Roots Of Empathy

I mbliana, tá rang a 3 agus 4 ag glacadh páirt i gclár darbh ainm Roots Of Empathy. Gach trí sheachtaine, beidh cuairt againn ó Mary agus a mac Donnacha chuig an seomra ranga. Beidh ceachtanna á dhéanamh ag Noreen Leahy, teagascóir an chláir, le na páistí gach seachtain. Faigheann na páistí tuiscint agus forbairt ar chomhbhá a bheith le daoine sa saol tríd aithint agus tuiscint ar mhothúcháin Donnacha.

This year, rang a 3 agus 4 have been selected to take part in a programme called Roots Of Empathy. This programme teaches children about feelings; their own feelings and the feelings of others. Once every three weeks, we will have a visit from baby Donnacha and his mother Mary to the class. Noreen Leahy, Roots Of Empathy instructor, will deliver lessons each week based around certain themes.

Noreen also coaches the children observing and reading the cues the baby gives as to how he is feeling. This facilitates classroom discussion of talking about their own feelings and how their classmates feel. This understanding of feelings of others in turn grows empathy in the children.

With every visit from Mary and Donnacha, the class will collectively update this page summarising the focus theme of the visit, along with some pictures and videos of the visit. 

 

Stay tuned for our updates!

 

Cuairt a hAon: Meeting The Family

Every visit setup is identical; Noreen places a large green blanket on the floor for us to sit around. When we’re all ready, Donnacha is carried in by his mam, Mary, around the blanket for us all to greet him. While this is happening, we sing The Welcome Song to make him feel comfortable and safe.

There are three helpers chosen for each visit, and for our first visit we had Emma, Abi and Jayce. They were given the opportunity to choose a suitable toy to show Donnacha in order for us to see his reaction. 

Abi chose a squeeky crab to play with and a lot of us were surprised by his reaction! He started reaching out, giggling and kicking his legs! We could see he was happy to play!

Next, Jayce chose a smiley face ball that spun inside. Mary placed Donnacha in the centre of the blanket on his Tummy Time Pillow. Jayce kneeled at the bottom of the blanket and gently rolled the ball towards him. Donnacha was definitely interested in it, but we noticed that he was struggling to keep up with the ball because his muscles haven’t fully developed yet.

Finally, Emma chose the rattly fish. Baby Donnacha had started to whine because he was hungry, so Emma distracted him by shaking the toy in front of him. His eyes were follownig the sound and he was reaching out his hands to attempt to grab it. 

During this visit, Noreen and Mary weighed and measured Donnacha so we can keep track throughout the visits. We used our fantastic maths skills to figure out how much he had grown since the day he was born. 

Weight: 6.05kg 
Height: 65cm

We then got to ask Mary some questions about Donnacha. 

At the end, we stood up around the blanket again and sang The Goodbye Song as Mary walked around the blanket.

 

We can’t wait for Cuairt a Dó!  

 

Cuairt a dó: Crying

Hello again! We’re back with an update! We’ve had our second visit from baby Donnacha and Mary. This visit started the same with the green blanket and the Welcome Song. When we finished our greetings, we chatted about how Donnacha communicated different things.

We learned that Donnacha has different cries for different needs! Mary can understand from the sound of his crying what he is trying to ask for. Isn’t that interesting?! We asked Mary lots of questions about how to tend to his needs and she told us she responds by giving him a bottle, changing him, burping him, rocking him or playing with him as needed. 

This week’s helpers were Amelia, Aoibheann and Calum. 

Amelia chose the rattly fish, Aoibheann chose the squeeky crab and Calum chose the jingly bee. Donnacha was really enjoying investigating these toys. With all three helpers, baby Donnacha was trying to touch the toy, kicking his legs with excitement and he has started making cute baby noises in response to the toys. He seemed to prefer the rattly fish the most this week out of all of the toys! 

We finished off with our Goodbye song and said ‘Sláááááán!’.

Excited for the next visit!

Cuairt a trí: Planning and Caring for a Baby

Ciao tutti! We have a new installment of Roots of Empathy! In this visit, baby Donnacha was a lot more energetic. We noticed his fists were opening and closing as if trying to grab something. Mary also informed us that he has started teething! We noticed that he also has developed great hand to eye coordination. We saw this while he was playing with the helpers and following the toy in order to reach out to grab it. 

The helpers this week were Georgia, Sofia and Pádraig.

Georgia chose a bracelet with a rattly ladybird attached to it. He seemed really interested in it and it was the first time we saw him take the toy from the helper! He kept dropping the toy and laughing as if playing a game with Georgia!

