October 2014

Maths Week

From the 13th-20th October it was maths week. In the junior and senior room we enjoyed great maths activities, including being shape detectives, numbers maths trail, a classroom trail, maths stations, a maths hero each day, maths songs, problem of the day and much more !! The children had great fun and it was a great opportunity to have active maths classes every day.

Aistear

During October we learned about people who help us in our community. We learned about the people who help us in our school, library, park rangers and doctors/nurses.

School

Here we learned about all the people who help us in our school including teachers, caretaker, secretary, principal, cleaner and Rev Brian. Mrs Lawson came to talk to us about how to become a principal.

Library

We visited our local library in Rathdrum and asked the librarian questions about being a librarian.

            Park Rangers

We went outside and looked for the signs of Autumn and pretended to be park rangers in Glendalough.

Doctors

We learned about doctors and nurses and Sarah & Daniel’s Mum who is a nurse came and told us all about being a nurse in a busy hospital.

Friendship Buddies

We are delighted to have started a friendship buddies programme in the junior room. Every week the children are partnered with different friendship buddies. The children have been told that they can approach their buddy if they are feeling lonely on the playground and their buddy will play with them. If they are feeling sad, their buddy will go up to a teacher and tell them. The friendship buddies idea is to support children on the playground so they know they have a child they can go to, if they need someone.

Halloween

We had great fun learning lots of spooky Halloween songs, making bats & witches and Halloween cards. We acted out the story Room on a Broom and had fun bobbing for apples and making chocolate apples. On our last day before mid term we all dressed up for Halloween and loved walking in the school Halloween parade. 

September 2014

We are all delighted to be back at school and I am thrilled to welcome my new junior infant class. I can’t believe how tall and grown up my senior infants have become over the summer. It has been very busy over the past number of weeks as the junior infants have settled into school life. This week, the junior infants have started to learn their letters using the jolly phonics programme. In addition, this week we started our aistear programme where we started to learn about our school through role play in home corner, building the school using small world materials, sequencing a day in school in the reading/writing corner and creating a school logo & school banner in the art area. The children were delighted to be part of aistear again. The following are some photographs from our week discussing school in  aistear.

May 2014

Aistear

During May we had great fun visiting other countries through our Aistear and we started learning about life cycles.

The World Around Us

France

When we visited France the children learned about the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and we even learned a few words in French. We all learned the song Freres Jacques and in art we made the French Flag and Eiffel Tower.

Australia

From France we went on a long flight down under! In Australia we learned about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the opera house, Ayres Rock, the animals in Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. In reading & writing we made a beautiful tourist book about Australia and in Art we painted beautiful Aboriginal dot paintings. The children brought in wonderful artefacts from Australia and everyone had a chance to play the didgeridoo!

America

Our last destination was to visit America. The children loved learning about Mount Rushmore, Barack Obama, the White house, Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, Yellowstone national park and the Grand Canyon. The senior infant children wrote fantastic acrostic poems which are proudly displayed in our classroom.

Life Cycles

Butterflies

The life cycle of the butterfly was great fun. In small world, each child made their own life cycle using small world materials and in art we made the most beautiful butterflies. In home corner we acted out the story of the crunching munching caterpillar and the life cycle of a butterfly. In reading & writing the children wrote the most fantastic sequenced stories of the crunching munching caterpillar.

Frogs

We finished in May with the life cycle of a frog. This proved a great topic as we have our own frog habitat in the school pond. We all saw lots of tadpoles and froglets in the pond which was fantastic. In art we made one large class life cycle of a frog and in home corner we acted out the story of the frog prince.

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Community Games

A huge well done to Aoife who represented the school in the next round of the community games art competition. You did a great job Aoife and we are very proud of you.

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School Tour

We are very excited to be going on our school tour on the 13^th June to Imagonisity. We are counting the days and cannot wait !! 

March & April

Aistear

Sport

During our sport theme we discussed rugby, athletics, swimming & GAA. It was a great opportunity to learn about lots of different sports and the importance of sport in our lives.

1.  Rugby

In home corner the children pretended they were part of the Irish rugby team and we practised scoring a try, a scrum a line out and goal kicks! We also pretended we were television commentators and commentated as children scored a try. In small world the children created a pitch with players and all the elements required for a rugby game. During reading and writing the children created a sequenced story of their own rugby game and during these games the children created a game where Ireland beat the all blacks ! In art, the children created their own rugby jerseys using crepe paper. In addition the children learned about the hakka and learned how to sing “Ireland’s Call”.

2.  Athletics & Swimming

During home corner, the children learned about the Olympics and we pretended we were in the Olympics with a medal ceremony. All of the children loved learning about Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. In addition, we pretended we were in a swimming pool perfecting different swimming strokes and in athletics we pretended we were in the Olympics running in the marathon, relay and sprints! In Art the children made Olympic medals and drew a running race. During small world the children worked really hard at making a swimming pool with diving boards and a lifeguard and an athletic track with high jump, long jump and hurdles. During reading & writing the children made posters about being safe in the water.

3.  GAA

The GAA aistear topic gave the children a great opportunity to find out the difference between GAA and other sports and all about our national sports. During home corner the children had a chance to play Gaelic football and hurling and learn about Cu Chulainn & Croke Park. In art the children constructed a Wicklow hurling player and during small world the children constructed a GAA pitch. In the reading & writing group the children made posters about “Give Respect. Get Respect”. In addition we were really lucky to welcome Sean Cooney to our room who is Joseph’s Dad. He told us all about hurling and the medals Joseph’s granddad won for his club and county. Thank you Sean for visiting our classroom. Jessica’s name was pulled from the hat and won a Wicklow county jersey.

