We will be doing a little Christmas Songs Concert in school on Friday, December 16th. It will be on at 1.05. It would be lovely if someone connected to each child was able to be present. I know there are lots of working parents and it can be hard to get time off. If it isn't possible for someone to be there for your child, please let me know ahead of time.
We had a week of highs and lows! We we so excited on Monday to get to see the Sam Mc Guire Cup visiting our school. Once we got over the confusion that it was a trophy and not a man we were going to see, the children cheered "Up the Dubs!" and we sang "Molly Malone." Thanks to St.Anne's coach, Adam, and some of the players who brought the trophy in. Adam will be in to our class on Monday to do some football skills with us. Please wear tracksuits! I am sure we all know the low point of the week was Thursday when the children received their immunisations. We had very few tears that day and lots of very brave children but as the day wore on the tiredness and sore arms kicked in. There were lots of kind friends looking after each other, sharing hugs and teddies and trying to make each other laugh. Lots of our teddies visited the doctors and nurses in the hall also and they received their vaccinations too. Our poor dog was looking a bit downhearted after getting his. Luckily some kind children were there to give comfort. I hope everyone had a lovely mid-term break and all the children are happy to be back at school. There was plenty of excitement on Monday at seeing friends again. On Monday, the Sam Mc Guire cup will be visiting the school. The children can wear in a blue t-shirt or jersey to help celebrate. The following Monday, 21st of November, we will be doing extra PE session with Adam from St Anne's. Could you please send the children in wearing in their tracksuit then, and on Tuesday and Thursday as normal? The children were incredibly excited about starting homework this week! It seemed to go quite smoothly for most people but if you are unsure of anything, please ask. Parents, please take care to make sure you use lowercase letters only, as this is what we focus on this year. The homework routine is on the "Homework" tab above. We are continuing to work on our sight words in school. These will be coming home for homework soon. These words are "Danny, Zeb, Emma, Josh, Mum, and." We have just introduced "hello" this week. These words are not to be sounded, the children should look at them and recognise them. We are using lots of new language in maths, to describe items: bigger/smaller, taller/shorter, narrower/wider etc. And we have been having fun learning about opposites. Here we are acting out some opposite words. We are pretending to be the opposite to awake. We absolutely love Debbie and Friends song about opposites and are fantastic at shouting out the opposite word. We have been working very hard at our sounds in school. So far, we have completed: s a t i p n c k e h r m d g o u This leaves us half way through set 3 of Jolly Phonics sounds. Remember, we focus on the sound that letter makes, not its name. We have enjoyed playing games in the classroom, to reinforce the sounds. Here is one that we have been playing on the interactive whiteboard. (It would be great if they could have a go at home too. There are a few extra letters on the end of that game that we haven't done yet. We just stopped playing at that point.) http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-2-initial-sound-game-1.html On Friday, we went on a Halloween maths trail around the school. It was lots of fun. They children used their "maths eyes" to help them solve the puzzles and reinforce the maths work we have been doing so far. Here are a few of the children in action. This half term has been a big change for all of the children (and the parents too!) It is a huge milestone beginning school. The children have done incredibly well settling down, learning routines and making new friends. I am really proud of them, as are all of the parents, I am sure. They are definitely ready for a well earned midterm break and I am sure they will be back in November full of enthusiasm and well rested. It has been lovely to come into school everyday to these fantastic children. Thanks to all of the parents, grandparents and minders for all of your hard work with them.
And finally, here we are at the end of the day, playing "Ghostbusters." We had loads of fun on our witchy walk today. We spotted lots of different Hallowe'en decorations going up the avenue. They children were very kind and took good care of their scared teacher. Luckily none of them were afraid! Tomorrow is our last day before the mid-term break. The children can bring in a few Hallowe'en items to wear, just like today and a Friday treat, as usual. We have been busy busy busy getting ready. We have made some lovely 2 colour pattern pumpkins. You can see them on the window outside our classroom. We also did some apple printing to make pumpkin pictures. This goes along with our "5 Little Pumpkins" poem. We are having loads of fun learning about Oíche Shamhna with Bua na Cainte. Our favourite poem is Púca, Púca. This are the words, if you would like to have a little go at home (just don’t be too scared by the great dramatics! :D ) “Púca, Púca. Is mise an púca. Púca, púca. A haon, dó, trí. Cailleach, cailleach. Is mise an calleach. Cailleach, cailleach. A haon, dó, trí.” In maths, we have been working on 3 colour patterns, which is very tricky! We are also beginning to work on "Things that go together," for example: a knife and fork, paper and pencil, a bath and towel. Our two new Jolly Phonics sounds are d and g. Thank you so much for the extra work you've been doing at home on these. Lots of the children are getting a great grasp on them. Remember to keep using the sound the letter makes and not it's name. Thank you all for getting the Pupil Profile’s back to school. We are really enjoying sharing a bit about ourselves with the class and love learning what we have in common with each other. The children love sitting up in the chair at the front and talking about themselves. Our nature table is overflowing with interesting leaves, crab apples, sticks, pine cones and nuts. This week, during morning activity, we have been making funny characters by following pictures and then using our imagination to make our own ones. We are working on 16-20 piece jigsaws and it is beginning to get quite tricky! In school, we look for the corner pieces first and then put the outside pieces on to them. Then we fill in the centre pieces. We were making Hallowe'en playdough pictures, reading library books and taking care of the babies. The children really enjoyed being just like their mammies and daddies, changing the babies' nappies, dressing them, bathing them, feeding them, and taking them for walks. Take a look at the children in action. Just a short reminder that I will be meeting with parents/minders tomorrow morning at 9.30 in the hall. If you aren't able to make that meeting, please let me know. The other Junior Infant classes will be meeting with parents during the week, so it is possible to attend one of those meetings instead. If you have more than 1 child in Junior Infants, it is only necessary to go to one meeting.
We have been learning all about Autumn in school and the children have been doing a fantastic job of stocking up our nature table. It is a great place to explore the differences between the tress - leaf colours, shapes and the nuts and seeds. We have been using them all to help us with our maths sorting too. We can sort by type, colour and size. On Friday, we went for a nature walk up the avenue across from school. We saw lots of interesting things and we collected a few of our favourites to bring back to the classroom. We have been learning some new sounds. We are nearly finished set 2 of Jolly Phonics. Well done for keeping the practice going at home. Lots of the children have been coming in with new words to share, starting with the right sound. They love finding the letters written on posters around the room also. Set 1: s a t i p n Set 2: c k e h r m d We say the sound the letter makes, not it's name. If you are unsure how to say them, try this link: http://jollylearning.co.uk/gallery/audio-2/ We all LOVE going to PE. It is lots of fun being in the hall and using the equipment. We were playing lots of playground games for the first few weeks of school and now we are practicing ball skills. We have been throwing and catching beanbags and balls with both hands and some children are already great at doing this with just one hand. This week we did stations in PE. Have a look at some of the children in action. (Apologies for the poor quality photos here...it is hard to get the children to stand still long enough to get a good one!) We are working hard on our fine motor skills in class. The children are practicing pinching with pegs to strengthen the muscles in their hands. We have also been scrunching and squeezing old newspaper, using playdough and practicing "Micky Mouse ears" and windscreen wipers. We are still tearing paper and have also begun to use scissors and trying to follow a line while cutting. That is tough going for some of the children. Please keep practicing at home. We are doing lots of colouring in and have seen huge progress in abilities already. Keep it up at home please! |
Star of the Week
Well done, Kenny & Marilyn! :) Archives
July 2017
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