We will be closing for Easter holidays on Fri 12th April, reopening on Mon 29th April –
Have a wonderful Easter everyone!!
We look forward to seeing you after the break!
Uncategorized
8th – 12th April
This week in The Children’s House the children will be learning about the last part of their Timeline of the Eras project – the Neozoic Era, age of ‘new life’ – the humans! We will be discovering all about the first people that inhabited the earth, and discussing things like how they used stone and bone to make tools, and how their lives changed when they discovered how to make fire. All the classes will be making crafts for Easter, and we will be doing Easter cooking during the week, as well as an Easter egg hunt on Friday!
5 Little Easter Eggs (fingerplay)
5 little Easter eggs, lovely colours wore,
Mother ate the blue one, then there were 4.
4 little Easter eggs, 2 and 2 you see,
Daddy ate the red one, then there were 3.
3 little Easter eggs, before I knew,
Sister ate the yellow one, then there were 2.
2 little Easter eggs, oh what fun!
Brother ate the purple one, then there was 1.
1 little Easter egg, see me run,
I ate the last one, then there were none!!
1st – 5th April
This week the classes will be continuing on with our Timeline of the Eras project and learning about the Cenozoic Era – the age of the mammals, who replaced reptiles as the most prominent land animals; the children will be learning about mammals (e.g. that they are warm-blooded (unlike the reptiles), they have hair or fur on their bodies, and the females can provide milk to feed their young) and making pictures to represent the era.
We will also be planting seedpots this week, and discussing what plants need to grow – air, sunlight, water, nutrients/soil – as well as practising some mindfulness at the end of the week!
Flower Garden (tune: Farmer in the Dell)
We all plant our seeds
We all plant our seeds
Hi ho and Cherry O
We all plant our seeds
The rain begins to fall…
The sun begins to shine…
The flowers begin to grow…
25th – 29th March
This week it’s all about dinosaurs!! The classes will be continuing on with our project from the Paleozoic Era last week and learning about the Mesozoic Era (250 – 60 million years ago), when the reptiles ruled the earth and dinosaurs roamed around, the first flying birds evolved and flowering plants grew. The children will be making pictures to represent the era using a die cut machine, and we will be unrolling the Timeline of the Eras on the GAA pitch – weather permitting! – as it’s getting too long to contain within the school! We will also be doing some Mother’s Day arts & crafts, so it’s going to be a creative week in The Children’s House!!
Dinosaurs All Around (tune: If you’re happy & you know it)
There are dinosaurs stomping all around,
There are dinosaurs stomping all around,
They are dinosaurs stomping all around, they are stomping on the ground,
There are dinosaurs stomping all around!
There are dinosaurs flying all around…
There are dinosaurs swimming all around…
They are dinosaurs eating all around…
19th – 22nd March
Welcome back, we hope you all had a wonderful St Patrick’s Day! This week the classes will be continuing their project about the timeline of the Earth, and this week will be learning all about the Paleozoic Era (from 542 – 251 million years ago!) During this time, life in the ocean developed and became more complex – the first vertebrates and fish with jaws occurred, and plants and insects appeared on land. Amphibians appeared, large trees and ferns developed on land, and winged insects and the first reptiles were abundant. Relating to this, the children will be making their own pictures of the era, and we will be doing some drama pretending to be the first amphibians emerging from the oceans onto the land.
5 Little Speckled Frogs
5 little speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log,
Eating some most delicious bugs – yum yum!
1 jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool,
Now there are 4 green speckled frogs!
4 little speckled frogs…
3 little speckled frogs…
2 little speckled frogs…
1 little speckled frog…now there are no more speckled frogs!!
11th – 15th March
Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Pádraig daoibh!! Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all – this week in The Children’s House we will be continuing to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge, ending up with having St Patrick’s Day festivities at the end of the week; we will be making flags and headbands, making green playdough, and celebrating St Patrick’s Day on Friday with a parade!
As well as this we will be continuing on with our project from the Big Bang and Azoic Era, to learning about the Proterozoic Era when life was just beginning on earth in the oceans – for example worms, sponges and jellyfish; the children will be making pictures to represent the era, and we will set up a sponge painting area.
