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14 Nov 2016
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14th – 18th November

Sticky Post By On November 14, 2016

Happy Science Week everyone!! This week at The Children’s House we’ll be doing a lot of experiments throughout the week – from using a handboiler to show how liquids turn into gas with heat; to making ‘goop’ – mixing cornstarch with water to show how a mixture can have the properties of a solid or a liquid depending on the pressure exerted on it; demonstrating how different liquids have different densities using honey, water, oil, which will sit in layers; using a weighing scales to illustrate heavy vs light; making ‘explosions’ using vinegar & baking soda….all this and many other activities such as using magnification aids (magnifying glasses, microscopes, telescopes), and going for a discovery walk outdoors with notebooks for any note-taking! Children are born with a natural curiousity about how things work in their world and they love to experiment and discover in their environment – their questions should be encouraged as their potential as scientists is unlimited!!

Frere Jacques

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous? Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines,
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong!

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?

Brother John, Brother John.

Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing,

Ding dang dong, ding dang dong!

07 Nov 2016
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7th – 11th November

Sticky Post By On November 7, 2016

Welcome to winter…!!! The weather has definitely changed from autumnal to wintry over the last week, so we will be continuning our theme of migration, and linking in to geography by looking at the path that swallows take from Ireland to Africa to winter there, and the children will be making their own maps depicting this. We will also be making bird feeders to cater for the birds that stay here during the cold weather!

Continents Song

Here we go round the world,
Round the world we go:
North America, South America,
Europe and Asia,
Africa, Antartica –
And don’t forget Australasia!

02 Nov 2016
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2nd – 4th November

Sticky Post By On November 2, 2016

Welcome back after the mid-term break, hope you all had a wonderful long weekend! This week in The Children’s House we will be learning all about the new month November, and the new season winter, as well as talking about the changes that this will bring – the much shorter days & longer nights & the colder weather – and the effects that this has on animals, like hibernation and specifically migrationg. We will be discovering what the swallow does during the winter months, and also looking at the life cycle of the swallow as well as creating some bird crafts!

Feed the Birds (tune of Row Your Boat)

Feed, feed, feed the birds,
In the wintertime,
When the days are dark and cold,
Food is hard to find.

Feed, feed, feed the birds,
Til the spring has come,
Scatter birdseed on the snow,
Feeding birds is fun!

23 Oct 2016
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24th – 28th October

Sticky Post By On October 23, 2016

Last week in The Children’s House we learnt a lot about bats & their sense of smell while getting ready for Halloween, & this week we’ll be continuing on our Halloween theme, with pumpkin carving, Halloween cooking & a fancy dress party on Friday! Apart from this we will be having our monthly fire drill, and starting the topic of migration!

We will be closed for mid-term break Monday 31st October & Tuesday 1st November, re-opening Wednesday 2nd November –

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Jack O Happy

This is Jack O Happy,
This is Jack O Sad,
This is Jack O Spooky,
This is Jack O Mad,
This is Jack in pieces small,
But in a pie he’s best of all!

17 Oct 2016
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17th-21st October

Sticky Post By On October 17, 2016

We’re getting all Halloweeny in The Children’s House this week!! We’ll be decorating the classrooms, making Halloween playdough, dressing up to get in the spirit of things, doing a bat handprint craft, and also an experiment to demonstrate the bat’s power of smell (using a blindfold & identifying & matching different scents). As well as this we will be doing leaf sponge painting – of course alongside the huge amount of work that the children do, so it’ll be a busy week!

Thanks to everyone who’s been coming in to observe the children and do the follow up parent teacher meetings – we really appreciate you taking the time to do it!

Duilleoga Deasa

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).

3 Black Cats (tune of 3 blind mice)

3 black cats, 3 black cats,
In black hats, in black hats,
They all jumped onto the witch’s broom,
They teased the ghost & the goblins too –
Did you ever see such a hullabaloo?
On Halloween, on Halloween!

10 Oct 2016
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10th-14th October

Sticky Post By On October 10, 2016

This week we will be continuing with the topic of Autumn and planting bulbs, as well as focussing on our emotions for the week. Sometimes young children can find it hard to express how they are feeling, and naming and discussing those feelings, and how it is appropriate to deal with them, can be very helpful to them. For this reason, we will firstly be looking at different emotions (e.g. happy, sad, angry, lonely, loved, jealous) and talking about what we do when we feel like that. We will be focussing on relaxation techniques like yoga, and deep breathing, and expression of emotions through using puppets.

Later in the week the children will do self-portraits, as well as making a worry box that we can put our worries into and mentally let go of – some children are more anxious than others, and making an abstract thought into something concrete is very beneficial – these worries can then later be torn up as they are dealt with, which is very satisfying! And at the end of the week we will plant daffodil and crocus bulbs; gardening is a very relaxing and grounding activity that children really love to take part in.

Note: We have been holding observation days in the classes at the moment, where family members  are invited to come in and observe the children at their work, to give an understanding of what they are  doing while at school (as we hear that some children are less communicative at home about what exactly they do than others!) Following this we will be scheduling parent teacher meetings, which is a great opportunity to meet up and review the observations, to discuss any questions there may be, and to have a chat about your children’s progression throughout the year in general and how you can be involved in that as much as possible. We value your input and will be inviting you to come in throughout the school year, whether to observe in the classroom, join in activities, or demonstrate/talk to the children about your own specialised skills! Also, please remember that if you ever have any issues or concerns, we are always here to talk to.

If You’re Happy & You Know It

If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands,
If you’re happy & you know it & you really want to show it –
If you’re happy & you know it clap your hands!

If you’re sad & you know it wipe your tears…
If you’re angry & you know it stamp your feet…
If you’re tired & you know it rest your head…
If you’re happy & you know it shout hooray!!…

03 Oct 2016
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3rd – 7th October

Sticky Post By On October 3, 2016

Happy October everyone!! To celebrate the new month, we are going to be studying harvest time this week – the types of grain that are harvested, how the grain is ground down to make flour (we will be using a pestle and mortar to illustrate this), and the products that are then made from the flour: and yes, we will be making bread towards the end of the week!

Months of the Year Song

January, February, March and April,
May June, July and August,
September, October, November and December,
Now I know the months of the year!

26 Sep 2016
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26th – 30th September

Sticky Post By On September 26, 2016

The last week of September is here already!! This week we will be focussing on the Nature table – going on a nature walk to the GAA field to collect objects for our nature table, examining the type of objects we find using our magnifying glasses, and making art with them a la Jackson Pollock! Last week we did a lovely experiment about the equinox and changing seasons using a torch and the globe, and this week we will be continuing to learn about the passage of time and the sequence of days in the week.

In other exciting news, Thursday is Pet Visit Day!!!! We are inviting children to bring their pets into school for a visit – last year we had the very first Pet Visit day and it was such a fantastic experience – but if children don’t have live animals, teddies will do just as well :)

 

Days of the Week (tune of My Darling Clementine)

There are 7 days, there are 7 days,
There are 7 days in the week –
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.