Last week’s music appreciation was a fantastic week in The Children’s House! Thanks to all the parents who gave their time and came in to play music with us – we had guitars, recorder, trumpet, keyboard, as well as some singing spots – and still have drums to come this week! It was such an enjoyable week, and the children loved seeing all the different instruments and having their parents in the classroom with them.

This week will be very busy!! The morning classes will be learning about St Brigid on Monday and making St Brigid’s crosses for the classrooms, as well as talking about the new month February and the start of Spring. Then we will be continuing on with our project from the Big Bang and learning about the Azoic Era, when earth was newly formed and no life existed; the children will be making pictures to represent the era. Following that, towards the end of the week, we will be making volcanoes and carrying out an experiment using baking soda, vinegar and red food colouring to simulate the volcano exploding! The afternoon classes will be learning about the new month and season, and also doing the volcano experiment!

Monsieur Pouce

Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la?          Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je dors!                                                    Sshhh, I’m sleeping!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la?          Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je mange!                                                Sshhh, I’m eating!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la?          Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je bois!                                                    Sshhh, I’m drinking!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la?          Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Oui, je sors! Bonjour tout le monde!!             Yes, I’m coming! Hello everyone!!

It’s music appreciation week in The Children’s House! Introducing music at a young age has such important life-long benefits such as brain stimulation, social development, boosting self-esteem and creativity – and children love it!! This week we’re going to look at various aspects such as the different groups of musical instruments (string, woodwind, brass, percussion), how music is written and read, making our own musical instruments, and discussing why music sounds so nice to our ears.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky,
Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are!

It’s all about art appreciation this week in The Children’s House!! The afternoon classes will be experimenting with colour mixing, while the morning classes will be learning about the artist Kandinsky, and creating their own masterpieces later in the week! They will also be philosophising about whether colours can represent our emotions.

At the moment in the classroom there are many practical life activities out on the shelf which can easily be reproduced at home  – as that is exactly what practical life activities are: activities that the child sees in their own home environment, and the objective is to give them confidence in carrying out these activities in order to grow in independence. For example, pouring grain – all you need to set up is a tray with 2 jugs, 1 full of rice/pasta, and when the child feels competent at this activity it can be made more challenging by changing to pouring water/pouring using a funnel. Another example would be cleaning a baby’s bottle – for this activity you need to set up a tray with a baby bottle, bowl of water, bottle brush and drying cloth. The children will be familiar with the steps in the activity and will work away to their heart’s content!

The Colour Song (tune: If You’re Happy & You Know It)

If your clothes have any red, any red,
If your clothes have any red, any red,
If your clothes have any red, put your finger on your head,
If your clothes have any red, any red!

What a great few days we had last week after our Christmas break – the children were all full of energy and ready to get back into learning mode! This week at The Children’s House we will be starting to learn about the beginning of the universe with the morning classes, and doing an experiment to demonstrate the Big Bang almost 14 million years ago, and we will be talking about how we are all made of stardust! Later in the week the children will be making their own pictures of the Big Bang, we will do some philosophising and have a discussion about what everyone imagines the world might have been like in the very beginning….then we will also be doing some yoga, and finally some drama – moving to music with different coloured ribbons to represent all the particles swirling about after the Big Bang. The afternoon classes will be learning about winter – the cold weather, short days and long nights, clothes we wear in the winter – and making snowy pictures!

93 Percent Stardust

We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins,
Carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains,
93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames,
We are all just stars that have people names.

Happy new year everybody and welcome back – we hope you and your children had a wonderful break! This week we’ll be talking about the New Year 2016, and the morning classes will be making calendars to bring home so they can mark off the days themselves, while the afternoon classes will be making a fireworks picture, and doing an experiment using oil, food colouring and water to make fireworks in a jar! We’re so excited to be back at school after the Christmas holidays, and to be heading into another wonderful year at The Children’s House!!

Roille Roille Ráinne (Ring a Rosie in Irish)

Roille, roille, ráinne,
Timpeall linn an bhfáinne,
Ríleo ró! Ríleo ró!
Suas san aer le mo choisín ó!