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.

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 18^th 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 12^th 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 16^th 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 19^th December.

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 12^th 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.