Through the Woods

This week we used art and language to tell a story.  Between unique brushes, our fingers, and paint, we created a forest in Fall.  We told a story about what colors and animals we saw during our "walk in the woods."  This was particularly fun because each child really engaged with the activity artistically and linguistically.

The Alone Table has been an interesting place to visit this week as well.  The children designed forests with acorns, trees, rocks, logs, and animals on the mirror.  

Friend "S" was practicing one-to-one correspondence by putting one acorn next to each tree she planted.  She was also pretty excited to see what was inside an acorn shell when she found an open one.  Pretty cool to think about everything you need to start a great oak tree is hidden inside a tiny acorn.

We had a Fall forest in the Explore Table also.  The pinecones were scented like cinnamon to add extra sensory interest.  Forest animals like raccoon, bear, turkey, bobcat, and deer hide in fallen leaves, log blocks, and pinecones.

Fall is a busy time for all the forest creatures as well as us!

"Baby K's" Promotion

In May, Ms. Harmony announced that she was expecting another little one!  "Baby K" will be getting promoted to BIG sister very soon!  (Well in a few weeks anyway.)  Ms. Harmony is now 32 weeks along and getting excited for the upcoming addition to the family.  

October will be the last month in 2018 that Harmony's House will be open due to the new baby girl coming in November.  School is expected to resume in January 2019.

New Work for the Fall

Fall is finally here!  (Although some days it still feels TOO hot!)  With a new season comes new work to the Areas here at Harmony's House.  Friend "K" chose to work on patterns with fun fall counters like pumpkins, owls, squirrels, acorns and apples.

 Friend "S" is working at the new Alone Table where she is bringing Fall to the forest.  She can use trees, acorns, rocks, and logs to make forest homes for the animals on top of the mirror.  The children each really enjoyed building on the mirror and using the reflections to build in "two directions."

Friend "B" is enjoying the new finger puppet stage in the House Area.  She made a show with forest friends like owl, fox, rabbit, and bear.  The storytelling and creativity is awesome!

Leafy Fun

The weather has been too warm here to turn our leaves the brilliant shades of Autumn.  But that hasn't stopped us from talking about the changes Fall will bring to our trees soon!  One of our activities has been to use silk leaves in Fall colors to toss and catch.

To practice graphing again, we did a Leaf Hunt and Graph in Circle Time.  Little Fall leaves were hidden all around the room!  The school friends worked to find them all and put them on the graph so we could easily decide which color had the the most, least, and medium amounts.  We reviewed the idea that the numbers go on the "up-and-down" line to help us count the leaves.  The color groups on on the "side-to-side" line to help us remember which groups of leaves we are comparing.

During Small Group, we painted various leaves collected from the yard.  Each had a different shape, and we talked about which tree the leaves came from: Oak, Dogwood, "Tulip," Bartlett Pear, and Redbud trees.  We pressed the painted leaves onto our papers to see the veins in the leaves more clearly.  Then we sprinkled gold glitter on the wet paint because that just makes Fall feel THAT much more magical!  :D  Now we just need the REAL Fall leaves to show up!

It's Been a Hard Day's... Morning

...And we've been working like dogs!  :P

We have been mixing colors in the Art Area to create Fall hues with our new roller brushes.

We've been making play doh creations with cut straws, fuzzy sticks, and googly eyes.  Some of the creations ended up being monsters or porcupines.  :)

Our House Area fun has included using the new microphones and blow-up guitars.  Sometimes we make up our own words, and sometimes we sing songs that we know.  Baby "K" likes everyone to wear sunglasses in the band.

Lastly, here are some photos of the Toy and Puzzle Area plans of late.  Friend "K" likes to open these letter acorns.  Inside are small toys that begin with the same letter and sound printed on the outside of the acorn.  She dumps them all out, then matches the uppercase and lowercase letters (acorn with cap), and finds the corresponding small toy to put inside.

We have enjoyed many puppet shows depicting friendship themes such as sharing toys, taking turns, helping a friend in need, checking on a hurt friend, and telling jokes.  :)

The school friends have been creative using the Lego Duplos, fabric scraps, and baby counters to make cribs and play spaces for the babies.  Baby "K" is learning to work next to her friends without climbing on their work or taking their plans.  The school friends have learned to tell Baby "K," "This is my work.  You can have these... (blocks, pieces, babies, etc.)"

It is always a good day at Harmony's House when you see the school friends learning and growing in play skills, socialization, and cognitive abilities.  Great work friends!  You make your teacher's heart happy!  :)

More and More Apples!

Today we worked with the Apple Theme in different ways, just as fun!  We cut open apples and reviewed parts and functions of stems, flesh, core, and seeds.  It was also super cool to see how the core looks like a star when the apple is cut crosswise.  After cutting the apples into halves or quarters, we poked them with forks to give them handles for apple printing.  We dipped the apples in red, green, or yellow paint to make apple prints.  Baby "K" was so excited about this way to paint after watching her school friends do it that she wanted a turn to try it too.  :)

For Circle Time, we read a book about how apples grow and are ready to pick in the fall.  We needed to pretend to pick apples too!  To add an element of math, we used sand timers to determine how long it took to pick up and sort all the "apples."  On your mark, get set, GO!  We dumped green and red "apples" and raced the timers to pick them all up!

 

It took us just under 3 minutes to pick up and sort all the apples!  Now we can pretend to go to the Apple Market and buy green or red apples.  :)