Our Learning Story - Early Childhood Ireland

Our Learning Story
Them bones, them bones need Calcium!!
Them Bones, Them Bones need Calcium!!!
 Here in Little Moo Moos Playschool, our curriculum is based around Áistear - the four themes of early
learning.
 Under the theme of ‘Well Being’ we promote good health and encourage the children to make healthy
choices and have positive attitudes to nutrition & hygiene.
 Our curriculum is planned & implemented in a way that allows integrating local knowledge, the local
environment & the wider community.
 We discuss food & where it comes from.
 We extend the children’s knowledge and expose them to a range of experiences.
 As part of our healthy eating policy, we develop activities around the food pyramid.
 We involve the wider community and show the children the important roles members
of that community play.
 We incorporate Áistear’s principles of early learning focusing on the third group – “How children learn
and develop”.
 We encourage and support the child’s holistic learning and development.
 We believe children learn many different things at the same time.
 We believe our ‘healthy teeth & bones’ learning story will support this!
We started the “Healthy Lifestyle Project” with an introduction of “ My first big book of the Human Body” to the children.
We looked at the skeleton, bones & teeth.
We spoke about nutrition and the foods we need to grow.
We introduced a food pyramid jigsaw to the Montessori class,
so the children could take the food pyramid from the shelf and spend time learning about the foods.
Tommy says “This is not good.
It make your teeth black.
You feel sick if you eat too much.
The chocolate & crisps don’t make you big & strong.”
“It’s an egg. It’s good for you.
I don’t like this. It has yellow and white”
“I like these things. They make me big & strong.
Look!! I have white teeth”
Tommy said “ Farmer Rory’s cows have milk. He puts it in the shops.
My Mammy gets the milk and puts it in the fridge”
Next we linked healthy foods for growth (teeth, bones), to the food pyramid, focusing on the dairy section.
At lunchtime, we linked the foods that the children brought to school with the healthy choices on the food pyramid.
Re-visiting the dairy section of the food pyramid, we spoke about “where things come from?”
We took the children on farm walks to visit the calves and feed them good food so they can grow big and strong too.
We discussed how cows give us milk which can also make cheese, yogurt and butter.
We also visited the milking parlour to see where Farmer Rory milks the cows and to learn how it gets from the shed to our table.
Aiden: “That lamb is going to get big and
strong!! Do you know why?”
Teacher: “ Tell me why?”
Aiden: “Because Katie is giving him milk from
Farmer Rory’s cows. Milk gives you white teeth
and strong bones. Did Farmer Rory get that
milk from his cows?”
Teacher: “ No Aiden. Lambs have to drink
special milk”
Aiden: “I knew that.”
The Children learn where milk comes from and we get a milk delivery from Leah. Sophie M’s aunt works for
Glanbia where farmer Rory’s milk goes to .
Finally, we had a visit from Sophie Burke’s Mum. Sophie’s Mum is a dental hygienist and she came and told the class all about
keeping your teeth and gums clean. She showed them how to brush their teeth to keep them clean & healthy.
Building partnerships with parents.
When we were learning about healthy teeth, to make the learning more relevant and meaningful and to turn it into a hands-on
experience, we invited Sophie’s Mam into class. Sophie’s Mam is a dental hygienist. She was delighted to be part of the children’s
learning and we were grateful, she gave her time & expertise to us.
Sophie’s Mum brought a toothbrush, toothpaste and a reward chart
for each child to fill in when they brush their teeth each day.
Soon after Sophie’s Mam’s visit, Molly went to the dentist to have two teeth removed.
Molly told the teacher she went to Cork and she drank too much coke. About ten!!
We concluded with the book “Crocodiles don’t brush their teeth” .
This story book was read during class and at home time and is a great resource in reinforcing healthy habits for children.
This project was so popular that it is continuously developed and we felt we should turn it into a learning story and share it with others.
Farmer Rory sends his milk to Glanbia. Because of the high quality of the product, Glanbia approached him & invited him to take part in their
advertising campaign on the Glanbia website.
Amelie & Sophie were singing “Them bones, Them bones need calcium” at home. They learned this song while they were working on their
healthy body project. Sophie and Amelie’s aunt , who works for Glanbia, was visiting for tea & they told her about the important work they
were doing learning about strong bones & drinking lots of milk. As a result of this conversation, their aunt established a link with us &
Glanbia, and tied the children into the photo shoot with Farner Rory.
When representatives from Glanbia saw our project on “Healthy Bones” , they were delighted and amazed our children were learning from such
an early age the benefits of a healthy diet and that it is part of our curriculum here in Little Moo Moos.
We are guided by Síolta – the national framework for early childhood education.
Our curriculum is based on Áistear - The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework.
The representative of Glanbia asked for a copy of our project to take with her & share this information with her colleagues.
Nestled in St. Margaret’s, Co Dublin is Skephubble Farm. Here Farmer Rory Dwyer, his wife Catherine and four children Rachael, Kate, Martha and
Rory Junior live and run the dairy farm of 70 cows on 75 lush acres of land, East of Dublin Airport. Farming is nothing new to Rory as it has been
in his family for three generations, starting with his grandfather’s farm in Ashbourne Co Meath.
Rory was born and raised on his father’s dairy farm in St. Margaret’s, and he always knew he would follow in his family’s footsteps, as every morning he would milk
the cows before going to school. St. Margaret’s is very different from when he grew up on his father’s farm.
“I work by all my father’s basics, and was once told look after the cow and she will look after you, which still hold true today.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the Dwyers’ mantra ‘Quality is everything’. Not surprising considering Rory inherited 75 years of knowledge, passion and dedication
to dairy farming. The passion of the Dwyer dairy farmers lives on through Rory, who has been producing milk on the farm for 30 years. Rory’s day begins early and
he works on the farm till dusk to ensure his milk is the best quality possible. With such focus on quality it’s not surprising Rory’s milk passes the Peak fresh test &
flows exclusively into our Avonmore cartons!
One thing that makes you fall in love even more with Skephubble Farm is its uniqueness – the Dwyers are so crazy about cows they
inspired the name at Catherine’s playschool ‘Little Moo Moo’s’. Every Monday to Friday from 9am it comes alive with not only the
sound of moos but of the sound of little feet coming into ‘Little Moo Moo’s Playschool’. Set up by Catherine 13 years ago it’s a haven
for children to escape the city to the beautiful surroundings of the farm and to experience ‘learning through nature and the
environment’. ‘Farmer Rory’ (as the kids call him) helps wife Catherine educate the children about healthy eating and dairy farming,
and the goodness of milk. The children are so at home to these surroundings that they even name new bulls after their favourite
cartoon, it’s not unusual to hear the kids call out ‘Barney the Bull’.
Skephubble Farm is a very special place!