We’re learning all about the planets this week at The Children’s House! The children will be looking at a frieze of the planets in order from the sun, and learning all about them and their characteristics. We will be talking about what it would be like to try and live on another planet, why our earth is perfect for us and why we should try to keep it as perfect as it is! The children will be making our solar system from balloons, learning about the parts of the earth and the importance of the sun. They will also be grading colours from Colour Box 3 (a box of 9 coloured tablets graded from dark to light) and doing rainbow process art – as well as decorating the school for St Patrick’s Day at the end of the week – it’s going to be a busy and fun week ahead!!

Planets Song (tune: Skip to the Lou My Darling)

I know the planets, how about you?
I know the planets, how about you?
I know the planets, how about you?…
Let’s say the names together!

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars;
Jupiter and Saturn among the stars;
Uranus and Neptune are up there too;
All spin around in space it’s true!

Everything goes around the sun,
Spinning, spinning everyone!
The Earth is ours, it’s number three,
Its atmosphere is right for me!

I’m a Little Leprechaun (tune: I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little leprechaun, short and green,
I hide gold coins so they can’t be seen.
Can you find them all? Are you ready to play?
Good luck to you, Happy St Patrick’s Day!

We can’t believe March is here already, 2020 is flying by!!! Our theme this week is Spring, so as well as talking about the new month of March, we will be discussing what animals are born in the spring time, what flowers appear, how the weather changes – it’s such a wonderful time of year, birth and growth all around, and it’s fantastic to take the time to observe the buds on the flowers & shrubs, nests being built (& occupied!) in trees, lambs jumping about in the fields, the evenings getting longer & warmer….it’s good to appreciate the little things, as children do completely naturally! The children will also be making bird feeders, and doing music & movement during the week.

Five Little Ducks

Five little ducks went swimming one day,
Over the hills and far away,
Mama duck said ‘quack, quack, quack, quack’…
And only four little ducks came back!

Four little ducks went swimming one day…

One little duck went swimming one day,
Over the hills and far away,
Mama duck said ‘quack, quack, quack, quack’…
And all her five little ducks came back!

Welcome back, we hope you all had a lovely break over the mid-term! This week we will be continuing on the topic of recycling, so we will be asking the children to bring in something from home that we can use for recycling arts & crafts – e.g. egg boxes, milk cartons, kitchen rolls, cereal boxes, newspaper, string – the list is endless! We will be doing yoga at the end of the week, and of course, on Tuesday we will be making stacks of delicious pancakes for Shrove/Pancake Tuesday, mmmmm…….

Ten Green Bottles (with Lámh signs)

Ten green bottles sitting on the wall,
Ten green bottles sitting on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall…
There’ll be nine green bottles sitting on the wall!

Nine green bottles sitting on the wall…

As it’s the week of mid term break, it will be a very short week in The Children’s House, but we’ll still be fitting as much in as much fun as possible! We will be starting a theme of ‘recycling’; introducing the topic to the children and seeing what they think recycling means, how we can recycle in the school and at home, and then setting up a recycling station in their classrooms. We will be continuing on this theme next week!

The Children’s House will be closed for mid-term break from Wednesday 19th until Friday 21st February inclusive, re-opening next Monday 24th February.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (tune: The More we get Together)

Reduce, reuse, recycle, recycle, recycle,
Reduce, reuse, recycle, it’s easy to do…
For my world is your world,
And my world is your world,
Reduce, reuse, recycle, it’s easy to do!

It’s all about love this week at The Children’s House! We’ll be talking about how we should always tell that people we love them, and also about how the *most* important person to love is ourselves – building up children’s sense of worth and self-esteem will give them extra resilience for life. As well as this, we will be looking at who St Valentine & Cupid are, doing ‘Love Heart art’ and of course having our annual Valentine’s Ball on Friday, with a cat walk and disco!!

Love Your Friends (tune: Row Your Boat)

Love, love, love your friends,
Love them all year long,
Especially on Valentines,
As we sing this song!

