It’ll be a short week this week at The Children’s House, but a busy one nonetheless!! We will be talking about the new month November, and the new season Winter – hard to believe we’re at this stage of the year already – and we’ll of course be hearing all about everyone’s Halloween news!

We will also be doing some art appreciation this week, looking at Jackson Pollock and his different approach to art, and then providing the children with materials to create art in unusual ways – using anything except traditional tools like paintbrushes!! Doing activities like this shows how we can open our minds to approaching subjects in different ways, and that there is no right or wrong way to creating your own masterpiece!

If Your Clothes Have Any Red (tune of If You’re Happy & You Know It)

It’s all things Hallowe’eny this week at The Children’s House!! We will be learning about the origins of Hallowe’en this week, and talking about how we celebrate it, doing pumpkin carving and potato printing, and getting ready for our fancy dress party on Friday !

We are still holding parent observations and parent teacher meetings; for those who haven’t been able to schedule these in yet, we are available at any time during the year. We’d also like to ask you to think how you’d like to be involved throughout your child’s preschool year – whether it’s coming in to read a story at circle time, do an activity like baking or flower pressing, talk about what you do for a living, play a musical instrument, or simply bring in some photos of when you were a similar age and tell us all about your life, hobbies & interests as a 3/4/5 year old!! The possibilities are endless….

Witch Witch!

Witch, witch, where do you fly?
Up in the clouds and over the sky!
Witch, witch, what do you eat?
Little black apples from Hurricane Street!
Witch, witch, what do you drink?
Vinegar, blacking and good red ink!
Witch, witch, where do you sleep?
Up in the clouds where the pillows are cheap!

*****  THE CHILDREN’S HOUSE IS CLOSED FOR MONDAY & TUESDAY 16TH &17TH OCTOBER; WE HAVE FOLLOWED THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S INSTRUCTIONS TO ENSURE CHILD SAFETY & GIVE US TIME TO RISK ASSESS THE PREMISES AFTER THE STORM; SINCERE APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED *****

This week we will be getting ready for Halloween by decorating the classrooms and making some spooky Halloween spiders! We will also be celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, which begins on Thursday – we will be using modelling clay to make our own little clay lamps, and will celebrate in the school on Friday when we light our lamps together!!

Thank you to the parents who have been coming in to do observations and parent teacher meetings; for those who haven’t been able to schedule these in yet, we are available at any time during the year. It’s really lovely to come in and observe your children and their peers in the classroom, and to see how capable and busy they are! Following on from that, the parent teacher meetings are a time to discuss what you’re observed, if you’ve any questions, and for us to give feedback on how they’re progressing in the class and to exchange information with you – it’s always a very positive experience!

5 Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,                                       (hold up 5 fingers)
The 1^st one said “Oh my, it’s getting late!”                               (put hands to cheeks)
The 2^nd one said “There are witches in the air,”                     (flutter fingers above head)
The 3^rd one said “but we don’t care!”                                        (shake head)
The 4^th one said “Let’s run and run and run.”                         (mime running with arms)                The 5^th one said “I’m ready for some fun!”                               (thumbs up)
Then ‘Oooo’ went the wind, and out went the lights…           (clap hands)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!                      (roll arms)

Hibernation is in the air this week in The Children’s House…we will be talking about some of the animals that winter here and how they survive through the colder months, some by gathering food supplies and sleeping as much as possible; in particular we will be looking at the mouse, squirrel, frog, ladybird, bat and hedgehog – the last 2 being the only Irish mammals that truly hibernate, meaning they drop their temperature and heart rate and go into a type of coma for a few months to conserve energy! The children will be doing some mindful colouring of these animals and making their own mobiles, and at the end of the week we will make a bed for the model hibernation animals to sleep in our classrooms over the winter!

As well as this, we will be planting bulbs this week, which will also be over-wintering in the school! These bulbs should come up in the spring time, with a little love and attention from the children in the meantime, and we will be discussing what they might need to keep them alive and healthy e.g. air, light, water – then giving the children the responsibility to look after their bulbs themselves.

Hibernation Poem

Autumn is cold, there is frost in the sky                        (hug self & shiver)
The squirrel gathers nuts & the swallows fly                (mime gathering & then flying)
The spiky little hedgehog keeps himself warm            (curl up into a ball)
The bat is in her cave, sleeping through the storm      (pretend to sleep)

This week will be all about hobbies at The Children’s House! We will be discussing our various hobbies – things we like to do when we’re not in school, such as swimming, cycling, playing sport, reading, making jigsaws etc – we will talk about these at circle time, and during the week try out some different hobbies like dancing, running, football. We invite any family members who are available to come in and talk to the children about their hobbies; you could come in and play a musical instrument, do some baking, show us your collection of stamps, do some sport with us…the possibilities are endless!! We will also be talking about the change of month from September to October, and all the changes of weather that are happening as Autumn travels ever closer to Winter.

