Welcome back – hopefully everyone had a lovely mid-term break and are all energised, as it’s all go this week in The Children’s House!! We will be resuming our group project on the timeline of the eras, so after learning all about the Big Bang, this week we will be unrolling our timeline 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, during 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!

As well as this, we will be having Pet Visit Day on Friday- this is a VERY exciting day, where children are invited to bring their pets into school – under their parents’ supervision! We have previously had all sorts of animal visitors, from dogs to hens to lambs to lizards…!!! The children who don’t have a pet visiting can bring in their favourite animal teddy, and at circle time each child can tell us about their pet or teddy. This is a really wonderful day, and everyone gets such enjoyment out of it, so we’re really looking forward to it!

Monsieur Pouce (Fingerplay)

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!!

This will be a very short week in The Children’s House, as it’s mid term, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be any less busy!! On Monday we will be creating obstacle courses outside using what we have – logs, slide, seesaw, picnic table, chairs, brush, hula hoop….it’ll be interesting to see what the children come up with! Then on Tuesday we will be making indoor obstacle courses, which will be very exciting – using everyday furniture to move our bodies over, under and around in different ways – prepare for your houses to be restructured!! We will also be revising the Big Bang before we start moving on with our project next week, and last but definitely not least we will be having a party to say goodbye to Jess as she finishes up for her maternity leave on Tuesday – very exciting times ahead for her and her little baby!

The Children’s House will be closed for mid-term break from Wednesday 20th until Friday 22nd February inclusive, re-opening next Monday 25th February.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose…
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

It’s going to be a big love-in this week at The Children’s House!! We will be focusing on emotions this week, and talking about what love means to us all – who we love, who loves us, and most importantly, the necessity in life to love our own selves! It’s sometimes hard for young children to recognise and verbalise their emotions, so we use a lot of strategies in the classroom to help them with this – for instance visual aids like emotion wheels, and naming feelings for children when they are upset e.g. ‘I can see you seem upset that it’s not your turn to give out the plates today’, and then giving them tools for improving the situation themselves e.g. ‘what do you think might make you feel better? Is there anything I can do to help?’ This helps children to develop their emotional literacy and well-being, and supports them to learn skills of resilience for later in life. We also encourage children to ask their friends what might help them feel better if they’re upset about something – the answer is usually hugs!!

During the week we will be making Valentine’s crafts, creating a Love Tree, decorating the classroom with hearts, and on Thursday having our annual Valentine’s ball!! The children can dress up for this and we will be having lots of dancing and fun!

Five Little Hearts (fingerplay)

Five little hearts all in a row ,
The first one said ‘I love you so’,
The second one said ‘will you be my Valentine?’
The third one said ‘I will, if you’ll be mine’
The fourth one said ‘I’ll always be your friend’
The fifth one said ‘we’ll all be friends until the end!’

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! It’s the Chinese Lunar New Year on Tuesday, so this week we will be learning a bit about China – looking at where it is in Asia, learning about some customs & superstitions, and looking at some photos and objects from China. As it’s the Year of the Pig, the children will be making pigs from paper plates, as well as Chinese fans, cherry blossom trees with thumb prints, and decorating the classrooms for the week.

Happy New Year (action poem)

Happy new year, hop hop hop,
Happy new year, stop stop stop,
Happy new year, jump jump jump,
Happy new year, stomp stomp stomp.
Happy new year, touch your nose,
Happy new year, touch your toes,
Happy new year, turn around,
Happy new year, now sit down!