Dear parents & guardians, in line with the DES decision regarding all schools in Leinster staying closed tomorrow and Friday, The Children’s House will not reopen until next Monday 5th March; stay safe in the meantime everyone!
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/red-alert-all-schools-in-leinster-and-munster-to-remain-closed-on-thursday-and-friday-government-confirms-36648315.html
Dear parents, due to the red alert weather warning in Kildare, and in the interest of safety to yourselves, children and staff, The Children’s House will be closed until further notice. We will keep you updated with any developments, in the meantime keep safe and warm!! Kind regards, Siobhan.
This week at The Children’s House we will be practising yoga, making bunny puppets & then using them in our puppet theatre, and also asking the children what their favourite song is and encouraging them to perform it for us! Later in the week we will be discussing the new month March, and the changes that spring is bringing – the days are definitely getting longer & the nights shorter; unfortunately the weather isn’t getting warmer just yet though!! Here’s hoping the Siberian weather doesn’t bring too much disruption with it!
Sleeping Bunnies
See the little bunnies sleeping til noon
Shall we go and wake them with a merry tune?
They’re so still, are they ill?
Wake up bunnies, hop, hop, hop,
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop,
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop,
Hop little bunnies, hop and stop !
This is the Way (using Lámh signs)
This is the way we wash our face,
Wash our face, wash our face,
This is the way we wash our face,
On a cold & frosty morning.
This is the way we brush our teeth…
This is the way we comb our hair…
This is the way we put on our clothes…
This is the way we sweep the floor…
Welcome back after the midterm break everyone! This week we will be celebrating Chinese New Year with the children; it is the year of the Dog, and we will be talking about some of the traditions associated with the Chinese New Year – cleaning the house and decorating it (mainly in red the lucky colour), the red packets of money given to children, the New Year’s Eve family dinner, and the fireworks to drive away evil to name some! We will be doing process art making dogs, and also creating dragons in the classroom!
Later in the week we will ‘wake up’ our hibernating animals who have been sleeping since October, and talk about the changes that are happening for them in spring time and how it’s getting easier for them to obtain food and energy now.
Chinese New Year Poem
Dragons, lions,
Red and gold,
In with the New Year,
Out with the old.
Banners flying,
Bands playing,
Lions prancing,
Dragons swaying.
Fireworks crackling,
Lanterns swinging,
People laughing,
Dancing, singing.
***** The Children’s House will be closed for Midterm Break from Wednesday 14th – Friday 16th February inclusive, re-opening Monday 19th February *****
It’s going to be a very short week at The Children’s House, so we’re going to make the most of the 2 days we have!! On Monday we will be discussing Valentine’s Day and how we can show love to family and friends, following on from last week’s focus on wellbeing, and then the children will be making Valentine’s cards. Then on Tuesday we will be making pancakes, and having our annual Valentine’s Ball!!! We literally cannot wait for this!!!! (Black tie optional!!) Have a lovely mid-term break everyone, and see you next week!
Love Your Friends (Tune of: Row Your Boat)
Love, love, love your friends,
Love them all year long,
Especially on Valentine’s day,
As we sing this song!
It’s all about wellbeing and Spring this week at The Children’s House! We will be beginning the week talking about the signs of Spring – flowers blooming, weather warming up, days getting longer, baby animals being born….then we will be doing some Spring crafts, and talking about how all the children are growing into their own different selves. This will naturally link to our discussion on wellbeing, and our focus this week on celebrating the children’s uniqueness; we are linking in with the National Children’s Network and the UK Children’s Mental Health Week to promote wellbeing by carrying out activities around the theme of ‘Being Ourselves’.
We always encourage children to celebrate their uniqueness and feel comfortable with who they are, as having a positive view of ourselves can help us long-term in dealing with life’s challenges, so as part of this week we will be supporting the children to express the most positive things they feel about themselves, and to celebrate their differences! Therefore at the start of the week we are sending home with the children a template which we would like you to fill out with them – firstly to discuss together with them what they think their family love about them (and to add what you think!) and what they love about their community where they live, and then write down the answers so the children can bring it back into school where we will share it with the class.
Later in the week we will be talking about what makes us different and our unique strengths, and then making a ‘compliments tree’ where the children give compliments to their friends. Throughout the year we will continue to compliment the children whenever appropriate e.g. ‘I really like how you were kind to your friend’, ‘that was great sharing’, ‘well done on sorting out that disagreement’ etc. in order to focus on and promote these positive dispositions. If there are any other activities along these lines that you would like to suggest/carry out with us at any stage, please let us know!
All Of Me
My hands are for clapping,
My arms can hug tight,
My fingers can snap or turn our the light.
My legs are for jumping,
My eyes help me see,
This is my body and I love all of me!!