Monday, December 20, 2010

Ongar December Newsletter 2010

Mother Hubbards Newsletter
December 2010

Happy Birthday

This month we would like to wish the following children a very big Happy Birthday:

  • Siobhan who was ??? on the 4th
  • Liam in the Baby Room will turn 1 
  • Jonathan in the Pre-Monti Room will turn 3 
  • Sarah D in the Pre-Monti Room who will turn 3
  • Ciara who is ??? on the 22nd
  • Ruth who is ??? on the 25th
  • Alison who is ??? on the 28th
  • Chloe in the Montessori Room who is 4 
  • Cara in the Toddler Room who is 2 

Welcome
I’m sure some parents would recognise Lydia as she did relief work with us, I am now delighted to inform you that Lydia will be joining us on a full time basis. She will work alongside Annette in the Pre-Montessori Room.

Room Changes
You may have noticed some staff have changed rooms and some children have moved to bigger rooms. If you have any queries in relation to your child moving room or staff in your child’s room please do not hesitate to contact us.

Health and Safety
We would like to ask all parents not to park on the path outside the front door and to use the car parking spaces. This is for the health and safety of all children attending the crèche.
Reminders
·        We have altered our menu slightly it is displayed in the main hall.
·        Just a reminder that will close on the 23rd of December at 6.30pm sharp and re-open on Tuesday 4th January at 7.15am.
·        We understand that on occasion that parents may be delayed in picking up their children, we would appreciate it if you are going to be late if you could phone us and let us know.

Photographs
Reorders for individual and group photographs will sent on Friday the 17th and please ensure all reorders and group photos are paid for in advance.

Cute As A Button Headbands
Samantha Watters here in Ongar has set up her own business making headbands. You can contact Samntha by email cuteasabuttonheadbands@hotmail.com or speak to her outside of crèche hours. You can also find Cute As A Button Headbands on Facebook.
For stunning handmade headbands for yourself or your little cutie please visit Cute as a Button Headbands on Facebook
My headbands are custom made to your order for that personal touch!


Jack and Jill Foundation
Our Crèche in Nephin Road is collecting old mobile phones in aid of the Jack and Jill Foundation.. Their funding has been cut by over €1 million so this will help raise some vital money. If you have any old mobile phones you would like to donate please drop them in


Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Ongar Village                            Phone: 01 8260055
Ongar                                      
Dublin 15                        E-Mail:  ongar@motherhubbardschildcare.ie

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Slane Road December Newsletter 2010

Mother Hubbards Newsletter December 2010

Happy Birthday to;
Ike who will be 2 
Emma who will be 2

Closing Times over Christmas
The Montessori and Pre Montessori sessions will close on Wednesday the 22nd of December at 12.00/12.30 and re open January 10th at 9.00am. The centre will close for all children on Thursday the 23rd December at 6.00pm and re open Tuesday the 4th at 7.30 am.

The Montessori sessional children will have their Christmas Party on Wednesday the 22nd of December from 11.00-12.00am.

The Montessori children will have a small Christmas Concert on Tuesday the 21st December at 11.45am-12.00am; they will be singing all the Christmas songs they have learned over the past few weeks! All parents are welcome but we do ask that only two family members attend for each child as we don’t have much space in the room! Also if possible can parents provide a Santa hat for each child for that day and dress them in festive colours red and green. Thank You!

Toddlers, Pre Montessori, fulltime Montessori and after school will have their Christmas party on Thursday the 23rd of December at 2.30pm.

This Christmas instead of giving the children presents Mother Hubbards will be donating money to worthy charities that really need our support this time of the year! Thank You!


The Montessori children will be having a Christmas Movie Day to raise money for Special Olympics Ireland on Monday the 20th of December. They will be looking at a Christmas Movie and having popcorn and rice krispies! We ask all parents to make a donation of €2 each for this special cause! Thank You!

The photographer came to the centre on Thursday the 9th of December. Please note that the pictures are on spec so if you don’t like your child’s picture you are under no obligation to buy. The price is €30 for 1 (10X8) and 2 (5X4).

What we are doing in the rooms this month;
It’s all about Christmas this month! Toddlers are busy making lots of decorations and learning their Christmas songs. Also this month they have been learning about the circus and had great fun making their circus animals!
Playschool have been learning their Christmas songs too and have been making lots of Christmas artwork like Christmas socks, Santa faces, Rudolph masks and lots of other things! Together they are going to make a huge Christmas tree and decorate it with their decorations.
Montessori have been learning about Christmas they have also been making Christmas crafts, learning about the robin and how we should look after our birds in Winter. They are also busy practicing for their Christmas concert!
Afterschool have been making Christmas crafts and recently made some rice krispies on their snow day off from school!

It’s Christmas!

Here are a few ideas for some yummy Christmas recipes you can cook with your children over Christmas;
Decorating cookies is such a fun family project. Turn on some holiday music, turn off the TV and spread the sprinkles, candies and sugars out for this fun event.

Christmas iced cookies
Ingredients
·                         3-3/4 cups all purpose flour
·                         1 tsp baking powder
·                         1/2 tsp salt
·                         1 cup butter or margarine, softened (not melted!)
·                         1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
·                         2 eggs
·                         2 tsp vanilla extract
Cooking Instructions
  1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
  2. Beat butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or other round object, such as a glass or round plastic container. Place circles 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
  4. Bake for 6-8 minutes, checking after 6 minutes. Cookies will be done when edges are lightly browned. Do not allow cookies to get too brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove from cookies sheets to aluminum foil on a flat surface and allow to cool completely.
  5. What You Do
  6. Bake your favorite sugar cookie recipe (try Amanda’s Sugar Cookies, above), or purchase a package from the store.
  7. Using a butter knife, spread white frosting on top of each cookie.
  8. Let children decorate the cookies with sprinkles, sugar, and candies.
  9. To make holly berry cookies, place two red candies or jelly beans toward the top of the cookie and draw on leaves with green decorator gel.
  10. For sugar stars, trees and other shapes, gently place a miniature cookie cutter on top of the cookie after it’s frosted. Carefully sprinkle a small amount of sugar into the cookie cutter with your fingers, being careful not to let the sugar fall outside. Gently remove cookie cutter.
  11. You can completely cover a cookie with decorative sugar by holding the frosted cookie upside down and dipping the frosted end into the sugar to coat.
  12. Use red decorator gel to write “Ho Ho Ho!” on your cookies.
  13. A snowman can be made from candies and fruit roll ups. Cut a strip of fruit roll up, about ½ thick, and twist it into a rope. Place the fruit roll up around the top of the cookie as ear muffs and add jelly beans for the muffs themselves. Decorate face with colored candies.

Merry Christmas Everyone!



Mother Hubbards, 56 Blackcastle Demesne, Slane Road, Navan.
046- -9059967

Nephin Road's December Newsletter 2010

December Newsletter 2010
Welcome
We would like to welcome Cliona and her parents Grainne and Adrian in Mother Hubbard’s.

Birthdays
A big Happy Birthday to ……………
Clodagh in the baby room will be 1 yr
Cliona will be 1 yr

Photographer
We hope everyone is happy with photos Dermot ward took of the children. We only had one or two tears this year!
The order has gone in for the group photos so we should have them back soon. If you have not paid for your set and group photo, can you please have it in by Friday 17th December. Dermot will accept cash or cheques made out to Dermot Ward.  Please do not include money for photo together with your child’s fee.

Fireman Visit
Vinnie, the Fireman was here in Mother Hubbard’s.  He explained about fire safety to all the children. He also pointed out that many children hid under the beds in event of a fire and hard to rescue them so he told the children to shout out loud if there ever was a fire at home. All the children had an amazing time asking questions to the fireman.

Christmas Decorations
All the children in the rooms are very busy wit Christmas activities and decorating their rooms.

Christmas Holidays
We close at 6 pm on Thursday 23rd of December for Christmas holidays.  Sessional Montessori closes at 12pm on the 23rd also.
We re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2011 and the Sessional Montessori start back on Monday the 10th January 2011.

Christmas Party
The children’s Christmas Party on Thursday the 23rd of December. Children can dress up if they wish.

NCNA & IPPA
As you know we are members of the NCNA (National Children’s Nurseries Association) and IPPA (Irish Preschool Play Association). Both of these organisations are joining together to form “Early Childhood Ireland”. You can get more information at www.ncna.ie or www.ippa.ie

Jack & Jill Foundation
We are collecting old mobile phones for the Jack & Jill Foundation. If you have any old ones lying around that you don’t need please bring it into us and we will pass it onto the foundation. There funding has been cut by the HSE by over 1 million Euro so every bit helps.
Thank you!

Ad
A staff member in our Ongar centre has set up a small business. Details below;

“For stunning handmade headbands for yourself or your little cutie please visit Cute as a Button Headbands on facebook.
My headbands are custom made to your order for that personal touch!”
  
Play dough – Something to do on a rainy day over Christmas!
1/2 cup salt (60g)
1/2 cup water (120ml)
1 cup flour (120g)
1 tablespoon oil
food dye (3 or 4 drops) or poster paint (big squeeze) (any colour, be creative!) 

Put everything into a bowl and mix. It’s that easy!!
A hint – If you use warm water its easier to mix together





We hope everyone has a great Christmas and a
Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from everyone at Mother Hubbard’s
  


Mother Hubbard’s
19 Nephin Road
Dublin 7
01 8688460
www.motherhubbardschildcare.ie

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Ongar November Newsletter 2010

Mother Hubbards Newsletter
November 2010

Look who has a birthday this month:

Georgia in Montessori who turned 4
Ronale in Montessori who turned 3 
Andrius in Montessori who turned 4 
Daniel in Pre-Montessori who turned 2
James in Toddlers who turned 2
Armin in Montessori who will be 4 


Welcome

We would like to welcome Natalia to Mother Hubbards and their parents.  We hope you are all very happy here with us.
We would like to welcome back Letitia our area manager from her maternity leave, her daughter Juliet has started in the baby room. We hope you both settle in very well.
And say good buy to Fiona in after school and Edward in the Toddler Room.

Reminder of Christmas Holidays

The sessional Montessori children (9.00-12.00) will finish up on Thursday 23rd December at 12.00 and will return on Monday 10th January 2011 at 9.00am.

For all other children the centre will close on Thursday 23rd December at 6.30pm and will re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2011.
  
Weather

As the weather is getting colder could all parents please send in a suitable coat and a hat, scarf and gloves for their child for outdoor play.  Wellies and raincoats should be provided for wet days.  You can label these items and leave them in the centre if you wish to do so.
  
Hand Sanitiser

We would like to remind all parents to use the hand sanitiser in the hallway (located at the entrance) when entering and exiting the building to help stop the spread of infection in the centre especially that is winter time and parents who go to Baby room and Wobbler room please use the shoe cover to prevent infection around.

Parent’s Notice board

We have a parent’s notice board located in the hallway (on the left).  We would like to remind parents to check these regularly for notices and updates about activities, parties and goings on in the centre.

Smile
We are in the process of organising our photographer Dermot Ward to come to the centre in the coming weeks to take photos of the children.  Parents are under no obligation to buy these photos and only do so if they wish after seeing the photos.  Look out for signs in the centre with details of dates, prices etc.

Gymboree/Speech&Drama


The Gymboree class is going very well the children are enjoying the class every Wednesday.
Speech and drama class is also in full swing at this moment in the Montessori class children love it.
Thank you to all parents who make this to happen.

Christmas

The children are making some Christmas decorations to help decorate the Centre Christmas Tree. On the 2nd December at 10.30am the Christmas tree lights will be switched on by all the children in the centre and beautiful decorations!



(The following article is taken from www.rollercoaster.ie)

Healthy Lunchbox Guidelines


As parents we sometimes feel pressurised into filling our children’s lunchboxes with the latest gimmicky foods. 
Make no mistake; we are targeted in a big way by the food industry. Pre-packaged lunchbox “foods”, high in salt, fat, sugar and additives, are pushed by slick advertising campaigns. Cheap to produce and profitable, these unhealthy products use every trick in the book to get into your child’s lunchbox. Adverts often don’t tell the whole story, and ad-campaigns are designed to get kids nagging their parents. We think that it is about time that parents took the power back!
To keep your child healthy – to prevent obesity and the future risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer – it’s important to provide wholesome grub for your child’s lunch. Good lunchtime food will also help your children to perform well at school.
According to the World Health Organisation, Low intake of fruit and vegetables causes about 19% of gastrointestinal cancer, 31% of ischemic heart disease and 11% of stroke. 
Help your child to be healthy, and include fruit when you can! If you don’t have fresh fruit to hand, include some dried fruit like raisins, sultanas, dates or apricots
Lunchbox guidelines
·        Include a piece of fresh fruit in every lunch if you can - as an alternative, you could include a portion of dried fruit (raisins, sultanas or apricots, wrapped in greaseproof paper)
·        Try to include at least one vegetable - many children enjoy scrubbed carrots at lunch
·        For added fibre, choose whole-grain bread for sandwiches – if your children don’t like brown bread, choose a white bread that has some seeds in it
·        If you can, include some salad or fruit in the sandwich - for example peanut butter and banana, ham and tomato, or chicken and lettuce
·        Don’t include fizzy drinks, fruit drinks or sports drinks with lunches - choose water, milk or 100% fruit juice as healthier alternatives
·        Avoid salted, oily foods like crisps (even the “healthy” versions)
·        Stay away from cakes, chocolate and sweets
Making a Difference...
Sometimes we all need that extra bit of encouragement to try new things. It can help to involve your children in lunch box planning and/or shopping.
If that still doesn't tempt them, then try a sticker reward system. Each time your child tries a new, healthier lunch box food or drink, give them a star or sticker (on a wall chart or special notebook). Once they collect five stars, give them a small reward, like a comic, family walk or outing. It’s best to make it a non-food reward and agree what it will be at the beginning. Linking a new food to a positive experience can help to establish new tastes and habits.
Keep things positive and don’t force your child to eat anything...this is probably the worst thing you could do.
Make sure your school has a healthy eating policy. 



No 6 The Avenue
Ongar Village                            Phone: 01-8260055
Dublin 15                                       
E-Mail:  ongar@motherhubbardschildcare.ie
www.motherhubbardschildcare.ie 

Nephin Road's November Newsletter 2010

Nephin Road November Newsletter 2010

A big Happy Birthday to Maria who was 4 years.

We would like also to wish a happy birthday to Teresa who will be …??? on the 26th

.Brilliant Time…

All children in Montessori enjoyed their little walk for the Toddle Waddle to the park and had a great time. We would like to thank all the parents who contributed for this event and we are please to let you know that, we have collected a sum of €210. Everyone in the centre had also a fantastic spooky Halloween party.

The Parents’ Evening which was held on the 9th of November was a great success.  We hope all parents had a great night and enjoyed the fact you were able to talk to the staff member about your child and meeting other parents.  We wish to thank all of you who attended.

PhotographerDermot, the photographer will be coming to the centre on the Wednesday the 24th to take pictures of the children.  Children who are not attending that day can still come to have the pictures taken.


 

 
 

 


 

 Activities in the room

All children are busy doing winter theme in the all rooms.

·        Babies are doing painting at the same time exploring the colours.

·        Toddlers are engrossed in their activities about stars. Young Astronauts…!!!

·        Pre Montessori children are learning their numbers. Genious Mathematicians …!!!

·        Montessori children are learning about life cycle of butterflies and they are showing great interest in growing flowers. Future Ecologists…!!!

 

Reminders

The Montessori sessional children will finish up on the 22nd of December at 12.00 and return on Monday, the 10th of January 2011 at 9.00 am.

The centre will close for all other children from the 23rd of December at 6.00 pm and reopens on the 4th January 2011 at 8.00 am.

Catherine is coming back on the 29th after covering Letitia who was on maternity leave.  Jessie will be back in Pre Montessori and Fiona will be leaving us on the 26th.  We wish good luck and all the best in her teaching career. We will miss you…

We are requesting all parents to bring permission forms for the photo.  Children will not have their picture taken if we do not receive the forms.

 

A big Thanks

Thank you to everyone who donated a box to our Team Hope Christmas Appeal.

 Topic of the month

Your Child's Heart for Life 

Through healthy eating and active living

Until recently, heart disease was viewed as something to become concerned about once we hit middle-age. 

We now know, however, that heart disease can begin in early childhood as a result of poor diet and lack of physical activity. A lot of attention is now focused on the increasing levels of child overweight and obesity, conditions which can lead to Type 2 diabetes and, in turn, to early heart disease. 

We have every reason to be concerned as these surprising facts from the Irish.
National Children's Survey show about the state of our children's health:
·         One out of every ten Irish children (aged 8-12 years) is overweight and each year this figure is increasing.
·         One-fifth of Irish children's energy intake comes from sweets, snacks and biscuits - a very high and unhealthy proportion!
·         Children on average eat only a half serving of vegetables per day - combined with fruit, children need to eat five servings each day
·         One in three children watches over two hours of TV every day
·         Many of our children and young people are not active enough to be healthy
So, together, we have a lot of work to do.

Golden Rules:

·         The family who eats together is healthier
It is a fact that young people who eat with their families consume fewer higher calorie drinks, more
fruit and vegetables, and less fat both at home and in meals away from home.
·         High Five for fruit and veg
Five portions of fruit and veg boost intake of Vitamins A, C, and E, especially good for heart health.
·         Get up and go
Children from the age of 5 to 18 need to be physically active for at least one hour a day. Playing in the garden, kicking a football, dancing on a dance mat and PE in school all count.

·         Variety is the spice of life
Break old eating habits - gradually - and buy healthier options. The more foods your child is exposed to, the more balanced their diet. Check your shopping against the Food Pyramid overleaf.
·         Turn off the TV more often
DVDs and computer games may be educational - at a stretch! - but it's not exercise. Don't underestimate the power of TV in promoting sugary, high-fat and high salt foods.
·         The 'S' words
Some processed foods contain lots of saturated fat, sugar and salt. Buy fresh foods wherever possible to help avoid life-long battles with weight and high blood pressure.