World All Around Us

After sport we moved onto the topic of traveling around the world. Our first stop on our travels was the UK.

During home corner we role played being a tourist and working in a tourist office. We visited Buckingham palace, Westminster abbey, tower bridge and Big Ben. During reading /writing we wrote letters to the Queen asking her questions. In art, we made a palace guard and a crown jewels. In small world we constructed famous sights around London. In addition we welcomed Michelle Conroy, Chloe’s Mum who is from England to tell us all about England. Thank you Michelle for visiting our classroom.

For the rest of the this topic we will be learning about visiting Australia, France and America.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

During Seachtain na Gaeilge, the children worked really hard at “ag labhairt as Gaeilge”. We used our Gaeilge as much as possible during play time and when we were speaking to each other. In addition, we had a phrase each day that we tried to use at home and in school.

We were delighted to have a ceili in our classroom with the middle room. It was great fun – we all agreed that next we are off to River Dance.

In addition we had a seo faisin where each child pretended we were in a fashion show modelling clothes “as Gaeilge”.

Lots of the children took part in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

Write a Book

We received the results from the write a book competition. Jessica won the first place. All the other children received special mention that their books were wonderful. Well done to everyone.

Gymnastics

For 4 weeks we loved going to the community hall on a bus to learn Gymnastics. The children learned how to jump correctly on the trampoline, how to balance on the beam and increase our arm strength on the bars. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about gymnastics. A big thank you to Les and Becki for their help and support. 

Visitors

We have been really lucky to have lots of visitors to our classroom. We welcomed Sean Ryan’s granddad to speak to us all about history, Peter Riedle to speak to us about Canada, Jenni Miley to speak to us about Finland, Sean Cooney to speak to us about hurling and Michelle Conroy to speak to us about hurling. We love having visitors in our classroom and we thank them for taking time to come and talk to us.

Maths Stations

We had great fun breaking into our maths stations where we learned about weight, capacity and measures. During the weight group we made buns by measuring the weight required and we also weighed lots of items around the room and seeing what was heavier/lighter. During capacity we used lots of measuring items to determine which holds the most/least. During the measuring station the children used cubes and paper clips to measure items around the classroom.  We will continue with this during May.

We are on the move!

On our last day before the Easter holidays we had our last day in our classroom as after Easter we will have moved to Mrs Lawson’s room. It was a bit sad saying goodbye to our classroom but we look forward to being in Mrs Lawson’s room while the building work is going on.

Easter Egg Hunt

On the Friday of our Easter holidays the children took part in our class egg hunt. The children were brilliant hunters and found the eggs that the Easter bunny had hidden. Happy Easter to everyone and I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

February 2014

Aistear

During February we focused on our environment and how subjects in our classroom can be found all around us.

Science all around us

This was a very exciting Aistear module where the children learned about the following elements of science:

·         Magnets-the children had lots of fun seeing what materials are attracted to magnets and those that are not.

·         Electricity Circuit- the children saw how a circuit is built and they then built their own circuits.

·         Every Action has an Equal and opposite reaction : We made a volcano using Diet Coke and soft mints. It was brilliant fun!

·         Floating and Sinking: The children predicted and then experimented different materials and if they floated or sunk in the water.

·         Materials : The children looked at the materials in our classroom and all around us and how they are made and their functions.

Each of the children wore a white top to signify their transformation to scientists. The great thing was I heard lots of the children saying “ They want to be scientists when they grow up” !!

Music all around us

The children learned that music can come from the environment around us, from instruments or our bodies.

Home Corner : Each child recited twinkle little star and three blind mice on our classroom organ. The children were wonderful and  I see some natural pianists already!

Reading/Writing: The children learned about labeling instruments in an orchestra.

Small World: The children learned a song/musical notation and made instruments using playdough.

Art: The children made instruments using recycled materials. We even played the instruments to “ I am the music man”

Geography all around us

We welcomed Isabel’s Dad into our classroom to tell us all about the differences/similarities between Ireland and Canada. Afterwards the children made a lovely card to tell Isabel’s Dad about what we learned.

Home Corner : We conducted a geography audit of our school and acted out reading a map of Rathdrum.

Small World: The children constructed the main street of Rathdrum using small world materials.

Reading/Writing: The children drew wonderful maps of our classroom.

Art: The children made beautiful houses using felt and lollipop sticks.

History all around us

We were very lucky to welcome another visitor to our classroom. This time we welcomed Michael who is Mia and Sean’s Grandad. He is a member of the historical society in Rathdrum so he was able to tell us all about the history of Rathdrum. The children made a lovely card to say thank you to him for taking the time to come into our classroom and see us.

Home Corner : We conducted a history trail to see why monuments are important and why it is important to record dates. We then acted out the story of “Little Tiger’s Big Surprise”

Reading/Writing: We made a classroom timeline and wrote letters to ask questions what things were like long ago.

Small World: We thought about how things change and using the story of Sleeping Beauty we created the sequence of this story.

Art: We made beautiful cherry blossom family trees to record the change in our own families.

Firemen

We welcomed two firemen into our classroom who answered our questions and told us about always being very careful with fire.

Martial Arts

We concluded our 4 weeks martial arts class. It was a wonderful class and the children really enjoyed receiving their certificates at the end of the class. Thank you Mr. Paul Healy for the great classes.

Valentines Day

For Valentine’s Day we made our parents lovely valentines cards and a picture frame with a picture of everyone in our families.

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone.