Junior Room – November

Junior Room – November

Aistear

During November, we have been very busy with Aistear. This month, we were learning about different types of fantasy characters. We learned about cowboys, princesses & knights, dinosaurs and superheroes. We acted out stories, created our own superheroes, made wonderful pieces of art including masks, dinosaur puppets, used our imagination for small world creations and used our writing skills writing out dinosaur poems and sequencing stories. Everyone works so hard on their Aistear groups and it is a joy to see the children learning so much.

 

Write-a-Book Competition

The senior infants have entered the write a book competition. I am so proud of these wonderful books with the theme of Rainbows.  

Open Day

During November we had an open day where we welcomed new families into our junior room so the new children could see our classroom. It was a wonderful morning with lots of new families.

September / October 2013

September

Welcome back to our senior infant class and a big welcome to our twelve new junior infants.

During September, we settled into the school routine understanding where our playground is, where we hang our coats, where we sit and the importance of listening well in class.

October

October was a very busy month with lots of fun and learning.

Jolly Phonics

Junior Infants started learning all about their letters and sounds. They are all doing a fantastic job and they will be reading before we know it !

Aistear

We have started our aistear work again. Our themes in October were English all around us, colours all around us, Maths all around us and Autumn. It has been a great fun learning experience for everyone in our 4 stations of small world, home corner, reading/writing and art.

Maths Week

We had great fun during maths week. Our Aistear theme was also Maths all around us, so we were learning all about shapes, numbers, patterns and understanding that Maths is something we do every day. We all went on a maths trail outside where we saw numbers, shapes and patterns outside in our playground and garden.

Colours All Around Us

In our “colours all around us” week we learned about colours, rainbows and we even went on a colours trail to see how many colours there are outside.

English All Around Us

During English all around us, we had great fun acting out the story of “we are going on a bear hunt” and creating a map of the story.

Autumn

Our Autumn theme allowed us to collect lots items for our nature table. In small world we made a beautiful Autumn forest and in art we made Autumn trees.

Halloween

The children are very excited about Halloween and on our last day before the mid term we all dressed up and went on a parade in the car park. We had great fun making witches and black cats and watched a movie with popcorn before we went home.

Happy Halloween Everyone

Junior Room- June

Aistear

 Look at the little village we created in Art this month. We learned about Estate Agents and the work they do. We made “House for Sale” posters and we sold a lot of houses!!                                       

                                             

School Tour

The children were over the moon when I announced we would be visiting Sea Life in Bray on our school tour. It linked in really well with our Under the Sea topic from last month and the children were very eager to see the fish and other sea animals they learned about.

We went on our school tour on Tuesday the 18^th of June. We left the school around 9.30am and we went straight to the aquarium in Bray. We met our tour guide and she escorted us around the Aquarium and informed the children about the different sea animals. The children put her to the test as they had some very interesting questions for her!!!!

    

Once the tour was over we got back on the bus and we went to our next stop- Zoom in Charlesland!! The children thoroughly enjoyed the time they had at Zoom. We had some sweaty and tired heads returning onto the bus at 1.15pm!!

We returned to school at 1.50pm and each child received a certificate and a fancy pen from Sea Life as a token from their tour.

     

Teddy Bear Picnic

Monday- 24^th June the Middle and Senior Room went on their school tours. Since we had the school to ourselves we decided to have our lunch in style. Each child brought in their favourite teddy bear. We made some Rice Crispy buns in school and once they were cooled we headed off to our picnic spot. We had a great picnic and we even got to bring home an extra Rice Crispy bun!!

  

 

School Sports

Tuesday- 25^th June we had a School Sports Afternoon.  We were all really excited before the event. There were 4 teams for the day. Each child got the teams’ colour painted on their faces. The parents came to watch and they even got the chance to run in a race!! The races on the day were:

1. Egg and Spoon                                                                              2. Fast Walking

3. Hula Hoop                                                                                       4.Sidewards Skipping

5. Bean Bag

Then the children got an opportunity to participate in two fun team work games. This was a first and exciting experience for many of the children!! Have a look.

 

End of Year Service

Thursday- 27^th June the End of year service took place in St. Saviour’s Church at 6.30pm. Our room performed the song “Be Bold, Be strong” on the night.

Holidays

Friday- 28^th June we are getting our Summer Holidays!!!! I hope everyone has a fantastic break and see everyone again next year. Best of luck to the children as they move onto their next class.

Junior Room- April/ May

Aistear-April

The children have been very busy since they returned to school after the Easter break. We have been covering the theme of People who help us. The children had great fun this month learning about the Optician, the dentist and the Bank.  Each week the children took part in fun filled activities which broadened their knowledge and vocabulary of the above topics. Hopefully the children will be more prepared next time they visit the optician or dentist. I think the highlight of the month was when the children got the opportunity to visit the local Bank of Ireland branch in Rathdrum. They got a lovely tour of the building. The staff informed the children of their daily routines while also they provided demonstrations of counting etc.