Ceann, lámha, glúine, cos
Ceann, lámha, glúine, cos, (Head, hands, knees, foot)
Ceann, lámha, glúine, cos, (Head, hands, knees, foot)
Agus súile, cluasa, béal agus srón, (And eyes, ears, mouth and nose)
Ceann, lámha, glúine, cos! (Head, hands, knees, foot)
4th – 8th March
This week in The Children’s House we will be marking Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes (yum!!), celebrating World Book Day on Thursday by asking the children to bring in their favourite books to read with us – they can also come in dressed up as their favourite character from a book or film if they like – & if any family member is free to come in to read with us, all the better!! We will also be doing more Irish as it is the start of Seachtain na Gaeilge, so we will be learning animal names and doing Irish songs throughout the week.
Roille Roille Ráinne (Ring a Rosie)
Roille roille ráinne,
Timpeall linn an bhfáinne, Around together in a circle,
Ríleo ró! Ríleo ró!
Suas san aer le mo choisín ó! Up in the air with my feet!
25th February – 1st March
Welcome back – hopefully everyone had a lovely mid-term break and are all energised, as it’s all go this week in The Children’s House!! We will be resuming our group project on the timeline of the eras, so after learning all about the Big Bang, this week we will be unrolling our timeline and learning about the Azoic Era, when earth was newly formed and no life existed; the children will be making pictures to represent the era. Following that, during the week we will be making volcanoes and carrying out an experiment using baking soda, vinegar and red food colouring to simulate the volcano exploding!
As well as this, we will be having Pet Visit Day on Friday- this is a VERY exciting day, where children are invited to bring their pets into school – under their parents’ supervision! We have previously had all sorts of animal visitors, from dogs to hens to lambs to lizards…!!! The children who don’t have a pet visiting can bring in their favourite animal teddy, and at circle time each child can tell us about their pet or teddy. This is a really wonderful day, and everyone gets such enjoyment out of it, so we’re really looking forward to it!
Monsieur Pouce (Fingerplay)
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la? Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je dors! Sshhh, I’m sleeping!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la? Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je mange! Sshhh, I’m eating!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la? Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Sshhh, je bois! Sshhh, I’m drinking!
Toc toc toc, Monsieur Pouce, es-tu la? Knock knock knock, Mr Thumb, are you there?
Oui, je sors! Bonjour tout le monde!! Yes, I’m coming! Hello everyone!!
18th – 19th February
This will be a very short week in The Children’s House, as it’s mid term, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be any less busy!! On Monday we will be creating obstacle courses outside using what we have – logs, slide, seesaw, picnic table, chairs, brush, hula hoop….it’ll be interesting to see what the children come up with! Then on Tuesday we will be making indoor obstacle courses, which will be very exciting – using everyday furniture to move our bodies over, under and around in different ways – prepare for your houses to be restructured!! We will also be revising the Big Bang before we start moving on with our project next week, and last but definitely not least we will be having a party to say goodbye to Jess as she finishes up for her maternity leave on Tuesday – very exciting times ahead for her and her little baby!
The Children’s House will be closed for mid-term break from Wednesday 20th until Friday 22nd February inclusive, re-opening next Monday 25th February.
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose…
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!
11th – 15th February
It’s going to be a big love-in this week at The Children’s House!! We will be focusing on emotions this week, and talking about what love means to us all – who we love, who loves us, and most importantly, the necessity in life to love our own selves! It’s sometimes hard for young children to recognise and verbalise their emotions, so we use a lot of strategies in the classroom to help them with this – for instance visual aids like emotion wheels, and naming feelings for children when they are upset e.g. ‘I can see you seem upset that it’s not your turn to give out the plates today’, and then giving them tools for improving the situation themselves e.g. ‘what do you think might make you feel better? Is there anything I can do to help?’ This helps children to develop their emotional literacy and well-being, and supports them to learn skills of resilience for later in life. We also encourage children to ask their friends what might help them feel better if they’re upset about something – the answer is usually hugs!!
During the week we will be making Valentine’s crafts, creating a Love Tree, decorating the classroom with hearts, and on Thursday having our annual Valentine’s ball!! The children can dress up for this and we will be having lots of dancing and fun!
Five Little Hearts (fingerplay)
Five little hearts all in a row ,
The first one said ‘I love you so’,
The second one said ‘will you be my Valentine?’
The third one said ‘I will, if you’ll be mine’
The fourth one said ‘I’ll always be your friend’
The fifth one said ‘we’ll all be friends until the end!’