Thursday, December 20, 2012

Ongar December 2012 Newsletter


Mother Hubbards Newsletter
December 2010

Happy Birthday

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

  • Adrian and Lily in Baby room; both turn 1
  • Jamie in Wobblers room who turns 2
  • Cara in the Montessori room who will be 4
  • Isaac in Junior Montessori who turns 5 and,
  • Happy Birthday to Alison


Welcome
We would like to give a big warm welcome to all the new children who have started recently at mother Hubbards. We hope you all settle in great and have lots of fun with us here!
  • Roisin in baby room
  • Ana and Rory in Pre-Montessori room

Reminders
·        Just a reminder that the crèche will close on the 21st of December at 6.30pm sharp and re-open on Wednesday 3rd January at 7.15am.
·        The last day of term for ECCE and Montessori is Thursday the 20th of December at 11.30am.
·        Parents of children in afterschool should please clearly label their children’s school uniforms and bags.






Christmas Spirit

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  from all of us at Motherhubbards.

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

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Ongar's November 2012 Newsletter


See full size image 

Look who has a birthday this month:

Liam in the baby room is turning 1
Daniel and James in Montessori both turning 4
Saoirse and Ethan, both in junior Montessori will turn 3
Isabella in the pre-montessori room turns 2.

Welcome
We would like to welcome the following children:
·        Adrian, Ethan and Ines into our baby room
·        Luis and Rhea into the Junior Montessori.
 We wish them all the happiness while in here.
We would also like to welcome Caroline and Donna into the team; we hope you will be very happy here.


Reminder of Christmas Holidays

The sessional Montessori children (9.00-12.00) will finish up on Thursday 20th   December at 11.30 and will return on Monday 7th January 2013 at 9.00am.
For all other children the centre will close on Friday 21st December at 6.30pm and will re-open on Wednesday 2nd January 2013.


Barnados Donation
This is to say a big thank you to all who have made donations for the Barnardos dressing up & fund raising last month. Your kind gesture is well appreciated.

Weather
See full size image

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 Sanitizer

We would like to remind all parents to use the hand sanitizer 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.

Smile
MC900434892[1]
Our photographer Dermot Ward is coming to the centre on Tuesday 27th November 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 prices etc.


Speech & Drama.
Speech and drama class is also in full swing at this moment in the Montessori class children love singing, dancing and acting with Hilary
Thank you to all parents who make this to happen.



Info on Children’s Right Referendum
It may be of interest to you to know what is next with the passing of the Children’s right referendum last week.
The referendum was carried with the Yes side securing 58% of the vote and the No side getting 42%.  While we are disappointed that turnout was just 33.49%, in real terms, 1,066,239 people voted (that’s almost one adult for every child in Ireland today) – out of a total electorate of 3,183,239.   For more information, please visit http://www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/children%e2%80%99s-rights-referendum/




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

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Slane Roads September/October 2012 Newsletter


Mother Hubbards Newsletter
September/ October 2012


                   
                                                                                      
Happy Birthday!!
Caitlin in playschool was 2 in September
Evanna in playschool was 2 in September
Sophie in pre Montessori was 3 in September
                                          
Cathal in pre Montessori was 3 in September
Lucy in pre Montessori will be 3 in October
Caoimhe in Montessori was 4 in September
Jack in Montessori was 4 in October

We would like to welcome all our new children who joined us in Montessori, Toddlers, Pre-Montessori and Afterschool.  They have all settled in well since starting and are really enjoying themselves!!

Congratulations to Rachel and Ian on the birth of their bay boy Max.

Congratulations to Victoria and Robert on their marriage last Thursday the 4th October. We all at Mother Hubbard’s would like to wish them all the best for their Future!!

Congratulations to our area manager Catherine and Ollie on the birth of baby Cillian!


ECCE Scheme

Thank you all for your co-operation in filling in all the forms as required by the Dept of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) for the ECCE scheme this year.  Parents who are due to receive their booking deposit will be refunded as soon as all the registrations have been verified by the DCYA.

Class Times
Our Montessori class sessions are from 9.00am to 12.00pm
Some children are pre-booked to arrive at an earlier time or to remain on for collection at a later time.  We would ask parents to adhered to the agreed times, as it as affects the afternoon sessions and therefore disrupts the staff lunchtime rota.

Opening Hours
We would like to remind parents that the centre opens from 7.30am to 6.00pm sharp!! 



Fundraising!!

Operation Christmas Child
This year Mother Hubbard’s are taking part in Operation Christmas Child. This is a charity initiative run by the Samaritans, you are asked to fill a shoebox with different gifts for Christmas for a child in some of the world poorest countries. Parents will receive a leaflet shortly explaining how to fill your shoe boxes and any parent who wish to participate please note boxes have to be in by the 11th of November!! Thank you!

