Welcome!
The newsletters are organized as follows: “whole school” overviews, “pre-school” news, “pre-kindergarten” news, “coming-up”, “housekeeping”, and a “child-development” ditty. The purposes of the newsletter are to keep you informed of class happenings, upcoming events, and connected to our classroom! Enjoy!
Whole School News:
The first weeks of school have been very exciting! Everyone is working hard transitioning from Home Mode to School Mode. It’s only been the first three weeks, and already these young people have shared who they are, and how they fit into their families via the “family trees”. It has been fun to watch the Harmony tree change as every student has added his or her contribution! They are very proud of their families; and are discovering that we all have one, and they all look different! (I love seeing them blow kisses to you all on the tree as we line up to go outside)
Our new, younger “preschoolers” are taking everything in, getting used to the daily schedule, and making huge strides socially and emotionally! Our older “preschoolers” are very excited and have amazing confidence this year.
Small group times are in full swing. The children are learning how to be “great students”. I am most impressed with how quickly our little community is growing together; we have so much wonderfulness to work with! Our nature walks have given us perfect opportunities to share common experiences, talk while walking, listen to stories, observe the changes autumn is making, pet the horses, and listen for different sounds. Our nature walks are magical. . . . Snack-time is already a very social time! The children are working hard unpacking their belongings, organizing their things, and picking up after themselves. Practice makes progress.
Our “social” lessons this month, are reciprocal language, eye contact, and table manners; ie. taking a bite of food, chewing with closed mouths, and not talking with food in the mouth. It is important for children to grow the positive social skill of answering questions, verbally and with eye contact, when another is talking with them. It is not too early to teach these little ones table manners, which will serve them well . . . f o r e v e r. We are practicing at school!
Lastly, we are constantly promoting self-help skills; the children are hanging up their coats and backpacks when they arrive, and we are teaching them how to put them on via the coat trick,
(here’s the coat trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUHmveYYOrw)
Please have your student practice putting on their own coat at home. It is a tremendous confidence booster when a child can do for themselves. The organized classroom environment enables the children to achieve self-sufficiency as our expectations are clearly and repeatedly communicated, their coat hooks are labeled and easily reached, the bins are all labeled with pictures, the trash cans are easily accessible, and the day follows a familiar flow.
We are enjoying our time with your children!! Our days fly by!! All my best, Miss Holly
One more thing. . . please be sure to check your Brightwheel app for messages and follow Harmony on Instagram. . . we Brightwheel message daily. . and post to Insta a couple of times a month to give you a glimpse of our day and hopefully spark some great conversation from your student!! https://www.instagram.com/harmonyfamilypreschool/
Preschool News:
We are off to an amazing start!
Our Harmony Students are arriving on time and prepared for a great day at school! Upon arrival, we begin with "morning work". Each student unpacks their snack, placing their snack bag in our classroom snacks box (very important water is inside the snack bag to make this process simple), and hang up their backpacks. BOTH, morning and afternoon preschool classes begin with small group time, a structured time where the children sit on “sit upons” in a circle with their classmates. We have been using this time to learn one another's names and favorite colors. During this time your children are learning to sit Criss Cross Applesauce, use the Two Hand Rule, sing Seven Days of the Week, and enjoy a story. They are learning that our September Circle has curved lines and is the Color Red. Our small group time will lengthen in time as the children have more experience with tending for longer periods of time.
The preschoolers are learning how to wash their hands independently; we sing the ABC's and then rinse all the germs down the drain! Everyone washes their hands and then enjoys their snack. During snack-time, we have letter work! Once snack-time is over, our children clean up after themselves, throwing trash away and repacking items to go home back in their snack bags and backpacks. Practice using those zippers at home; it will help them achieve mastery 2X faster with the extra practice.
The children also enjoy an indoor free choice time. This is an unstructured block of time where each child can explore both classrooms and decide what interests them (playdough, dress up, blocks, trains, rice table, etc). During this block of time we also have art and craft activities related to the monthly curriculum. Free choice time ends with bell ringing and clean up time by all students. We then gather in the PreK classroom for God Bless America, Months of the Year Line Dance and a theme related story.
