Some examples of our newsletters ......
Toddler Newsletter - October
Dear Parents,
Were all well and truly back into the long evenings and not so bright morning’s which can only mean one thing………..its Halloween!! Fallen leaves, pumpkins, spiders and ghosts, read on to see which one’s we all liked most!
What we learnt this month in circle time
Well this month we learnt all about the trees shedding their beautiful colourful leaves and why this happens, Ella, Odhran and Markbryan were took great interest in this fact. We learnt all about pumpkins and Halloween and dressing up and costumes and we were all able to show our beautiful costumes to our friends at our wonderful Halloween party on Wednesday 28.
Arts and Crafts:
During Halloween art class, we made not one but two types of beautiful pumpkins. Joseph and Danny had great fun making these, they love to paint. The first ones are displayed on our window and have beautiful faces which we all made ourselves and we are so proud of. They have black triangular eyes and big banana smiles. Alex Doyle and Eoghan had big banana smiles and thankfully no black triangular eyes, while making these they were thrilled with themselves
The other pumpkins are displayed up high on our wall. They are painted bright orange. We also have made magnificent literally hand made spiders which we stuck eyes onto Shannon, Iseult and Paul loved making these they loved painting their hands and sticking the eyes on to make the spider…….we took a vote on whether we should give the spiders eyes and majority ruled. I think the best of all and most spectacular, are the uniquely designed web cards that we all decided to make for our parents. Isabella, Alex F. and Jamie and Adriano took great pride in making the web on the front and sprinkling the glitter on. Every child was so excited when they got to bring their card home and show their parents. We all had so much fun in arts and crafts making and watching all of our wonderful ideas come to life.
Play time:
Playtime was fantastic fun this month as we now have a home corner where we installed a new oven! We have the ironing board, we now have pots and pans and vegetables and the Leigh and Alex Duffy love to chop the veg up with the wooden utensils. I see potential chefs in the future when I consult my crystal ball!
We as usual had fantastic fun in the library in the corner of our room and playing with our new toys we received into the class
Well that’s all folks!
I hope you enjoyed reading about what your children have been learning and doing in our class for the last month. If any parent has any queries, please never hesitate to ask me anything as I will always be happy to help and try my best to answer any queries you may have. I also love to hear any feedback that you may have from the children or yourselves so please never hesitate to inform me.
Cheers
See you next month ……………..
Helen Ryan
Toddler Newsletter - September 2009
Dear Parents,
Hi again, I took a bit of a summer break from the newsletter but never fear I’m back and as usual it will hopefully make for an extremely interesting read. Firstly I want to send a big warm welcome out to Linda our new member of staff who joined the toddler room recently so……..Welcome Linda to the very busy toddler class! We also say farewell to Eimear who has left us for the wobbler class....sniff sniff…..you will be sadly missed in ours. For the new parents and children who have joined the toddler class I welcome you all and hope you enjoy reading the newsletter as much as I do writing it. I will put together a newsletter at the end of each month and print a hard copy for you to take home and read about what your child and their friends have been getting up to in the class.
What we learnt this month:
This month we have been welcomed into our new class with all our friends some old and some new and we have been learning all of our friend’s names. Leigh, Adriano and Alex Duffy nearly know them all. They love to shout out everyone’s name in circle time.
We learnt about the colour red and we also did some autumn work which was a bit confusing as one week it was autumn and the next it felt like the middle of July again! However, hard and all as it was, we battled through our “Indian Summer” which lasted about 4 days and we all came out smiling at the other end!
Arts and Crafts:
For art and crafts this month we glued shapes onto our school template to learn about the shape and size of our school. We also painted our apples for autumn harvest time and used our hands to print on the apples leaves. Alex Doyle loved this activity; she loves to get her hands painted. We painted an orange and we glued our beautiful leaves onto black paper. We made lots of leaves and stuck them to our tree, we also crushed real leaves and glued them onto paper leaves and they too are falling from our tree in the class. It really is a masterpiece!!
We also made our hand print and we cut them out and we eventually did our footprints too which proved to be a lot of fun. Jamie, Markbryan and Ella and Odhran were totally fascinated by the fact that you could paint your foot! I think they are still in shock! They absolutely loved it and were so delighted when we hung there feet on the window to dry. They kept pointing at them, so foot proud!!