We have started learning some Lámh signs with the children (this is a manual sign system used by children and adults with intellectual disability and communication needs in Ireland), as there are some non-verbal children in the school this year, and we thought it would be a good idea for us all to learn how to sign to communicate instead of always having to use verbal words! The children are loving it, and so far we have been practising the sign for ‘more’ and are currently learning the sign for ‘thank you’ – be sure to ask your child to show you so you can use Lámh signs together.

10 Little Fingers

Ten little fingers, ten little toes,
Two little ears, and one little nose.
Two little eyes that shine so bright,
And two little lips to kiss you goodnight!

We really enjoyed all the Autumnal activities last week at The Children’s House, and this week will be another busy one! We will be talking about our families, bringing in photos to make a family display on the wall, philosophising about what makes our families so special and also naming the people who love us – verbalising these things aloud can help reinforce the children’s feelings of security and reassure them of all the love surrounding them – a lovely thing to do at any age! Then on Tuesday we will have Pet Visit Day!! The children can bring in a pet from home to visit (under supervision!) or alternatively bring in an animal teddy or a photo of an animal they particularly like, and we will talk about these at circle time.

We will also be doing a science experiment putting oil, water and food colouring to make an ocean bottle; the ocean bottle demonstrates how oil and water are immiscible, but can also act as a calming device – if a child is becoming agitated sometimes focusing on shaking the bottle then watching the droplets separate again can be very calming for them. Along this line, we have been doing deep calming breathing exercises at circle time, and will be starting our yoga this week – yoga is a great activity to do with young children as it’s physcially active, and it also gives them the idea that they can learn to use different strategies to regulate their emotions when needed. Lastly, this week we will be practising our first fire dril!!

Families

Some families are big                    (arms out wide)
Some families are small                (arms in close)
But I love my family                       (point at self)
Best of all!!                                       (throw arms up in air!)

It’s all about Autumn this week in The Children’s House!! The children will be learning about Autumn weather and we will be discussing how it’s getting colder and the nights are getting longer and the days shorter; we will making stewed apple with cooking apples – practising skills like peeling, chopping and stirring, as well as measuring, and studying how the apple changes from being cooked at heat – all very scientific as well as tasty!! Then later in the week we will go on a nature walk around the area to the rear – there are some birds nesting nearby so we might need to quietly go and explore, and see what else we can find on our walk. This is a good opportunity for us to practise crossing the road with the children, and encouraging them not to run across the road in the car park without looking and checking for traffic first.

We will also be making birthday displays and practising some mindfulness by sitting quietly listening to the sounds we can hear from outside when we open the windows, and finally we will be doing some Autumn leaf art at the end of the week….it’s going to be a busy one!!!

Duilleoga Deasa (Nice Leaves)

Duilleoga deasa, deasa                (Nice, nice leaves)
Duilleoga deasa, buí                    (Nice, yellow leaves)
Duilleoga deasa, deasa               (Nice, nice leaves)
Ag damhsa leis an ngaoth.        (Dancing with the wind)

Welcome to our first full week in The Children’s House!! This week we’ll be continuing to settle in and reassure the children, supporting them to become familiar with their new class and routine – we will do Practical Life activities such as carrying a chair and walking on a line, pouring grain, spooning rice etc. These activities help promote gross and fine motor movement as well as spatial awareness, and develop the children’s concentration and independence.

We will be making a jobs list for the children using their photos, and develop rules for their classrooms with them. We will also make a friendship tree with the children and put all their photos on them. Lastly, we will be doing drama using the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ – a firm favourite!!

Clean Up Song (tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

Twinkle twinkle little star,
Time to clean up where you are!
Put the toys back in their place,
Keep a smile upon your face,
Twinkle twinkle little star,
Time to clean up where you are!

A very warm welcome to The Children’s House to all our wonderful new and returning children and their families!! We have a short week to settle everyone back in, and we will be focusing on getting to know each other, learning each others’ names, practising how we walk slowly and talk quietly in the classroom, and lots of songs, games, and fun activities in circle time – we really can’t wait to get to know the classes!

Circle Time Song

Hello everyone and how are you today?
We’ve come to our circle time to sing and laugh and play!
And when we’re up we’re up, and when we’re down we’re down,
And when we’re only halfway up we’re neither up nor down.
So roll your hands so slowly, and roll your hands so fast –
Give your hands a clap clap clap,
And place them on your lap lap lap!