Welcome to November at The Children’s House!! We can’t believe October’s gone by so quickly, but we had a really wonderful month, ending with our short week last week celebrating Hallowe’en; we created witches hats in our cooking, decorated ghosts in arts & crafts, & had a fancy dress party to top it all off, with spooky games and face painting – many thanks to the talented Angela (9.30 parent) for that!!

This week we will be talking about the new month November, and the new season winter! We will be talking about the changes that will be happening with the weather, and specifically looking at the water cycle – the process of evaporation, condensation and precipitation – that happens all around us all the time. We will be relating this process to events that the children see all the time in their own environments – evaporation when water is heated like the steam from a kettle, condensation when that steam/gas cools like the droplets in the bathroom when having a shower/bath, and precipitation as the droplets fall as rain, which the children are very familiar with!

On Wednesday we will also be having a visit from Naas library! One of the librarians will be coming in to talk to us all about what exactly libraries are, the resources they have and the importance of using them, and will be hosting a story time with us – we can’t wait!!

Water Cycle Song (Sang to the tune of She’ll Be Coming around the Mountain):

Water travels in a cycle, yes it does (use pointer finger to make a big circle)
Water travels in a cycle, yes it does (repeat finger circle)
It goes up as evaporation (moves hands up to the sky)
Forms clouds as condensation (make a cloud overhead with arms)
Then comes down as precipitation, yes it does! (sprinkle with fingers while bringing arms down in front of you)

Welcome back from the long weekend! Last week in The Children’s House we had a wonderful time going to the GAA field and doing football training with one of the dads – a lot of the children were also displaying amazing rugby skills….! As well as this, we had a lovely time on Friday decorating Hallowe’en cookies in the 9am class with one of the mums. We’d like to thank all the parents who are coming in and doing activities with the children at the moment, it’s just fantastic!

This week we will be continuing in our preparations for the Hallowe’en, by making spooky playdough in Hallowe’en colours of green, orange and black, and creating more fantastic Hallowe’en crafts to decorate your homes with!! We will be having a philosophical discussion about what would happen if we had no seasons (the children may relate their learning about Autumn and hibernation to this), and then on a less serious note – or maybe a less quieter note! – we will be having our fancy dress Hallowe’en party at the end of the week with face painting, games and dancing! Happy Hallowe’en everyone!!

Five Little Skeletons:

Five little skeletons sitting on a gate (5 fingers up)
The first one said  ‘Oh my it’s getting late’ (hands on cheeks)
The second one said ‘There’s a chill in the air (arms around self)
The third one said ‘But we don’t care’ (swing index finger)
The fourth one said ‘We’re ready for some fun’ (hands in air)
The fifth one said ‘Let’s run & run & run’ (running motion)
Then ‘oooo’ went the wind, and out went the lights,
And the five little skeletons ran out of sight!

Ghost Chant (recite very quietly):

Ghost so scary,
Ghost so white,
Don’t scare (shout child’s name)
On Hallowe’en night!!

We will be making the classrooms a little bit spooky in preparation for Hallowe’en this week in The Children’s House! We are going to carve pumpkins and make Hallowe’en pictures, and as a special treat on Tuesday, we will be going to do some football training on Tuesday in the GAA pitch with one of the parents who has offered his services!

Following on from the observation days in the morning classes, we are currently holding parent teacher meetings. These are a great opportunity to see all the areas that your child is working through in the classroom, and all the skills they are developing, and also to ask any questions you may have thought about since the observation. Of course, at any time of year you are more than welcome to come in and do an observation, or to have a meeting with us if you have any concerns or questions. At this stage in the year we are also asking you to think about how you can be involved in your child’s school experience throughout the year, so if you have a particular skill or interest you would like to share with us, or if you would like to come in and read a story/do an activity with us, we will organise a time that suits for you to showcase your talents!!

Pumpkin poem:

Pumpkin pumpkin, big and round,
I’m glad you grow upon the ground.
I’m glad you don’t grow in a tree –
for then you might fall down on me!

This week we are continuing on with our Autumn theme and learning all about hibernation! We will be discussing which animals sleep through the winter in Ireland, why they do so (colder weather so it’s harder to find food), where they sleep, and the preparation they make for hibernation (increasing body fat, gathering food stores). We will be looking at the physical changes in animals when they hibernate (slower breathing, lower body temperature, slower heart beat), and then do a drama associated with hibernation, as well as some mindful colouring!

Scurry Squirrels (sung to tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star):

Scurry squirrels and don’t be slow.
Winters coming, Don’t you know?
Scamper, scamper all around.
Bury treasure in the ground.
Scurry Squirrels and don’t be slow.
Winters coming, don’t you know?