We end our day on the playground, this time is spent with classmates using the sandbox, slide, trucks and shopping carts; it is unstructured, giving the children the opportunity to make their own choices that appeal to them.
Our school days are busy and very purposeful. Throughout our time with your children we emphasize Harmony's school do's "BE KIND, BE RESPECTFUL, BE SAFE, BE A FIRST TIME LISTENER AND BE AN OPTIMIST". Your children are doing an amazing job navigating their new surroundings and transitioning throughout their daily activities. We reinforce positive behavior that we notice around us and they LOVE it!!!! Praise the Positive!!!
Feel proud of your children, we certainly are!!!
Miss Lori
Pre-K News:
Our new Pre-Kers are off to a fabulous start! I am so impressed with how quickly they have adjusted to being the "big kids" in school! They are all showing me "great student" behavior, (being kind, respectful, safe, a first time listening optimist. . . and we’ve added HARD WORKER!).
The children have done a great job of arriving at school cheerfully, unpacking their belongings independently, so we can get started with our Pre-K work. It is very helpful to have the children arrive ON TIME as we do begin with structured time right away.
We start our day searching for 20 red September circles (or scissor practice or practice drawing a person). . followed by name practice, then a workout (right now, our workouts are little jumps, foot taps and side hops) . . onto, calendar work, number practice, and letter work with an estimating jar/mystery can/Question of the day finisher! We are always just PRACTCING AND PLAYING!!!
Please, please, please make the Harmony calendar available to your little one, and quickly practice using it every day. . . . this little time spent will support your students classroom learning tremendously. The notion of “time” is a very big concept to break down and practice. . . a little bit. . . every day. Our preK meeting sounds like a lot, but the kids are doing an excellent job following along and using "the two hand rule" to answer questions. (we are pretty sweaty by the end of our meeting)
Please practice counting to 20 with your students!!! The counting here gets wonkey around 13, 14, 15, 16. . . we will practice at school but when the opportunity presents itself to practice at home please correct them if they make a mistake.
We have begun talking about lines. This is the beginning phase of our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. The children are learning what kind of lines are used to make each letter of the alphabet. This month we talked about slant lines, straight lines, and curves.
We have a Pre-K alphabet tray that holds various items beginning with the letter of the week. We have used it for the letters A, B, and C this month. We spend an entire week on one letter. We learn about the lines needed to make each letter and what sound each letter makes.
I love the “Question of the Day”. . . . I like to use the “letter of the week” in the question. Its pretty self-explanatory, but the children need to find their name, vote, and then we tally up the numbers and compare. . . it seems like a cute activity but actually we are learning simple sight words ( DO, YOU, LIKE, YES & NO) as well as some awesome math concepts such as “less than”, “more than”, predicting, adding, and differences.
Lastly, this is a song the pre-k children will start learning next month. It is super helpful, if it is available for them to hear it at home whenever possible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE-ljfAmZis
I am proud of how well the Pre-Kindergarten children have done this month. They are a lovely little group, I am enjoying them so much!
Miss Holly
Coming Up:
As the season changes to Autumn, we’ll point out its effects on the trees. The first half of October our curriculum will be all about fire safety and fire fighters; the last two weeks will be about Halloween safety! Please note the Halloween dress up party days on the October calendar!!! OCTOBER 30TH & 31st.
The teachers and I have been observing and absorbing the classroom activities; and taking time to find common ground and connect with each little person.
Over time, we will get to know your children and prepare a formal observation report in both January and May. We look at each Childs interrelated areas of development: social, emotional, physical, and cognitive. The goal is to assess each individual child and utilize parts of the curriculum that will specifically help that child grow their confidence and self-esteem. Each child is unique, and therefore experiences an individual development process. Children can be very much ahead of their chronological age in one area of development, but may be lagging in another. To nurture a child into a well rounded and balanced individual, it is especially important for caregivers to support the whole child; working with the Childs strengths and mindfully supporting/challenging any weaknesses. It is also significant to mention that even though the child development process is unique to each and every person, it is very much sequential with an ebb and flow type characteristic. There is more information regarding child development in the “child ditty” portion of this and future newsletters.
