Whew! Wee Friends were busy this morning with worms, numbers, and the building of blocks , bodies, Magna-Tiles and wood. Friends also created art with paint and stickers (thank you, Simon, for sharing!).

Lisa sat with Kai to play High/Low. After identifying high and low cards, they moved on to adding together the two cards that were played.

Ada and Stephen worked collaboratively at the work bench. Stephen observed Ada’s work with the real tools and understood (and accepted!) that he has to be four before he can use the real tools. He made a creation using a plastic hammer and nails.

We have a new batch of night crawlers! Lisa stopped by Mr. Milford’s and he supplied us with a new tub. He also invited us to his shop for a field trip. More info on that later! Today our Wee Friends practiced using rulers to measure the length of the worm in inches. But the real fun was in the pulling, squishing, twirling and rolling of the worms . They are still very interested in how the worm eats, digests and poops.

We looked again at the parts of a doodle bug. Each friend rolled up in a white sheet to represent one segment of the Pill bug’s body.

We physically explored the answer to the question: “Now how do we move as one big doodle bug?”!!

Simon’s stickers were enjoyed by many friends who sat together, shared together and created together.

We sang our concert songs and Melinda rehearsed Pigs in the Mud.

Our Wee Sprouts today are broccoli crowns and cucumber slices. Breakfast was whole wheat toast and bananas. for lunch, Tami made farm fresh egg casserole with potatoes and spinach, and watermelon.

Enjoy your day.

This morning, Simon brought in a big card that he created for his Grandma. He invited his friends to color it and add stickers.

Other friends worked with Melinda to cut up and taste parsnips, today’s Wee Sprout.

We rehearsed Pigs in the Mud.

When the farmers left, our younger Wee Friends created art with yarn and tempera paint. They dipped the yarn in the paint and dragged it across the paper making worm tracks.

Next, they dumped all the small toy baskets into one big pile and sorted them in to their appropriate basket.

They rehearsed their spring concert songs and made it outside before the rain started!

At the farm this morning friends saw a day old lamb! Mama was a bit nervous so we didn’t get too close.

Eastern Tent Caterpillars have infested Farmer Charlotte’s apple and pear trees. The damage they’ve caused is forcing Charlotte to cut them down but friends were fascinated by their webs. They spotted eggs, babies and full grown caterpillars throughout the webs and on the trees.

Anna showed several friends a potato with its leafy stem still attached. She invited friends to join her in her garden and help pull weeds and pick rocks out the soil.

Taffy and Tony the Pony gave WF rides around the farm.

Why DID this chicken cross the road? She slowed us down a bit but then clucked off the gravel so we could pass. Back in the chicken coop, friends pulled out an egg that was still warm!

For breakfast we served whole wheat toast and bananas. Whole wheat cous cous with chicken, peas and fruit salad were served for lunch.

Have a great day.

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABOO! To celebrate his 29th birthday, Baboo brought in  brand new dental floss to share with Wee Friends.

While it is a fact that worms, when under an attack, release an offensive odor as a last ditch effort to try and ward off predators, our worm stench yesterday was ummm…..something different. As it turns out, night crawlers need LOTS of dirt and LOTS of moisture to sustain themselves over time. Over the weekend, our earthworms perished. The wax worms survived. Onward we squirm with our Worm Study.

Before our swimmers left, a small group of friends sat down to work with rulers. We counted the number of inches on a ruler and measured felt worms. After a few moments of interest, friends moved on to creating art with the straight edge.

 

Other friends worked with stickers, markers and scissors.

Others listened to a book.

When the swimmers left, remaining WF created more worm art with brown construction paper, tempera paint and rolled up coffee filter worms. We counted the tins of paint and moved them around, adding and subtracting when one disappeared and re-appeared.

We learned a new song about worms.

Five little worms, playing in the dirt. The first one said “Ouch, I’m hurt!”

The second one said “It’s ok!”

The third one said “Then let’s go play!”

The fourth one said “But it’s time to eat!”

The fifth one said “But we have no feet!”

Our FABS this week are: Literacy: K.1.19 Learn and apply knowledge of alphabetical order (first letter) when using a classroom or school library/media center. Math: K.2.2 Model subtraction by removing objects from sets (for numbers less than 10). K.2.3 Describe subtraction situations for numbers less than 10.

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Breakfast was Lisa’s fab Malt-O-Meal, and applesauce. For lunch, we served melted cheddar on whole wheat tortillas, cantaloupe and mixed veggies.

Have a great day.

 

Today Arleigh Hope turns four! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARLEIGH!

