A small group of friends gathered this morning at the light table to work with plastic translucent rocks. We sorted the rocks into like colors and counted how many were in each pile. A few friends worked at creating patterns with the assortment of colors.

Finn inspired us to revisit last year’s pirate study. With scarves, a treasure chest filled with gold coins and our pirate music, we set sail!

Simon brought in a tornado in a bottle. He showed us how to create a funnel and when we played “Storm at Sea”, Simon shared his science experiment with his friends, who took turns creating a tornado as the music played. Finn, as Captain, used the housekeeping loft as a lookout, where he spotted crocodiles, dinosaurs and many other creatures. The ship docked and friends went on a treasure chest hunt. They found the hidden treasure box and brought it on deck, counting and exploring the texture of the coins inside.

After admiring our Work of Art Cake, we decided we should bake a real cake. Friends took turns cracking, pouring and stirring all the blueberry muffin ingredients together. We discussed opposites thick and thin, and added a tub of water to stir. Friends explored a bowl with thick batter and a bowl of thin liquid. We discussed which muscles were needed to stir the thick batter and asked “Which bowl is easier to stir?”

Each friend stirred 20 strokes as Melinda helped friends count to 20 out loud.

Our classroom buzzed with experiential learning moments: Kai examining the tornado bottle wondering how water gets from one side to the other and “will it spill?”: Elliott stretching his gross motor muscles as he climbed up and down the habitrail: Through painting, Marta and Annie exercising fine motor finger muscles that cultivate the strength they will need in writing: Nate (after 2 days!) building up the courage and confidence to slide down the fireman’s pole independently: Umi cultivating compassion as she tenderly works with her baby doll.

Each day, we view our classroom through the lenses of possibility and together, with our Wee Friends, get excited about the educational moments that, as we say, naturally SPARK!

For breakfast, we served grits and oranges. For lunch, Lisa made chicken salad served in a whole wheat pita, cucumber slices and applesauce. For snack we will eat blueberry muffins!

Have a great day!

Laurie

Cameras Standby………..ACTION!

Wee Friends had a great time this morning with the Neverending Productions, the camera crew who came out to capture video for the commercial 4 C’s is producing on quality childcare in St. Joseph County.

They captured many great moments of our busy morning!

A small group of friends gathered around the felt board singing through nursery rhymes. We talked/sang through several and talked about story sequencing, placing felt numbers to felt pictures of the corresponding action. Humpty Dumpty captured their attention so we stopped, cracked a real egg, saved the shell, cracked it and then tried to piece it back together, all the while, talking about how the soldiers must have felt, how Humpty fell off the wall and how the texture of egg shells in their hands.

Lisa worked with Finn, Umi and Nate on sequencing the alphabet letter people. After working a while, Finn suggested that they create a pigeon out of the cards.

Later, she and Nate sorted puzzle pieces as Melinda and Jane ate an imaginary meal together.

The habitrail continues to draw Wee Friends up and down and all around! Friends are becoming comfortable with how their bodies move throughout the structure (teachers too!).

The princesses spent a lot of time running between their castle and the workbench where they continued to brush hair and play with a variety of construction tools. We learned a new vocabulary word: bed chamber, for the princesses were so tired they created a large mattress to lay upon.

Tami added paint to the light table this morning.

Today, Wee Sprouts are yellow bell peppers and carrots. For breakfast Lisa served Total Cereal and bananas. Lunch was Tami’s delicious farm fresh egg, potato and ham casserole, whole wheat toast, green beans and apple slices. Snack will be hummus and whole wheat pita bread.

Enjoy the warm day!

Laurie

An Invitation from Tami:

Thursday, February 2 – 7pm-8pm – Wee Friends Classroom

Fall 2012 Curriculum Meeting and Q&A

Fall 2012 will include a newly created plan to ensure well balanced coverage of the Indiana Academic Standard with our flourishing constructivist environment. Come learn more!

Please RSVP to the sign up sheet posted at WF so that Tami can plan refreshments.

Please make alternative childcare arrangements!

Friends spent the entire morning discovering the new jungle gym that Tami and Charles finished constructing this weekend. We are calling it the habitrail!