We will be having our annual Cheerio’s Child line Breakfast Appeal on Thursday the 11th of October. We will be having lots of fun on this day!! Children can wear in their pyjamas and for snack we will have lots of yummy Breakfast treats like French toast/toast, fruit and Cheerio’s!!! A donation box will be left in the hall way for any donations you wish to make to Child line!! Thank You!


What been happening in the rooms this month?
Toddlers painted our Autumn tree and finger painted orange and green leaves.  We sponge painted our Autumn animals the hedgehog and the squirrel.  We had lots of fun doing group activities – painting, gluing, chalk, music and dance and free play.
We made a splash with water play and bubbles and got our hands dirty with the sand.  We also enjoyed messy play.
Toddlers love to go for walks outside and wrap up warm to play in the garden.
We are looking forward to learning about parts of our body and looking forward to Halloween -- Halloween fun and frolics!
Playschool In playschool this month we have been busy with Our Autumn theme.  We have been learning about the different animals related to Autumn and basing our arts and crafts around Our theme making leaf men and autumn collages using different materials and techniques.  Next on our plan is “All about me” where we will make family trees, and base our activities on this.  Halloween will soon be with us and the children in playschool are excited about our Halloween festivities, parties and dressing up.  Also this month the children have learned a new song about numbers, helping them learn to count from 1-10. 
Pre-Montessori - In Pre-Montessori we would like to give a big welcome to all the children who have started, they are all settling in well!  The children have being learning about Autumn.  They have coloured and glued squirrels.  They have painted and glued trees and hand/finger painted trees.  The children have being busy outside in the garden playing with the sand and on the slides and running around and playing with the balls etc.  We also have been doing a lot of baking and making rice-krispy buns.
For the month of October the children will be learning about Halloween and making lots of things for Halloween and making lots of things for Halloween like spiders, bats, pumpkins etc.  We will also be having a fancy dress Party, lots of treats….yummy!!!
Montessori have been
1)       Settling into our new classroom
2)      How to work, talk in the classroom and how to carry a chair.  We learned the clean up song.
3)       Classroom manners, respect for each other, being kind and helpful.  We learned the “Please” and “Thank You” song.
4)      Autumn – key facts about Autumn, we learned about the Hedgehog.  We learned our Autumn songs “All the leaves are falling down and read stories about hedgehogs.
5)      We did finger painting – our Autumn trees and put on display we made our birthday name train on display in class
6)      Baking cornflake buns





Reminder to parents           
Can we remind parents to bring in wellies and raincoats for all children- please ensure that they are labelled clearly with their child’s name. Also can all parents ensure that their child has a spare set of clothes in the crèche as they may need to be changed after water play or when they go outside!!


We ask all parents of after school children to send in a spare set of clothes with their child everyday in their school bags. This is to ensure that children are as comfortable as possible after their day at school and that their uniforms stay clean!!



We would also like to remind all parents that we are closed the 29th of October for the bank holiday!! Montessori sessionals will have their Halloween mid term from Monday 29th October – Friday 2nd November (inclusive).

The centre is closed Monday the 29th October for the Bank Holiday!


Halloween Parties:

Toddlers & Playschool will have their Party on Friday the 26th October.

Pre-Montessori will be having their Party on Wednesday the 24th October.

Montessori and Afterschool will be having their Party on Friday the 26th October.







Halloween
Halloween is coming up at the end of this month!!! Here’s a spooky recipe for you to make to mark the occasion….

1.      MERINGUE SKELETON BONES
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
·        Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
·        Line cookie sheet with brown paper bag or parchment.
·        In a medium sized bowl at high speed, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt till fluffy.
·        Gradually beat in sugar and add vanilla. 
·        Place in pastry bag fitted with a medium plain piping tip.
Pipe 3" bone shapes onto parchment or brown paper bag.
·        Bake 1 hour until set. Turn off oven, dry in oven 1 hour. Makes 4 to 5 dozen.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Mother Hubbards,
56 Black castle Demesne,
Slane Road, Navan.
046- -9059967                    E-mail; navan@motherhubbardschildcare.ie

Monday, September 17, 2012


Mother Hubbards Childcare Ongar Newsletter

September 2010

Welcome to our first newsletter of the new school year.  This month we would like to welcome all of the new children who started with us at the beginning of September and their parents.  We hope you are all very happy here at Mother Hubbards.  


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

  • Aoibhe in baby room turning 1
  • Loiza  and Kate in junior Montessori, both turning 3
  • Lara Murray in Junior After School will be turning 4


Congratulations
We use the opportunity to say big congratulations to our area manager, Catherine and her family on the arrival of their new baby boy. We wish them all the happiness.


Reminders.
  • We would like to remind parents that if you have not brought in a spare set of clothes for your child could you do so as soon as possible. It is very important that we have them in case of emergency. The following clothes should be provided a t-shirt, sweater, underpants, trousers, socks and a vest. After school children are encouraged to bring in a change of clothes so they can change out of their uniforms.  Please remember to label all your child’s belongings and school bags to prevent mix up.
  • We would also like to remind all parents that children should not bring in their own toys to crèche. As you can understand we do not want children’s toys to go home damaged in any way and bringing them in can cause great confusion to other children who think they belong to the crèche. This can cause unwanted bickering and unease amongst the children.
  • We also want to remind some parents who have borrowed booster seats from the crèche to please return them as we need all seats now for school runs.
  • A lots of clothing items have been left behind in the crèche for sometime now. We are requesting parents to check out these items to see if any belongs to them. The boxes containing the items are in the downstairs hallway and will be kept for another month, after which they will be sent to charity organisations. Thank you.


Information: Internet Safety Tips for Parents
It is coming up to the start of a new academic year and technology is everywhere around us in computers, iphones, ipods and  ipads, just to name a few! While technology is a useful tool, we also need to be careful that it is being used appropriately by children and that they are aware of the potential dangers and pitfalls.  For more information on this, please visit :
www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/for-parents-childcare-search/technology-and-children/internet-safety-tips-for-parents-and-practitioners/




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




Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Slane Road March & April Newsletter 2012

Mother Hubbards Newsletter March/April 2012


Happy Birthday
Children who celebrated their birthday in March
Ethan, Daisy and Connor in Playschool
Corey,Rachel and Conor in Montessori
Niamh in Afterschool
                                   
Children who celebrate their birthday in April
Noah in toddlers
Evie in pre Montessori
Alex, Aoife, Caoimhe and Ryan C in Montessori
Maia in Afterschool

We would like to remind all parents that the Montessori will close on Friday 30th of March at 12.00am and re open Monday 16th April at 9.00am for the Easter mid term.
The centre will close for all children on Friday 6th of April for Good Friday and Monday 9th of April for Easter Monday.



Tesco for Schools and Clubs
We are collecting for the Tesco for Schools and Clubs campaign, we ask all parents to bring in as many voucher as possible as we are hoping to get new equipment for the rooms. Please remember to ask for the vouchers when shopping and place them in the box in the hall. Thank You!

Pyjama Day
Thank you to everyone who donated to our Pyjama Day event in aid of the Irish Hospice Society. We had great fun on the day and we have raised €540!!! Thank You for your generous donations!


Please note we no longer prohibit popcorn in the centre, as advised by the HSE, can all parents refrain from sending it in with their child’s lunch. Thank You!

What we are doing in the rooms this month;

The toddlers themes for March were Mothers Day and St Patrick’s Day. They did gluing, painting and made beautiful cards for their Mammies. As the weather has been improving they have been on lovely walks and have been playing in the garden. In April they will be covering Easter and the Farm.
Playschool have been learning about Spring and the animals. They made cards and shamrocks for St Patrick’s Day and decorated their room. They made some lovely Mothers Day arts n crafts for their mammies to show them how much they love them! In April they will be learning about fruit, its sizes, colors and tastes. They will also be learning about Easter they will decorate their classroom, make Easter cards and lots of other arts n crafts to show their families. They will be having an Easter egg hunt in the garden…so much to do but so much fun!!
The pre Montessori children have been busy in March they have celebrated Mothers Day and St Patrick’s Day by making cards and flowers for their mothers and shamrocks and flags for St Patrick’s Day. They have also been busy painting, making play dough, dancing and playing musical instruments and playing in the ball pool room! In April they will be celebrating Easter, they have made Easter cards, baskets with their handprints, chicks and eggs and made rabbits. They will also be learning about sea life, butterflies and lots of baking. They plan to do lots of dancing, singing, outdoor fun and much more!
The Montessori 1 children have been busy learning about their farm animals in March. They also had their recycling week and had a visit from Peter Brady from Meath County Council to talk about recycling; they got lots of recycling goodies! They were busy making crafts and they had a ceili for St Patrick’s Day and made crafts for Mothers Day, we hope you liked their art! At the moment they are making Easter crafts that they will bring home for their mid term! In April they will be having Road Safety week. They will also be learning about planets and space!
The Montessori 2 children have been busy; in March the children learned about St. Patrick’s Day, they had great fun making shamrocks and coloring pictures of St Patrick. They also made vouchers and pictures for Mothers Day; they hope their Mammies liked them! They are also having great fun doing their letter books; they don’t have many letters to go!! They had great excitement on Pyjama Day!! They have also been busy making Easter crafts, they had an Easter egg hunt and they found yummy chocolate eggs and bunnies!
The afterschoolers made flowers and cards for their Mammies for Mothers Day. They made lots of St Patrick’s Day crafts! They will have an Easter hunt during the mid term and make lots of Easter crafts and baking! And of course lots of outdoor play!


