Cheerios Childline Breakfast at Crawford Childcare
14 Oct, 2013
The Cheerios Childline Breakfast Together Week took place from October 7th -13th 2013. Childline has been listening to Ireland’s most vulnerable children for 25 years. Childline is the only 24 hour listening service for children in Ireland. In 2012 Childline received 771,301 calls from children. Due to lack of funding it was only possible to answer 510,003 of those calls. 261,298 calls were left unanswered. In Crawford Childcare we believe that every child should be listened to. To show our support for Childline we organised a breakfast on Wednesday 9th October 2013. There was a party atmosphere at Crawford and breakfast fun run through the…
Painting is an important part of the curriculum in all 3 rooms in Crawford Childcare. Painting offers many learning opportunities including sensorial play, creativity, mark making, recording information, communication, literacy and numeracy skills. Brushes and paints are popular of course. The team at Crawford Childcare also like to introduce more creative painting ideas to the children in each room. We thought we would share a few in this week’s blog so that the more adventurous amongst you can try them too. Just remember to dress the children (and yourself) in clothes you are not too worried about. It is also a good idea to have…
There have been a lot of ideas for a name for our rescue horse. The children, parents and staff have all contributed. It has been a difficult task but we have made a shortlist that includes Buzz, Twinkle Toes, Rebel, Tickles and Oreo. Everyone was invited to vote on their favourite, every vote counted as it has been a close run contest. The actual name will be announced shortly! Find out more about the new horse here. During class time the Montessori children have been using rocket ships for number recognition and maths skills. Outside, tyres are still proving to be a great learning resource. Some…
Every year, usually in May the Montessori have a school tour. For the past 2 years the Montessori class have visited Tir Na Si open farm based in Watergrasshill. The farm is only a 15 minute bus trip from the crèche. It is well run, informative and fun. As well as many animals there are fun-based activities based at the farm including outside and inside playgrounds, pony and trap rides and mini golf. Julia, the owner has always looked after us well on the tours of the farm. The children have even helped with feeding the animals under her supervision. An Aistear showcase in Mallow…
This week was the first week of our Montessori year. When a new term begins it is important to encourage the children to respect each other and their learning environment. During circle time our teachers have explained the need for rules. The children made their own classroom rules with the support of their teachers. The teachers then made picture forms of the children’s rules - just in case any of us need to be reminded! Our Montessori work shelves are denoted by red stars to help the children differentiate between the materials used during work time and play time. The available material is limited to…
Each of our 3 rooms in Crawford Childcare follows Aistear (NCCA, 2009) the National Curriculum Framework for children aged 0-6 years. The curriculum content is child led in that it is formed around the children’s emergent interests. “Interests” are behaviours, subjects, ideas, things, topics and events which inspire, fascinate and stimulate positive learning dispositions such as concentration, perseverance and curiosity. Early year workers in our service use the interests of the children, families, community and themselves as the substance of the learning program. Interests are developed through projects/ investigations using fun, hands-on experiences where children and adults explore the learning together to develop theories and…
It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to school. The shops are awash with uniforms, bags, lunchboxes and back to school offers. For those of you with a child due to start with us in Montessori for the first time we wanted to give you a few helpful hints to ease the transition from home to Montessori. Every year thousands of children start pre-school or montessori. Many children find starting in the Montessori exciting and have little trouble with the changes that it brings, while others can find this time stressful. It’s a time of great excitement and new beginnings for the child…
Crawford Childcare & Montessori is fortunate to be located in the leafy suburbs of Glanmire in Crawford Woods. Our purpose built facility was built to suit the needs of children from 3 months to 6 years. Our large car park takes the stress out of those early morning drop offs and we have space to accommodate buggies and car seats in the entrance all. We take security very seriously so the car park, entrance and garden are monitored by CCTV 24 hours a day. A keypad system is in operation on all access doors within the crèche whereby only holders of the code can enter…
Welcome to our first blog! This is new territory for us so please let us know what you think and what sort of information you would like to see on our blog. Crawford Childcare first opened its doors towards the end of 2008. A custom built crèche located in the on the outskirts of Glanmire, Crawford Childcare was built as part of the Crawford Woods housing estate. At the time we saw an opportunity to open a crèche which would suit the needs of working parents while providing the best possible care for children in a caring and secure environment. As parents of small children…