Via message board, we established 6 safety rules:

• 8 kids at a time allowed
• No blocks on blue and red mats
• Be respectful of each other
• Use inside voices
• Only bodies allowed on the jungle gym
• Walking and climbing, please.

When friends weren’t climbing, sliding, stretching, hopping, crawling, laughing and pretending on the habitrail, they were squeezing, rolling, pushing, picking, pinching and molding a variety of objects with Play-Doh.

Marta made Band-Aids. Umi and Marta worked on a chocolate cake. First, Alexandra rolled several pieces of dough flat, then she rolled them up and expressed “These are my ham and cheese rolls!”. Simon created everything from a birdhouse to a pyramid. Finn made a bridge. Stephen made cupcakes.

Annie and Arleigh chose the workbench to brush hair, using a file and a screwdriver!

We finished our morning outside enjoy the sleds!

Today, our Wee Sprouts are tomatoes and cucumbers. For breakfast we served peanut butter on whole wheat toast and bananas. Lunch was whole wheat pasta with red beans, mixed veggies and fruit salad.

Have a great day!

Wee Sprouts!

This morning Elliott’s mom shared with us that when Elliott was riding in the car to school he looked around and asked “What happened to my house?”! Our new vegetable snack bar (now named Wee Sprouts!) not only nourished Elliott (and others!) but gave us an opportunity to make a vocabulary connection by exploring a pea’s house: the pod!

It was a morning filled with creativity and connections!

• Lisa continued the “Bah Bah Black Sheep” study by discussing simple facts as friends created art with yarn and paint. She introduced new vocabulary words “ewe” and “ram”. They talked about where lambs live and identified letters that make up the word “lamb”. Lisa brought in a wool mitten for friends to feel.
• After reading The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by Sam McBratney, a small group of friends acted the story out. Most of the action centered around the mice climbing the stairs and finding the cat in the dark at the top of the stairs. Simon (grandpa mouse) and Jane (baby mouse) adopted character voices. After they told their story, we sat down and sang an original tune with a verse from the book. Using building blocks, we tapped out rhythms and explored loud/soft dynamics. Simon led a construction project building the stairs from the book.
• Our princesses continued to work on their cake.

Note from Tami: Moments ago, Taco (our hamster) died. Tami plans on telling the kids next week.

For breakfast, we served cheerios and bananas. For lunch Lisa made ham rolls with cream cheese, peas and fruit salad with pears and apple.

Enjoy your weekend!

Let your light shine! Yesterday Stephen and Simon walked around the classroom hand in hand singing our walking song “We’ll Go Walking”. Elliott worked diligently on a domino track, laying dominoes flat and on their sides.

Today, a small group of friends joined Lisa in the reading area for a read-thru and sing-a-long of “Twinkle Twinkle”.

Afterwards, a large group of friends gathered at the art table to trace, cut out and glitter paint stars. We will use these as props for our Spring Concert!

We have a few princesses in the house who are interested in reviving the Sleeping Beauty study. During imaginative play in our housekeeping center, the girls have been very interested in looking at a wedding cake magazine. We (literally!) built on this interest by finding three boxes of various sizes and creating our own cake. First, the girls identified small/medium/large. Next, they decided how they wanted their cake to stack. Finally, they chose a variety of colors and began painting. The process of painting drew in many friends and a beautiful work of art was created!

Lisa guided friends on a train excursion! Finn was the conductor. He asked for tickets and friends jumped on board. He also served food and they discussed the different shapes of the mentioned food. They went to see Grandma, but Finn spotted a dinosaur out the window. They hurried to a cave, came back to an imagined campsite and made a huge fire with yellow car tracks. They cooked hamburgers and put up imaginary tents.

And then……laid under the stars!

Using a flashlight, Lisa created an imaginary star and friends watched it fall, flitter, dance and land on different friends. We sang “Twinkle Twinkle” and made a wish……….

Here’s wishing your day is wonderful!

(Breakfast: cinnamon toast and bananas – Lunch: chicken pot pie, peas and applesauce)