You can help!!!
We are looking for real life equipment for our pretend play areas so we are asking all parents to look at the list below and see if they have any of the old equipment to spare at home.
-mixing bowls
-rolling pins
- Recipe books
- Place mats
-tea pots
-baking tins
-weighting scales
-real tools (in good condition)
-stetescope
-shoes (in good condition)
-planks of wood (small)
-screwdrivers (in good condition)
-paint brushes (in good condition)
-nuts and bolts


We would like to remind parents that our closing time is 6 o clock sharp. Please also note that if your child is part time and finishes early in the day it is important they are collected on time as we have to adhere to strict ratios during the day.
If you think you will be late please phone the centre as early as possible as our staff have plans they may need to change if you are running late. Thank You!

Suncream
Can all parents ensure that they bring sun cream and a sunhat in for their child to keep in the centre. Can you also ensure that they are labeled with your child’s name. Sessional Montessori children must have sun cream applied before coming to the centre!


Topic of the Month; Easter

Here’s a cheap and easy way to make your own Easter eggs!!



Easter Recipes
How to make cream filled Easter eggs!
Ingredients
  • 1 cup soft butter
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp vanilla
  • 1 can condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
  • 10 cups icing sugar
  • 1 tsp. yellow food colouring
  • 1 lb. semisweet chocolate
Method
Beat butter, salt and vanilla until fluffy. Add milk, beat in sugar. Blend until stiff. Dust with brown sugar. Knead til smooth.
Set aside more then 2/3 of mixture. To the remaining mixture add yellow food colouring. Blend in well. Divide yellow and white into 16 or 24 pieces. Shape yellow into ball, mould white around yellow to form an egg shape. Dry at room temperature on paper towels for 24 hours.
Melt chocolate in microwave until smooth. Dip eggs in chocolate. Once dipped cool at room temperature. Refrigerate after cool.
When sliced these eggs will have a white cream filling with a yellow filling that appears to be the yolk.



Mother Hubbards, 56 Blackcastle Demesne, Slane Road, Navan.
046- -9059967
Email; navan@motherhubbardschildcare.ie

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Flowerhill March newsletter 2012

Mother Hubbard’s Newsletter
March 2012

Look who has a birthday this month…
  • Tomasz in the Montessori room turns 4 years old
  • Armandes in the Montessori room who turns 4 years old
  • Jakob in the Afterschool room who turns 12 years old
  • Ryan in the Afterschool room who turns 11 years old
  • Nina in the Afterschool room who turns 5 years old

Hope you all have a lovely birthday!

Welcome

We would like to welcome Jonathan, Gabriel and their parents to our Montessori class.  We hope you are very happy here with us at Mother Hubbards.

We would also like to welcome Caley O’Neill who is studying for her Fetac Level 5 and is here on a work experience placement with us on Thursdays and Fridays.

Cliona Martin is also a work experience student who has been here with us since early 2011 on work placement on Thursdays and Fridays also for parents who haven’t met her.  She is studying Childcare and Montessori level 6.

Congratulations                       

Congratulations to Julieann and John Paul Nevin on the birth of their baby boy.

        Pyjama Day

This year we will hold our annual pyjama day on Friday 23rd March in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) ‘Children’s Hospice Home Care Programme’.  This organisation offers support to families who are caring for seriously ill children in their own homes.  As a supporter, you make a difference to the lives of families who are struggling through difficult times.
.  All children should have received their sponsorship cards at this stage.  We ask for a €5 donation per family on the day for this worthy cause.  Children can come in dressed in their pyjamas, slippers and dressing gowns on the day.  They can bring in a teddy, blanket, sleeping bags, pillows on the day also if they wish to do so.  We will also be taking photos of the children on the day to send into the local newspaper so don’t forget to sign the permission form in your child’s classroom before the 23rd!!!
Easter break                  

A reminder to all the parents of Montessori sessional children that we are closing for the Easter break on Friday 30th March and re-opening on Monday 16th April.



Spare Clothes

Could all parents please ensure that their child has a full change of clothes left in the centre in the event of your child maybe needing a change of clothes while they are in our care.  Accidents can happen…drinks spilling, water play, toileting etc. so it is always useful to have a change for each child, just in case!!!