Circle Time:
Every morning we start circle time off with songs. We sing row row row your boat, incy wincy, down in the jungle, and the little tea pot. We revise very hard over everyone’s names each day and practice very hard remembering them. We strain our vocal chords on the high notes (The other classes all know when we do circle time!) and we usually revise over our animal book and our opposite’s book. Learning all about what’s opposite in the world. Shannon loves to learn about the animals and different sounds they make.
All the children are getting to know that we tidy up the class before circle time begins, then they all go and get their chairs, lifting them and bringing them to the mat. They all love doing this as it is giving them a sense of responsibility. Then when circle time ends they all know to bring back their chairs. They are all excellent at doing this. Liam, and Isabella and Alex F are usually first to hop up and put their chairs back.
Play time:
Playtime this month was great fun as usual, we had our free play, where the children play with whatever toy or toys they are drawn to most on that day. Linda sets up the classroom when I do circle time so that there are different play area’s set out for all the children when circle time end such as jigsaws, playdough and colouring.
Then we had the floor activities which consisted of farm animals, cars, lego and building blocks. After this we usually go outside (weather permitting) and bring out the parachute and shake shake and shake it and then sit on it play with the bean bags and balls for catch and throw and sing our songs again. The children love the parachute and catch and through with the balls. Their faces light up at the mere mention of it!! Isabella, Sheena an Eoghan all think this is fantastic.
Well that’s all folks! We just have to say a few farewells to David G and David Z, Tadgh, James and Lena who have all moved up into the jnr Montessori class. We wish them all the best and we will miss you. I also want to welcome to the class Liam, Iseult and Joseph and Danny who have all joined the toddler class recently so you are all very welcome.
I hope you enjoyed reading about what your children have been learning and doing in our class for the last month. If any parent has any queries, please never hesitate to ask me anything as I will always be happy to help and try my best to answer any queries you may have. I also love to hear any feedback that you may have from the children or yourselves so please never hesitate to inform me.
Cheers
See you next month ……………..
Helen Ryan
Toddler Newsletter - June
Dear Parents,
I hope you all enjoyed the hot weather this month and we hope that’s not the end of it for the summer, we certainly enjoyed it here in the school read on to see why………..
What we learnt this month:
This month we all learnt all about summer and going to the beach and what we can see and do on the beach. Conor told me that you see crabs and Tadgh, James and Alex M. reminded me that we can make sandcastles. We also learnt about the insects we will see during the summer which are buzzy bees and beautiful butterflies and wasps and lady birds. We also mention the spiders which led into us learning the incy wincy spider song. We learnt the rainbow song and also we revised over twinkle twinkle which Odhran, and Leigh are going to make a solo career out of this one as they now sing it for the rest of the class!
Arts and Crafts:
Ice cream was not far from our minds this month and so we made ice cream cones from paper and cotton wool. Shannon, Alex D and David Z really enjoyed this activity as we dipped the cotton wool into paint for the coloured ice cream first.
Also this month we made a real beach with real sand, Markbryan, Lena and Adriano really enjoyed putting the glue onto the paper and then spilling the sand onto it. Ben and David G had great fun at this activity too. Then it came to making the sky and we used rollers to roll on the paint onto the page. We all looked like little smurfs at the end of it but all the children really enjoyed it.
Circle Time:
For the month of June we discussed summer holidays, all about the beach, we learnt all about sea creatures, lobsters, crabs, starfish and octopus. We all revised over our insects on our poster and we learnt some lovely new songs. David G., Markbryan and Brandon love doing the actions to I’m a little tea pot and down in the jungle and of coarse we revised over our usual songs. All the Children love learning the new songs and taking part in singing them and of course we all enjoy the rapturous applause we all give after each performance!!
Play time:
We all had a little bit of exercise on the mat this month where we all lay down on the mat and stretched our legs and arms. We also do ring a rosie with Eimear. Conor, Eoghan and Ella love this as we all fall down and have to get up again really quick. I also get all the children to sit down in a circle and we all play catch and throw with the bean bags and balls. They all love this. Dillon and Conor and Brandon and Markbryan love this game. Due to the weather we were also able to extend this game outdoors and I brought out the parachute. They love to take a handle of the parachute each and we just shake shake shake……..everyone loves this and we all have great fun.
New Additions:
New additions to our class this month are Sheena and Isabella. We all send out a big huge warm welcome them to what was a mostly male dominated class……girl power!!!
Birthdays:
It was Tadgh and James’s birthday and they turned 3 and it was Ella’s birthday and she turned 2. We hope they had a great birthday and thank you for the beautiful cakes that they brought into our class and shared with all their friends.
Well that’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed reading about what your children have been learning and doing in our class for the last month. If any parent has any queries, please never hesitate to ask me anything as I will always be happy to help and try my best to answer any queries you may have.
See you next month ……………..
Helen Ryan
. Toddler Newsletter
May 2009
Yellow group
Theme: My Family
Dear parents, welcome to the first ever edition of the toddler newsletter. I will be sending this home for you to read at the end of each month. The purpose of the newsletter is to summarise what your child has been learning and getting up to whilst in the school each day that they are here. It will be written by Helen every month so I hope you enjoy it and happy reading …………
What we learnt this month:
This month we learnt all about the different insects. We learnt about caterpillars turning into beautiful butterflies, about wiggly worms living underneath the grass far down in the soil. We learnt about lots of lovely colours and what they look like all mixed together when you paint them onto a page. We learnt lots of new songs. Ring a ring a rosie, the hokey pokey and the grand ole duke of York. Odhran, Ben and David have all learnt new words this month and their vocabulary is really coming along .
Arts and Crafts:
For arts and crafts this month we had lots of free painting with a sponge which the children loved. They all rolled up their sleeves in anticipation for their turn to arrive. When it wasn’t their turn most of the children asked me could they sit on a chair beside me and watch the other children as they were partaking in the art work. Leigh loved the cotton wool flowers we made and dipped in paint. Alex M. loves to paint and races over to the table when we take paints out.
We also did a group painting which is now on view in our classroom. Eoghan made a coincidental lion shape with the sponge but it’s fantastic and also up on our wall for all to see. Our fantastic individual pieces are displayed on our art wall and our project bubbles wall. James loves to paint with all the different colours and makes very good use of them.
We made beautiful individual free paintings which all the children loved. Brandon was extremely interested in this activity. We all made our family tree. The children all have their own handprints on the tree with the members of their family printed on their fingers. Dylan , Oisin and Adriano loved the sensation of the brush and paint on their hands.
Theme Discussions:
This month, I taught the children where our little fingers and thumbs are. We discussed this after one of our nursery rhymes. Each morning I asked the children where our little fingers were and thumbs were and then they all showed me. We also learnt all of our names in the class and discussed how we are all friends and that we all have to share the toys and look after each other in the class.
We also spoke about our homes and what’s in each room in our house and also our families. We are currently making family photo frames so please if you have not already given me a family photo if you can get it to me a.s.a.p. as I need them for the frames and they will also be displayed in our classroom.
Circle Time:
Circle time begins at 9.30am to ensure all the breakfasts are over and to begin circle time I ask the children to tidy away the toys and to bring a chair over to the mat. Tadgh loves to call out all the insects’ names and is great at remembering them along with Brandon and Leigh and Conor. They all do this very enthusiastically. They all love circle time. This is where we discuss the weekly theme. The theme for this month is my family.
Play time:
Due to the recent fine weather for most of the month we were able to have a great time out playing this month. We had great fun having picnics outside for tea time. Since our weather is proving to be (so far) considerably better than last summer, could I ask that all children come into the school with sun cream already applied to their skin as they will be outdoors a lot of the time during the summer. We will reapply during the day as needed.Please send in your childs sun cream with their name printed on !
New Additions:
New additions to our class this month are Shannon, Ella, Alex D. Markbryan and Lena so on behalf of all our class we send a huge big warm welcome to you all.
Birthdays:
It was Oisin’s birthday on 9 May and he turned three. So we all had a party in the class at break time and Oisin had a cake and he shared it with all his friends in the class and I made him a birthday hat and he wore it all day, delighted with himself.
That’s all for this month. I hope you have more of an insight into what we have done over the last month in the toddler room and I hope you all enjoyed reading my first newsletter. If any parent has any queries, please never hesitate to ask me anything as I will always be happy to help and try my best to answer any queries you may have.
