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.

Good Afternoon!

To start off the day, Clara waved bye-bye to her friends as she went to the door to leave. She made sure to grab her purse as she left! P.K. relaxed after eating breakfast.

We headed outside for water play! It was a hot day. We stayed in the shade and filled up the sensory water tub with cold water. Our friends used different toys while playing in the water. A few favorites included sponges and measuring cups that children filled with water and then dumped back in the water. They found that it made a splash!

Clara and P.K. were so enthused during water play, they let out a variety of screams!

Friends played with one another and shared toys.

Chloe had a fabulous time running through the sprinkler! She had a non stop smile on her face. She laughed when the water hit her face as she was running.

Clara joined Chloe in the sprinkler fun!

Our friends had a great time in the water. Children found out quickly that when they are wet and play in the sand or dirt, they become muddy and very dirty!

Marina opened her mouth wide to scream with excitement while running through the sprinkler. P.K. scratched his head while thinking what he should do next!

For breakfast, children had corn bran and oranges. Lunch consisted of egg salad sandwiches on whole wheat bread, cucumbers, and cottage cheese with fruit. PM snack was whole wheat crackers and bananas.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Breakfast: Chex and pear slices. Wee Sprouts: Snap peas. Lunch: Egg salad on whole wheat bread, cucumber slices and pineapple.

Have a great day.

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend.

Our friends started their Monday off with gross motor activities. Children climbed, crawled, and jumped on our gross motor stairs and slide. Everyone is getting used to the new toy and the different things they can do on it.

P.K. and Clara had quiet time while sitting under the cubby area.

We started a painting activity today where children painted their hands and pushed their hand on the paper to make a hand print! We talked about the different colors that we used.

Outside, friends gathered in the sandbox where they filled different containers with sand. The sand was still wet from the rain we got over the weekend. Children liked the feeling of the wet sand on their hands. Clara decided to take shade shelter and play with the pebbles. She poured the pebbles from container to container.

P.K. scooped sand using a shovel into a bucket. He worked on his fine motor skills and then decided to switch to gross motor by bouncing on a bouncy ball. He held the railing and propelled himself up by using his legs.

Zoey grasped different toys today and then transferred them to her mouth. Her hand muscles are getting stronger along with her upper body! She can hold her head up for a longer period of time.

Marina played pretend by serving herself coffee and drinking it with a spoon.

For breakfast, children had chex and oranges. AM snack was carrots. Lunch consisted of pita bread with hummus, corn, and apples. PM snack was whole wheat crackers and string cheese.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy