Junior Infant Newsletter 3rd November 2015

Welcome back to everyone after midterm break. We’re delighted to see the children back with happy faces and ready for lots of work!

We have a busy term ahead!  

For the next fortnight we will be covering lots of new things such as learning:

*       New sounds: ‘c’, ‘e’, ‘h’, and  ‘r’.

*       New sight words: Look, at, the, my, look, I, am, like

*       How to write the letter ‘a’

*       Number 2

We are starting to learn all about animals. For the next fortnight we will be learning about animals that hibernate and pets we can have.

Useful Vocabulary Winter    Autumn    hibernation    hedgehog   squirrel    nuts    gathering food      squirrel nest or ‘drey’     hedgehog  nest Cat    kitten   dog  puppy   rabbit    hamster    guinea  pig    bird    goldfish      snake     turtle      tank     aquarium     cage   hutch     bed       bowl    lead       collar

Some rhymes to practice at home:
Mary had a little lamb	Little Bo Peep
Hickety Pickety	I have a pet (Super simple songs available on youtube)

How you can support your child’s learning: Literacy: *       Find things around the house/ in books that start with our ‘s’,’a’, ‘t’, ‘i’, ‘p’ and ‘n’ sounds   as well as our new sounds ‘c’   ‘e’    ‘h’   and ‘r’. *       Cut out pictures from magazines/ brochures/ leaflet with this sound *       Look for this sound in the environment (on signs, in books) *       Encourage your child to practice writing their name and the letter ‘c’ at home Numeracy: *       Practice counting to 5 *       Find things that are pink and orange *       Find 2D shapes in the environment: circles, squares, triangles, rectangles *       Encourage your child to do sorting and matching activities at home: using pasta, toy cars, toy blocks, or socks!  S.E.S.E. *       Talk to your child about winter  and hibernation: what is hibernation? What animals hibernate? Why do animals hibernate? Look for signs of hibernation (squirrels collecting nuts) *       Maybe you could help hibernating animals at home: visit http://www.dspca.ie/   to find out how you can help hedgehogs at home *       Talk to your child about animals we keep as pets. Talk about the different ways we have to care for our pets (food, bed, play time, walks, bringing to the vet). *       If you have a pet bring in a photo to show the class!

Reminders:

Ø Please return homework folders and nursery rhyme kits each day.

Ø If your child is absent please ring the office so we can record any explanations.

Ø Encourage your child to put on and take off their coat independently- this is an important skill to be learnt as the weather begins to get colder!

Junior Infant Newsletter 21st September 2015

Junior Infant Newsletter 21^st September 2015

Hello again from Junior Infants.

We have had a busy fortnight in Junior Infants.

We have started staying in for the full day until 1.40pm. We are a bit tired but we are getting lots more work done!

This is what we have been doing for the past two weeks in school:

• *       Maths: We have been learning about the colour blue, matching, sorting and number rhymes
• *       English: We have started Jolly Phonics and have been learning about the sounds ‘s’ and ‘a’. We are also writing our names, tracing, colouring, and learning new rhymes
• *       Oral Language: We have started our Oral Language Chatty Groups. We are in special small groups working with teachers in stations. This fortnight we were talking about ourselves, our families and school.
• *       Fine Motor Skills: Every morning we do our fine motor activities to help us when we start to write. We are also doing lots of tracing and cutting.
• *       S.E.S.E. (History, Geography, Science):  We have been talking growing and changing, our bodies, and things we can do now that we’re big.

Nursery rhymes to practise at home:

Where is Thumbkin?	Jack and Jill
Miss Polly	Little Miss Muffet
Hickory Dickory Dock	Rólaí Pólaí

For the next two weeks in school we will be learning about our families and school.

Vocabulary: Mum (mother/ mammy)  Dad (father/ daddy)   brother   sister      uncle   aunt        grandparents       grandmother (granny, nanny, nan, gran)             grandfather (grandad, grandpa)       cousin older            younger                      family

How you can support your child’s learning: Literacy: *       Find things around the house/ in books that start with our ‘s’ or ‘a’ sound. *       Look for this sound in the environment Numeracy: *       Can your child count to five? Practice this at home (e.g. chanting, clapping, stamping) *       Find things that are blue and yellow  S.E.S.E. *       Talk to your child (using photos if necessary) about the people in their family. We have been talking to the children about how all families are different so make sure they can name the people in their family (e.g. brothers and sisters) *       Bring in a photo of your family for use in class *       Get started on your Art at Home Family Tree project. Talk to your child about how people are related *       Go to the library and read books about families(e.g. the Large family books) S.P.H.E. (Social, Personal, Health Education) *       Talk to your child about the importance of washing their hands properly and practise this at home.

Reminders:

• *       Don’t forget your yellow History Timelines
• *       P.E. is on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please wear school tracksuit and runners.
• *       Parental Involvement Programme Workshops start this week: Thursday 24^th September Ms Stapleton’s Class and Friday 25^th September Ms Murray’s class
• *       The Carambola Lunch Programme has started- if you have signed up for this your child will receive their lunch in school every day. They do not need anything extra.
• *       Please bring in a photo of your family for use in class. This photo will be stuck in their ‘Family’ booklet

We look forward to seeing everyone at the workshops this week.

Fiona Murray and Sarah Stapleton

Junior Infant Newsletter 7th September 2015

A big welcome to all of the new Junior Infants boys and girls (and their parents!).