OPEN HOUSE! Wednesday October 23rd.! This is an afternoon/evening where your student will lead you around their classrooms! We will give you a quick scavenger hunt to go on, together with your student. It’s a QUICK event, but will give you a great sense of how your youngster is passing their time while at school. I”ll send out a “sign-up-genius” email; the Open House times are: 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, or 6:30. There will be 10 sign ups for each time. . . to manage the traffic flow. (it will be VERY helpful if each family arrived in ONE CAR to facilitate parking in the circle driveway)
November will be all about THANKSGIVING!!!!
House Keeping
-Abbey Knoll Photography will be here to take your students school picture on:
TUESDAY October 1st Morning,
TUESDAY October 1st Afternoon, and
WEDNESDAY October 2nd Morning.
If your student attends both of those days, let me know at drop off which day you would like their individual picture taken but please be mindful they will be in BOTH days class picture.
The picture forms have been emailed to you, and Abbey Knoll Photography manages all forms/money. Maura does an outstanding job!
-Halloween Party Dress Up Days: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30TH AND THURSDAY OCTOBER 31st. Easy to put on costumes that offer full mobility are absolutely necessary. . . . . . please no costume accessories that are easily lost and or broken at school. I'll be asking for parents to volunteer on the party days to donate non-food treats, as well be here (dressed up) to hand the treats out so we can practice our "trick or treating" skills.
-Thank you! For the generous donations of paper towels, tissue, and hand soap!!! We use up a tremendous amount of paper towels and hand soap, it is greatly appreciated when these items are donated. Thank you!!!!
Please triple check the ingredient list of your child’s snack!! Please update anyone who may be preparing your little ones snack of our food safety restrictions. Thank you for your support in keeping our population safe! We are a WATER only school.
-Birthday Books!! We will acknowledge each child’s birthday with a song at circle meeting and a book choice from the “Birthday Book Box”. Party favors are not welcome, I feel strongly about each birthday being uniformly celebrated while at Harmony. Thank you in advance for your support.
-Communication: Please UPDATE your Brightwheel APP and add Harmonypreschool.org to your “favorites” list for easy access. These are the primary method of school-to-home communication. I send emails as infrequently, as possible; but like to remind you of upcoming events/new website postings via BRIGHTWHEEL.
-Incident Reports: These are reports to keep you posted on a negative choice that your child has made that we believe you should be made aware of. . . . . but ONLY aware of. . . know that we take advantage of every teachable moment, discipline as necessary and would never expect you to dredge up a school “happening” only to “re-discipline” them for it again. . . . mother to mother, if my son or daughter made that choice I’d be grateful to be aware. (and believe me, I’ve gotten plenty of these types of communications about my own children. . . and always found it helpful . . . . it isn’t easy to hear/read, and equally hard to deliver these messages) But please. . . NO double dipping on the consequences front.
-Labeling: It is MOST helpful if all snack bags, lunch boxes and backpacks are labeled on the OUTSIDE of the container for easy identifying!! It’s a huge time saver and truly helps out with classroom organization. Also please remember to label your child’s coat, hat, and everything else they may bring to school.
-KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK on pick up and drop off!
If you find yourself arriving late, please yield to the cars exiting the driveway while you wait on Main Street, or pull to the fenced side at the end of the driveway and please let the others pass. (Make sure those Nana’s know what to do). Thank you for your effort. If you need to pick up your child during school, and find the door locked; please ring both door bells as we very rarely hear door knockers. If you call the school, and we don’t answer, please don’t fret. . . we never interrupt our play to answer the phone, but will check for messages as soon as we are free. Brightwheel messaging is the most efficient way to communicate with us, during the school week please.
-ABSENCES: Please leave me a message via brightwheel, or email holly@harmonypreschool.org to report an absence. Thank you!
-BACKPACKS: Reminding you to check the backpack fairly often for art and work sent home.
-SNACK BAGS: PLEASE house your students water bottle and snack INSIDE ONE snack bag. . . it is tremendously more efficient to organize a single bag per student rather than multiple items. These are great: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/514248?originalProduct=70705&productId=1163614&attrValue_0=Royal&sku=0KPU124000&pla1=0&qs=3155266&gclid=CjwKCAjwyNSoBhA9EiwA5aYlb6bBSHXktVzcO_tVKpkMSIJ5aVPmfDeR1oR23urYXWSYbN_BsFutqRoC7RkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&SN=PDPStackedRecs_04&SS=A&SN2=ImageSwatchTest_06&SS2=B&noaa_region=northeast
And these food holders are ideal:
The “bentigo” style snack containers look good in theory. . . but they get dumped over so easily, are hard for the kids to repack, and make it impossible to put the water bottle inside the snack bag. Snack is quick at school. . . truly, a small protein and veg/fruit is all they need/have time for.
