We will be learning all about the farm this week at The Children’s House, always a popular topic! During the week, the children will make mud slime (using cornflour, washing up liquid & brown paint), & do farmyard vegetable painting, as well as doing MOOvement to music!! Following on from last week’s very successful grandparents theme, we would like to reiterate that grandparents – or any family members for that matter – are always more than welcome to visit the classes throughout the year, we would be delighted to see them at any time!

Old MacDonald

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O,
And on that farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O,
With a moo moo here, & a moo moo there,
Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo…
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!

…And on that farm he had a pig…

…And on that farm he had a duck…

…And on that farm he had a horse…

…And on that farm he had a dog…

This week at The Children’s House we will be celebrating grandparents, and the women in our lives!! The children have brought home a project to do about their grandparents, which they can either do with their grandparents themselves if they are lucky enough to have them in their lives, or with their parents. They will be asking questions about when their grandparents were their ages, 3/4/5 years old, e.g. what was their favourite game or toy to play with, did they have any pets, what was their house like etc… If any grandparents would like to come in & speak to the children we would be delighted to facilitate this!

Later in the week the children will be drawing family pictures, & then doing an art activity about the women in their lives, & we will be celebrating Mother’s Day. We will also be practising some yoga & mindfulness!

When I See my Grandparents

When I see my grandparents this is what I do,
I hop up & give them a great big hug or 2!
I’m glad to see my grandparents, they’re glad to see me too,
I give them each a big smile & tell them ‘I love you’!

Happy St Patrick’s week everyone!! It’ll be a short week, as we’re closed for the bank holidays on Thursday & Friday, so we’ll be doing a lot of preparing for the celebrations by decorating the classrooms, learning about why we celebrate St Patrick’s Day, listening to traditional Irish music, colouring our maps of Ireland, & making flags! ☘️🇮🇪

In a gesture of solidarity with our Ukrainian friends both home & away, we are asking the children to come in dressed in blue & yellow, or green, on Wednesday for our St Patrick’s Day party & we are also doing a collection to help send medical supplies through 1 of our parents. Thank you for your support in this 💙💛💚

Lámh, lámh eile

Lámh, lámh eile, a haon, a dó,           (Hand, other hand, one, two)
Cos, cos eile, a haon, a dó.                  (Leg, other leg, one, two)
Súil, súil eile, a haon, a dó,                 (Eye, other eye, one, two,)
Cluas, cluas eile, a haon, a dó,           (Ear, other ear, one, two,)
Ceann, srón, béal, smig,                      (Head, nose, mouth, chin,)
Agus fiacla bána i mo bhéal istigh.   (And white teeth inside my mouth.)

We are learning all about the food pyramid in The Children’s House this week, & will be doing a lot of activities about healthy eating along with it – we will start off the week with a discussion with the children on why they might think it’s important to eat healthily, talk about what our bodies need from food and which foods are best for us, and continue from there to look at the food pyramid. After this we will introduce practical activities such as matching sample jars of food to the food pyramid, making super smoothies! At the end of the week we will be philosophising with the children about ‘what if children were big & adults were small?’….should lead to some interesting discussions!!

We emphasise the importance of having a good balanced diet and a healthy relationship with food – to know which foods are healthy and which are not, but to stress that having a treat is not a bad thing either!

Staying Healthy (tune: If you’re happy & you know it)

To stay healthy, you should always eat good food,
To stay healthy, you should always eat good food,
Eat some apples, eat some peas,
Eat bananas & green beans –
To stay healthy, you should always eat good food!