Wednesday 26 December 2012

Junior Room – December


Wicklow County Council Christmas Decoration Competition
We were delighted to enter the Wicklow County Council competition where we used recycled materials to make our Christmas decorations. We used a variety of materials including jigsaws, light bulbs, empty toilet & kitchen rolls. We were thrilled to receive notification that Sean Ryan, Junior Infants was selected as one of the 15 winners from across the county of Wicklow. On Tuesday 18th December Mrs Doyle and Sean’s family attended a prize ceremony in the Wicklow County Offices where Sean received his prize from the Wicklow County Chairman. Congratulations Sean !








Christmas Pantomime
On Wednesday 12th December, we were very excited to go to Dublin to see the pantomime, Cinderella in the Gaiety Theatre.  Everyone enjoyed the pantomime and we all joined in with the singing and dancing. We then went to McDonalds in Stillorgan where we had happy meals and great fun. We were all very tired when we arrived home.

Aistear
During December, our Aistear programme was focused on Christmas. We learned about the post office and how our Christmas cards are posted. We all wrote Christmas letters and made envelopes for the North Pole. In addition, we learned about the Christmas nativity, traditions and festivities.
 

Christmas Carol Service
On Sunday 16th December we had our Christmas Carol Service. In the junior room, we sang a lovely carol – “The rock you carol”. The children really enjoyed singing and partaking in the service. In addition, we made the figures for the Christmas crib from clay and painted them. They were proudly displayed in the church foyer. It was a lovely Christmas carol service and we were very proud to be part of it.

Christmas Cards
We made class Christmas cards to give to our families. Each child used their finger prints as a Christmas bauble and signed the card individually.

Christmas School Party
We absolutely love our Christmas school party. Everyone dressed up in their party clothes and danced the night away. In addition, we all had the opportunity to visit Santa with our families. It was a wonderful night and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.


Junior Room - November


Aistear
During November, we have been very busy with Aistear. This month, we were learning about different types of transport including trains, airport, cars, mechanics and buses. Each week we learned lots about each topic through our home corner, small world, reading/writing and art stations. This active learning approach is certainly very beneficial for the children who are enjoying it immensely. In addition, we visited the train station and the library in Rathdrum. It was great to see all of the things we were learning about in real life!



Write-a-Book Competition
The senior infants have entered the write a book competition. We are very busy creating our books at the moment. The books are all themed around “This is the bear”.

Dance Class
We are very excited in the junior room to have started our dance class with Kate from the Elevation Dance School. All of the children are having great fun and are looking to our performance on Wednesday 19th December.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Junior Room - September, October


Aistear
The junior room have been very busy with our new aistear programme. The children are really embracing and loving our new active learning programme.
To date we have explored a number of themes including : School, Library, Park Rangers, Doctors and the Train Station.
The children have the opportunity to explore the themes through drama/role play, art, reading & writing and small world. The children are working in smaller groups which enhances their problem solving and social skills.
On Monday 12th November, we are very excited to be visiting Rathdrum train station to see a real life train station and meet the station master.



Walk on Wednesday
We have now concluded our four walks on Wednesday. In the junior room, we have especially loved walking to school and we were delighted to receive the golden boot for our highest attendance on the walks. In addition, a number of us received certificates to confirm that we walked on each day.




Green Schools Poster Competition.
The junior room were very excited to be involved in the green schools poster competition. Our theme was litter and our objective was to raise awareness of not littering in our school. We had wonderful entries and slogans. The winners that were selected in our room were Naoise, Matthew, Brooke & Sean.

Jolly Phonics
The junior infant children are having a great time learning their letter sounds and formation. So far, they have learned s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, h.

Tree Trail
During tree week we had a great time learning all about trees around our school. We learned about a tree per day and then we went on a tree trail around the school. It was great to see the trees and their leaves and to be aware of the beautiful trees we have in our school.

Maths Week
During Maths week we had great fun learning about maths all around us. Each day, we had maths stations in our classroom where we identified shapes and numbers around us . We were delighted to team up with the senior room for a maths trail around the school. It certainly taught us that maths are all around us !!



Cheerios Breakfast and Pyjamas Day
We had great fun on our last day of school before the mid-term with the cheerios breakfast and pyjamas day. In addition, in our classroom we made chocolate apples and lots of Halloween arts & crafts. It was busy, but great fun.