Harmony's House is Growing!

 

More friends want to come to school at Harmony's House!  To maintain the quality environment that a small preschool group offers, Ms. Harmony is opening up a Wednesday/Friday morning session.  Some current friends will shift to this schedule to welcome the new friends.  This will maintain our size where each group will not have more than six students.

Quarterly, Ms. Harmony will plan a party for both groups (T/TH and W/F) to come together and play!  The next large group activity will be for Halloween!  Stay tuned for updates!

Contact Ms. Harmony with any questions: harmonyhutson@gmail.com.

Welcoming Fall at Harmony's House

We are so excited about the cooling temperatures!  We are anticipating the leaves changing colors and beginning to fall.  Our older students remember this season from last year.

One of our outdoor table choices has been to paint glue on these twigs.  Then we applied tissue paper leaves.  The finished "trees" turned out beautiful!

We will be learning more about how animals on the farm and in the forest will be preparing for winter.  In the House Area, it has been so fun to dress up like different animals!

Friend "Elephant" dressed up like the "big, bad wolf!"

Friends "Kite" and "Alarm Clock" dressed up like pig and cow.

Finally, we've been exploring a new way to paint at the art easel.  We have used paint rollers with different textures to mix red and yellow paint.  What I loved about this picture was seeing the oldest and the youngest painting side by side.  The mixed-age environment provides the children so many opportunities to learn from friends in different ways.

I am Unique! Let's Celebrate!

We have worked for a few weeks now to create these likenesses of ourselves, and celebrate all the wonderful ways that we are individually different.

The first step in this project was to look at the "Shades of People," to understand that people aren't really different colors like red, blue, or green... but that we are different shades.  We each started with a blank body cutout, and a palate of brown, white, red, and yellow paint.  

The children were challenged to mix the colors with brown to find the shade that matched their own skin color.

The following week, we looked at each other's faces.  While we all have eyes, noses, and hair, our individual features are very different.  We selected eye colors and sizes from blue, green, and brown buttons.  The children decided if they wanted to add noses or mouths from the art materials.  They also selected hair from yellow, brown, tan, or black yarn.

The final week we cut out clothes from colored paper.  We designed our own outfits.  Everyone enjoys different colors and styles.  

This is the culmination of our month-long study of "Self."  Each child has a poster with their art and interests surrounding our Parent Board.  Truly, there is MUCH to appreciate about each child, and how much each child brings to Harmony's House.

Little Bit of Wild

Check out this fascinating caterpillar we found on the playground this week!  Within minutes of discovering this creature, we noticed and caught a walking stick insect on the back of a school friend!

Two creepy critter discoveries prompted a huge bug hunt on the playground.  We spent the rest of the time searching for and attempting to catch insects and a small spider.  (*All bugs were released at the end!*)  Even though the playground was dew covered and a bit muddy, this bug hunt made our trip outside to explore the little bit of wild worth it.  The children were intrigued, focused, and dedicated to finding more bugs!

In addition to studying the fauna, we also worked with water mills and Squig structures.  The suction cup ends of the Squigs provide an interesting building experience, especially with added buoyancy and adhesive effects of water.

Perhaps the Potato Head families were underestimated in their ability to attract preschool students!  These fun little guys have been a table choice outdoors for a few weeks now, and STILL bring almost every student to the table every time.

The children make different Potato Heads to represent people in their families.  They consider different body parts and are so proud of what they make.  The children want to photo document their creations and ask that the pictures be sent to their parents.  :)

Sometimes reading outside is just the best isn't it?  Unless rain prohibits it (water and books don't mix!), we always have a few readers take a seat on the benches to check out a book.

Finally, everybody loves to stretch their abilities by climbing steps and ladders, crawling through tunnels, and even balancing on the bosu ball.

We LOVE Outside Time at Harmony's House!  Being outdoors helps to mellow our moods, soothe our senses, stimulate our interest in life, earth, and physical science, sync our brains and bodies, and just HAVE FUN.  <3

Pets are Part of Families Too

Some of the families of Harmony's House have pets, and one family even has a parent who works with pets as a Dog Groomer!  When the children asked for the puppies and kitties to come back to the House Area, this seemed like the perfect time to make a Pet Salon.  

Check it out!  We have a waiting room for clients to hold their pets while they wait for the groomer to come get the animal.

The first stop for our stinky pups is the bathing station!  Our pets get top-notch treatment with a bubble bath and shampoo.  Then they need a quick towel down.

Next they need to move to the Styling Station.  The "groomers" can use toy blow dryers, brushes, clippers,  and bows to spruce up the pet's look!

Lastly, we have some pet crates (carriers) where pets wait for the client to come and pick them up.

We sure hope our school friends have a barking good time with our new House Area set up!