Preschoolers as Scientists

"Let's do what scientists do!  We'll study something, look at it up close, touch it, smell it, listen to it, and think... then write down what we've learned.  We can record our ideas with words, pictures, or tracing."

This was our Small Group prompt on Tuesday.  The children were each given a clipboard, pencil and sheet of paper.  They could choose a magnifying glass, and from a variety of star fish, sea shells, and shark teeth from the basket.

Some things we learned during this activity is that only the swirly shells sound like the ocean.  Flatter shells, starfish, and shark teeth do not.

We used a lot of descriptive language like: smooth, spiky, rough, tooth-like, sharp, spiral, striped, and so much more.  The students were encouraged to write or draw these words.

We even learned where the starfish mouth was!  Imagine eating from your belly button!  Starfish have a mouth right in the center of their bodies.  Tracing the starfish was challenging as well.  All of the starfish that we used had five legs.

 Here are some samples of the notes the children made.

Toddler "K" (age 2) "traced" her star fish by drawing circles around it.  She made some squiggles which she indicated were the words "starfish."  Ms. Harmony helped her write out the letters so another adult could read her words.

Friend "K" (age 5) traced her starfish and shark tooth independently.  She also drew her representations of seashells and labeled her diagrams.  She sounded out the words she wanted to write and wrote the letters herself.  If she was uncertain about a sound, Ms. Harmony would help her identify the correct letters like, /sh/ and /oo/.

A Follow-Up on Potty Training

We moved to underwear with Toddler "K" back in January... so how's it going now?  This is a real look at her skill improvement and the process to get where we are now.

"K" is currently almost 28 months.  She wears underwear during her wake times, and diapers for nap and bedtime.  She stays dry really well during the day because we have a routine schedule that offers her potty breaks.  She can now tell her parents "Potty!" when she needs to go, which she previously would not do.  Earlier in the year, she was still dependent on her parents to tell her when to go potty, but now she can tell us when she needs an extra potty visit.

Let's be real about POOP... Yuck!  Most of the time, "K" will wait for nap or bedtime when she has a diaper to poop.  Recently she has told her parents when she needed to poop, and pushed out a little bit on the toilet!  This progress was met with great enthusiasm!  Occasionally, "K" still poops in her underwear.  :-/  Is it to be expected?  Unfortunately, yes.  For many kids, getting poop-trained comes gradually months after being pee-trained.

She can pull her underwear up, but not down.  She still requires help getting on and off the toilet.  Her gross motor skills were a bit late to bloom in general.

"K" will happily go potty in other bathrooms or stores with her potty seat that we carry in a backpack.

What was the process of moving from part time Elimination Communication (EC) to underwear?

Ms. Harmony decided in January that Toddler "K" understood what her body was doing, and had the focus/discipline to correctly manage her bodily functions.  For the first few days, Ms. Harmony and "K" played in only one room of the house with the rug rolled up.  She was bare from the waist down, although due to it being the middle of winter, she did wear a long sleeve shirt and leg warmers.  To give incentive to "K," she was rewarded with M&Ms for using the potty.  If she peed on the floor instead, she was required to clean it up (of course Ms. Harmony helped with this process).

Although "K" really wanted the M&Ms, she also was exercising her toddler independence and would not pee where she was supposed to, although she knew what she was doing and where she was supposed to go.  Ms. Harmony decided that wiping up pee puddles was not the correct consequence after the first day because it was not producing the desired behavior.

So, the next day Ms. Harmony told "K" again that it was important to learn to use the potty like a big girl.  She could put her pee in the potty and get a M&M.  Or, she could put her pee on the floor.  Ms. Harmony would clean it up, and EAT THE M&M because Ms. Harmony had done all the work.  THIS WAS THE GOLDEN TICKET!  Toddler "K" cried and cried when Mom ate her M&Ms, whereas before she did not really care about wiping up the puddle and missing out on the M&M.

