Finding Fall?

The forest animals are going to start getting ready for winter soon!  One of the best ways to spot forest animals is by going camping.  We made a cool tent in the Book Area, stocked up on flashlights, and made animal dens.  So cool!

We hid animals around the room and used binoculars or flashlights to find them.  Bears make sure to eat lots of food during the summer and fall to prepare for winter.

Deer are busy eating too.  Food is hard to find in the winter.

Friend "Sandwich" asked, "Which pinecone is the spikiest?"  Great question!  He and Toddler "Koala" tested them out and then used them to make some animal dens.

Flashlights are also great for helping you find your belly button... in case yours is missing.  ;)

Ca-Razy Eyes for Halloween!

Whatcha lookin' at?  Hah!  These silly Halloween glasses have been a hit this week, and we thought you'd get a kick out of seeing the friends in funny frames too.  Enjoy!  :)

What do teachers do after the kids go home?

We build epic pirate ships.  Out of cardboard and duct tape.  Naturally!  ;)  They also get up to sneaky shenanigans like stealing treasure chests, hiding them on the playground, and blaming the pirates!

Friend "Hammer" asks, "Who stole our treasure again?"
Ms. Harmony: "The pirates!  And they hid the treasure on the playground nearby their ship!"
Friend "Hammer:" "That can't be right.  Cuz pirates aren't real."
Ms. Harmony:  "Hmm.  Well I wonder who it was then because our treasure is REALLY missing and we REALLY have a pirate ship parked in our playground!"

Mr. Smarty Pants was trying to game the system!  Hah!  He still had fun playing along and finding, re-hiding, and finding again the treasure chests.

What did our treasure chests contain?  20 gold doubloons perfect for counting, beads, jewel bouncy balls, a sea creature, and sunglasses.

The school friends are so helpful with the toddlers.  They helped them find their boxes, open them, and appreciate all the treasure inside.

Toddler "Kite" loved her treasure box.  She dumped and filled it over and over.  :)

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

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.  ;-)

Richmond Zoo and Animals from Africa!

It is summer break at Harmony's House, so family-tripping is happenin'!  Toddler "K" and Baby "E" got to go to the zoo and see the REAL animals from Africa that we have been learning about in school.  Epic field trip!  O_O

Flamingo- these flamingoes are actually the South American kind, but Africa has their own variety too!

Fennec fox

Meerkat

 Rhinoceros

Zebra

Ostrich

Giraffe- yes we were really THIS close!  We fed and petted these beautiful animals.  It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Of course what Toddler "K" recalls about the giraffes is that the female peed while we were there.  She said, "Potty outside!  Yes!"

Baby "E" elephant ;)

Pygmy hippopotamus

Please share our adventure with your school friend and see how many animals they can name!

Loving Literacy

 

During February, Ms. Harmony hosted the first ever book fair through Usborne Books for Harmony's House.  We raised $250 of free money for books!  This is one of the children's all-time FAVORITE books: There's a Mouse about the House!  This poor mouse has been loved to pieces, literally.  He's about to split into two pieces.  What makes this book so fun for the kids is that he slips between the pages to move the story along.  The mouse runs through cereal boxes, through cracks in the floor, up the clock, and even into a nightgown!  He narrowly escapes the cat in his search for cheese.  Not only is the story silly and engaging, but the children love the challenge of pushing and pulling the mouse through the little slits in each page.  If you want engaging, skill-building, thought-provoking, and FUN books... Usborne Books is your company!

Irish Potatoes

Did you know that they grow potatoes in Ireland?  In preparation for St. Patrick's Day, we have talked about different facts about Ireland: the colors and symbolism of the Irish flag, leprechaun lore, where Ireland is on the map... and today we made Potato Heads.  

Alright, potato heads really aren't Irish.  :P  But they sure were fun to put together, and a great way to practice fine motor skills and express our sense of humor!