LABELING: PLEASE label everything your student brings to school.
-Reminder: tuition is due on the first of the PRIOR month! I greatly appreciate your attention here, as book-keeping is time consuming and a total drag.
Child Development Ditty 101:
I typically add a child development ditty to the end of each newsletter.
My hope is that you’ll find the information helpful or at least get a chuckle from it.
Here, I’ll start the year by talking about the interrelatedness of the 5 primary areas, and the PROCESS, of development. Each child grows at their own unique pace, socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically (and we break a child’s physical self into two parts gross motor development (large muscle groups) and fine motor development (small muscle groups, typically just the hands). Children, in general, meet up at the same “developmental” place, around the third grade.
There are many contributing factors as to how/why a child develops, the primary ones being:
heredity,
environment,
general health,
opportunity, and
nutrition.
I like to mention expectations as a developmental factor as well. I find it interesting to think about weather or not we are expecting enough or possibly too much from our children socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively as they age. . . . and how we have to incrementally and continually raise our expectations over time.
Each “growing up” process is unique. No child experiences the same rate and path of development; therefore there is a large range of TYPICAL chronological benchmarks. All areas of development are important. Children are going to have strengths and weaknesses; and both strengths and weaknesses need to be supported. I’ll provide more information on each area of development as the year progresses; my aim here is to communicate that all areas of development are inter-related, important, and follow a sequential process (however, childhood is when development occurs most rapidly, and where we establish our life habits)
Minimizing/eliminating “processed” food, antibiotics, and pesticides from our childrens diets will benefit their health today, tomorrow, and forever
An interesting read on ways sugar effects children: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/08/17/4-shocking-ways-sugar-affects-your-kids-health.html
aaaannnndddd lastly, here’s two breakfast recipies. . . I LOVE “egg muffins”, I usually hide some baby spinach in these too.. . . (I skip the spices detailed here and my kids used to eat these 3, 4, 5 muffins at a time. . . . ) These cook up nicely on Sundays, and keep in the fridge for a few days, it’s a quick protein/fat packed breakfast for those growing bodies. Good luck!
https://www.eatwell101.com/cheesy-bacon-egg-muffins
The second recipe is protein waffles, I double this and freeze in batches of 2-3 so they can be popped in the toaster to heat up, add lots of almond butter, the apple chutney, and a tiny bit of Lakanto sugar free mapel syrup, even my picky nephews used to scarf these down. . . these waffles are much more nutrient dense than anything you could buy in a box.
APPLE PIE PROTEIN WAFFLES
PREP15 minutes
COOK25 minutes
TOTAL40 minutes
SERVES5-6 waffles
Ingredients
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3/4 cup applesauce
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3 large eggs, whisked
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
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1 cup tapioca flour (or arrowroot powder)
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1 cup Vanilla Protein Powder*
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
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pinch of salt
FOR THE APPLE PIE TOPPINGS
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2 tablespoons ghee, butter or coconut oil
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3 honeycrisp apples, diced
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2 tablespoon maple syrup
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
TOPPINGS
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nut butter of choice
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maple syrup
Instructions
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Whisk together applesauce, eggs, vanilla extract, and coconut oil.
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Add tapioca flour and whisk until combined. Then add protein powder and whisk again to combine. Lastly, add baking soda, cinnamon and a pitch of salt and mix well.
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Pour batter into a greased hot waffle iron and cook until crispy. Be patient. Mine took less than 5 minutes per waffle. Repeat with the rest of the batter. My batter made 6 round waffles.
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While the waffles cook, add fat to a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the apples and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Then add syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Toss to coat.
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Top each waffle with your nut butter of choice, sautéed apples and extra maple syrup on top, before serving!
Notes
*I used Equip Food Prime Protein, vanilla
and arrowroot, instead of tapioca flour