Hi everyone we hope you’re all doing well – we’re halfway through January already so that can only be a good thing This week we’re giving some ideas related to healthy habits for children – washing hands, exercising, healthy cooking, meditation….all things your children can practice at home with you ❤️
Here’s a link to a meditation video – the butterfly body scan – enjoy!! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=56_8aK3cLEA

As we are sadly not going to be in school for the next few weeks, we are giving a few ideas to do with children at home every week 💡 – there’s absolutely no pressure of course to do them!! We know that you have all sorts of responsibilities at the moment, we’re just putting together overviews of the weekly plans like we would as normal involving activities that should be possible to do at home & hopefully they’re of use to you 😊 As always, please feel free to share photos/pictures of activities your child is doing while we’re under lockdown, we love to see them ❤️

The Children’s House will remain closed until 1st February 2021, as per the government directive this week; we will be in touch with any other information in the meantime – please take care & stay safe until then!

Unfortunately The Children’s House will not be re-opening next Monday 4th January as we had planned; we have a duty of care to all the children, families & staff & as such feel very strongly that we should take the same preventative measures as primary schools have been directed to, & close for another week to allow close contacts to reduce & help stop the spread of the virus with numbers being so alarmingly high at the moment. We will keep you updated if there are any more developments, but as it stands we will be re-opening on Monday 11th January, & will email Return to School forms to be completed before then – stay safe in the meantime & Happy New Year to you all ❤️💚💜

The Children’s House will close for Christmas holidays on Friday 18th December, reopening Monday 4th January

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! This week at The Children’s House we will be celebrating the festive season relentlessly!!!! We will be holding outdoor Christmas songs with the different classes (please don’t forget to wear weather appropriate clothing if attending!!), the children will be doing lots of process art, we will be having A Very Special Visitor joining us on a Zoom call on Thursday, & Christmas party on Friday!!

We have had a fantastic few months at school with your children, & hope you all have a wonderful restful Christmas with your families over the couple of week’s break, & wish you every health & happiness for 2021.

When Santa got Stuck up the Chimney

When santa got stuck up the chimney

He began to shout

“You girls and boys won’t get any toys

If you don’t pull me out!!

My beard is black

There’s soot in my sack

My nose is tickling too!”

When santa got stuck up the chimney

A-choo, a-choo, a-choo!

We would like to ask if you could give your child €1 to bring into school, as every year we talk about how much we have to be thankful for and then give a gift to charity, and this year we will again be making a donation to Barnardos Children’s Charity to support vulnerable children in Ireland this Christmas – thank you so much!

This week at The Children’s House we are talking about how Christmas is celebrated around the world – to this end, we are asking any parents who would like to be involved in this, to write down/ email/ text us with their family’s typical Christmas preparations & traditions – or to do a zoom call with the class to talk us all through it! It’s fascinating to learn about the different ways that Christmas is celebrated in different households, and so important for children to be proud of their heritage and backgrounds.

We will be practicing Christmas songs during the week, making Christmas cards & crafts & making reindeer food in our cooking class, as well as doing our monthly fire drill – no wonder the weeks are flying by so quickly with all these fun activities going on!!

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh – hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!

Bualadh Bos (Jingle Bells in Irish)

Bualadh bos, bualadh bos,            (clap hands, clap hands)
Bualadh bos go léir,                        (everyone clap hands)
Tá San Nioclás ag teacht anois,    (Santa Claus is coming now)
Anuas an simléar;                             (down the chimney)
Bualadh bos, bualadh bos,            (clap hands, clap hands)
Bualadh bos go léir,                        (everyone clap hands)
Tá San Nioclás ag teacht anois,    (Santa Claus is coming now)
Anuas an simléar!                             (down the chimney!)

As we enter December – where did November go???!! – the theme this week in The Children’s House is Winter & Christmas Art, so it’s going to be a busy, fun, art-filled week! To start the week we will be talking to the children about doing an outdoors Christmas concert with them, & choosing which songs we might do – we always involve the children in their learning & activities as much as possible, as it gives them a sense of involvement & motivation, & it is more appropriate than an adult choosing things for them to do without any input from the child.

We will be doing an Arctic snow hunt with Arctic animals on a tray covered in flour & a paint brush to help unearth them, making hand print winter trees using arms & hands for the tree & finger prints for the snow, & dressing snowmen in winter clothes & talking about winter clothes that we need to wear in the colder weather.

A Wintry Night (poem)

The sky is dark & the ground is white,
The world is peaceful on this wintry night.
No one around, not a sound to be heard,
Not a laugh, not a car, not even a bird.
For a moment, it’s just the snow and me.
I smile inside.
I feel so free.

by Lyndsey Kuster.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! We will be learning all about this lovely North American celebration in The Children’s House this week, as it falls this coming Thursday. It is a wonderful opportunity to focus on things that we are thankful for in our lives, and to encourage 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 – without getting too bleak about it!! It is a really positive celebration and we will be talking about the story of the first Thanksgiving, reflecting on all the things we have & why it is important to be thankful for them, and finally we will be making a thankful tree with leaves full of things that we’re thankful for on it – things we often take for granted but which are so important, and worth celebrating!

I’m a Little Turkey (tune of I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little turkey, my name is Ted,
Here are my feathers, here’s my head.
Gobble gobble gobble is what I say,
Run run run because it’s Thanksgiving day!!