We have spent a great deal of time in the morning working with the children on conflict resolution. This has been a work in progress, and it seems as though daily we see progress with the children.

We have all been working with the children to use their words if someone is trying to take a toy from them. Yesterday afternoon, we had an older WWF who was on our lion rocker. Another WWF wanted to ride it at the same time. Our older WWF used her words to tell her friend that she could use it as soon as she was done. The older WWF stayed on for another minute or so, then helped her little friend get on it. It is so nice to see the children working together! They responded the same way to a similar situation this morning outside while playing in our log cabin house. Chairs were blocking the entry way, and the children worked together to move the chairs out of the way. They are all progressing so nicely with this developmental stage.

The children enjoyed some fresh cucumber and tomato from the garden today for a light, late morning snack. For lunch today, we had some delicious pizza on whole wheat crust with Miss Laurie’s delicious homemade sauce. This was accompanied with some broccoli, and watermelon. For those of us who joined us for breakfast, we had Cheerios and banana. Our late afternoon snack consisted of animal crackers and pears.

This afternoon the children were creative, with one thing leading to another, and before long, caves were being created with blankets being placed over our cubby area. It was so interesting to hear their dialogue and see their creativity expanding each and every day. We also listened to some new song books. “Sunshine on my shoulders” was a real crowd pleaser.

Just a reminder that we are closed on this Monday in observance of Labor Day. Enjoy this time with your family.

The children played with our beads this morning. Some of them enjoyed stringing them, while others matched them to the shape and color strips. A few of the older children counted their beads, and we worked on sequencing as well. This seemed to be a great morning project.

We tried to beat the morning heat and headed outside a little earlier than usual. Lucky for Miss Lisa, as we had some wonderful chefs in our playhouse kitchen. The children made pasta, broccoli, and milk, with “brown” ice cream for dessert. They worked together on mixing, adding ingredients to their imaginary creations, plated their delicious food, and even served it to her.

Our morning walks seem to be a ritual. The children loved listening for a train again today, and prior to our departure from WWF, we read a book about a spider creating a big web. A spider and web were spotted on our walk. More discussion about spiders continued throughout the morning.

Puzzles, trains, and placing colored pegs in some of our Styrofoam cut outs of various things (a butterfly, duck and train were used today) was a great activity after coming inside. Some of the children enjoyed water and bubble play in the kitchen. They washed some of our animals, and had a lot of fun while doing so. Elizabeth and Marta played together with our trains, while Sloane and Olivia had fun on our Jungle Gym.

For breakfast this morning, we served whole wheat English Muffins, and fresh fruit. We have been doing a light, late morning snack that consists of vegetables from our garden. The children seem to eat a lot more of these at this time rather than lunch. Today we had green beans and sliced fresh tomato. Our lunch menu this afternoon was whole wheat cheese tortillas, broccoli, and some delicious peaches. For snack today we will have muffins and bananas.

Enjoy the day, and don’t forget your sunglasses!

Our WWF’s come prepared!

The children had a great morning. The imaginary alarm sounded, and Finn, Max, and Marta put on their fire hats and jackets, and ran outside

to respond to the call. Finn found the “treasure” hidden in the sand. The boys then decided after their hard work, it was time to bake some muffins.

Next, it was time for a sensory activity. The children loved the tub of water filled with bubbles. Some of them even climbed in and began cleaning themselves with the toothbrushes we had placed in the tubs for the children to wash rocks with to help build their fine motor skills. Others used our ball crates to make train cars. They are sure becoming very creative by exploring and using their imaginations. Finn collected the train tickets, and made the final call for “All aboard!”

Our little Wee one’s enjoyed their outside exploration time by walking and crawling around the yard exploring all of the different things to do. Different groups of children went on walks and they observed a train from a far. This opened up much dialogue, as you can well imagine.

For breakfast this morning, we had scrambled eggs, toast, and fresh fruit. Our lunch today was couscous with black beans, vegetable medley, and fruit salad. Our afternoon snack will consist of cheese and crackers.

Ozzie really seemed to enjoy “The Wheels on the bus go round and round” with Miss Paulina.

Have a splendid day!

Inspired by Downtown South Bend’s Art Beat, and the beautifully presented ice sculptures this past weekend, the children did some sculpting themselves today! Sand pails were frozen, and emptied from the pail so the children could enhance their fine motor skills by using a wooden hammer, their hands by picking at the ice and blueberries in it, or just being an observer. They seemed to really enjoy it. Pla-Doh filled the kitchen table, and the children were very creative by adding straws, pounding with wooden hammers, and using cookie cutters with it.

We danced and sang to our “We All Go Traveling By” CD. The children are doing a remarkable job at memorizing the words to this. We took a walk as well this morning. We walked by the yarn shop and looked and studied all the different color of yarns on display in the window. We discussed how some colors are brighter than others, and picked out just those! The children enjoyed playing “I spy” for squirrels, certain color cars, and shapes. Miss Paulina played the recorder for us outside. It was wonderful to have music and movement right in our backyard. The children exhibited a lot of their gross motor skills as she played various songs for us. Some did marker drawings.

Today for lunch we had ham sandwiches on whole wheat bread, carrots and fresh summer peaches. We also sliced up some of our garden cucumbers and carrots for a light snack outside before lunch. This afternoon for snack, we will honor Finn’s request for rice cakes and raisins.

For our reading selection today before nap, we read, “Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?” and “Food for thought.” We had some very attentive listeners.

Have a wonderful day~