What’s more fun then a rock?

What’s more fun than a block?

What’s more fun than 1-2-3?

Taking 14 friends to the Park!

We walked, skipped, pulled wagons, crossed streets, held hands, found rocks, rehearsed Spring Joy! and Pigs in the Mud, complained (a little…ok…a lot), sweated, climbed, hid, chased, stopped for breaks, water and shoes in rocks, used the Joy John and lots of hand sanitizer. It was some kinda’ mornin’. A few snapshots:

 

 

No Wee Sprouts today (we were out all am!). Breakfast was Kix and bananas. Lunch was Tami’s delicious farm fresh egg casserole, carrots and fruit salad.

Have a great day.

Good Afternoon! Our friends started off their morning with calming baby yoga! Chloe and Jada sure did strike their poses well! They both made sure to lay on their mats while doing the downward dog pose.

 

P.K. and Marina danced and sang in between different yoga songs. P.K. observed from the jungle gym while Marina chose to grab a yoga mat and dance around in circles.

 

Ozzie showed off his stretching ability by separating his legs far apart.

While her friends participated in baby yoga, Clara gathered pegs and tried to put them together. She was very concentrated and focused while she did this.

After baby yoga, we sang a song using each child’s name. For instance, we were singing about Jada and everyone came and gave Jada a great big hug! Not only were they being good friends but they were gentle as well!

Our friends gathered babies as we rocked the babies to sleep. Children chose to use scarves to cover the babies up. They let us know that the babies were sleeping by saying, “Shhh…sleeping.” Olivia made sure to cover up the baby and pat her back.

 

While outside, Ellie worked in the log house pouring and scooping pea gravel. She was yelling out to her friends that she needed ‘help’!

Clara and Chloe took advantage of this gorgeous day to ride the blue horses! Clara loved using her legs to push her forward. Chloe chose to stand behind the horse and push it from behind.

 

Ellie used her balancing skills as she walked on the tree stumps. Clara grabbed a shovel and dung a hole in the sand. While she was doing this, she was squatting while showed great balancing skills!

 

In the afternoon, our friends gathered in the kitchen where they participated in a painting activity. A big white sheet was put on the table and our friends collaboratively painted the paper.

 

For breakfast, our friends had cheerios and banana. Our AM morning sprout was cucumbers. Lunch consisted of pita bread, hummus, corn, broccoli, and cantaloupe. PM snack was cheese and whole wheat crackers.

Have a great night!

-Mindy

Parent Info:

*If you haven’t turned in a permission slip for Friday’s field trip, please do so ASAP!

*We have finished our first 12 week cycle of FABS. We will start a new cycle in September with the start of the new school year. 

Farm Wednesday and the younger Wee Friends loaded up and headed out. Twice, we caught chickens laying eggs.

We found a mud puddle!

 

We were delighted to have Lea’s mom, Courtney, join us!

WF helped feed the chickens with WF scraps.

Friends found feathers and flowers.

A few friends pet a small chicken.

Farmer Charlotte showed us how a chicken  egg is laid.

And then we saw it happen!

We spent a long time in a pasture that had horse hurdles.

We found a child friendly piece of farm equipment and had a discussion about which farm equipment was safe to touch/play on and which wasn’t.

Back in the classroom, friends created art with apples sliced in half. They also created worm art with string and  tempera paint.

Today’s Wee Sprouts are cucumbers and radishes. Breakfast was cereal and bananas. for lunch, Lisa prepared peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, applesauce and broccoli.

Have a happy day.

Happy May!

Here are pictures that were taken throughout last week. We weren’t able to post any blogs due to computer problems but now we’re back running!

Aiden loved his floor time last week and is now starting to get up on his hands and knees! He’ll be crawling in no time!

 

A friend came to visit us last week: a squirrel! We all loved the visit, especially P.K!

 

Our flower board has been a big hit! Children are being creative and having a blast making their own flowers.

  

While outside, Ozzie and Olivia worked on their balancing skills on the tree stumps. They both put their arms out to help them with their balance.

 

Clara and P.K. walked together outside! P.K. leaned in to give Clara a hug as they walked over to the sandbox.

During music time, Marina used a bean bag as an instrument during the ‘lady bug’ song. She moved the bean bag from hand to hand while listening to the beads inside the bag. P.K. also made musical sounds but he chose to take two hard items and bang them together.

 

Ozzie giggled and laughed while he and Paulina sang a song together!

Jada focused intently as she built houses and different items using the waffle blocks. She was talking to herself about what she was doing!

Chloe twirled the ribbon around as she listened to music. She had a big smile on her face!

Our friends had some cuddle time with Ms. Paulina as they sang songs together.

Our Wee Friends let us borrow a few tents to set up! Children loved crawling and walking in the tents. Jada and Elizabeth chose to take babies in there and play make believe as Mommies!