See you next month
Helen Ryan
Parents Page
Group: Green Group
Month: April
Theme: Easter and the Animal Album
Activities based on this month’s theme
Over the month of April the children were invited to explore the typical aspects of Easter and the significance behind Easter symbolism such as the egg. The children painted different patterns on hard-boiled eggs, as is the tradition in Poland (the country of the month) and created fantastic bunny baskets to put them in. We also had a fun Easter egg hunt on Good Friday and filled our bunny baskets with loads of treats. Through picture and vocabulary cards, poems and songs and various play-based activities, the children also learnt about taking care of animals, animals that take care of us and the difference between some wild and domesticated animals. We learnt that some animals live in our homes as pets or on farms and rely on humans to care for them, while some live in the wild and can find food for themselves. Overall the aim of this theme was to encourage respect for all animals and to understand the importance of animals in our lives.
Sensorial Development
The children were presented with extension exercises for the pink tower and broad stair and encouraged to follow specific patterns. In addition the knobbed cylinder exercises were further extended to encourage concentration, preparation for writing, co-ordination and language such as short, long, thinnest etc. The tasting bottles were introduced this month to encourage the children to discriminate between different tastes and to recognise tastes that match. This will help the children to understand the four fundamental tastes; sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
Maths
Through various play based exercises and circle time activities the children re-discovered the values of numbers 1-10. To compliment this the children were presented with the sandpaper number to help them recognise the shape of each number and encouraged to practise writing each number in various different textures, such as sand, chalk, flour, and lead pencil. Each child now has their own writing book and encouraged to practice writing their numbers and letters during our morning Montessori sessions. To reinforce addition and subtraction the children were invited to partake in various number games and number rod activities. The children were also introduced to the number symbols and quantities 11-20 using the number beads. Over the next month the children comfortable with the numbers 1-10 will focus on addition and subtraction exercises and recognition of number quantities 11-20.
Language
The sounds m, o and k were introduced to the children this month. The children learnt how to recognise the shape of the letters and the phonetic sound represented by each letter. Again the children were encouraged to practise writing these letters in various textures such as sand, flour, chalk and lead pencil. We also began learning colours in Irish and now know, oraiste (orange), gorm (blue), dubh (black), bui (yellow), dearg (red), glas (green) and white (ban). We will continue to add new Irish words each month as well as phrases and sayings from the country of the month. Each child was also encouraged to practise tracing and writing their name and now each have their own name-tracing card. The sound of the week will also be displayed on the classroom door and we encourage parents to reinforce the sound at home and perhaps bring in objects that begin with the sound from home for our language table.
Practical Life
This month the children were introduced to the polishing activities; polishing shoes and polishing silver. This will help encourage concentration, strengthen finger control for writing, and encourage them to follow various steps to complete an exercise. In addition the children were also presented with the cloth folding activity.
Cultural Education
The children explored Poland this month. We learnt where Poland is in Europe, the traditions, culture and the language. During circle time we learnt about famous Poles such as Marie Curie, Chopin and Pope John Paul II. During our history lesson we explored the history of Poland in particular World War II. We learnt that Hitler didn’t like people to be different. We encouraged children to respect the differences in others and encouraged the concepts of freedom, respect and equality. This produced a wonderful conversation about things that make us special, Jodie shared that she has a beautiful singing voice and Beibhinn said that her brothers make her special! Next month we will explore the traditions, food, language and culture of France.
Cosmic Education
The children were introduced to the land and water forms; island and lake, during our geography lessons. We learnt the definition for each form and during circle time played a game in which we had to decide whether an object belonged in the lake (water) or in the land (island). We also discovered the life cycle of the frog through various song, play and arts and crafts activities. We now have real tadpoles in our class and cant wait for them to develop… they are getting bigger each day! The theme for May is ‘My Family’. If you have any photos of your family at home, please feel free to drop them in for our family arts and crafts activity. Our weekly plan is always on display in the classroom, so please feel free to have a look so that you can reinforce the teaching objectives at home.
That’s all from us for now…..