Then Ms. Harmony made it a game.  Children readily learn when there is an element of fun, or funny.  Ms. Harmony would talk to herself out loud saying, "I really hope "K" pees on the floor!  I really want to eat M&Ms!  "K" should not sit on the potty!  No she should not!"  Every time "K" would sit on the potty, and especially when she peed on the potty, Ms. Harmony would pretend to cry and give "K" the M&Ms.  "Oh man!  I wanted to eat those M&Ms, but "K" gets them instead because she peed on the potty!"  (Wail, fake crying.  You get the idea.)  Toddler "K" would laugh and laugh about taking the M&Ms for herself.  She would try to go potty often because even if she could squeeze out a drop, she got the M&Ms and a big production from mom.

After 3 days of bare-bottom training, we added training underwear and worked daily after that to maintain the skills.  Some days were "wetter" than others.  But for the most part, "K" made steady improvement.  We have been able to take her out and not worry that she will have an accident for months now.  Hurray for freedom from diapers!  Hurray for confidence that she will stay dry even if we aren't at home!

Would Ms. Harmony do it again this way, or would she just wait?  Some kids can train in 3 days and never have an accident after that.

Yes, think of the all the diapers I've saved in the past 6 months.

Yes, looking back I'd still do the same thing even though it seems like a lot of work.  Her personality is the biggest reason for training her this way.  Toddler "K" thrives on routine and gradual transitions (bottles to sippy cups, crib to toddler bed, meeting someone new, going on play ground equipment, etc).  "K" wants to do what she's always done and is very resistant to change or new expectations.  Basically, by beginning her potty training before she was 2 years old, it allowed her to cement the new skills before she could remember any different.  At 28 months, it's highly unlikely she even remembers wearing diapers all day.  Basically, I felt the longer she was in diapers, the more aware she would be of that being "the norm," and the more resistant she would be to potty learning later.  I wanted to form potty habits, not diaper dependence habits.

Going forward, these are the skills related to potty training that she still needs to work on:

• pulling down her own shorts and underwear
• getting on and off the toilet
• redressing independently
• pooping in the toilet
• staying dry through nap and bed time

Ocean Adventures

Today we kicked off our Ocean theme with some simple salt water experiments!

• We tasted the difference between fresh and salt water, and talked about not drinking the ocean because the water is YUCKY to drink.  ;)  
• We also observed that salt water makes it easier to float.  The "boat" sank to the bottom of our freshwater but stayed right on top in the salty water.  
• When the students return on Thursday we will see if the salt water we put outside evaporated, and whether the salt stayed behind or not!  

The kids' hypothesis is: once you mix the salt into the water, you cannot get the salt back out.  We will see!

Work Time plans included learning the names of some common ocean animals like squids, lobsters, and sting rays.  Friend "Hammer" thought the squid was especially creepy!

The pirate explore table was especially popular because the friends enjoyed finding buried jewels and gold coins in the sand.

Friend "Kangaroo" and I worked on a 48 piece mermaid puzzle.  She recalled that doing this was one of her favorite plans.  One of her questions about mermaids when she played with the dolls in the House Area was: "Where are the mermaids' feet?"  We talked about mermaids were creatures that were half human, half fish.  They don't have any feet, just fins!

Finally, many friends enjoyed mixing blue and green paint at the art easel.  We made some beautiful shades of teal!

Happy Independence Day!

One of the funnest parts (for some people) of the 4th of July is the fireworks!  We had a great time making these fireworks on our paper WITH sound effects.  ;)

We also read a book "The Star Spangled Banner" that depicted our country's flag, current traditions, and paintings of early Revolutionary war time soldiers to the lyrics of the national anthem.  We noticed the colors of the flag and briefly talked about how seeing the flag can make us feel proud of our country.  We each used a red, blue, or white bandanna to wave and made our own parade for Circle Time.  "Yankee Doodle" makes for great marching!

Mud Day: Success!

  

International Mud Day is a real thing.  And we REALLY celebrated here at Harmony's House!  (Thanks to C. Tweedy for most of these awesome pictures!)  The perfect mud is a mixture of clay, dirt, soil, and water.  It was great for painting the climbers and playhouse, making "mud brownies" and "cupcakes" with "crushed Oreo topping," painting our bodies, and making super slick mud slides!