I’m a Little Valentine (tune: I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little Valentine, red and white,
With ribbons and lace I’m a beautiful sight.
I can say I love you on Valentines day,
Just put me in an envelope and give me away!

As most of you will know, The Children’s House will be closed this Wednesday 5th February in order to join in the protest being held by The Early Years Alliance in Dublin city centre.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused, but this is an important day for us in the Early Years Sector as we try to bring attention to the ongoing crisis we find ourselves in, with a view to

1) making our sector an affordable, accessible one for parents & their children,

& 2) to ensure that staff can afford to work in the job that they love & are passionate about, while also providing a career with appropriate pay & conditions that recognises their profession as Early Years Educators.

Please come and support us if you can!!

We are following the children’s interests this week at The Children’s House, as many of them have been expressing a serious interest in dinosaurs recently! So as well as talking about the change in month and season, we will also be looking at different dinosaurs using a magnifying glass, digging for dinosaur fossils on a dinosaur dig, and doing dinosaur drama!!! We do a lot of child-led learning in our Montessori, which gives scope for engaging all the children on a topic as it comes from them, & for those who aren’t as interested as others in a certain topic, we bring in art, science & whichever types of learning excites them through the lessons.

Five Big Dinosaurs

Five big dinosaurs jumping in the trees,
One fell off and bumped his knee,
Mammy called the doctor and the doctor said…
“No more dinosaurs jumping in the trees!”

Four big dinosaurs jumping in the trees…
Three big dinosaurs…
Two big dinosaurs…
One big dinosaur…

This week at The Children’s House we are talking about winter; we will be discussing winter weather, doing winter art (snowman) and a winter science experiment (snow in a jar)! As well as this, we will be focusing on the importance of listening, so as well as talking about listening to others, we will be practising some mindfulness and listening to the sounds around us in the classroom and outside in the garden. This is a wonderful exercise to do with the children – closing our eyes, listening to our breathing & to the sounds all around in our environments.

Roille, roille, ráinne (tune of Ring a Rosie)

Roille roille ráinne,
Timpeall linn i bhfáinne,  (around in a circle together)
Ríleo ró, ríleo ró,
Suas san aer le mo choisín ó! (up in the air with my feet)

Happy Chinese New Year!! We’ll be celebrating this week at The Children’s House as the Chinese New Year falls next Saturday the 25th, so we will be talking about how this is celebrated over the days and what traditions are followed. The children will be making Chinese lanterns, learning about what animal year they were born in – this year is the Year of the Rat – and generally having lots of fun!!

Happy New Year (tune of London Bridge)

‘Gung hay fat choy’ we will say,
We will say, we will say,
That’s the Chinese new year way,
Gung hay fat choy!

‘Gung hay fat choy’ we will say,
We will say, we will say,
On this Chinese new year’s day,
Gung hay fat choy!

It’s all about road safety this week at The Children’s House – very timely as it happens with Storm Brendan wreaking havoc as we speak!! So we will be doing many safety activities during the week, such as practising crossing the road safely (stop look & listen), doing a traffic light game, learning about different road signs and bike safety, as well as various associated arts & crafts activities. Teaching children about road safety from a young age is very important – especially living in places with lots of commuting traffic such as Sallins or Naas – so developing habits such as wearing high vis jackets, holding hands crossing the road, and remembering to stop look & listen when crossing are something we can help to reinforce from preschool age.

Safe Cross Code

Remember 1 – look for a safe place,
2 – don’t hurry, stop & wait,
3 – look all around & listen,
Before you cross the road remember!
4 – let all the traffic pass you,
5 – then walking straight across you,
6 – keep watching, that’s the safe cross code!

Safe place, stop & wait, safe place, stop & wait,
Safe ground, look around, listen for a traffic sound,
If traffic’s coming let it pass,
Until the road is clear at last,
Then walking straight across the road,
Keep watching, that’s the safe cross code!

That’s the safe cross code!
Know the safe cross code!
Know the safe code!