Today at the farm, the children led us through and exploration of the marsh and prairie.  The children (and teachers!) spent their morning squatted down and huddled together OR looking around at all of the amazing sights, sounds, and smells. At the end of our peaceful nature hike, we all gathered at the stage (wood deck back at the edge of the woods/prairie) and Miss Laurie led the children in creating beautiful rhythms from the sounds they recalled from our hike.   Some of the music became 2 part harmony!  Following that, we did a short creative drama based on the story from our classroom, “Pigs in the Mud”  We finished with a song…Song at Farm Video

The pictures tell the story today…

Today, back at WF, some of the highlights were:

• The younger children continued to explore the concept of “who, what, why, when and where” questions.
• Finn, Nate and Elliott worked together to make race car tracks.
• Lea & Marta worked with the playdough.
• Umi and Alexandra explored the role of a hair stylist and turned Miss Lisa into a “rock star princess”.

For lunch we had brown rice with chicken, corn and mixed fruit.

Enjoy this gorgeous afternoon!

Tami

Elliott’s Nana spent the morning with us! Elliott was thrilled and we all enjoyed having her!

Before the swimmers took off, we gathered on the oval read to read Pigs in the Mud: the book that has inspired our original play! We worked on memorizing “On no! Won’t do. Gotta shoo, but who?”: a repetitive line from the book. This small group time turned into an chicken/egg exploration with Fabrizio passing out real eggs!

We have a new group of swimmers today! Here are some photos from the morning.

Back in the classroom, we explored cooked and uncooked spaghetti.

We used many materials as we explored: various colors of tempera paint for sauce; Play-Do for meatballs and corn starch for parmesan cheese. Friends squished the paint, sprinkled the cheese, used a rolling pin to roll over the noodles, twisted noodles onto a fork, pushed noodles down deep into a cup (and pulled them out again); listened for the ‘crunch’ when a cookie cutter pressed down onto the uncooked noodles; and baked cakes and cookies!

This week’s FABS: K.2.3 Literacy: Generate and respond to questions (who, what, where). K.3.5 Understand what is heard or seen by responding to questions (who, what, where). Math: K.6.4: Make precise calculations and check the validity of the results in the context of the problem.

Our Wee sprouts today are cucumber slices and carrots. Breakfast was Malt-O-Meal with applesauce. For lunch, Tami served peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, bananas and corn. THANK YOU Tank/Chadderton family for the delicious watermelon!

Have a great day.

Good Day!  Today’s blog is about keeping parents informed. 

FLU BUG:  It appears we have a flu virus running through.  We have 2 teachers out sick today and a few children.  It has no name as of yet, simply fever and feeling poorly.

BLUE BUS: I still do not have all the blue bus fees in.  If they are not paid by Friday, your child be unable to participate on Monday.

9:00 class: Ada, Annie, Arleigh, Macy, Simon, Viv, and Kai

9:30 class: Nate, Finn, Marta, Elliott, Alexandra, Stephen, and Lea

NEW SWIMMING SESSION STARTS TOMORROW: The following children are signed up: Kai, Viv, Jane, Macy, Annie, Simon, Ada, Nate, Stephen  and Alexandra. 

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SWIMMER IS DRESSED IN CLOTHES/SHOES THAT ARE COMPATIBLE WITH INDEPENDENT DRESSING AND UNDRESSING.

FARM WEDNESDAY: Rain is predicted, but if the weather cooperates, it’s the older kid group!

SHORT READ CHILD GUIDANCE ARTICLE:

“Research shows that what leads children to become responsible, resilient, moral citizens, with emotional accountability is not being punished. Instead, it is receiving empathy, unconditional love,  being involved, and respected. In other words, when children make a mistake, mess up, break things, say something obscene, they don’t learn from pain or shame but they do need us to help them find their way.” For the full article, check out:

http://positiveparentingconnection.net/if-not-punishment-then-what-three-ideas-that-work/

Here are some moments from our classroom this morning:

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with PB & bananas.  Lunch was whole wheat pasta with turkey, watermelon, and cucumbers. 

Have a great day!

Tami

 

Our play is our work!

Each day, after our friends have rested and napped, they eat snack at the island. In a effort to continually cultivate peaceful, smooth transitions, Lisa and Melinda have created a system in which, after snacking, friends identify their name and a number posted on a list. When Jane sees number 3 next to her name, she then finds the play area that has the number three posted and waiting for her there. The literacy and math challenges (finding name and number) and the surprise of discovery (“Where’s my number?”) ease friends into small group work. After a short time, friends rotate to another play area. When all friends have snacked,  the classroom moves on to the afternoon’s work.

Today, WF worked hard playing….mastering skills along the way.

Cooperation.

 

Success.

Brainstorming.  Fine motor.

Choosing a quiet space on my own, just because I knew that’s what I needed.

Gross Motor.

Listening.

Sequencing.

Creating.

Before heading outside this morning, friends practiced their concert songs. After Melinda’s opening night (last night), she decided we also need to also put on a play! Friends chose a book and we mapped out the Who, What and Where. We will create an original script based on what action in the play resonates with our Wee Friends!

A hard and happy day’s work.

Our Wee Sprouts today are English cucumbers! For breakfast we served cereal and bananas. For lunch, Tami prepared whole wheat tortillas with cream and cheddar cheese and fruit salad (bananas and raisins).

Thank you Stephen and Alexandra for yesterday’s delicious cantaloupe! Thanks, too, for all the WF families who continue to donate Wee Sprouts!

Have a terrific weekend!

The Wee Friends morning began with Emotion. After identifying the many different moods and emotions swirling around our classroom, we all sat down to read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Suess. The book matches an emotion with a color. We acted out the different emotions and then played a game in which one friend pulled an emotional mask out of an imaginary bag and put it on their face. Other friends named the emotion and put that mask on (happy, sad, very sad!, angry etc…) too. Afterwards, we went to the art table to create Emotional Masks. Each friend chose the color they identified with and decorated their mask with markers.

Enter the sticks. Our friends LOVE sticks and truthfully, there are endless conversations about stick safety: when we can use sticks and when we can’t: how we can use sticks and how we can’t. We know that sticks are one of nature’s jewels and we also know that sticks can be used in an unsafe way. So. We began by offering each friend a stick on which to tape their mask.

Then, Lisa invited friends to the oval rug for Emotional Mask/Stick Improv! A fairy tale emerged in which forlorn princesses fainted. Lisa guided friends to discover a solution. Friends used their masks as wands, fans and fairy dust sprinklers.

Finally, we poured a huge bag of sticks on the kitchen floor and waited. Kai identified large/small, thick/thin sticks and used his strong muscles to try and snap them. Ada chose small sticks and pulled brittle limbs off. Arleigh stoked a fire with her stick. Marta played drums.

Finn joined our work and exclaimed “Let’s build a fire!”

Stephen played the guitar.

Arleigh searched for something to use as a marshmallow! She found it!

Lisa showed us how to blow out the fire when our marshmallow is done roasting.

Stephen found a container and was the leader on gathering the sticks and putting them away for next time.

He and Finn dragged the bin out to the back porch where our stick bin will be stored.

And Arleigh brought her marshmallows.

Success with Sticks. Satisfaction.

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumber slices. For breakfast Melinda served whole wheat English Muffins with butter/cinnamon and bananas. For lunch, Lisa has prepared farm fresh scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, carrots and apples.

Enjoy your day.