    

Do You Drink Lemonade?

Our classroom songbook has a song called "Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?" and one verse mentions drinking lemonade!  Summer done right MUST include making lemonade from scratch.  :)

We used our scientific observation skills in this tasty process.  First Ms. Harmony sliced open the lemons and the school friends removed the slimy seeds.  After the seeds were out we put the lemon slices in ziplock bags to be squished, smashed, twisted, and more to juice those babies!  We really got a kick out of beating up these poor lemons!  :P

The kiddos tasted the lemon juice on their hands and realized that it was SO sour!  We then heated a cup of water and dissolved one cup of sugar in the water.  Each child took a turn using the wire whisk to stir the hot water.  Then we added a few more cups of cold water to the juice and sugar mixture.  After an hour we came back to sample it, and it was SO good!  "Better than my mom makes!" one child said!  ;-)

It's probably because they worked so hard to make it themselves.  While enjoying lots of cups of lemonade on the playground, one child wanted to make more lemonade.  I told him he needed more lemons, and he should plant the lemon seeds.  He wanted a "lemonade tree" so he took on the responsibility of planting the seeds in a pot, and watering it profusely.  We will see how that works out.  Hah!

Multi-Age Classrooms

Having a classroom with mixed ages has pros and cons.  At Ms. Harmony's House, Toddler "K" and Baby "E" attend because they live there, not because they are necessarily old enough or mature enough to participate.  But having younger participants allows the older students to develop patience, leadership skills, and self confidence as they see how much they themselves have grown!  And, occasionally it leads to very FUNNY commentary.

Friend "Hammer" was working on his plan building a "bridge road that goes over the water" when Baby "E" started getting fussy and tired.

He said to Baby "E", "I don't know what's wrong.  THAT sounds like whining to me!"

Ms. Harmony laughed and laughed because you could tell that he had definitely heard that line before from a grown-up!  Ms. Harmony explained that because Baby "E" was only 7 months old, she couldn't talk to use her words and tell us what was wrong.  It sounds like she whines a lot because she can't talk yet.  ;-)

BIG Art

This week we lined a swimming pool with sheets of paper, filled various squirt bottles with watered down Tempera paint, and squirted away!  It was awesome to create this extra large, teamwork masterpiece!

There was some trial and error for the kids to work through.  They initially wanted to use the spray bottles normally used for cleaning or hair, but quickly found that the perineal cleanser bottles from the hospital sent out a much larger spray volume per squeeze!

Once we took the sheets of paper off we found that the individual sheets were just as amazing as the big masterpiece.  The children enjoyed the process so much that they requested we do it again when we returned outside later in the morning.  We sprayed and sprayed until all the paint was gone.

Summer is Happening!

Summer is FINALLY here and happenin'!  Our spirits were high with energy to match!  Here's some of the plans we made on our first day back.  The sand wheels and cups were turned into a Juice Factory where drinks were served complete with straws and fuzzy stick adornments.  ;)

Friend "Hammer" worked on magnatile floor plans, Friend "Kangaroo" built pyramids with wedgits, and Toddler "K" and Friend "Sandwich" used cusinaire rods to fill in the maze.  All of these awesome plans really stretched the friends' spatial awareness and fine motor skills.

Friend "Sunflower" and "Sandwich" couldn't wait to get to the House Area where they enjoyed playing baby and doctor.  Their collaboration in this role play activity was extensive as they worked through an "appointment" and then traded roles.

Friend "Hammer" first found his favorite pink hiking boots, then took care of the babies in the nursery, and even cooked dinner.  It is quite impressive to see his expertise in cooking, and how carefully he rocked his baby in the cradle.  That is a tender heart right there.  :)

Lastly, we moved outside to play in the water, mud, with brooms and books, and also with gross motor equipment.  Ms. Harmony recently fenced in the playground area so that Outside Time could be a more developed part of our day instead of just a few minutes in duration while we wait for our parents to pick up.  It was really humid today, but none of the school friends even mentioned the heat.  We were too busy having fun!  Can't wait till Thursday!