Welcome Back!

It was an exciting morning with stories of vacations and the reuniting of friends. The brief thunder storm added a little extra excitement! However, Wee Frienders looked at the storm scientifically, with discussions about the wind/rain intensity and movement. We stood at the open door and felt the rain blow into the house and were amazed by its power! There was also a discussion comparing and contrasting the sound of thunder vs fireworks. Owen summed up this up with, “Fireworks have a big boom. Thunder doesn’t. It just has a big rumble.”

Other morning activities included:

*Playing in the moon sand. We have added moon sand tools and doll house people to spur the kids imaginations!

*Many friends easel painted. Many made popsicle stick sculptures.

*Several friends played in hopscotch for an extended time navigating the dynamics of the dog/cat community they created.

For lunch we had whole wheat rotini with chicken, watermelon and broccoli.

VRmmmmmmm…….

The Wee Friends Beach 500 Derby car race was a great success! The children used the slides to race cars down the hill while cheering fans with checkered flags celebrated the event.

After the races were complete, everyone celebrated with hotdogs. Later, we polled the children and our graph showed that the Wee Frienders clearly preferred hotdog/bun/& ketchup over just a hot dog bun or just a hot dog!

The WF kids also enjoyed receiving the race trophies that were made earlier in the week by most of the children.

This morning many of the children enjoyed using dot painters to create a variety of artwork. There was also a lot of small group play in housekeeping, hopscotch and the reading area. During our outside play, the children, explored the many properties of water by dumping and pouring water into measuring cups and the water tubes. A few adventurous children discovered the interesting results of blowing into the water tubes. She exclaimed to everyone, “Look at my funny trick!” as the water shot out of the end of the tube!

For lunch we had brown rice with beef, watermelon and green peas.

Have a fabulous summer break! We return on Monday, July 11.

Today we started our morning working in small groups to make checkered flags for the WWF kids to wave during our Wee Friends Beach 500 race that will happen this afternoon. Our plan is to use the slides to race cars while the “fans” (WWF/WF children) sit in the “stands” (the lawn) and eat sporting event food (hot dogs). The children are very excited!

Other small group activities this morning included:

*A large group of younger children played cooperatively (mostly!) for around 45 minutes. They dressed up, assigned Mommy, Daddy, Baby, Doggie, Kitty roles and prepared meals.

*More complex structures were designed and enjoyed by several children working together.

*The reading area was well used by children individually and in small groups. Arleigh, one of our young 3 year olds, spent a good amount of time “reading” to the 2 year olds.

*We also had several children choose to make sculpture dough. The children are becoming very independent in the measuring, pouring, and mixing process.

*The children have created a new outside activity. They have discovered that there is room for several children to “hide” under the overgrown crab tree. They are delighted with this new space that only they can use!

For lunch today, we enjoyed: whole wheat couscous with chicken, cantaloupe, and corn.

This morning was relaxed and peaceful with the kids focusing on small group and independent activities. Here’s a glimpse of our morning:

• *Tami read Bob Books with all of our new readers.

*The children spent quality time painting their race cars in anticipation of the Indiana Wee Friends Beach 500. Many chose to continue creating art using construction paper and tempera paint.

This morning you may have noticed the flock of blue flamingos on the Wee Friends lawn! The Buccellato family “flocked” us! “As a part of the 15th annual U93 RoofSit, flocks of 15 flamingos are being delivered all over St. Joe County to raise awareness for child abuse prevention…”-St. Joe County. Thank you, Missy Little for the great idea of photographing the kids sitting next to a flamingo!

Yesterday afternoon, we had a chance to watch a flat tire being changed. We’ve been studying the amount of time it takes race track pit crews to change tires and to see something similar, in action, was quite a treat!

A Note from Tami on the Electronic Portfolios…

The WF teachers are really enjoying the process of putting the EP’s together for every child. Please note that Melinda is doing much of the computer entry and this is a new process for her to learn. She is quickly becoming computer savvy! The laptop screen is small & we are generally doing these very quickly as we get a snipit of time here and there. Typos and formatting issues have popped up on occasion. Please know that I will go into every file periodically and correct these issues so that the final product will (hopefully) be typo free!

Lunch today: Whole wheat flat bread with turkey, fresh garden greens with shredded carrots, & fresh bananas/pears.

Have a terrific day!

This morning we finished gluing our race car parts together. F.6.19 See a simple task through to completion.

“Race Car”

I’m driving down the race track just as fast as I can,

Fast as I can,

Fast as I can!

I’m driving down the race track just as fast as I can,

‘Cause I want to win this race!

Turn to the right!

Turn to the left!

Slam on the breaks!

The car is spinning !
Straighten the wheel!

(repeat)

I won!!!

F.3.1 Exhibit self-confidence while participating in movement activities.
F.3.2 Talk about enjoying movement activities.

A small group of boys built a race track out of Trios. F.3.9 Make roads for toy trucks and cars.

Their creation included a video camera, pit crew stop with several gas tanks, a tower and an emergency track exit. A windmill created electricity and a wall surrounded the track to keep the cars in. F.4.8 Use “in” and “out” to indicate where things are in space. F.4.10 Use the words “here” or “there” to indicate where things are in space. F.4.11 Follow instructions to place an object “here” or “there.” F.4.12 Follow instructions to place an object “beside” or “next to” something. F.4.13 Follow instructions to place an object “between” two things.

For lunch we served WF lettuce with ranch dressing, pasta with carrots, peas and kidney beans and watermelon/cantelope fruit salad.

Have a great day!