February 2018

H A R M O N Y S C H O O L

Valentine’s Day Preschool/Kindergarten - Class Party! 8:30 - 9:30 Sign up if you would like to bring a tray of food. Elementary - Pink Breakfast! Students bring food to cook and share for a pink breakfast. Pink eggs, pink grits...

Handprints Newsletter

Harmony Family Camp-Out

Last year’s campout at Sesqui State Park was a huge success, so we’re doing it again! Mark your calendars for April 21st and get your camping gear ready! More details next month...

Intended for both current and prospective fami-lies—the Open House on Tuesday 2/20 will allow families to peruse the PreK/K and Elementary classrooms, talk with teachers, and preview an-ticipated units of study for the 2018-19 school year. We will also have updates on the new building with Board Member, Tim Van den Berg, available to an-swer questions. If you know of any fami-lies looking for a unique PreK/K or Elementary program, please spread the word!

Harmony School is a Green Steps School! Green Steps Schools is an environmental education and action initiative that recognizes school in South Carolina who take

annual sustainable steps toward becoming more environmentally responsible. We are so excited to be a part of this program! Click here to learn more. Over the new few months you will begin to see the students work on various projects, including a project on water quality and recycling. The goal is not only for students to learn about ecological sustainability, but also spread knowledge within our community! They will provide information in the monthly newsletter, create videos, and participate in a live Earth Day event! Later this spring, the students will share their award-winning RETHINK project at the Soda City Market. If YOU have anything to contribute towards this adventure in becoming a Green Steps School, please let us know! Ideas and participation are welcome!

Harmony Rummage Sale!

It’s that time again! March 10 from 8am-12pm we will be host-ing another Harmony Rummage Sale Fund-raiser. We will be tak-ing donations of gently used clothing, art, and

household items. Please tag your items

and bring them day-of.

A new unit of study is underway—Food and Nutrition. You may have already heard your child talking about healthy foods! During this unit, students will be taking two field trips to EdVenture for special programs on nutrition and healthy eating. They’ll also be exploring: -Reasons for Eating -Four Food Groups -Fruits -Vegetables -Grains -Dairy -Meat -Five Nutrients -Water -Vitamins -Balanced Diet -Sugar and Fat—not too much -Healthy Snacks -Cooking Changes Food -What Foods are Made of -Food Festival

Preschool & Kindergarten

Nutrition Unit

Above, Debbie holds up some greens from the garden while Heather, pictured below, cuts up some fruits and vegetables. Students in both classes got to sample a variety of healthy food for their current Nutrition unit of study.

Right: McKenzie, Vivian, Breccan, and Connor pick and sample some of the winter greens they grew this win-ter.

Above: Sadie samples some greens as a treat!

Above: Gavin readying the guitar for his show day!

Below: Eleanor smiles big after trying some new vegetables!

Above: Matthew enjoys sharing his new book with the class during Show!

Below: 5-year-olds enjoying a special af-ternoon nature walk with William!

Above and Below: Students from both classes visit EdVen-ture for a program called “Eating the Rainbow” where they sample healthy foods. They also enjoy the fun activities around the facility!

Preschool & Kindergarten

What’s

your

favorite

healthy

food?

Breccan: “cherries” Victor: “salad”

Teagan: “Broccoli”

Marley: “apples, bananas, and bacon...oh wait bacon isn’t healthy...an orange instead”

Above Lucia “eggplant” C.A.: “cucumber” Left Margot:: “snozzcumber”

Cal: “sandwich”

Huxley: “corn”

Mikaelyn: “vegetables”

Stella: “strawberries” Oliver: “tomatoes”

Nathan: “lettuce and toma-toes and cucumbers and carrots and potatoes and…”

Harmony Elementary

Field Trips

Hangin’ around Harmony

The Elementary students enjoyed some special field trips this month! Our first graders went to the Himala-yan Salt Therapy Room at Forest Acres Well Care. Students enjoyed an hour among the salt to help activate their immune systems and support healthy lung function this flu season. During the fourth week of the month, students loaded up on the bus to visit Old McCaskill’s Farm in Rembert. Students had the opportunity to play with piglets, baby goats, newly born corgis, young calves, sheep, chickens, and much more! They were allowed to tour the barns, the root cellar, the grits mill, and the gift shop. They learned all about what practices go into the responsible farming of livestock and crops.

Dawsyn and Macy enjoy bowls full of their favorite morning snack– apple cider oatmeal, made with love by the students and Jennifer.

Zoe shows off the incredible quilt that she sewed with her sewing machine!

Continuing in their experiential instruc-tion of My Side of the Mountain, the Elders made a campfire to practice out-door cooking over a fire

Harmony Elementary

EarlyAct Club

Music & Movement Hand bells with Ima started up again after winter break. Students are current-ly working on classical piece by Handel. Pictured right, Ima spends a day to work with students on reading music and tim-ing. Students will have a spring perfor-mance at the annual Family Picnic in May. New this semester, we are switching gears with our physical education and focusing on a physical fitness and well-ness program with Coach Lance Adams of the Warrior Warehouse. Lance, and his business partner, Marie, will work with students on sports performance (both team and individual), character building, obstacle courses, etc. Lance is an active advocate for building youth programs in our community and is a member of the Forest Acres Rotary Club—our EarlyAct Club sponsors!

Ima gives students a lesson on reading music for their new hand bell music pieces.

Max and Nigel strengthen their core with some sit-ups during P.E. class.

Marie with Warrior Ware-house introduces herself to the students and explains the new program they’ll be embarking on this semester!

The EarlyAct Club is ready to take on some new projects! After a suc-cessful winter service project, the students came back to school itching to begin a project to benefit our Har-mony Students. After a few field trips to see meditation labyrinths around Columbia, the EarlyActors

decided that Harmony would greatly benefit from the addition of our own meditation labyrinth. With the help of Macy’s mom, Mary How, students are hard at work creating the design for the labyrinth we plan to paint on the basketball court in the side yard. To fundraise for this endeavor, the EarlyAct Treasurer, Nigel, has been diligently organizing our BoxTops. We will also be hosting a Tapping Workshop on March 21 at 6:30 pm. Debbie will be teaching the class for $5 per attendee, with all proceeds going to Harmony School Early Act.

Amanda joined the Harmony aftercare team in December and is getting lots of love from our students! She loves art and music and serenades students with the ukulele. Prior to working at Harmony, Amanda worked as an au pair in Italy and also studied philosophy and anthropology at USC. Welcome to the Harmony Family, Amanda!

2/17 Jude 2/18 Kaylynn (staff)

F E B R U A R Y B I R T H D A Y S

C A L E N D A R -

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 2 Kindergarten Field Trip Soccer Shots

5

6 Elementary FT—Orchestra Swings Waldorf Art class

7 Preschool Field Trip to EdVen-ture (Debbie)—wear Harmony Shirt!

8 Preschool Field Trip to EdVen-ture (Heather)—wear Harmo-ny Shirt!

9 Kindergarten Field Trip Soccer Shots

12

13 Waldorf Art class

14 Valentine’s Party

15

16 Kindergarten Field Trip Soccer Shots

19 Presidents’ Day NO SCHOOL

20 OPEN HOUSE 6:30 - 8pm Waldorf Art class

21

22

23 Kindergarten Field Trip Soccer Shots

26 Elementary Science Fair Projects due

27 Waldorf Art class

28

Amanda Buck Aftercare Teacher

Thank you Lewis (Haydn’s dad) for installing our shiny new mail-box! We are so appreciative of our Harmony families!

Waldorf Art and Soccer Shots are un-derway and the kids are having a blast! More pictures coming soon….