This week at The Children’s House we will be studying music; we will start by looking at examples of how music is written, and then listening to different types of music,  introducing the idea of how music can cause us to feel different emotions. During the week we will be trying out different musical instruments e.g. drums (percussion), guitars (strings) – so if anyone has any brass or woodwind instruments please feel free to bring them in to show us!! We are also inviting family members in all this week to play instruments with us, sing songs or nursery rhymes, or anything musical at all!

Later in the week the children can bring in recyclables to make instruments out of e.g. plastic bottles, tubs, Pringles tubes…we’ll be using our imaginations! Finally at the end of the week we’ll be philosophising about why certain pieces of music can make us feel happy, sad, calm etc. It’s going to be a really fun week!!

The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow

When all the cows were sleeping
And the sun had gone to bed,
Up jumped the scarecrow
And this is what he said:

Refrain
I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat!
I can shake my arms like this,
I can shake my legs like that!

When the cows were in the meadow
And the pigeons in the loft,
Up jumped the scarecrow
And whispered very soft: Refrain

When all the hens were roosting
And the moon behind a cloud,
Up jumped the scarecrow
And shouted very loud: Refrain

In our short week this week we will be celebrating the start of May and of summer on Wednesday by dancing around a home-made Maypole! Then the children will be planting tomatoes and runner beans, and we will be talking how we can grow and produce our own food!

Five Fat Peas

Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed (hold hand in a fist) 
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest (put thumb and fingers up one by one) 
They grew and grew and they did not stop (raise hands in the air very slowly) , 
Until one day when the pod went POP! ( clap hands together)

We’re so happy to be back after the Easter break with your wonderful children, and hope you all had a great Easter! This week we’ll be settling back into the school routine and learning all about Road Safety – a very relevant topic, as developing road safety skills from an early age is hugely important, and will stand to the children as they progress through life. We have already been building a good foundation in road safety awareness throughout the year with our trips to the GAA field, nature walks and spring cleaning walk where the children all wore their hi vis jackets and walked carefully in pairs, looking each way every time before crossing the street – this is a vital habit to encourage and practice with young children. As part of the Road Safety week the children will be doing some related crafts and drama, as well as learning a road safety song.

Stop, Look and Listen (tune of 3 Blind Mice)

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

The Children’s House will close for Easter holidays on Friday 7th April, reopening Monday 24th April

Have a wonderful Easter break everyone!!

(Just in case your children have been talking about dancing birds this week, we’ve had to watch this clip several times every day, they all absolutely love it – we don’t know which is funnier, the dancing bird or his embarrassed looking friend!! https://t.co/KPNZddth5S  – enjoy!!)

It’s hard to believe that April’s here already, the year is flying in! We will be talking about the change of month and progression of the year as we always do when the month changes. This week we will also be doing more Easter themed activities such as baking Easter nests from All Bran & chocolate, and making some Easter baskets to do our Easter egg hunt on Friday with! We will also be continuing with our world project, going further with the maps which the children started making last week, where they are choosing which/how many continents they want to portray on their individual maps. Some children have a connection with other continents from relations living there, or from going on holidays there, or from having originally come from there themselves, where some children just have a huge interest in certain continents – for example, Africa, due to all the exciting animals which live there!

Hop and Stop

The first little rabbit went hop, hop, hop,

I said to the first rabbit “stop, stop, stop!”

The second little rabbit went run, run, run,

I said to the second rabbit “fun, fun, fun!”

The third little rabbit went thump, thump, thump,

I said to the third rabbit “jump, jump, jump!”

The fourth little rabbit went sniff, sniff, sniff,

I said to the fourth rabbit “that is enough!”

The fifth little rabbit went creep, creep, creep,

I said to the fifth rabbit “it’s time to sleep!”

This week we will be learning about our earth, and how to take care of it! The full time children will be starting to make their individual world maps this week, and we will be talking about the importance of taking care of the earth by not littering, and by recycling; to follow up on this we will be going on a Spring Clean Walk, where we take our new litter picker out for a walk and clean up the car park! It’s a real shame to see so much litter in our environment, but we are going to show how everyone can do their own bit to help keep the earth clean and litter free. As well as this, the children will be doing some Spring/Easter crafts, making some very cute chicks!

Welcome back everyone & hope you had a wonderful St Patrick’s Day and long weekend! We’re back to a packed week, with Mother’s Day coming up as well as starting our group project about the world. With all the negativity that’s going on today in the world at large regarding differences between people, we decided that we’d really like to celebrate with the children all the nationalities and differences that exist in the school – as a microcosm of the world – that make us all so special and unique, and in this way further promote the diversity and inclusion that the children naturally embrace. To this end, we’re starting this week to look at the world and our place in it at the moment, to talk about where some of our families have come from, and the different languages that are used at home. We will be learning how to greet each other in Irish, English, Polish, Nigerian, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Bangladeshi languages – to name a few!! As part of this project we will be inviting family members in to talk about where they’re from and show photos if possible, so be prepared!

As well as this we will be making some crafts for Mother’s Day from bread (!), pastry cutters, paint, glitter – always a favourite! – and wool, and later in the week practising more yoga, and using the musical instruments.

Monsieur Pouce (Mister Thumb – French fingerplay)

Toc! Toc! Toc! Monsieur Pouce, es-tu là?      Knock! Knock! Knock! Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je dors!                                                     Sshhh, I’m sleeping!

Toc! Toc! Toc! Monsieur Pouce, es-tu là?     Knock! Knock! Knock! Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je mange!                                                Sshhh, I’m eating!

Toc! Toc! Toc! Monsieur Pouce, es-tu là?     Knock! Knock! Knock! Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je bois!                                                     Sshhh, I’m drinking!

Toc! Toc! Toc! Monsieur Pouce, es-tu là?     Knock! Knock! Knock! Mr Thumb, are you there?
Oui, je sors! Bonjour!!                                       Yes, I’m coming out! Hello!!

Happy St Patrick’s week everyone!! This week will be a short one, and we will be preparing for the national celebrations on Friday for St Patrick’s Day by making flags with the children and having a little parade on Wednesday Have a lovely long weekend everyone!!

The Children’s House will be closing on Wednesday 15th March, re-opening on Monday 20th March

Istigh sa Zú

Istigh sa zú,                               (In the zoo)
Tá an babaí cangarú                (Is the baby kangaroo)
Léim anois, léim anois,           (Jump now, jump now)
Léim anois go luath!                (Jump now quickly!)

Istigh sa zú,                                (In the zoo)
Tá an mamaí cangarú              (Is the mammy kangaroo)
Léim anois, léim anois,           (Jump now, jump now)
Léim anois go luath!                (Jump now quickly!)

Istigh sa zú,                               (In the zoo)
Tá an dadaí cangarú                (Is the daddy kangaroo)
Léim anois, léim anois,           (Jump now, jump now)
Léim anois go luath!                (Jump now quickly!)