Toys

We would like to ask parents to not allow their child to bring toys into the centre as we cannot be responsible for looking after them.  They can get lost or broken and cause unnecessary upset and confusion between the children.  More often than not the child puts the toy down when they enter their class and its forgotten about after minutes so if it’s a case that they are insisting on bringing something with them in the mornings please take it with you once you drop your child off and bring it back at home-time if you wish to do so.

Also we have noticed some of the children in the centre putting some of the small toys e.g. cars, lego, jig-saw pieces etc. into their pockets while here in their classrooms.  We would ask parents if they find their child with any of the toys/equipment from here in their childs pockets at home to please return them.  As you can understand, a jig-saw is not much good for the children when there are missing pieces to the puzzle.  Thank you.

Fundraiser

In our Ongar Centre we got news that Ben, who was part of our Junior Afterschoolers has been diagnosed with leukaemia recently, he is currently undergoing treatment in St. Johns Ward, Crumlin Hospital.
It was suggested by a parent that staff, parents, family and friends could take part in the Women’s Mini Marathon in June in aid of St John’s Ward. Many of our staff are taking part. We are hoping that more parents agree to take part. The marathon takes place on Monday 4th of June and all support would be welcomed. 
The website to register for the marathon is http://www.florawomensminimarathon.ie/

Alternatively if you would like to make a donation follow this link:  http://cmrf.org/sponsorshipPage/show/935


What have we been doing lately…

Montessori children

We have been busy learning all of our sounds, letters and numbers.  We learned all about healthy eating and the food pyramid and even did some food tasting ourselves!!! We have been learning about life cylces and have planted some carrots, tomatoes and onions…now to watch them grow!! We will be planting some sunflowers also to link in with National Pyjama Day.  We also had a lovely parade for St. Patrick’s Day and made some lovely photo frames for our Mums for Mother’s Day.

Afterschool Children

We have been enjoying playing football outdoors in the afternoons.  We have also been getting creative with the sand outdoors.  We enjoyed the St. Patricks Day celebrations.  We will be planting sunflowers also to link in with this years Pyjama Day and we will be making some funny cress heads to display and look after in our classroom.



Have you checked us out on facebook yet???  Please look us up and like us if you haven’t already…it’s a great way for keeping in touch and updated on the news of all our centres with links to other topics which might be of interest to you


Our website is: 
http://www.motherhubbardschildcare.ie/



151 Blackcastle Lodge                          Phone: 046-9070558
Flowerhill                                           Fax:  046-9070670
Navan                             E-Mail:  flowerhill@motherhubbardschildcare.ie


Friday, March 2, 2012

Ongar's February Newsletter 2012

Mother Hubbards Newsletter
February 2012

Happy Birthday

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

  • Molly in the ECCE who was 4
  • Ellie in the ECCE who was 4
  • Sarah in Afterschool who was 7
  • Oliwia in Montessori who was 4
  • Jack in Afterschool who was 5
  • Abbie in the Pre Montessori who was 4


Welcome
We would like to welcome Elaine who has joined Ronke in our baby/Wobbler Room. We hope she is very happy here.

Child Protection
We would like to make all parents aware that since January 2012, child protection guidelines that have been in place for a number of years have been made law. Under these guidelines slapping is also included as a form of physical abuse. If a parent or child discloses to a staff member that they have been slapped by their parent/guardian then it is our duty of care to report it to the duty social worker. There is a website that contains all the information regarding the guidelines that we follow. The link is http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/child_welfare_protection/ChildrenFirst.pdf

Opening/Closing Times
We open at 7.15 in the morning and cannot take children from their parents before this time. We close at 6.30pm. Please remember that staff have commitments outside of work so it is important that all children are picked up at 6.30.

Reminders

·        Can all parents please ensure that they supervise their children once they are picked up in the evenings as an accident may occur if a child is left un-attended.
·        Speech and Drama is now well under way in Montessori and there are some payments still outstanding, can you please ensure we receive full payment as soon as possible.
·        We have upgraded the enrolment forms. If you have not received yours please ask your child’s teacher for a copy. If you have not returned them please fill them out in full and return them soon as possible. If you have any queries about the form please do not hesitate to ask a member of staff about it.
·        We are closed on Monday 19th of March as this is the St. Patricks Day bank holiday
·        Pyjama day will take place on Friday 23rd of March, further details will follow next month

Reminder to all parents that you can join our Facebook and Twitter pages and receive this monthly newsletter and other information, just go our website www.motherhubbardschildcare.ie and follow the links


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