Preschool & Kindergarten Update Mammal Studies Continue

Our mammal study continues with our discussions of the different classes of mammals, and did a poster in which the children placed pictures of a mammal in the category that each mammal belonged. We talked about mammals that lay eggs (platypus & echidna) and the children drew a platypus. We also discussed how fast animals run and we know that the cheetah is the fastest mammal in the world and the sloth is the slowest! We took turns running 50 yards on the playground to see how fast we could do it. Most children could run it in 7-9 sec. A cheetah can run it in 1 sec. We also took turns hanging from a pole upside down like a sloth on a branch. There were discussions on the eating habits of mammals that are herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. We did an experiment with apples and carrots to show children how they use their front teeth (like scissors) to cut their food, use their molars to grind their food and use their canine teeth to tear their food. We talked about how mammals that eat meat have to kill other animals to survive. Lastly, we talked about how animals defend themselves from attackers.

Events and Activities at Harmony School

November, 2014

Jennifer, Glimmer (one of the elementary cats), Scout (Jennifer’s dog), and Jennifer’s

husband's homemade bat wings went into Debbie's room to talk about mammals with all the preschool/k classrooms joining. Thanks Jennifer (elementary teacher) for talking with the children and asking them questions about mammals! The children enjoyed the bat costume.

We love to Celebrate Life! Here are the children celebrating another journey around the sun in October, November and December:

Every Friday, parents take turns donating cookies to the students. After lunch, the students “purchase” a cookie for a quarter and enjoy their end-of-the-week special treat. At the end of the month, ALL students gather together (preschool, kindergarten and elementary classes) and talk about two worthwhile charities and the important work they do for others. At the end of the discussion, the group votes for the charity they believe should receive a donation. The winner of the vote is then sent our “cookie money” for the month!

This month, the children voted to send their cookie money to “Help Save the Elephants”. You can learn more about this amazing organization by asking your child and visiting their website www.96elephants.org

OCTOBER

4th Rowan 4th Anna 4th Jacob C.

NOVEMBER

1st Luke 7th Jeffrey 10th Abriana 25th Shayna 26th Arron

DECEMBER

4TH Dawsyn 16th Haydn 17th Cody 21st Amelia 27th Jessica 28th Joel 30th Benjamin

Update from the Harmony Country Day School

(aka, the Elementary Class)

Our first great lesson/event of the month was our first “Fire Friday”, named so by the kids because during a history lesson by Noah and Arron, who were teaching about the beginnings of agriculture in the early North Americans, we suddenly found ourselves needing a cooking fire. The teachers were grinding dry corn on my hand-pecked grinding stone, and what do you do with ground corn? You make ash cakes! Then you have to cook them! So the kids ran around and made a nice-sized pile of sticks—mostly dry after the previous day’s rain---behind the classroom on the gravel yard. (I finally see a reason for why the gravel is there!) Then I congratulated them on their hunting skills, and had them dismantle the pile and make 4 piles of even-sized sticks, and then get a pile of tooth-pick sized sticks too. Then I showed them how to make a bow-drill fire with the set that Tom made me years ago.

We began to build the fire, smallest baby-fire food first, and then worked up to a nice flame that we added arm-sized logs to. It burned really well, and continued to as we added ground peanuts to the corn to make paddies that we put on hot rocks in the fire. Then what should we do? We can’t waste a perfectly good fire! AHHHH! The souvlaki from the Greek Festival! Already skewered, it easily and quickly cooked perfectly by just laying it in the fire, which continued to burn for 2 hours till we doused it. Everyone was extremely happy with themselves, and proud, too! Yum!

Our next adventure was when Julie took the kids to the fair to drop off her pie for judging. They had a good time there. The next week we all went to the fair, and after first eating lunch, we had a wonderful time petting and learning about some beautiful cows from some nice 4-H teens. We were very interested in the cows being judged when we knew them personally! A nice fellow told us a lot about Brahman cattle and why they are shaped that way. Neat! Then we looked at lots of different breeds of rabbits, from little Hotot dwarfs with their black eyeliner to great French Lops with their cowl necks and ears

spread all ‘round!

Then we went to the poultry. You know how interesting and diverse that is! After the fowl, we searched out the art. So much to see and marvel at! We had to pull ourselves away to find the student art because time was getting short. When we got there, it was nice to see Cody’s glass piece in the showcase with its 2nd place ribbon, which we already had seen on the list. We were very proud of him, even though it was displayed upside down. Then as we continued to walk around, we found that Arwen had won an Honorable Mention for her bookbag. Yea! Nice surprise! Then we went to turn in our Sustainable Farm passports, which we had been working on for a month by learning about how crops are grown through the Agriculture Department website. That was kind of a bust because the woman we needed to see wasn’t there but we still enjoyed fulfilling the requirements. A good day but too short!

