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!

Welcome back to The Children’s House and a very happy new year to you all!! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the break – we’re definitely ready to get back into our routine here and see all our friends again! This week we’ll just be settling back in, doing some new activities on the Practical Life shelf and progressing with others, while talking about the importance of giving, after all the things we’ve received at Christmas. The children will also be making New Years crafts as well as dressing up and doing drama at the end of the week.

Cheer the Year (tune: Row Your Boat)

Cheer, cheer, cheer the year,
A new one’s just begun.
Celebrate with all your friends,
Let’s go have some fun!

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
A brand new year is here.
Learning, laughing, singing, clapping,
Through another year!

The Children’s House will close for Christmas holidays on Friday 20th December, reopening Monday 6th January

Welcome to the last few days of 2019 at The Children’s House!! It’s hard to believe Christmas is almost here, the time has really flown since Hallowe’en, but that’s probably because we’ve been so busy having fun and learning loads! This week each class will be putting on a show with some songs and poems that we’ve learnt since September, and then on Friday we’ll be finishing with a party after a visit from a very special jolly person on Thursday…have a wonderful break everyone and we look forward to seeing you all again in January!!

Monday: 9.30 am class Christmas songs @ 11am

Monday: 1 pm class Christmas songs @ 2.30pm

Tuesday: 9 am class Christmas songs @ 10.45am

Tuesday: 1.15 pm class Christmas songs @ 3pm

It’s a week of Christmas fun at The Children’s House this week! So the children will be continuing doing seasonal activities such as Christmas stencils, painting & glueing, Santa nesting dolls, threading baubles, opening & closing Christmas tree pegs etc… Also during the week they will be making snowflakes, as well as banana & strawberry candy canes, and we will be having our monthly fire drill on Friday. The children will also be practising singing their songs & poems for next week – as we hope you all are!!!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it you would even say it glows,
All of the other reindeer used to laugh & call him names,
They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas eve Santa came to say,
‘Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?’
Then all the reindeer loved him, and they shouted out with glee,
‘Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you’ll go down in history!’

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

You better watch out, you better not cry,
You better not pout, I’m telling you why,
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice,
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice,
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake,
He knows if you’ve been good or bad –
So be good for goodness sake!!

Oh! You better watch out, you better not cry,
You better not pout, I’m telling you why,
Santa Claus is coming to town!

Happy December everyone!! We’re well and truly in the run up to Christmas now, so this week at The Children’s House we will be talking about how we celebrate Christmas, and how important it is to show people that we care not just through presents, but by how we act towards them and how we show love and respect to each other. We will be doing lots of fun stuff like decorating the classrooms, dressing up, making salt dough decorations and also making wrapping paper!

Bualadh Bos (Jingle Bells in Irish)

Bualadh bos, bualadh bos, bualadh bos go léir,
Tá San Nioclás ag teacht anois,
Anuas an simléar – oh!
Bualadh bos, bualadh bos, bualadh bos go léir,
Tá San Nioclás ag teacht anois,
Anuas an simléar!!

I’m a Little Christmas Tree (tune: I’m a little teapot)

I’m a little Christmas tree tall and straight,
Here are my branches for you to decorate.
First you put the star on the very top –
Just be careful that the baubles don’t drop!

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos for our wall display of lifelong learning – & remember it’s never too late to do so!! This week, we’re learning all about oral hygiene & first aid! We will be looking at what sort of foods are healthy for our teeth, and those that are not so healthy (following on from the food pyramid, which was a great success) – and we will be talking about the importance of cleaning our teeth, and why we do it. As well as this, we will be studying the parts of the tooth, and doing art activities to do with teeth – be prepared for a lot of energetic teeth brushing at night!!! During the week we will also be talking about first aid: what to do if someone has an accident, who should we call, how could we help etc, and showing the children how to do a basic bandage – should be a lot of fun!! At the end of the week we will be starting to talk about the story of Christmas, as the time is flying in…..

Brush Your Teeth (tune: Row Your Boat)

Brush, brush, brush your teeth,
Brush them every day,
The front, the sides, the back, the top,
Keep the germs away!

It’s all about lifelong learning this week at The Children’s House! To coincide with College Awareness Week, we will be talking with the children about their journey of learning – which starts as soon as they’re born – and all the steps along the way that they might take, such as preschool, primary school, secondary school, third level education….alongside their primary educators of course which are you, the parents/guardians! To link into their home environment, we are asking that family members also give us information about where they went on their journeys of learning, and if they have photos from graduations to please send us in copies to display on our Timeline of Lifelong Learning!