A very wet and cold Winter has meant our little garden birds are very hungry .They are practically queuing up to eat the nuts on the feeders and the children get so much pleasure from watching them,keen to see their own adopted little bird.Even though it is  cold,the birds have started to sing again giving hope of Spring on its way. We look forward to turning the page on the calendar,putting up the picture for February and welcoming Spring . Today we noted the little crocuses peeping up from under the ground and examined different trees to see if their buds were opening. We raked and away old leaves and all delighted in seeing the bulbs we planted in the Autumn appearing .From now on we will keep a close watch on everything because Spring is coming!

There was great excitement when we finally turned the page on the calendar, bade goodbye to November and welcomed Santa and Robins month of December!!It was lovely to lift the darkness and decorate our school room with multi coloured twinkly lights and build our Christmas village. However,as always, the most exciting part was putting up our crib after listening to the “Nativity Story”! It always amazes me how year after year this story never fails to engage and enthrall every child!! We then discussed the role each child would have in our play. Umi and Michael opted to be Mary and Joseph ,whilst Harry,David and Tom just wanted to be kings. The other boys,Sonny, Oscar, Cillian and Jake were happy to be shepherds and the rest of the girls,Sienne, Iseult, Edan, Wren ,Saorla ,Anna and Rosa were thrilled to be angels.In fact,deciding everyone’s part was never easier with all just falling into their role!!We have been so busy practicing the play and singing the Christmas songs every day and look forward to welcoming Mums and Dads into the school on Thursday for our Christmas show!

It has been quite a cold winter and as a result the little garden birds are very hungry. But we have nuts and fat balls on the feeders and so we have a great variety of little birds visiting the feeders. The children get such enjoyment out of watching the birds fly back and forth from the cherry tree,as if taking turns to feed.They already know by observation what each  bird likes to eat. Thrush and blackbird are ground feeders and enjoy apples,whilst the tits love nuts and seeds.  Robin will eat nuts but prefers fat balls as does chaffinch and goldfinch!!Watching the birds is a huge part of school life and great entertainment and conversation in the classroom.

Our Robin is always at the window  watching the children work and then delivering messages to Santa.We are on best behaviour  as a result! He is Umi s special bird and she did a beautiful project on him cutting out lovely pictures. Greenfinch is Harry’s bird and another bird we see every day. Harry did a great project on him and little brother Hugo also brought a picture of Greenfinch in for us to see! Both Michael and Wren did Great tit, two lovely projects with help from Mummys and Daddys! Michael has loved great tit ever since he learned to recognize his song “teacher teacher”!Sienne has always been so fond of little Blue tit and her big brother Zach helped her colour in the beautiful hand drawn pictures her mummy drew! Edan chose Swallow,another great project with lovely pictures, and so we look forward to welcoming him next Spring!

This morning Ella proudly brought in her beautifully hand drawn(her Dad) goldfinch project.We all agreed that goldfinch is definitely the most beautiful bird in the garden especially as Ella had the sun shining down on his golden wings and hence his name.!This afternoon Killian arrived with Magpie(nasty magpie as he is known in school)!We had to agree that even though we don t like magpie,it was good to learn a little about him.All were intrigued to see the glasses and watch he had stolen for his nest….he sure does like shiny things! Both lovely projects on very different birds.

As small children love animals,the family boxes of animals followed by the mammal baskets are some of the first exercises the children will learn when they come to school. Earlier in the term,shortly after the new school year began and because the children have such a natural love and respect for animals,I decided that perhaps each child might like to choose a native Irish mammal and do a project on it.This was greeted with great enthusiasm and slowly but surely everyone produced a beautiful project,It was a great start to the year!  Each child learned how to tell the group about their animal whilst the other children listened. They also discovered how to admire each others work!And so very quickly bare walls were festooned with the childrens and their families amazing work!!The fox from Umi and also Michael,both very different but lovely!The Red Deer from both Saorla and Jake,very different and so interesting. Anna,having been at school last year couldn’t wait for a project and was first in with a fantastic Dolphin project!Siennes Red Squirrel was so cute as was Iseults  little Rabbit.Wren told us all about our smallest Mammal,the Pygmy Shrew. We learned about Badger from Harry and Hedgehog from David,Irish hare from  Killian ,the Grey Seal from Ella , Bats from Edan (with her own drawings) and our shy little otters from Oscar and Tom!

Winter has arrived with wind and rain almost daily!However,the grayness of our Irish Winter is lifted by the activity on the bird table. Its lovely to welcome our little garden birds back as they sit and watch from the cherry tree for their turn on the feeders. As always the children are  entranced by all the activity on the feeders and once again each child has chosen a garden bird for a project!And what wonderful projects are arriving…Anna did the blackbird with lovely pictures of the  cock,hen and chicks, also telling us that he likes(worms,seeds,fruit) and pictures of his predators(hawks,foxes,cats)! Iseult arrived on the same day with her lovely wren and told us us that it is our smallest native bird! Sonny chose goldfinch and coloured in the pictures himself and even made an nest! Wrens mummy helped her with the great tit,a beautiful colourful project! David gave us a huge amount of information on the wagtail and we learned that the numbers of these birds have decreased over the past few years! In fact,we haven’t seen our little wagtail who walks up and down the school path searching for invertebrates since Princess Lily,our cat made a dive for him last week! We are all learning so much from the wonderful projects that all the family help out with and a big thank you to all for the great work!