It’s Science Week this week at The Children’s House!! So we will be doing lots of experiments with the children, asking them what they expect will happen, observing what actually happens and then discussing the results. We will be looking at the colour wheel (mixing primary colours (blue, red & yellow) to get secondary colours (purple, orange & green), doing experiments with bicarbonate of soda & vinegar; food colouring, milk & washing up liquid; skittles & water; coins & Coke….children are born with a natural curiousity about how things work in their world and they love to experiment and discover in their environment – their questions should be encouraged as their potential as scientists is unlimited!!

If Your Clothes Have Any Red (tune of If You’re Happy & You Know It)

This week at The Children’s House we will be learning about Diwali, the festival of lights which originated in India, which falls this year on Wednesday 7th 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 make a version of 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 then use modelling clay to make their own little clay lamps (diyas) and decorating them, before putting night lights in them and bringing them home. So a lot of lovely art, craft and culture this week!

Little Lamps (to tune of London Bridge)

Little lamps are burning bright,
Burning bright, burning bright.
Little lamps are burning bright,
It’s Diwali.

See them lighting up the night,
Up the night, up the night.
See them lighting up the night,
It’s Diwali.

We will be closed for mid-term break Monday 29th & Tuesday 30th October,

re-opening Wednesday 31st October –

Happy Halloween everyone!!

It’s all getting a bit spooky in The Children’s House this week as we prepare for Halloween!! We will be talking about why we celebrate Halloween, its origins, and the different things we do to celebrate it – bonfires, fireworks, pumpkin carvings, trick or treating etc. During the week the children will be making Halloween shakers, egg carton spiders, balloon webs – so the classrooms are going to look very festive! Then towards the end of the week we will carve pumpkins, and on Friday have our fancy dress Halloween party with face painting and games; it’s going to be a great week!!

Note: We are still holding parent observations and parent teacher meetings; for those who haven’t been able to schedule these in yet, we are available at any time during the year. We’d also like to ask you to think how you’d like to be involved throughout your child’s preschool year – whether it’s coming in to read a story at circle time, do an activity like baking or flower pressing, talk about what you do for a living, play a musical instrument, or simply bring in some photos of when you were a similar age and tell us all about your life, hobbies & interests as a 3/4/5 year old!! The possibilities are endless….

The Hungry Hairy Spider (tune of Incy Wincy Spider)

He’s the biggest spider that I have ever seen,
He eats up all the candy every Halloween!
That hungry hairy spider crawled along the floor…
Then he looked me in the eyes and shouted ‘MORE MORE MORE’!!!

We will be learning all about road safety in The Children’s House as well as discussing our personal space, following on from our theme of emotional well-being last week. We will be learning how to ‘stop, look and listen’ when crossing the road, and practicing this in the classrooms as well as outside. Then we will link this to interactions with our friends, and how to stop, look and listen to them when we’re in their personal space! The children will be doing activities such as standing in a hula hoop firstly by themselves, and then with another child, and we will be asking them which they prefer, and how it feels when somebody is right up against them as opposed to giving them space.

Stop, Look and Listen (tune of Three Blind Mice)

Stop look & listen, stop look & listen,
Before you cross the road, before you cross the road,
You use your eyes & you use your ears,
You use your eyes & you use your ears,
And if no traffic at all appears,
Then we cross the road,
Holding an adult’s hand.

This week the theme in The Children’s House is emotional well-being. At the pre-school age, children are usually learning a lot about emotional self-regulation, often needing support to handle their emotions; we as adults can help by doing things such as naming their emotions for them e.g. ‘I can see that you’re feeling upset/ angry/ frustrated by what’s happened’, and coming up with possible solutions e.g. ‘maybe taking some deep breaths would help you to feel better’ / ‘do you think you’d like a hug?’ / ‘would you like to snuggle Ted Bear?’; then at a later stage when the child is familiar with using strategies to calm themselves, ask them to choose their own self-regulation strategy, e.g. ‘what do you think would make you feel better?’. So at the start of the year, we talk about emotions, how they make us feel, and start to use various props in the classroom such as an emotions wheel (children can turn the arrow on the wheel to point to the image of the emotion that they’re feeling). During the week we will be making a worry box with each of the classes – this is a box that we decorate together, and if any of the children are worried about something, we write it down on a piece of paper and put it into the box until the child decides that they’re not worried about it anymore, whereupon they can tear it up and put it in the recycling bin! This gives a very real representation to the children that worries are temporary things, which come and go, so it can help to put anxieties they may have to rest.

We are holding observation days in the classes at the moment, where family members  are invited to come in and observe the children at their work, to give an understanding of what they are  doing while at school (as we hear that some children are less communicative at home about what exactly they do than others!) Following this we will be scheduling parent teacher meetings, which is a great opportunity to meet up and 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 observe in the classroom, join in activities, 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.

If You’re Happy & You Know It

If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it & you really want to show it –
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands!

If you’re sad & you know it wipe your tears…
If you’re angry & you know it stamp your feet…
If you’re tired & you know it rest your head…
If you’re happy & you know it shout hooray!!…

We will be celebrating our uniqueness this week, as the topic is ‘About Me’, so at the start of the week, the classes will be sharing what differences & similarities they have with each other, starting with things such as their names & birthdays (& making the class birthday chart), their favourite food, colour, song etc.

As well as this, we have the arrival of a new month – October – already!! The children will be going on a nature walk to observe and collect autumnal objects for the nature table, and we would encourage them always to bring in anything they find outside of school to share with their friends and class.

Then later in the week they will be practising mindfulness and yoga – we always find that no matter how young the children are, that they all get so much from these practices, whether it’s just learning to take deep breaths to calm down, thinking about their favourite place to relax, stretching their bodies or making up their own imaginative & unique poses!!

I Am Special (tune of Frere Jacques)

I am special, I am special,
If you look, you will see.
Someone very special, someone very special,
That is me, that is me.

This week in The Children’s House we will be learning all about the Autumn and harvest time! The children will be doing lots of  arts & crafts activities such as making corn on the cob, designing their own farm yard and scarecrows, as well as learning about the parts of the apple, and talking about different types of tractors!

Autumn Days

Swirling, twirling autumn leaves,
Whooshing, whirling, from the trees.

Snapping, cracking, conkers fall,
Dropping, popping near the wall.

Grouping, swooping, birds up high,
Crying, flying round the sky.

Curling, furling, smokey fires,
Flowing, blowing, higher, higher.

After settling back in over the last week & a half, & getting used to their new class routine, this week the children will be learning about the season of Autumn. We will be asking them what they notice about the weather these days & discussing things such as the shortening days & lenghening nights, as well as making a handprint tree, painting hedgehogs, and making lollipop leaf puppets! We will also be doing leaf rubbings, and looking at the nature table, so we will be encouraging the children to bring in items to add to this, for example leaves or conkers.

As it is the start of the year, we are focussing on the Practical Life area of the classroom, as it is an area which underpins the entire Montessori curriculum. While using the Practical Life exercises, children learn about 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; they 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 opening & closing pegs to hanging up clothes with pegs), and we also support & encourage 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 Winds

Autumn winds begin to blow,
Coloured leaves fall fast and slow.
Whirling, twirling all around,
Til at last they touch the ground.