 

Today, our friends participated in music time where they used scarves and musical shakers to follow along with the guitar. We went outside where children played in the sand box along with riding bikes and pushing the grocery carts!

For breakfast, our friends enjoyed toast with butter and cinnamon and bananas. Our AM snack was snap peas. Lunch consisted of eggs, pineapple, and mixed vegetables. PM snack was string cheese and apples.

Have a great evening!

-Mindy

More Parent Info: As you know, our Spring Joy!/Potluck dinner is scheduled at Potawatomi Park for  May 14, 5:30-7pm. We will begin our Concert promptly at 6pm at the stage and dinner will follow immediately under the Pavilion. Lisa is in charge of the potluck sign up and can be reached via email: lisamurphys@aol.com or text: 574-250-2785. Tami will provide lemonade, water and plates/napkins/utensils. Please feel free to bring a main dish, (ex: pb&j, ham roll ups) a vegetable, fruit or a dessert.  We are anticipating about 50 people. Check with Lisa for contributions to get an idea of what you might bring and THANK YOU!!!!! We are looking forward to spending this time with you all. You are going to be DELIGHTED with your children’s Spring Joy!. It is just incredible! FYI: the rain check date is same time on the following Monday May 21.

Because we blog in the am, we sometimes miss communicating (via blog) the great things that happen every afternoon! As always, we journal right after snack. This child generated paper trail is one way we assess writing and literacy progress. Last Friday, Alexandra wrote her entire name, with no visual references, as a teacher called out the letter! Congratulations, Alexandra!

Yesterday afternoon a small group of good friends worked collaboratively to create this dynamic structure. Then, they all worked together to put the blocks away.

Small group works happens naturally all day. Older friends work with younger friends and the groups shift as work is completed and activities finish. After lunch is the one time of day when our age groups are separate because our smaller friends nap in the back and our older friends rest in the front. We take this opportunity to engage each group in a small, focused book read, discussion, song, life skill work or project. Recently, Lisa read our nappers a book about bath time. Friends shared bath time experiences and they discussed how to clean arms, ears, legs etc. Our older friends have started a book writing project, inspired by a conversation about how Robert Munsch wrote about the preschool children he worked with. And then sometimes, we just fall asleep.

Before the swimmers left Melinda read a book about shapes and colors. Several friends rushed to the art table to practice drawing the shapes they read about.

While the swimmers were away this morning, the remaining group of Wee Friends worked on, what turned out to be, a teacher generated craft-which is something we try to avoid! First, we buried Morning Glory and Sunflower seeds into paper earth (that the teacher folded and taped). Then we added paper plate flowers on pipe cleaners (that the teacher taped and attached to the earth). Finally, the kids perked up when we got out the glitter and glue and markers and the flowers designs THEY created were inspired! We continue to learn as we go…..

Later, we put on our earth worm puppets and learned more about how “soil scientists” mix the soil and make it fertile for growing REAL flowers.

Meet Thumbelina and Jinky, the Soil Scientists.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and cucumbers. Breakfast was Malt-O-Meal and applesauce. Lunch is Whole grain pitas with hummus, corn and cantaloupe.

Have a great day!

 

Monday Parent Info:

Thanks to everyone who has prepared a meal for the Porter family! Carol Porter has expressed that their pantry and freezer are full and she won’t be needing any meals this week. For those of you who signed up to prepare a meal this week, standby ‘til further notice!

Swimming, as usual, tomorrow (Tues) with a 9:30 departure.

Weather permitting, Tami will be taking younger Wee Friends to the farm this Wednesday morning.

Lisa will be putting out information soon re: the potluck for the Potluck/Spring Concert scheduled at Potawatomi Park on Monday, May 14, 5:30-7:00.

On the Blue Bus this morning, friends worked on the balance beam and the obstacle course. On the beam, they practiced a routine with high kicks, tuck jumps, scales and pivot turns. They walked forward and backwards. At the end of class, they did an obstacle course combining several skills.

In the classroom, friends stayed busy reading The Life Cycle of an Earthworm (Bobbie Kalman) and making earthworm sock puppets to sing/act out our earthworm song, which we took turns performing at our puppet theatre.

While waiting for their turn on the Bus, our younger friends sorted and created color patterns with beads. These eventually turned into eyes for our earthworm puppets.

We rehearsed our songs for Spring Joy!, the new name of our spring concert!  

Wee Sprouts today are pea pods. Breakfast was Chex and bananas. For lunch Tami made whole wheat penne pasta with cheesy sauce, broccoli and banana/orange fruit salad.

A simple, peaceful, lovely day. Hope yours is too.

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumber slices. Breakfast was Blueberry Kashi and apple slices. Our lunch today: peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, mixed veggies and apple slices.

Have a great weekend!

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.