Well it’s the last few days of our first full school year in a while, & we just can’t believe how fast it’s gone by!!! We’ve had such a wonderful year with your fantastic children – thank you all so much firstly for entrusting us with your children, it’s been a real privilege to facilitate them in their learning, and secondly thank you for all your ongoing participation and support in that learning, and for all the input you’ve given to us in the school! Thankfully this year we’ve been able to get back to facilitating family visits – from parents, grandparents, siblings & pets!! Families have been a big part of your child’s year whether it was coming to the Family Day at the GAA pitch, coming into school for Pet Visit Week, or having grandparents visit during Grandparents Week – it’s meant so much to the children as well as us staff, so thank you, as it has added hugely to all of our experiences this year & feels wonderful to be getting back to normal!!

So onto this short week – we will be having lots of chats & relaxation to finish up the year with, & releasing the butterflies who have this week emerged from their chrysallides just in time!! We will enjoy spending this precious time with your children before they head off for the summer – it’s not an easy thing to say goodbye to all the little people who are moving on to ‘big’ school after spending the year or 2 getting to know them and being part of their wonderful journey of growth & learning, but they’re ready for that step, and it’s an exciting time for them and for us all! We’re so happy to be welcoming a lot of children back for their second year in September, which is always some consolation! If you don’t have a child returning in the near future, we hope that you & your child will continue to visit any time – and this year we had our first college students on work experience who were ex-pupils of the Montessori, as well as many Transition Year students, so there’s no excuses – we can always find a space for your children!!

The Children’s House will be closing on Wednesday 29th June for summer holidays,

re-opening Wednesday 31st August

– have a wonderful summer everyone, and thanks for another amazing year!!

Welcome to our last full week at The Children’s House for this school year, hard to believe!!! We’ll be learning about water safety this week, & how important it is to be careful near water – even though it’s so much fun at the swimming pool or the beach, the water can be very dangerous & we need to respect it. The children will be looking at water safety cards, learning about the parts of a river, talking about the clothes & items you wear while swimming to keep safe & turning the sand pit into a water tray to play with – lots of fun ahead this week!!

Swimming Pool Safety (tune: Row Your Boat)

Walk, walk, walk, don’t run,
Near a swimming pool.
Walking feet will keep you safe,
Let’s repeat this rule!

It’s all about pets this week at The Children’s House, as we’re asking any appropriate pets to come & visit us this week for Pet Week! We’ll be learning all about different pets & what they need & how we can look after their needs, & we’ll be doing different pet sorting activities & pictures – it’s going to be great fun! Then during the week we’ll also be talking about the man in our lives, before Father’s Day this Sunday, & doing an art activity for this. Finally, we will be bringing the children who are going to be going to primary school up to visit St Laurence’s National School on Tuesday to have a look at the school classrooms, the playground & see what the routine of the day is like; this really helps with the transition in September.

It’s Fun to Have a Pet (poem)

Cats and rabbits,
And hamsters and frogs,
Snakes and turtles,
And gerbils and dogs,
Fish that love to be all wet,
Oh, it’s fun to have a pet!

This week we’re having a LOT of fun activities!! We’ll be having our annual Pyjama Day combined with Teddy Bears Picnic, so all the children are invited to come into school in their pjs with their favourite teddies or toys for the day! Then at the end of the week, after some lovely summer art activities, we will be having our Sports Day in school with lots of fun games & activities in the garden & classrooms…going to be  busy fun-filled week ahead!!

Teddy Bear

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your nose,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your knees,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, sit down please.

It’s all about growth this week at The Children’s House!! We’re going to be looking at photos of the children when they were babies (if you can send one in to school with your child or email them to us) & discussing how much they’ve grown since then, & all the things they can do that they couldn’t when they were babies. We’ll be measuring our heights as well & talking about how we’re all different measurements. At the end of the week the children will be helping to put together their All About Me books with the photos, & looking at how they’ve grown even since September!!

Head, Shoulder, Knees & Toes

Head, shoulders knees & toes, knees & toes,
Head, shoulders knees & toes, knees & toes,
And eyes & ears & mouth & nose….
Head, shoulders knees & toes, knees & toes!

We’re celebrating Spring this week, with a vengeance!! We’ll be dancing around the Maypole on Tuesday after the bank holiday, as well as doing our sponsored walk for Barnardos down to the GAA pitch with all our little superheroes, then we’ll be learning about birds & which ones to look our for during Spring, as well as making bird feeders at the end of the week to put in our own gardens or balconies.

We are also very lucky to have 1 of our parents, Gavin, from the Sallins Biodiversity Group ,(https://sallinsbiodiversitygroup.wordpress.com/) coming in to talk to the children about making art from nature which will then be added to a Map of Life; the idea is for the community – from pre-school children to adults of any age – to draw the wildlife of Sallins. Each artwork will then be uploaded to a website which will add the drawing to the Map of Life, coinciding with International Biodiversity Day on 22 May. Let’s all get involved in this wonderful community project!!!

2 Little Dickie Birds

2 little dickie birds sitting on the wall,
1 named Peter, the other named Paul,
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul,
Come back Peter, come back Paul!!

Welcome back after the Easter break everyone, we hope you had a really lovely 2 weeks, & we’re glad to see you back & hear all your news! This week our overall topic is ‘All About Me’, as we will be continuing on the children’s photo books about themselves, but also linking into their group project about the universe/their world – this week the focus will be on the county we live in & looking at their map of Kildare. As well as this, we will be doing our handprints & footprints, talking about what makes us feel sad & happy, & doing lots of yoga, so a busy fun-filled week ahead!!

All Of Me

My hands are for clapping,
My arms can hug tight,
My fingers can snap,
Or turn out the light.

My legs are for jumping,
My eyes can help me see,
This is my body,
And I love all of me!

Happy Easter everyone!! This week we’ll be doing a lot of arts & crafts, using watercolours to make cards – it’s all about the process & the enjoyment of it, not so much about the end product – & baking, making Easter nests, as well as a science experiment & at the end of the week a fun Easter egg hunt!

We will be closed for holidays from this Friday April 8th until Monday April 25th – have a lovely break everyone!!

Hop Little Bunnies

See the little bunnies sleeping til noon,
Shall we go & wake them with a merry tune?
Oh so still…..are they ill?…
Wake up bunnies hop, hop, hop,
Hop little bunnies hop, hop, hop!