                                                                             

Aistear-May

We covered the theme of explorers for the month of May. It was a very active and exciting month. The children were fascinated with the topics we covered and they got great enjoyment out of them.  Here are some samples of the work we did:

1. Space

      

     

2. Africa

3. Under the Sea

 

     

 

The children will be very excited when they find out about their school tour in June!! It will be linking with the Under the Sea topic!!

                                        

Write a Book Competition

During last week’s assembly Lara was presented with her Write a Book medal and certificate. It was a very proud moment for Lara. We are very proud of her and wish her a huge congratulations.

W.O.W( Walk on Wednesday)

The children participated in WOW for the month of May. They were a little bit disappointed that the golden boot didn't return to our classroom but we would like to say congratulations to the Senior Classroom who did win it.  We will try even harder next year!!!   

Nature Day in Glendalough

This was a very enjoyable experience for the class. We spent the day at Glendalough carrying out some fun activities. We participated in an outdoor treasure hunt followed by a team work game where the children had to lead their partner around an obstacle course. We got a bit wet on the day but it didn’t put a dampener on the fun we had.              

                                                                     

Junior Room- March

Aistear

The children had an enjoyable month with the aistear programme. We visited the local Garda Station and the children were delighted when two local guards visited our classroom. It was a positive experience for the children and they enjoyed passing around the hand-cuffs, badges, uniform etc. I think the highlight of the visit was when they went outside and tested out the sirens!!

Mother’s Day Surprise

The children made lovely decorative clay pots and placed a chocolate surprise in the middle for their mothers. They went down a treat and earned some extra brownie points for the children!!! 

                                             

Write a Book Competition

I would like to say huge congratulations to Lara who was the winner of the Write a Book in our Senior Infant classroom. She will receive her certificate within the next few weeks.

Young Achievers

The Children have completed the Young Achievers Programme and they were awarded with a certificate and a small gift from Bríd on their last week. The children enjoyed the programme and it was a beneficial experience for all.

                                                

After School Science

Science with Christine was an exciting hour each Friday for the children. They enjoyed the experiments and the hands on approach really hit it off with the children.

Easter festivities

The children were very busy this week making Easter eggs and Easter decorations for the classroom. They were delighted when they got to open up the Easter bunny box on the Friday of the holidays to reveal an Easter surprise for everyone.

Junior Room- February

Yet another busy month in the Infant Classroom!

Aistear

During February, we were learning about "The Gardener/ Garden Centre" and "The Farmer/ Spring Animals". We learned about the different parts of the plant and we now can name some well known flowers which can be seen in any Irish Garden. We had great fun doing our flower paintings using some different vegetables. We integrated some famous childhood stories for this month’s theme “The Enormous Turnip” and “Farmer Duck”. The children thoroughly enjoyed acting out these stories in their home corner over the weeks. The children are working very creatively in their groups and they produced a fantastic Farm Scene display in our classroom. The children created some lovely small word farms which showed their understanding of the topic.        

              

3-D Robots

The children had great fun making their 3-D Robots last Friday using recyclable materials which they brought in from home. This was linking in with our Maths topic for the week.

                                                           

Martial Arts

The children have completed their four sessions of martial arts.  They really enjoyed the classes and Paul kept them on their toes each week. It was a memorable experience for the children.

Young Achievers

The Children have started their Young Achievers programme with Bríd Kavannagh. Colourful story books and interesting activities have won the children’s interest over the past two Wednesday morning slots! Lots more interesting activities are to follow according to Bríd.

                                                     

After School Science

The children started their first Science class last week with Christine. It was an exciting time for the children. They were fascinated with the results of the acid/ base testing experiments which they carried out.

                                                    

Good News Travels Fast

The children were delighted to hear the good news of the arrival of Mrs. Doyle’s new baby Henry. We wish them both the very best and the children made a lovely decorative card especially for Mrs. Doyle.

Junior Room- January

Aistear

During January, we have been very busy with Aistear. This month, we were learning about food and the planting of vegetables. We planted our own seeds in little pots in the classroom and we watered them daily. After a couple of weeks they started to grow. We even made our own clay pots. We integrated some famous childhood stories for this month’s theme “Jack in the Beanstalk” and “The Little Red Hen”. The children thoroughly enjoyed acting out these stories in their home corner over the weeks. Then we went on to design and set up our own class Restaurant which we named “The Polka Dot Restaurant”. This was such an enjoyable & educational experience for the children. They designed place mats, made healthy food plates, composed menus and learned how to set a table. Then we brought all this knowledge together and the children acted out a trip to the Restaurant. Each child got the opportunity to serve and receive the food. It was most definitely the highlight of last week!

                          

                         

Martial Arts

We are very excited in the junior room to have started our martial arts class with Paul Healy. All of the children are enjoying the experience and trying their best in the classes. We have 2 classes left in February.

Heineken Cup

We had a special visitor to our classroom last week. The children were given the opportunity to hold and take a picture with the Heineken Cup.

Book Fair

The book fair is currently in our school. The junior room were very lucky as they got a sneak preview of some of the fantastic books. There were lots of giggles this week as the children listened to the stories from the Book Fair. We did some follow up activities in the classroom where the children designed their own caterpillar book marks and designed their own book covers.