Sofia had a soft crab. He seemed more interested in the people around him than the crab. We think this may have been because we were making noises in the background and he was curious as to what we were doing. Sofia’s toy didn’t make any noise, so he kept getting distracted. Mary then moved Donnacha to the green blanket for Tummy Time while Sofia rolled the crab towards him. He was focused a lot more now because he was closer to the toy and it was moving more.

Pádraig chose a rattly fish. Donnacha was looking at the toy a lot and giggling! He was following the toy everywhere Pádraig moved it to!

We then had a conversation with Mary about what nappies she used on Donnacha and we told her that it takes 200 – 500 years for one nappy to decompose! Did you know this?! 

We ended with asking questions about Donnacha to get an update on his development before singing the Goodbye Song. 

Our next visit will be our last time seeing Donnacha in 2024! We can’t wait to give him his Christmas present!

Until the next time, folks!

 

Cuairt a ceathair: Emotions

Aloha everyone! Welcome to the last episode of 2024! We had a very exciting and lively visit from Donnacha and Mary. Donnacha was extremely chatty! He was making lots of noises and laughing. Sometimes he made such loud noises that we thought he was screaming, but then he’d start giggling and we knew he was just messing with us! We saw that he had a lot more hair than previously! He was much bigger too, and stronger. Mary told us that Donnacha did he did his first roll from his stomach to his back! 

As this is his first Christmas, he also saw a Christmas tree for the first time during the week. Mary said he’s really enjoying seeing what his elf gets up to. He will also be seeing Santa for the first time this week, and we’re excited to hear all about it in the new year.

Our helpers this week were Lee, Isa and Lexi.

Lee chose a rattling fish toy. He was grabbing it, dropping it on the floor and laughing. It seemed more difficult for him as it was chunky, but he managed to do it! When he dropped the toy, he was looking down at it waiting for it to come back.

Isa chose the bracelet from Cuairt a trí but this time he was more aware and able to interact with it. He found Isa very funny, and kept trying to reach her hair to grab it! We heard a lot of giggling and laughing!

Lexi chose a sock with a toy crab attached to the toes. When it was put on his foot, Donnacha was a little confused by it. When Lexi pointed to the crab, he was bending over and pulling his leg up to try and reach it! He really  enjoyed it once he figured it out.

We sang some Christmas songs and gave them some presents, and we all felt the Christmas spirit! 

We would like to wish all of our followers and subscribers a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir! WOOHOO!

 

 

Cuairt a Cúig: Sleep

Bonjour! Welcome to our first blog of 2025! We had our first visit from Donnacha since before Christmas. We’ve noticed he has grown a lot and is significantly more active! You might observe in the pictures that he has also grown lots of hair!  

In this visit, we measured Donnacha’s weight and height to calculate how much he has grown since Cuairt a hAon. We figured out that he has grown! His weight has increased by 2.95kg and his height increased by 10cm. He currently weighs 9kg and is 75cm tall! 

This week’s helpers were Conchúr, Hallie and Mason.

Conchúr chose the rattly, yellow fish. Donnacha responded well to the toy- we know this by the way he was grabbing by its tail, he was smiling and he was making funny noises. 

Hallie chose the bracelet with the blue and yellow insect. Donnacha kept taking and dropping it, trying to play a game with her! Nóirín then put it around his wrist and he couldn’t figure out where it was! 

Mason chose the red crab that rattled to play with. Donnacha attempted to take it off him and throw it on the floor. He seems to love throwing toys on the floor! 

We had a few questions for Mary about Donnacha’s sleep cycles and his transitional object. We found out his current transitional object is a little teddy holding a little blankey that we gifted him for Christmas! We were delighted!

We sang a few songs, and ended with our usual Goodbye Song. We can’t wait to see him again so stay tuned! Toodles Dudes and Dudettes! 

   

 

Cuairt a Sé: Safety

Fáilte ar ais! The theme for this visit was Safety. We discussed various dangers around the house that babies like Donnacha should be kept away from. We asked Mary questions about Donnacha while he’s in the car, dangers of him rolling off something, while he’s sleeping, and suitable toys for him to play with. Donnacha has recently started using a bouncer so we also discussed safety aspects of it. 

Our helpers this week were Rachel, Jude and Gracie.

Rachel chose a rattly orange and yellow fish. Donnacha seemed to be playing a game with Rachel and kept throwing it on the ground when she would hand it to him. We all got a great kick out of that one! He was very interested in the fish and was following it around when Rachel moved it. 

