The Blue Bus began the next gymnastics session this morning. Today, friends worked on the trapeze bar and the octagon barrel. On the bar, they practiced pike and “V” swings. Then they got to swing upside down like bats. On the octagon, we learned a backward walk over. They practiced rockers and were steam rolled! The sticker today was a butterfly.

Tomorrow is the last swimming session for this go-round. Next Tuesday a new session will begin. We will post who those children are next week, who are enrolled for the next swimming session.

On Wednesday, the younger farm group will be going to the farm, weather permitting. Nate, Finn, Marts, Elliott, Umi, Alexandra and Stephen are in the scheduled group.

Today Lea became an official Wee Friend, having moved over from Wee Wee. Welcome, Lea! We are so glad to have you with us!

With the weather so delicious and inviting, Wee Friends cannot wait to get outside! We spilled onto the playground and friends took off in many different directions. Elliott sampled one of each from our bicycle banquet.

Ada headed for the sandbox and dug a hole deep enough for her to rest her body in.

Finn and Nate started in the sandbox but moved to the small house, filling plates and cups with sand and serving them to others.

 

A safe game of freeze tag had friends running and laughing all over the playground.

The ultimate and eventual team, Stephen and Alexandra sang together as they teetered.

Annie and Jane created a princess house in the WW art area.

In the area of cultivating positive Life Skills, we wanted to update you on our rest and lunch time procedures. At 11:45 am each day, 4-5 older friends come inside to prepare the classroom for rest time and lunch. Kai and Viv are in charge of setting out cots. Jane’s primary job is to fill water glasses halfway,but she also assists Kai and Viv with arranging blankets.

Annie and Macy’s job is to lay out the green mats. They also helps set the table when needed.

Our friends take their jobs very seriously and this sense of responsibility (and fun!) has been born out of several months of repeating and honing these skills. We are excited for them!

The first thing Lea shared as she sat down to eat was “I can do it myself”, meaning serve herself. We’ve observed that our WF’s independence at the lunch table is also growing.

All of our friends can serve themselves and we continue to cultivate coordination, healthy table manners and routines for picking up after themselves.

What has resulted is a (mostly!) peaceful lunchtime where conversations are had and friendships and social skills (sharing, listening, taking turns, to name a few) continue to develop.

Wee Sprouts today are sweet peppers and green beans. Breakfast was whole wheat English muffins with peanut butter and apple slices. For lunch, Tami prepared whole wheat penne pasta with cheddar/mozz cheese, mixed veggies and apple slices.

Don’t forget, our last swimming lesson (for this session) is tomorrow and we will be pulling out at 9:30. Next Tuesday, the new session begins and we will post those names of returning and new swimmers next Monday. Farm Wednesday is our younger group, weather permitting. We will also aim to pull out close to 9:30.

Enjoy this day!

This morning, Simon built the Titanic. He shared that Owen told him all about it and then he built it.

Another Band of Wee Friends worked with the Magna Tiles.

Other friends started their morning decorating lavender construction paper baskets.

Nate honed in on practicing how to hold the scissors.

After everyone had a chance to create a basket, we set up the art table to paint hard boiled eggs.

When the painting was complete, many friends continued working with the dye to color paper, cotton balls and coffee filters. The sensorial exploration that emerged involved squeezing, mixing colors, splashing, stretching cotton, wrapping wet cotton on a spoon and finally, jewelry making with dyed cotton balls.

 

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumber slices and carrots. For breakfast, we served Kix and bananas and apples. For lunch Lisa made beef and cheese burritos on whole grain bread, cantaloupe and mixed veggies. We also gave WF the choice of eating their painted hard boiled egg.

Enjoy this weekend!

Owen, Kai, Vivian, Simon, Marat, Arleigh, Annie and Ada spent their morning at the farm. On the ride over, Marat taught his friends “How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?”

When we arrived Tami and Farmer Charlotte bartered eggs, honey and apple cider vinegar while Wee Friends began their explorations.

    

Next, we headed over the chicken coop to watch Joseph gather eggs.

We also saw Taffy drinking water.

We watched a chicken inside a coop and found several underneath the trailer.

Charlotte captured a small chicken and Wee Friends enjoyed petting her.

 

We moved to another coop and Kai retrieved an egg.

We shared our table scraps with the chickens!

Arleigh found a feather and shared it with her friends.

Wee Friends brushed and fed both Ruby II and Taffy the horse!

Farmer Charlotte taught Wee Friends how to train Ruby II to “walk…whoa.”

After our time with the animals, we headed to the woods to create drama.