Parent Information

• Swimming as usual Tuesday 4/25. Weehicle pulls out at 9:30
• This Wednesday, 4/25, Tami will be taking the older group of WF to the farm.
• This Thursday, 4/26, Casey from Paths to Quality (PTQ) will be here observing the WF classroom.
• If you haven’t filled out a video/photo release permission form and returned it to us, please do s as soon as you are able. We have a stack of them on the kitchen island.
• On Monday, May 14 @ 5:30 we are having a WF picnic/spring concert at Potawatomi Park (rain check date the following Monday 5/21) Based on your feedback, it will be a potluck and Tami will have a sign up list posted in the classroom as the dates draws nearer.

To celebrate Arleigh’s bday, we indulged in the very rare chocolate pudding (dirt) and gummy candy (worms)! After exploring the cold, gushy, squishy, dirt and the stretchy, rubbery, slippery, ‘squishable’ worms, friends got to eat one worm and scoop and lick the pudding.

When WF arrived this morning, many of them noticed that the live worms in the aquarium were ‘stinky’. After discussing why this happens, we sat down to to research the answer.

When we discovered it was a defense mechanism to keep them safe from animals who want to eat them, we acted out a scenario in which a flock of birds descended upon a stinky worm. We problem solved what the birds (and worm!) should do.

 

A few friends practiced writing the uppercase “W” using tracing and dot-to-dot techniques.

After gymnastics this morning, friends rushed through the door to show us their stamp of the week: a worm!!!!!!!!!

 

While the teachers set up the art table, friends paired off for some work/play time and a Wee Sprouts break.

We re-gathered at the art table to create an earthen mural with brown tempera paint.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots. Breakfast was Corn Chex and bananas. For lunch, Tami prepared whole wheat spaghetti pasta/marinara and with it we served peas and pears. Snack will be pretzels and cheese.

Have a terrific day.

Crystal, a Wee Friends parent since October 2006 was interviewed for the Family Magazine of Michiana.  I wanted to share it with everyone

Hey, Working Mom. Got A Case of Mommy Guilt?

Here’s an Article to Help You With That!

by Sarah Boulac

“I felt a lot of pressure,” says Crystal Whitlow, LCSW, therapist at Wellness Associates and mother of two. “I felt like I was supposed to stay home.”

Surprised at this initial desire to be a stay-at-home mom to her oldest, now 7, Whitlow decided to go for it. Flash forward a few months later and “I was absolutely miserable,” she says. “I realized I needed to work … I’m a working mother.”

Whitlow is definitely not alone in her choice to do what is best for her family and return to work. However, it’s a choice that can come with social stigma.

No, some stranger is not raising my kids.

The notion that working mothers give up their kids to some stranger is a major grievance for Whitlow who explains that the people she chose to care for her children are not strangers she randomly picked: “They are people I really implicitly trust and went through a huge amount of work to find.”

Colleen Hensel, program manager with In-Pact and mother of two, also has this trust in her children’s caregivers. She says once she saw the child care environment and the variety of activities her kids would be engaged in each day, she thought her kids would be bored with her at home. She adds, “I couldn’t picture myself being better at it than any of the trained teachers at a day care or preschool.”

Speaking of day care…

“You’re not going to harm your children by putting them in day care, if it’s a high quality day care,” says Whitlow, who also said she tried two or three different places before she found the right fit. “It’s the quality of day care; it’s not just whether they’re in day care or not.”

Part of alleviating some of the guilt many working moms share is finding a day care solution one trusts and believes is beneficial for her child. Once Whitlow found a child care program she loved, she hasn’t felt a moment of guilt since. “They’re better off there than home with me,” she says, “and they’ve proven it to me because they’re happy and they love it. They’re smart; they’re doing really well in school.”

If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

“I think the family is all happier when mom is happier” says Hensel. Most of us can point to times when our disgruntled mood has trickled down to other members of the family. The opposite is true as well. When we’re feeling good, our upbeat mood is contagious. And being engaged in work that is meaningful to you goes a long way toward a sunny disposition.

John Petersen, Psy.D., psychologist and owner of Family Psychology of South Bend, notes that “A parent’s personal fulfillment is important.” He points out that when a parent is happy and content, that parent is “in a place of really living life fully” and able to share that happiness with the family.

On the flip side, parents struggling with depression have the opposite impact on family life. Whitlow says research has shown that untreated “maternal depression is one of the biggest risk factors for future problems” in children. So it’s important for mom to follow her bliss, and for a lot of women, this means pursuing dreams outside of family life.

The business of family.