The next Monday was a beauty. We walked down the road and spent most of the day watching Bethel Church get a new roof installed. It was amazing! The foreman of the project, Gustavo Ramirez, spent almost an hour with us, explaining the process and answering questions. The metal pieces were 45 feet long, weighed 140 pounds, and were at a 16 degree pitch. It was so cool to watch as we wrote our journal entries and ate lunch! From then on we all noticed the progress until it was completed 2 weeks later, just as Mr. Ramirez said it would be. A great day!

Awesome outdoor study weather!

Two days later we went on our annual trip to SKY TOP ORCHARD in Flat Rock, NC. That was a very cold, windy day, but very fun! We picked an enormous wagon-load of Arkansas Black and Mutzu apples, and ate yummy hot apple cider doughnuts as we huddled in the sun! After picking, we bought our apple cider and other goodies, loaded up the bus and headed back. Since then we have had many wonderful warm snacks of apple cider oatmeal and/or applesauce for snack, prepared by the students. That trip will last for months! Toward the end of the month we worked on an Arbor Day contest on a trip to Congaree Swamp National Park. While there, we drew, wrote in our journals, walked across cypress knees, climbed leaner trees, and hid in hollow trees on the bank of Cedar Creek on the back of the park. It was a lovely day.

Our last roadtrip of the month was on Halloween, when we spent the day in historic Elmwood Cemetery again. We read stories that we had written about our costumes the day before as we sat above the Confederate portion of the graveyard. We also observed the Union Soldiers’ graves that were there. After snack that some of the parents sent (thanks!), we went to the children’s graveyard and did grave rubbings and ate lunch. We were thoughtful as we wondered about the stories of the children who had lived such short lives. Then Tom came and told a ghost story---or was it? It was surely mysterious! Then we packed up and headed back, ready for the Halloween weekend. Little did we know that there would be a historic snow event that night! Which led to the cancellation of our annual trip to observe the Battle of Camden Revolutionary War reenactment…….. and so ends our month’s travels!

We also had great PE classes this month. The education themes included: Power=FxD/t, Work=FxD, Speed=D/T, agility and flexibility, and control as we practiced the skills of basketball, footwork with the ladder, and many other skills. In science our topics included joints and bones (we learned about Leland’s broken elbow), photosynthesis and its products in balanced equations, and air pressure (with experience---thanks to the mountain trip to pick apples). We rounded out our days, after our work, with music, where we have begun to learn “Fortuna”, from Carmina Burana. We are really enjoying that piece that is sung in Latin. Very cool! In October, we have proved again that there aren’t enough hours in the day. Stay tuned for more…..

Elementary, con’t

Halloween Madness

It’s Time! November 15th is just around the corner! Hoping everyone will join us for the

This is our main fundraising event and we hope you will participate! It’s a fun adults-only event – an evening of live music, oysters and homemade chili, beer and wine and a terrific silent auction. Tickets were distributed via parent pockets a few weeks ago – please turn in your ticket money by Friday, 11/14/14. If you have any tickets you’ve been unable to sell, please contact the office so we can adjust our food and beverage calculations. If you need more tickets, please let us know!

Adding auction items to the event blog daily! www.harmonyschoolsc.blogspot.com

Updates from the Office

Reminders

1. Preschool & Kindergarten Parents: When picking up your child, be sure to sign them out on the SIGN OUT sheet (located on the porch on a clipboard). THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT !

2. Keep an extra pair of weather-appropriate clothing in your child’s cubby at all times. Label all clothing with your child’s name - as well as coats and lunch box containers.

3. Nap time is from 12:30pm – 2:00pm each afternoon. Please do not disturb the nappers!! If you need to pick up a napping child during this time, notify us in advance so we can hold them out of nap until you arrive.

4. We are completely out of extra pants for boys (all sizes). If your child has come home wearing pants that are clearly marked HARMONY, please launder and send them back asap. If you have any boys pants (sizes 2-6) that you no longer need, we’d love to add them to our “closet” of spare clothes. Thanks!

Thank you to all the parents who came to our fall Teacher/Parent Work Day on November 2nd! We accomplished so many tasks together - they would have taken the rest of the year without your help! Special thanks to Carrie and Dave Claiborn (Margot’s parents) for donating the materials needed to build our new chicken coop! More kudos to Dave and his coop-building buddy, Kevin Jennings, for working into the night finishing the coop for Blondie, our new hen. More about Blondie next month… for now, she’s healthy and happy in her new home thanks to Carrie, Dave and Kevin. We are most grateful!