As we walked, each Wee Friend collected a favorite jewel from nature.

We found a stage space, gathered into a circle and each friend described their jewel and also, what it reminded them of. Using these natural jewels, the earth and the ideas they generated, we guided the actors through a highly imaginative improvisational story involving helicopters, umbrellas, parachutes, planting a seed and a very loud rainstorm. We began it with a song celebrating the earth and its jewels and ended it by parachuting out of our helicopter. It made sense to us! In fact—it was glorious!

Ada began her farm day rolling down the hills. When we asked our friends to gently lay down (and leave) their collection of nature’s jewels in the grass before getting in the Weehicle Ada said “Can I lay down, too?” The rest of the WF Jewels piled in the Weehicle for the trip home.

Back in the classroom, Lisa and Melinda worked with friends on an egg matching game. They counted jelly beans and charted their discoveries. They practiced concert songs and enjoyed this glorious day on the playground.

For breakfast the we had corn chex and bananas.  For lunch we had farm fresh egg salad on whole wheat, corn, mixed fruit.

Have a great day!

Laurie

We began our day studying road signs. First, Laurie laid out a variety of colored signs. When Alexandra matched a red stop sign from our block set to the paper road signed, Laurie threw out the multiple colored signs and created matches for each miniature sign. We studied the color of the sign, the shape and the message.

Kai and Viv took the study a step further and using blank sheets of paper, replicated the symbol and words on the sign with markers.

At the art table, friends joined Lisa for construction paper egg decorations. Using tissue paper, foam letters, feathers and straws, friends glued away.

On the oval rug, Melinda worked with a small group of friends on creating runways with the balancing blocks. Friends gathered Little People into an airport and Pilots Finn, Umi and Alexandra worked with Simon, the Air Traffic Controller to load passengers into the planes, taxi to the runway and take off.

We finished our morning with a long walk through the neighborhood. Friends identified many of the signs we studied this morning. They were engaged in searching for and observing road signs for the whole duration of our 30 minute walk. Elliott heard a choo-choo train and saw an airplane.  Nate noticed every yard sign. He also always enjoys pointing out the church bells that tell us when it’s time to go in for lunch. Alexandra and Umi found a pink tree!

Our FABS this week are Literacy: K.1.21-Identify common signs and symbols. K.2.5-Identify the order (first, last) of information. Math: K.6.1-Choose the approach, materials and strategies to use in solving problems. K.6.2 Use tools such as objects or drawings to model problems.

Parent/Child Communication Starters:

• What is the name of the street we live on?
• Is the color of our street sign green or red or lavender?
• Why is there a bicycle on that road sign?
• How many passengers can fit into an airplane?

Our Wee Sprouts today are cucumber and radish slices. Breakfast was Total and bananas. For lunch we are serving whole wheat pita sandwiches with hummus, cucumber slices and cantaloupe.

Have a great day.

We pulled out the bunny ears and baskets this morning and the first thing we did was learn a hopping song.

“Once I saw a little bunny go hop, hop, hop,

And I said little bunny, please stop, stop, stop,

But the bunny just smiled and away he hopped,

Over to the pond…then the bunny went plop!!!”

 

At the art table, we pulled out the royal purple Play-doh and set out multi colored eggs for exploration.

 

 

Along with the all the great fine motor and imagination building Play-Do offers, we love it because it builds community in our classroom! For an hour and a half this morning, a shifting group of friends sat, talked, shared and created together. This tremendous exercise in cooperation serves them well in all areas of their lives!

Jane and Annie continued to enjoy the new airplane game. They also worked with Lisa counting and sorting large and small chicks into the corresponding egg.

 

Simon was thrilled to have his buddy Owen to work with today.

Best buddies Nate and Finn worked together at the workbench. This work ended in a mini duet at the window. Nate sang the Notre Dame fight song and Finn belted out “Twinkle” and “Jackhammer Joy”. Nate used a whistle (piece of wood) and Finn, a guitar (magnifying glass) to accompany themselves.

Elliott set up a cockpit on the oval rug and invited the teachers to fly with him.

After lunch our older friends began a study of their street address. We started by asking the question “What is the name of your street?” We identified each friend’s street name and house address and then they drew a detailed picture of their house. We will send these home in time for the holiday weekend, for those friends who may need to leave directions for a bunny visit.

Our Wee Sprouts today are carrots and tomatoes. Breakfast was peanut butter on whole wheat toast and pear slices. For lunch, we served whole wheat pasta with marinara, mixed veggies and fruit salad. For pm snack, we will serve Hummingbird cake (banana/pineapple bread).

Have a great Monday.