Well, we’re cautiusly moving into Christmas territory this week….!! We will be doing some seasonal crafts such as printing wrapping paper and making wreaths, and introducing the story of why we celebrate Christmas. As we have many family members who come from different parts of the world, we will be starting to look at how Christmas is celebrated in various parts of the world, and will be asking you to come in and help us with this! At the end of the week we will be discussing the change of month and welcoming in December – we will also be dressing up this week, and practising some mindfulness.

5 Little Christmas Trees (poem)

5 little Christmas trees were standing all alone,
Their hearts were very sad, cos they hadn’t found a home…
Then CHOP went the axe, and down fell a tree,
And off it went with a happy family!

4…3…2…1…No little Christmas trees were standing all alone,
Their hearts were very happy cos they all had found a home!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town (with Lámh signs)

You’d better not shout, you’d better not cry,
You’d better not pout, I’m telling you why –
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice,
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice –
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake,
He know if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!

You’d better not shout, you’d better not cry,
You’d better not pout, I’m telling you why –
Santa Claus is coming to town!

This week we are celebrating College Awareness Week as well as Thanksgiving! As part of this, we will be celebrating lifelong learning by making a visual display of the journey of learning that the children are beginning when they join us at preschool, so we would like to invite families to send in/email photos of siblings, parents & family members from primary, secondary & tertiary levels of education. It doesn’t matter from how long ago or how recently, how many or how few – we will then make a road map of education using photos of the children, their family members & staff to show how learning is a lifelong process! Also, we will be talking about possible future careers with the children (to which there will doubtless be no limits, and rightfully so!!) and giving thanks on Thursday that we live in part of the world where we have wide accessibility to education.

https://www.collegeaware.ie/events/celebrating-lifelong-learning-2

Thanksgiving Song (tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

Let’s be thankful for this day,
For our friends and for our play,
Let’s be thankful, let’s be glad,
For the food and things we have,
Let’s give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family!

If You’re Happy & You Know It (with Lámh signs)

If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it,
And you really want to show it –
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,

If you’re sad / angry….

After last week’s enjoyment of learning about the water cycle and making our own rain clouds, this week we will be doing all about road safety! We will be practising how to cross the road – stop, look and listen, then walk across while still paying attention to look and listen for approaching traffic – and doing some road safety art, as well as designing our own road safety certs! We have high visibility jackets which the children will learn about the importance of wearing when going on walks – even in daylight, as it can be very dull and dark these days. We will also be learning the Safe Cross Code song, a real earworm of a song which might transport some of you back to the 70s if you remember it from the television ad….!!

Safe Cross Code

Remember – 1 – look for a safe place,
2 – don’t hurry, stop and wait,
3 – look all around you, before you cross the road –
Remember – 4 – let all the traffic pass you,
5 – then walking straight across you –
6 – keep watching,
That’s the safe cross code!

Welcome back to the first full week after Hallowe’en break – for those who weren’t in last week we hope you had a great mid-term! This week we will be learning all about the water cycle – how the earth recycles water by heating water in oceans, lakes etc so it evaporates as water vapour up into the sky, then it cools down in clouds during condensation, and eventually falls in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow during precipitation – then the whole process starts again.

The Water Cycle (to tune of She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain)

Water travels in a cycle yes it does!
Water travels in a cycle yes it does!
It goes up as evaporation,
Forms clouds as condensation,
Comes back down as precipitation –
Yes it does!!