We are starting our group project this week, & are VERY excited about it!! It is all about Flat Stanley – the story of Stanley who got squashed as flat as a pancake, & can now handily travel all around the world folded up in an envelope!! This leads us to a fun geography project that your children can take part in – they will be getting their own Flat Stanley, who can be posted to anyone they know who lives in a different part of the world, whether it’s Timbuktu or Tipperary!! We’re hoping that Stanley will return with lots of pictures & little notes recording where he’s been in the world, & then the children can record it on the map in their classroom.

Along with this, we will be discussing the postal system, how we use stamps, who we know who live in different parts of the world, what different parts of the world are like – how they’re alike/different to where we live at the moment.

Flat Stanley Song

Happy Halloween everyone!! We’re doing all things spooky this week at The Children’s House!! The children will be enjoying pumpkin carving, learning about parts of the pumpkin & making sensory bags from the pulp – nice & messy!!! Later in the week we will be doing pumpkin hammering, q-tip painting, and at the end of the week we will be having our Halloween party, so the children are welcome to come in dressed up as scary as they like!!

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)

This week at The Children’s House we will be 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), recognising them in ourselves and talking about what we do when we feel like that. We will be practising relaxation techniques like yoga and deep breathing, expressing emotions through making & using emotion masks, and discussing appropriate vs inappropriate ways of expressing emotions – emotional regulation is a huge thing for young children to learn, so we try to support them in this in preschool as much as we can.

During the week we will be making a worry box with each of the classes – this is a box that we decorate together, and if any of the children are worried about something, we write it down on a piece of paper and put it into the box until the child decides that they’re not worried about it anymore, whereupon they can tear it up and put it in the recycling bin! This gives a very real representation to the children that worries are temporary things, which come and go, so it can help to put anxieties they may have to rest.

If You’re Happy & You Know It

The children are going to be doing lots about gardening this week, and we will be discussing what we can grow in our gardens – whether they are enormous, or as small as a window box! – as well as making stewed apple later in the week, and doing a frozen flowers sensory tray, and contact flower designing – a very creative week ahead!!

As well as this, we will be doing our monthly fire drill, so the children get used to it & are nice & calm & know what to do if the alarm goes off at any stage.

The Farmer Plants the Seed

It’s all about road safety this week at The Children’s House, 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, a car wash, learning about different road signs 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.

It’s Pet Week at The Children’s House!! This week we will be learning all about the different types of pets that people have, how we look after them & their needs, and we will be doing all sorts of activities, drama and art around this topic – it’s going to be such a fun week! The children will be doing paw print art, dramatic play vet clinic, and washing animals on the sensory tray, among other things.

We are asking anyone with appropriate pets that they can safely bring to visit to do so – in the past we’ve had ferrets, snakes, geckos, dogs, lizards, chickens, hamsters….!!!

Ten Little Dogs

Ten little dogs went out one day,
To dig in the dirt & play, play, play,
Five were spotted & five were not,
And at dinner time they ate the lot!

It’s all about Autumn this week at The Children’s House, so we will be talking about the changes that the season is bringing that the children can already notice in their world – e.g. leaves changing colour before they fall off the trees, weather getting colder, days getting shorter & nights getting longer. We will be have a sensory tray in the garden, scented playdough for printing with leaves, conkers & acorns, there will be leaf sorting & hanging up leaves Practical Life exercise in the classroom, as well as sweeping leaves activity.

Also, this week we will be doing our first fire drill, so we will be learning all about the importance of fire safety & why we practice fire drills – a busy week ahead!!

Autumn Leaves (poem)

As autumn leaves fall all around,
They make a blanket on the ground.
When winter winds begin to blow,
The root are safe from the freezing snow.

This week at The Children’s House we will be talking about families, friendship & kindness! We will focus on supporting the children to get to know each other, and to feel comfortable in their new classes, so we will be doing exercises in how to show kindness e.g. by sharing with someone, offering to help or giving a compliment…to this end, we will be practising how to give compliments in a compliment circle, so the class has to think of a nice thing to say about their friends, thus promoting empathy as well as positive self-image.

The children will also be making friendship bracelets towards the end of the week, and making a friendship poster after having a discussion about their views of what types of things that good friends do for each other!

The More We Get Together

The more we get together, together, together,
The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
Cause your friends are my friends,
And my friends are your friends,
The more we get together, the happier we’ll be!

The first full week at The Children’s House is here, & it’s going to be a busy one!! The children will be starting their All About Me books – as part of this they will be measured to record their height at the start of the school year, which can then be compared to their height at the end of the year; they will also be doing self-portraits!

During the week the children will be coming up with classroom rules – they will be asked to think about what might be needed in order to make their classes safe & happy for all, & what they decide on together will be written down, so they have ownership of these rules. They will then be displayed up on the wall for all to see & abide by!

All of Me (poem)

My hands are for clapping, my arms can hug tight,
My fingers can snap, or turn out the light.
My legs are for jumping, my eyes help me see,
This is my body, & I love all of me!!

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 & the class routine, learning each others’ names, practising how we walk slowly, talk quietly, carry chairs and trays in the classroom (refining gross motor movements), and lots of songs, games, and fun activities in circle time – we really can’t wait to get to know the classes!

All of the activities in the classroom are chosen with intent & purpose depending on the children’s & class’s needs, & at this time of year many are based on refining gross & fine motor movements, especially in the Practical Life area. As an example, we might start with an activity of pouring large pasta from 1 jug to another, then rice, then progress to water when the child has mastered the rice, then pouring using a funnel, then pouring into 3 containers – introducing pre maths (division). Montessori materials & activities progress in this way from simple to complex at the child’s pace, in order to stimulate & progress their learning.

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!

Bumble Bee Song

Bumble bee, bumble bee,
Won’t you say your name for me?
(Child’s name), (child’s name),
Bumble bee, bumble bee,
Won’t you say your name for me?
(Until each child has said their name)