We’re learning all about families this week at The Children’s House! The children are going to be decorating our family trees in the classrooms with their family photos, and telling us all about their families e.g. how many people are in the family, what they love best doing with them, what their house is like etc. We will be talking about different types of families too, as not every family is made up of the same amount of people, or come from the same place.

At the end of the week we will be doing yoga with the children; we always find this a great practice to begin at the start of the year, and we usually start with deep breathing exercises – putting hands on our tummies and feeling the breath going in and out, breathing as slowly and deeply as possible. This is a great method of calming down if a child has gotten upset over something and can’t find their way out of the moment, it can really focus them on something and take their mind off the upset; an alternative is to have the child lie down and put a little teddy on their tummy, so they can see it rising and falling with their breath!

Families

Some families are big,
Some families are small,
But I love my family –
Best of all!

This week at The Children’s House we’re going to be learning all about Autumn – talking about seasons and the changes we can see all around us (days getting shorter & nights getting longer, weather getting colder, leaves changing colour etc); the children will be making leaf rubbings and collages, as well as cooking stewed apple – yum!! At the end of the week, we will have Pet Visit Day, where children are welcome to bring in their pets for a visit during the class session so that they can tell us about them – we have had all shapes and sizes of pets over the years, so all are welcome, and if children can’t bring in a live animal, they can bring in an animal teddy instead if they like!

As always at the start of the year, we are focussing on the Practical Life exercises in the classroom, this is an area which is the basis of the entire Montessori curriculum. Through using the Practical Life exercises, children learn about respect and care of themselves & their environment; they grow to realise the importance of the work cycle – returning an activity to where they got it from, & in the same state as when they got it; during all this they also develop their hand-eye coordination, gross & fine motor skills, concentration & independence. It is a wonderful area for new & returning students alike as we can extend the exercises as a child needs to stimulate their interests & learning (e.g. going from spooning pasta to spooning flour to sieving flour), and we also support & promote the ‘vertical learning’ which Maria Montessori was such a huge advocate of – this is where younger children actively learn from older ones, & the older children gain more confidence in themselves as they can see they are competent & capable within their school environment – we always find there are wonderful interactions within the mixed age groups!

Autumn Leaves

Falling, falling autumn leaves,
Falling, falling from the trees.
Up above and on the ground,
Swirling, twirling all around.
Falling, falling autumn leaves,
Falling, falling from the trees.

It’s our first full week back at The Children’s House, and it’s going to be All About Me!! The children will be doing self portraits, making birthday charts, learning about using indoor versus outdoor voices, doing music and movement, and also doing a great project – making their own All About Me posters with their families to present to the class on Friday! In our preschool we want the children to have confidence and be happy in themselves, and at the very heart of it all is celebrating that each of us is different and that’s what makes us so special.

I’m Glad I’m Me

No one looks the way I do,
I have noticed that is true!
No one walks the way I walk,
No one talks the way I talk,
No one plays the way I play,
No one says the way I say,
I am special! I am ME!
There’s no one else I’d rather be!

Circle Time Song

Hello everyone and how are you today?
We’ve come to our circle time to sing and laugh and play!
And when we’re up we’re up, and when we’re down we’re down,
And when we’re only halfway up we’re neither up nor down.
So roll your hands so slowly, and roll your hands so fast –
Give your hands a clap clap clap,
And place them on your lap lap lap!

A huge welcome to The Children’s House to all our wonderful new and returning children and their families!! This will be a short week to settle everyone in, and we will be focusing on getting to know each other, learning each others’ names,creating our own rules for the classroom (all part of the Montessori ethos of respect, care of self & care of the environment) practising how we walk slowly, talk quietly, carry chairs and trays in the classroom (refining gross motor movements), and lots of songs, games, and fun activities in circle time – we really can’t wait to get to know all the classes!

To Montessori we will go,
To Montessori we will go,
We’ll learn and play and make new friends,
To Montessori we will go.

Bumble Bee Song

Bumble bee, bumble bee,
Can you say your name for me?
(Child’s name), (child’s name),
That’s a very nice name!