Jude chose a little blue and green rattly star to play with with Donnacha. His reaction was very positive, giddy and screechy! He seemed to enjoy it a lot! It was his first time playing with this particular toy with our class!

Gracie chose a plushy, squeeky clam. It was a magenta and blue and Donnacha liked it a lot! Similarly to Rachel, he was taking it from Gracie and dropping it on the floor! This seems to be his favourite game! He held it in his hand a little longer than other toys we’ve seen him play with.

We sang Row Your Boat and Rólaí-Pólaí while doing actions and Donnacha was in awe! We thought he was trying to sing along with us! 

Hasta La Vista! 

 

Cuairt a Seacht: Communication 

This week, the theme was communication. We started off with our usual welcome song, but this week we also sang various nursery rhymes with actions we had created the week before with Noreen. This week was also World Book Day, so that will explain why we aren’t in our usual get-up! 

Before the visit, we had lots of discussion about the many ways Donnacha communicates. We realised that when he’s happy or excited, he makes a high-pitched squeel. When he’s frustrated or sad, he whines or can sometimes start crying. A few times he seemed so engrossed in the helper, that he had his eyes wide open with his mouth also open staring at the person or toy.

This week, our helpers were Rhea, Jason and Ciarán. 

Rhea chose the Roots Of Empathy kids play book. It had lots of different sections and features to catch Donnacha’s attention. He loved the section with the mirror and started smiling when he saw himself. Another section made a rough sound and before he touched it, he looked up to Rhea and we think he was trying to check if he was allowed to touch it (which he was!). We noticed his grip is definitely getting stronger and more accurate. 

Jason chose a little star toy that was soft on the back and rough at the front. When Jason picked the toy, he rattled it to get Donnacha’s attention. He then rubbed the star on the back of Donnacha’s hand so he could see Donnacha’s reaction to the different textures.  Jason was wearing a Pikachu onesie, and Donnacha was so interested in it that he reached his hand out and rubbed Jason’s arm! He then showed him that the toy rattled, and placed it in front of Donnacha for him to pick up himself. He seemed to really enjoy the toy, but also enjoyed Jason’s onesie!

Ciarán chose the squeeky crab in a shell. The front of the crab was red and the shell was pink. Donnacha was lying on a cushion on his front, while Ciarán handed the toy to him to let him grab and take it. He enjoyed the toy a lot, but we noticed he was getting a little bit frustrated and looking around for his Mam to pick him up. He was communicating to us that he wanted to change position!

We sang the rest of our nursery rhymes, and ended the visit with the usual Goodbye Song. 

We had been working on a book to put together for him, and we presented it at the end of this visit – he got really excited when he saw it! It’s filled with pages of drawings of different classic and original nursery rhymes for him to keep forever!

We can’t wait to see him again, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it again!
Toodle-Pip!

 

   

 

 

Cuairt a hOcht: Who Am I?

Howdy-doodle-do! Welcome back to our installment of visits from Donnacha – this was our penultimate visit! This week’s theme was Who Am I which we discussed with Noreen the week before. This was all about what general things Donnacha would like or not like. We mainly focused on food and we were able to watch Mary try to feed him, although he wasn’t interested! He kept trying to play with the spoon by grabbing it out of her hand! When he eventually tried a bit, he made a sour face so we knew he didn’t want it!

Our helpers were Sebastian, Emma and Jayna. 

Sebastian chose a yellow fish to play with with Donnacha. It was rattly and felt very soft. We noticed Donnacha kept snatching it out of Sebastian’s hand so we’re quite sure he enjoyed it! Luckily, he didn’t throw it and was smiling up at Sebastian during their play time!

Emma selected a big, soft, green and blue star. Donnacha was holding it but kept dropping it – maybe because it was chunkier than his usual toys. He also kept getting distracted by the class and his mam. He adapted to the shape quickly, and was enjoying playing with it!

Jayna picked a small, rattly crab in a soft shell. Donnacha was holding it a lot and showed us how good of a grip he had on it. He was very smiley and happy during their playtime. 

We also got some very exciting news from Mary when she told us that Donnacha’s first tooth has come in! 

We gifted Donnacha and Mary some fun things for Easter, and of course didn’t forget about Noreen! We had a great discussion with Mary about various foods Donnacha has tried and likes, and also what he has not tried. 

We finished with our usual Goodbye song and we can’t believe that our next visit is our last one! Tune back in for the final installment next time!

Slán!