We had a lovely week celebrating Thanksgiving last week and learning about the importance of being grateful for what we have in our lives, as we all have so much to be thankful for. This week we will be welcoming in December, and start to get psyched up for Christmas…..!! We will be practicing mindfulness, making Christmas ornaments from clay & starting to decorate the classrooms as well as making a Gratitude Wall!

When Santa got stuck in the Chimney

When Santa got stuck in the chimney,
He began to shout:
‘You girls & boys won’t get any toys,
If you don’t pull me out –
There’s soot on my back, my beard is black,
My nose is tickly too!’
When Santa got stuck in the chimney,
ACHOO, ACHOO, ACHOO!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! We will be learning all about this lovely North American celebration in The Children’s House this week, as it falls on this Thursday. It is a wonderful opportunity to focus on things that we are thankful for in our lives, and to gently remind the children to be aware of the fact that not everyone in the world has food, or a home, or even a family, and to be grateful for all of those things; it is a really positive celebration!

It’s also College Awareness Week, so will be talking to the children about their journey of learning – which starts as soon as they are born – with their parents/guardians at home, with us in preschool, then primary,secondary, third-level….To link into their home environment, we are asking that family members also give us information about where they went on their journeys of learning, and if they have photos from graduations to please send us in copies to display on our Timeline of Lifelong Learning!

Let’s Be Thankful (tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

Let’s be thankful for this day,
For our friends and for our play.
Let’s be thankful, let’s be glad,
For the food and things we have.
Let’s give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family!

This week we’ll be planting bulbs for the spring time, talking about the change of season from Autumn to Winter, doing yoga, and learning all about Diwali, the festival of lights which originated in India, which starts this year on Sunday 12th November. This is a wonderful occasion which celebrates the triumph of good over evil, and light over darkness; we will be learning about all the different preparations and rituals that are practised at this time.

During the week the children will be colouring in rangoli (an Indian art form in which patterns are created on the floor or the ground using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals, usually done during Hindu festivals), and also making their own lanterns and decorating them – some lovely art, gardening and culture this week!

My Garden

This is my garden, I’ll plant it with care,
Here are the seeds I’ll plant in there.
The sun will shine, the rain will fall,
The seeds will sprout and grow up tall!

The Snowman

There was a little snowman who had a carrot nose,
Along came a rabbit, and what do you suppose?
That hungry little rabbit, looking for his lunch,
Ate the snowman’s carrot nose….
Nibble, nibble, crunch!!!

We are starting our group project this week, & are VERY excited about it!! It is all about Flat Stanley – the story of Stanley who got squashed as flat as a pancake, & can now handily travel all around the world folded up in an envelope!! This leads us to a fun geography project that your children can take part in – they will be getting their own Flat Stanley, who can be posted to anyone they know who lives in a different part of the world, whether it’s Timbuktu or Tipperary!! We’re hoping that Stanley will return with lots of pictures & little notes recording where he’s been in the world, & then the children can record it on the map in their classroom.

Along with this, we will be discussing the postal system, how we use stamps, who we know who live in different parts of the world, what different parts of the world are like – how they’re alike/different to where we live at the moment.

Flat Stanley Song