples. AM snack was carrots and broccoli. Lunch consisted of English muffin with cream cheese and melted shredded cheese, apples, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was crackers and apples.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

 

 

“Spring Joy!” is the buzz today at Wee Friends! For those of you who haven’t seen it, Rich Honchell designed and built an incredible practical car for our play! THANK YOU RICH! It has a moving steering wheel, headlights and license plate! Gone were the blue and red rehearsal chairs as friends piled in and played in the car all morning long. While groups switched out for gymnastics, we had small group discussions about the parts of a car, namely, the license plate. We learned what the plate is for and headed to the art table to create our own with numbers and letters. When we got to the car’s front grill, we explored crayon sketches with paper over the grill. Friends thought it felt and sounded bumpy, not smooth.

   

 

Viv was taken quite by surprise when she walked in to see a big black car in the middle of housekeeping!

Our final rehearsal went brilliantly! Melinda created and passed out each friend’s costume piece and the actors got used to the way it felt.

               

               

           

       

Here’s where YOU, the audience, come in!

5:30-7pm The Chris Wilson Pavilion @ Potawatomi Park Look for Tami to drop your food off at the picnic table in front of the stage. “Spring Joy!” begins promptly at 6pm. Dinner to follow.

Wee Sprouts: Broccoli, carrots and cherry tomatoes, Breakfast: Oatmeal Corn Squares and bananas, Lunch: Whole wheat English muffins with cream and melted cheddar cheeses, mixed veggies and bananas.

See you tonight!