It’s hard to believe October is here already, but it’s been a fantastic start to the school year!! The children have all settled in so well, and are happily working away in the classrooms in both individual and group activities. We are holding Zoom observations days in all the classes this week, where family members are invited to observe the children at their work, to give an understanding of what they are doing while at school (as we know that some children are less communicative at home about what exactly they do than others!) Following this we will have parent teacher meetings, which is a great opportunity to review the observations, to discuss any questions there may be, and to have a chat about your children’s progression throughout the year in general and how you can be involved in that as much as possible. We value your input and will be inviting you to come in throughout the school year, whether to join in activities, tell a story at circle time, or demonstrate/talk to the children about your own specialised skills! Also, please remember that if you ever have any issues or concerns, we are always here to talk to.

This week we will be continuing with the topic of Autumn, and talking about leaves! It’s a wonderful time of year to observe the change of colour in the leaves all around and to see them falling on the ground. The children will be asked to collect & bring in autumnal objects for their nature table, and we will be examining and trying to identify different leaves, and will learn an Irish poem about dancing leaves to accompany this topic. We will be doing leaf rubbings & also have a lovely handprint leaf craft this week, as well as doing music & movement pretending to be leaves falling from trees! Finally, we will be doing some science experiments, the first after talking about the lengthening nights and shortening days, using a torch & spinning globe in the darkened classroom to see how the sun shines on the earth so that on the opposite side of the earth to us it is always night time when we have our day time, and vice versa. The second experiment will be making ‘goop’ – mixing cornstarch with water to show how a mixture can have the properties of a solid or a liquid depending on the pressure exerted on it!

Duilleoga Deasa (Nice Leaves)

Duilleoga deasa deasa, (nice nice leaves)
Duilleoga deasa buí, (nice yellow leaves)
Duilleoga deasa deasa, (nice nice leaves)
Ag damhsa leis an ngaoth. (dancing with the wind)