The Farm

Junior Infants have been busy learning all about the farm. 

We learnt about the different animals that live on a farm and made fabric and fibre animal crafts for display. 

We worked in our groups to make animal reports about some farm animals and then tell the class what we had learnt.

 We wrote about the different animals in our special farm writing books. 

We read some stories about the farm, like Farmer Duck and The Pig in the Pond. 

We also learnt some songs like 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm'. 

Junior Infants know lots about the farm now! 

The Farm

The three Junior Infants were busy learning all about the farm.

We read stories about the farm such as Farmer Duck and The Pig in the Pond.

We learnt about the different animals that live on a farm, like pigs, cows, chickens and sheep!

We even learnt that these animals give us food we eat, like sausages, eggs, and milk!

We had exciting play time with all different farm activities: we painted farm animals, we used animals and sensory boxes to make the farm, we used márla to make farm animals and vegetables and our role play areas turned in to 'Farm Shops!'.

 

We also did lots of writing about the farm. Have a look at our lovely 'farm  books' hanging up outside our classrooms.

Another busy month in Junior Infants!

 

Under the Sea

In Junior Infants we are learning all about the sea and life under the sea.  Here are some of the videos and resources we will be using this month.

• Short cartoon of a submarine going under the sea
• Underwater dream - Sound Effects
• Sounds of the Sea
• Paper Plate Crafts
• Under the Sea Crafts

Ms Gifford came to teach us all about America

Ms Gifford is visiting our school for three months from America.  She is working with Ms Dillon, but last week she came to visit us in Ms McHale's class to tell us all about where she is from.

She showed us a slideshow with pictures of lots of famous things in America like the Statue of Liberty and Disney.


We knew lots of things about America and some of us have family who live there.

We also learned a new American song called Yankee Doodle.  Here are the words to the song:
Yankee Doodle went to town; A-riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his cap; And called it macaroni.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up; Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step; And with the girls be handy.

Infant Art Displays

Junior and Senior Infants have been very busy this year working on all their projects.  Here are some displays showing off all their hard work.

Parents Helping in the Classroom

This has been a very busy year for parents, as we encourage our parents to be very involved in their children's school life.  Part of this is all the wonderful work they do at home during homework games and art activities.
Another important part of this is coming into the school to attend meetings, participate in school workshops and to help in the classroom.

Parent Workshops:
This year Junior Infants has held monthly workshops for parents on various parts of school life.  These workshops have included:

• An Introduction to Junior Infants
• Bedtime Reading with your Child
• Jolly Phonics
• Numeracy Games and Activities

The parents have been wonderful for attending and being active participants in these meetings.  Every meetings consists of a talk from the teacher, and demonstration by the pupils of what they have learned and then the parents play a game with their own child.

Parents Helping in the Classroom:
A number of Junior Infant parents have volounteered their time to help our with activies in the school and in the classroom.  There are parents helping with the Bedtime Reading Club on Tuesday mornings and the Savings Club on Friday Mornings.
We also have a number of parents helping in the classrooms during the Morning Maths Games and Art Activities.  These parents are being very generous with their time, and their help is an invaluable support to the class teacher.  More importantly, their children love to see Mummy coming in to help and to be a "teacher". 

Thank you so much to all our parent helpers.  We appreciate everything you do.

Parents are Working Hard at Home

The parents in Junior Infants have been working very hard this year.

Homework Games
They have been playing lots of homework games with their children.  We have been playing number games, sound games and word bingo.  Because of all their hard work, lots of children are moving up to their second and third word lists. 

Art at Home Projects:
Every month the children are given an art project to take home.  Parents and other family memers are encouraged to take part in the project and to help out the child as much as he or she needs.  Previous projects included

• My Family Tree
• My Time Line - I am growing up.
• Paper Roll Jungle Animals

In January we were learning about homes.  Every child was asked to make a box house using old boxes and art materials.  Some really wonderful houses were brought into school.  Lots of different shapes, sizes and colours and using lots of different materials.  A special thanks to the parents and families for helping with this project and making our Box Town look so wonderful.

We went on a Circle Hunt

We have been learning all about shapes in Junior Infants.  We have learned all about the circle, the square and our new shape is the triangle.
We gave each shape a special character.  We learned poems about the shape characters to help us to recognise the attributes of the different shapes, and to draw the shapes.

 

We drew circles, squares and triangles, coloured them in and cut them out.  We are getting better using our scissors.  We have used different tools to practice making shapes. We have used straws, pipe cleaners, lolly pop sticks and paper strips.We also use our big whiteboard to practice drawing shapes and we have been using playdoh to make shapes.

 

We made pictures using circles, squares and triangles.  We made shape monsters, shape men, spooky ghosts and witches using all our shapes. 

We also went out around the school on a circle hunt.  We were surprised at how many circles we found around the school.  There are circles everywhere.  Have a look around your house to see what shapes you can see.

Learning About the Hedgehog

We have learned about the animals we see in Autumn, particularly the hedgehog. 

We learned that the hedgehog has brown spines on his back, a brown furry face and a brown furry tummy.
It likes to eat slugs, snails, worms, fruit and insects.

It lives in hedges and makes a nest in dry leaves and grass.

The hedgehog curls up in a spikey ball to protect itself when it is scared.  It is a good swimmer and a good climber.

We watched videos and looked at pictures to help us learn.

We made a big hedgehog using our handprints.

We used brown clay and cocktail sticks to make little hedgehogs and then we made our hedgehog a nest using brown and orange, autumn leaves.

Infant Art and Writing Displays

We have been very busy in Junior and Senior Infants this year. Here are some of our art displays from the year.