We will be closed for mid-term break from Monday 26th until Friday 30th October,

re-opening Monday 2nd November –

Happy Halloween everyone!!

This week we will be getting ready for Halloween by decorating the classrooms and doing lots of Halloween arts & crafts! We will be doing some pumpkin art & learning about the parts of the pumpkin – before we carve it!! Then we will be making ghost footprint art & spider crafts, as well as practising some mindfulness, and at the end of the week we will be having a dress up Halloween party, & playing lots of games – it’s going to be a great week!!!

5 Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,                                       (hold up 5 fingers)
The 1^st one said “Oh my, it’s getting late!”                               (put hands to cheeks)
The 2^nd one said “There are witches in the air,”                     (flutter fingers above head)
The 3^rd one said “but we don’t care!”                                        (shake head)
The 4^th one said “Let’s run and run and run.”                         (mime running with arms)

The 5^th one said “I’m ready for some fun!”                               (thumbs up)
Then ‘Oooo’ went the wind, and out went the lights…           (clap hands)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!                      (roll arms)

It’s Music Week this week at The Children’s House!! We will begin the week doing some breathing exercises using our diaphragms while sitting/standing up straight, and following this we will be learning about some of the different dynamics in music – this is the variation of loudness of the piece of music – the 2 basic dynamics are piano (soft) and forte (loud). Then during the week we will be looking at what music notes look like when written down, learning how to use the Montessori bells to play melodies, listening to different composers’ works and exploring the families of the orchestra. We will be talking about the children’s favourite music, & looking at which countries different instruments come from –  if anyone wants to send us a message/text with the names of different or traditional songs you might listen to at home please do so, we’d love to have a variation of music to share with the children this week! Then at the end of the week we’ll be painting while listening to classical music, be prepared for some masterpieces!!!

Name Beat Song
Keep the beat while tapping your knees, sitting in circle with class
Say a child’s name twice, then go on to next child
e.g. Mary, Mary…..Tom, Tom…..

Warm Up
HEHEHEHEHEEEee
HAHAHAHAHAAAaa
HOHOHOHOHOOOoo

This week in The Children’s House we are continuing on with our Autumnal themes and learning all about hibernation! We will be discussing which animals sleep through the winter in Ireland, why they do so (colder weather so it’s harder to find food), where they sleep, and the preparation they make for hibernation (increasing body fat, gathering food stores). In particular we will be looking at the mouse, squirrel, frog, ladybird, bat and hedgehog – the last 2 being the only Irish mammals that truly hibernate, meaning they drop their temperature and heart rate, their breathing slows & they go into a type of coma for a few months to conserve energy – sounds like something we might all like to do this winter!!

We will also be talking about the change in weather & the shortening of days/ lengthening of nigths, doing a hibernation craft, & drama at the end of the week: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!

Are You Sleeping Brother Bear
(Sung to: Frere Jacques)

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother bear, brother bear?
Through the cold cold winter, through the cold cold winter,
Brother bear, brother bear.