The children are settling in well to school and it is great to see lots of lovely smiley faces coming in to school every morning.

We have been very busy in school already:

• *       In Maths we have been learning about the colour red and how to sort materials by colour. We are also learning number rhymes ‘5 Little Monkeys’ and ‘One Little Finger’. We are also beginning to count up to 5.
• *       We have been doing lots of fine motor activities to get us ready for writing.
• *       In English We are learning lots of nursery rhymes like ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, and ‘Humpty Dumpty’. We are also learning how to write our names.
• *       We are doing lots of colouring and trying our best to stay inside the lines and use lots of different colours

For the next week we will be learning all about our bodies and how we grow and change.

Vocabulary: The body: arm     hand     head    eyes    ears   nose    mouth   chin   hair    neck    cheeks    shoulders  knees   elbows     toes     feet     legs     back       stomach Growing: Baby  toddler    child    teenager     adult      elderly      growing    big    small

How you can support your child’s learning: *       Talk to your child about things they can do now that they could not do when they were a baby ( riding a bike, writing their name, feeding themselves, dressing themselves) *       Encourage your child to be more independent by getting them to do things for themselves (putting on and taking off their coat, dressing themselves, opening and closing their lunchbox, tidying up their toys, feeding themselves) *       Show them pictures of them as  a baby and discuss all the changes that have happened *       Go to the library and find books about the body and growing up.

Nursery rhymes to practise at home:

Incy Wincy Spider	Humpty Dumpty
Baa Baa Black Sheep	Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
If you’re happy and you know it	2 Little Dicky Birds
5 Little monkeys	1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive
One Little Finger	Hokey Pokey

These rhymes can all be found on Youtube or on our class blog  on the right hand side. 

Notices:

*       Junior Infant Parent Introduction Meeting is on Wednesday 9^th September at 11am in the school hall

*       From Thursday 10^th September Junior Infants will finish at 1.40pm every day. Please ensure you are there on time/ someone is therein your place to collect your child as they can become upset if they don’t see someone

We look forward to working with you all this year. Please don’t hesitate to come to us if you have any concerns.

Many thanks,

Fiona Murray and Sarah Stapleton

Welcome to Junior Infants

Ms McHale, Ms Stapleton and Ms McSweeney would like to welcome all the new girls and boys into Junior Infants this year.  This is a very exciting time for all the children and the parents and we hope that everyone has a great year.

We understand that sometimes people can be nervous, the new pupils and their parents, but before long everyone will be settled into their new routine, and all the children will have lots of new friends.

If there is anything you are concerned about during the year, or if you have any questions about how your child is progressing or the work being covered in class, we will be delighted to meet with you.  As the mornings are very busy times, it would be much appreciated if you could arrange these meetings in advance with us for collection time.

Again, we hope that everyone has a really wonderful year.

From,
Ms McHale (Rm 6), Ms Stapleton (Rm 5) and Ms McSweeney (Rm 3)

Helping your Young Child with Maths

Your child moving into Primary School can be a very daunting time for parents.  Often, we are asked how parents can help their children at home, particularly in the first few months, when they are not getting homework, and are not always great at describing the work that is taking place in school.

The following information sheet from the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) offers you some tips on how you can help to develop your childs early Maths skills by letting him or her take part in everyday activities, such as going to the shop, cooking or even setting the table.

Click on the link to open it or save it to your computer.

Helping your Young Child with Maths

Starting in "Big School" - Advice for Parents

“Big school” is a whole new world for the Junior Infant child. They are now in a bigger class- grouping with 20 children in the class. We are very lucky in that we take in three classes of 21/22 Infants. It gives the children a great start to school life.

It is important to spend a lot of time in September getting the children settled in and being happy coming into school. Developing good social skills is more important at this stage than academic learning. In the first week we concentrate on learning the names of the other children. Children learn to share, to be kind to others, to let everyone play in the game, to listen, to put up their hand, to take their turn. We don’t run, kick, bite, push, grab or swing on our chair. Sometimes these have to be said over and over again, but it is worth it as it makes for a happy school life for all.

Advice for Parents:

• On the first morning bring your child to the classroom, hang up their coat outside the room, meet the teacher and then get them sitting down as quickly as possible.
• Take a photo.  Bring a camera to photograph this important day.
• Don’t delay too long. Give your child a big hug and leave. If your child is crying, I can guarantee you that this stops very quickly. Children start playing with toys, talking to friends and life is great!
• Always be on time, both for morning play time and to collect your child after school.
• Give your child a healthy lunch.  Make sure they have enough, but not too much. Your child will have 2 short breaks - at 10.50 and at 12.15.  Always include a bottle of water.
• Label everything – books, copies, bag, lunch box, coat, hat, scarf, gloves, jumper – whatever your child brings to school.
• School Bag: Buy your child a good-sized school bag. It should carry an A4 sized pocket-folder. Children often have trouble fitting everything into their bag, so a big bag makes life easier for them.  Having shoulder strap is helpful, as they will be hanging their bags on the back of their chair.
• Getting dressed: Teach your child how to take off / put on their jumper and their coat. Teach them how to pull out a sleeve that is inside-out. Teach them how to fasten their coat. These are little things, but mean a lot when a child knows how to do them.
• Talking about school: Don’t ask your child “What did you do today?” They will answer “Nothing”. Ask them “Did you draw/say rhymes/ sing/ read a story?” This should get an answer.

Remember, if you have any questions, just ask the teacher.