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February 2009
Group: Green Group
Month: February
Theme: Professions and Festivals
Activities based on this month’s theme
Over the month of February the children were invited to explore common professions and festivals and their typical characteristics. Through picture and vocabulary cards, poems and songs and various play-based activities, the children explored the utensils and transportation specific to common professions as well as the typical aspects of various celebrations and festivals, such as St. Patrick’s Day, The Chinese Lantern Festival, Mardi Gras and the Polish Folk Festival. The children were invited to partake in their own ‘Professions Festival’ costume party and dress up as their future profession!
The values education this month focused on modesty. The children learnt that everyone is equal despite some having more than others and that modesty means to realise that we are no better than other people just because we may have more things or are better at an activity.
Getting to know concepts
The children were encouraged to discriminate between long and short, reproduce the square and practise drawing diagonal lines through various play and worksheet exercises. We also focused on getting to know the uses of everyday objects and to foster creativity, discovered alternative uses for these objects, so a bowl became a hat, a fork became a drum stick etc.
Sensorial Development
The children were presented with the two sound boxes this month and invited to pair the cylinders with the same sounds. This activity will help to develop the child’s sense of hearing as well as teaching them the concepts of matching and pairing. The broad stair, pink tower and number rods were reintroduced this month and the children were encouraged to build the three pieces of equipment together. These activities allow the children to discover different dimensions and the language we use to describe these differences, such as biggest, smallest, tall, short etc.
Math
Through various play based exercises and circle time activities the children discovered the values of numbers 8, 9 and 10 and revisited the numbers 0 -7. To compliment this the children were presented with the sandpaper number to help them recognise the shape of each number and encouraged to practise writing each number in various different textures, such as sand, chalk, flour, and lead pencil. Each child now has their own writing book and encouraged to practice writing their numbers and letters during our morning Montessori sessions. To reinforce addition and subtraction the children were invited to partake in various number games and number rod activities. In the upcoming months, we will revisit the numbers 0-10 and continue reinforcing the underlying concepts of addition and subtraction.
Language
The letters, a, b, c, d, e, f and n were revisited this month and the letters g, h and p were introduced. The children learnt how to recognise the shape of the letters and the phonetic sound represented by each letter. Again the children were encouraged to practise writing these letters in various textures such as sand, flour, chalk and lead pencil. The children also strengthened their writing skills through the use of the metal inset activities. This month the children learnt the word ‘Snow’ in Polish ‘Sneig’, French ‘Neige’ Afrikaans (to coincide with the country of the month, South Africa) ‘Sneeu’ and Gaelic ‘Snabtcha’. Each month the children will be presented with new words to learn in Polish, French, Gaelic and the language of the country of the month. This will help develop an interest in language learning and expand their concept of language and different phonetic sounds.
Cosmic EducationDuring this months history lesson the children learnt that the Earth existed a long time before humans existed. We unravelled a long piece of black tape and discussed the history of time. This helps the children conceptualise the concept of time as well as teaching them about the history of planet Earth. The children discovered various African animals and were encouraged to distinguish between herbivore and carnivores during this months biology lessons. We all became scientists again and completed our own soluble/ insoluble experiments. The children discovered that sugar, salt and milk powder are all soluble in water and that oil is insoluble in water.
Practical Life
In addition to the various practical life skills introduced to the children last month such as pouring, spooning, sieving, buttoning, zipping, lacing and carrying skills that are continuously developed through repeating and mastering each activity, the children enhanced their personal hygiene skills through hand washing and hair brushing exercises. In addition the children are now encouraged to pour their own drinks and clear their own dishes during meal times.
Cultural Education
This month the children were issued with their own ‘passports’ and hopped on a plane to our country of the month, South Africa each week. The children explored the location, history, culture, language and food of South Africa. Next month we will be exploring Poland!
Bakers man Friday has been a resounding success, thank-you to all the parents that have remembered their €1. The children are beginning to understand the concept of exchanging goods for money and are enjoying the treats as well!
The children thoughrouly enjoyed what turned out to be not only a puppet show, but a magic show and disco as well! We thank-you for your contribution to the cost.
Tara will be joining our classroom on Monday and will be available to meet the parents on Monday evening, so please feel free to drop down and get to know her.
That’s all from us for this month…..
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As always, we welcome your thoughts, worries and concerns. Contact us by phone, e-mail or through the website. All of us, working together, will provide a happy, safe, warm, educational and caring place for your children.
