Fish Getting Hammered

It's not what you think!  Because Friend "H" loves hammers so very much, today we used hammers to paint fish for our ocean scene!  (Learn more about Letter Links here.)  It was just WAY TOO fun!

We put fish shaped paper in a box.  Then the children chose which color paint spots they wanted.  Ms. Harmony dropped in the paint and covered the fish with wax paper.  Then the children hit all the paint spots with a hammer.  They loved watching the spots change from small to big, colors mix together, and of course, the gross motor action of this kind of art!

Take a look at these little beauties!

Summertime at Last!

The makings of an ocean... For Small Group today, we put blue and green paint on our hands and swirled, swished, and smeared it all over the paper to create these awesome waves.  Some of us enjoyed the painty-fun, and others preferred to just watch.  After the "Ocean" was dry, Ms. Harmony trimmed the edges and put it up in the window.  Each day we will add to this until we have one terrific panoramic ocean scene!

On to Planning Time- Because we were welcoming new students, we used these cards and a computer mouse for planning to help the new students learn each symbol and Area.  Each card corresponds to a matching card in the actual Area, and are used consistently in Greeting Time, Planning Time, etc. so as to become symbols for real places.  Understanding symbols is a critical pre-literacy skill because letters are symbols for sounds.

The children took turns clicking on the "screen" where they wanted to work, and talked about ideas that they wanted to work on during Work Time.  Friend "H" chose the Art Area because he wanted to hammer!  (This, coincidentally, is also his letter link.  He REALLY likes hammers!)  Learn more about Letter Links here.

Work Time fun:

Friend "H" did hammer with a variety of play-doh tools and observed the effect he had on his play-doh.  He also mentioned that "This is a spatula.  You use it to flip it over like this."  That was a pretty neat trick that we all needed to try!

Friend "K" also worked with play-doh.  She used the ocean animal cookie cutters and solved a few problems during her plan.

• Cookie cutters are harder to push through when the dough is thick!  Here she is pushing down on it with her hands to make it flatter!
• When you put the cookie cutter in the middle of the play-doh, you don't have enough room on the edges for more cookie cutters!  It's best to squish the play-doh back into a ball, flatten it, and then cut out more shapes.

Check out all the ocean animals she made!  You know she is proud of her work when she wants a photo document!

Friend "H" observed that his ball was round like a cookie once flattened!  We took a picture because he wanted to show his mom and dad his "cookie."  He loved cutting it with the play-doh knife and seeing the lines.

The school friends worked in the Explore Table with ships, pirates, treasure chests, and jewels!

We also worked to build with the rainbow blocks to make castles.  This was challenging because if you build the walls too tall they fall down.  This castle was the second attempt where we did not build  such tall walls, and used triangles to support the walls outside the castle.  Friend "K" decided that this structure was much more sturdy.

The last plans we worked on during the morning were in the Block Area with the pirate ships and little people.  We figured out how to make the sails go up and down.  The anchors can also be lifted for better sailing.  Friend "H" made sure everyone's anchors were up.  We also looked at the maps and the treasure chests.  Finally, as we took our ships out for a sail, we encountered some fierce ocean animals like sharks and octopi!  Luckily we were ready with our cannons.  We fired away at those creatures and they swiftly swam away!

Ms. Harmony doesn't think there is a better way to welcome summer, beach trips, and family outings like playing pirates!!

Oceans and pirates!

Summer session starts on Tuesday after Memorial Day!  Harmony’s House is set up to have so much fun with these summer themes: Oceans and Pirates!

It’s not too late to join if you want to give your preschooler something fun and productive to do this summer.  Contact Ms. Harmony at harmonyhutson@gmail.com with any questions about enrollment.

Hickory Dickory, Lickory Rickory

Let me tell you about a super fun game we played this month!  We worked with the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock:

Hickory dickory dock

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one,

And he ran down.

Hickory dickory dock.

Each child put on the mouse finger puppet and chose a consonant letter from the basket.  The challenge was to change the beginning sounds of the nursery rhyme to match the letter they chose from the basket.  The children find this activity SO FUNNY, year after year!

Here's an example for the letter 'S':

Sickory sickory sock

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one,

And he ran down.

Sickory, sickory, sock.

In addition to wearing the fun puppet, acting out the mouse going up and down, and chanting a nursery rhyme, this activity really strengthens the phonemic awareness skills in young children.  

1. They first hear the change that peers make in the rhyme.  
2. Later they can recognize the letter and sound, and make the change themselves.  
3. Even more advanced children will apply this game to new words or rhymes to invent silly expressions.  
4. Games like this one set children up for understanding and reading onset/rime patterns later in school.

So give it a try, play with words today!

Dragon Toes in the Sand

In school this month, we have been learning about fairy tales.  The explore table plans have included fascinating dragon lair structures made with logs, stones, and flames!  There has been a lot of good dialogue between the students comparing and contrasting the dragon features:

"Look! This one has two heads!"  "This one has four wings!"  "I think this is a sea dragon because it has flippers"

And of course, dragons need a good story.  The girls have told stories for the dragons as they worked in the sand and with one another.  

Then and Now- Happy Mother's Day

The Hutson family had to wait about 9 years to have Baby "K" join our family in 2017.  That being said, Mother's Day has been both a miserable and terribly wonderful holiday for Ms. Harmony.  Baby "K" is a blessing in our lives because she brings so much happiness and unity.  What Ms. Harmony loves best about having her own child is that this is an investment that she gets to keep.  After all the years of teaching, loving, and investing in children... they always went home somewhere else or moved on to a different classroom to be nurtured by someone else.  This is an investment that Ms. Harmony gets to keep and grow year after year after year!  It's unbelievable how fast these small treasures grow!

 (Baby "K" on Mother's Day 2018)

With another little one on the way, due in November, Ms. Harmony will need to update the 2018 Fall Session.  Please be on the lookout for the new calendar if you are interested in the fall session.

Family Fun Day!

The spring session is coming to a close very soon.  We needed to celebrate the fun we had, and so we planned a water play day where parents and siblings could join us for the last hour of the day and play!  It was refreshing and super fun!