Caring for kids comes with plenty of tedious tasks that must be managed. Laundry, packing lunches, making dinner, covering school holidays and sick days – the list is really endless. Hensel says the one thing that stirs up guilty feelings for her is not always having time to keep up the house the way she would like. That means for Whitlow, she has to spend the weekend catching up. “[What] makes me feel guiltier than anything is that when I do have time with them, I’m running round trying to get everything done.”

Negotiating these details can have a big impact on the quality of family life. Whitlow says having an “equal partnership” is the only way to make it work. She and her husband split the housework and definitely include the kids in doing chores. Hensel says she and her husband do a lot of emailing back and forth about details to stay on top of everything. Meeting for lunch is another time she and her husband talk business: “The kids aren’t there, you’re both awake and thinking clearly, and you can talk about important things.”

Family matters.

Finding moments to bond as a family can be challenging, but setting the stage for connection doesn’t have to be a full on production of fun and games or regular heart-to-heart chat sessions. As Whitlow says, “they just want you there” doing normal family stuff.

“Basic structure and routine is good for everybody to reduce stress,” says Petersen. “A nice morning routine, a nice bedtime routine, a reasonable bedtime. And if you can have family meals together, that’s really even better.”

In the Whitlow house, sitting down to eat together is important family time. She also has individual reading time with each of her kids before bed each night. Hensel and her family take 30-45 minutes to play a family game before bedtime. Right now, the house favorite is Uno. Such routines provide predictability and security and a chance to come together and enjoy life as a family.

And isn’t enjoying life the most basic thing we want for ourselves and our children? Turns out, it’s the simple things that get us there. Petersen points out that as a society, we’ve become very ambitious in our parenting and often end up over parenting, but “We don’t have to give and give and give,” he says. “The main thing is to be in a loving household where there’s sufficient structure, there’s not danger, there’s not high degrees of unpredictability, and there’s love and care. As long as that’s going on … you’re giving them the world.”

This article appears in the April 2012 issue of Sassy Magazine

http://www.michianafamilymagazine.com/The-Family-Magazine-of-Michiana/Sassy-Magazine/April-2012/Hey-Working-Mom-Got-A-Case-of-Mommy-Guilt/

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WORMS!

Lisa stopped by Milford’s and Mr. Milford donated a bucket of night crawlers and a bucket of wax worms. For an hour and a half, Wee Friends played with these worms. They learned the names and discovered that they DO poop. Sort of. Finn’s dad has promised to come with more pictures and information as our study continues. Friends squished, gently pulled, twisted, piled up and studied the worms with a microscope. Lisa took small groups outside to look for backyard worms. Kai, Jane and Annie named their worms and developed worm families who had conversations.

Then we explored what it felt like to be a worm.

 

 

Some friends continued math explorations with number plates and graphs.

Simon brought in a card matching game that he shared with his friends.

The watercolor sensory tub also stayed very busy today.

 

Elliott and Nate built tracks.

Wee Sprouts today are pea pods and sweet peppers. Breakfast was Cheerios and raisins. For lunch, we served melted ham and cheese on whole wheat tortillas, mixed veggies and applesauce.

Have a great weekend.

This morning, Tami put jars of watercolor, paintbrushes and coffee filters in the light table. Rotating groups of friends spent the morning creating art and exploring colors and shading as they blended together.

Building on many friends interest in pill bugs (i.e. rolly pollies /doodle bugs) and worms, Lisa introduced a picture of a rolly polly and invited friends to the art table for a study.

Friends learned each part of the rolly polly and counted its legs. They discovered what happens when the rolly polly is hurt: it turns blue and rolls up. Kai and Vivian came up with a list of other questions for further study.(FAB: K.2.3, K.3.5)

Elliott and Marta worked side by side for much of the morning building and re-building Magna-Tiles.

Kai’s kindergarten math work has generated an interest in graphs and numbers for many friends. While he worked at graphing numbers 1-100, other friends also worked with numbers according to their developmental understanding. (FAB: K.6.4)

Umi, Alexandra and Marta surrounded themselves with books and spent time reading together.

Simon, Annie and Jane played together all morning, mostly in housekeeping, acting out stories. At one point, they split up and Simon and Annie went to the workbench while Jane played Little Ponies in the art loft.

Our Wee Sprouts today are pea pods and sweet peppers. Breakfast was whole wheat toast with peanut butter, pears and bananas. For lunch, Tami made a ground turkey, cheddar cheese and farm fresh egg casserole, peas and cantaloupe.

Thank you to everyone who has made the parking adjustment (parking on the appropriate side of the street and limiting parking time to 10 minutes or less). It continues to help drop off/pick up times move smoothly and ward off inconvenienced neighbors/drivers.

Enjoy your day!