Ilana Hill :: Welcome

AUTUMN 2020 NEWSLETTER

What a strange year this has been with Coronavirus changing the way we work, play and live. I wanted to thank every family for supporting me during this time and I hope that I have been flexible and continued to offer an outstanding quality of childminding throughout this pandemic. I was able to continue working throughout with key worker children and then from 1 June 2020 most of my lovely families returned.

We still managed to have lots of fun over the 6 week summer holiday period doing tie dye, soap making, stick crafts, obstacle courses, walks along the canal and in our local parks, picnics, painting, strawberry picking, crayon melting art, tennis, slime making, water science and so much more!

This pandemic is not over yet and the Autumn term is also going to look different. We will be dropping and collecting children from school but we will not be going out to toddler groups, soft plays or meeting up at groups in indoor locations (such as story time at the library, music groups). Instead we will be using our local parks and open spaces to get some time out of the house learning about our environment, our village, nature and Autumn (which is our topic for this term). We will be looking at lots of different things about Autumn including hedgehogs, darkness, hibernation, birds, leaves, sticks, mushrooms, spiders, apples, stars etc. We will also be learning about lots of celebrations this term such as Halloween, Remembrance Day, Diwali and Christmas.

As always if there is anything in particular that you would like me to incorporate into our learning this term please let me know. I love hearing your ideas and suggestions.

There are lots of children changes this term as well. Sophia and Harry will be leaving us, all for different exciting reasons but hopefully we will continue to see them during holiday times. Maeve and Grace will be starting reception and everyone else will be moving up a year. School is also going to be very different this term so I am aiming to provide a consistently loving environment here at my house for the children to return to at the end of the day.

Sadly no FUN DAY this year, which the children were upset about and have told me that I will need to do 2 next year!! We shall see……

There have been lots of government changes in the way we operate due to Coronavirus and I have spent many hours keeping up to date and amending paperwork.

We are still supporting Wildlife Aid (www.wildlifeaid.org.uk). We get a quarterly magazine from them if you would like to borrow it or have a flick through to see the good work that they do in helping our local wild animals.

We also sponsor two dogs (Ernie and Cheeky, whose pictures are on my fridge) through The Dogs Trust. They send us letters and pictures periodically. We have been supporting both of these charities for several years now. If there is another charity that you would like us to consider please let me know and I will talk to the children about it.

Hygge (pronounced Hooga) is a Danish cultural concept where people value warmth, happy cozy time together appreciating our natural world. If you type Hygge into Google translate the English word that comes up is “fun”. According to the 2019 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world very closely followed by Denmark and many researchers put this down to Hygge. In Hygge children are taught that there is no such thing as bad weather, just incorrect clothing and as you know that’s very much how I see the world too. Puddles are there to be jumped in, mud to be squished, animals and wildlife to be respected, small things appreciated and be grateful for. Hygge concepts could be having a warm drink after a cold day, snuggling up under a blanket to have some cuddle time with your loved ones, enjoying nature, feeling safe and secure and knowing that we belong. So I have signed up for this 12 month course and will be following the termly lesson plans, which I will adapt for my setting and children who attend. Apparently it’s not as easy as it seems in our very fast moving world with so much technology but I am going to consciously schedule in time for quiet reading and discussions, games, free exploration, baking, interest tables etc. Let me know what you think!

I am looking forward to another happy year of childminding.

I am excited to get back to a new normal working childminding day doing school runs and having fun with the under 5’s. I purchased a new kindle with some of the left over grant money that I received from the government which the children really love. I have downloaded a learning app called Reading Eggs where the children can play games, read books, learn reading and maths at their own level and speed. So far everyone loves it.

I have been extremely fortunate to also receive the second self employed grant from the government and I am using that money to build a cover over my patio area so that we can play outside in all weathers. I am also planning on doing several more courses, one of which is called Hygge in the Early Years.