Junior and Senior Infants Blog: February 2013

Saturday 23 February 2013

Windows on the World: A visit from the Kenyan Ambassador

We had a big day in the school on Thursday. Over the past few weeks, 4th, 5th and 6th class have been working on their Windows of the World project in preparation for St Patrick's Day. This year our school has been given Kenya as our country. 4th, 5th and 6th class have been learning all about the country, the culture, the people, the geography, the animals and the art work.

To help us celebrate Kenyan culture the Kenyan Ambassador to Ireland, Catherine Muigai Mwangi, came to visit our school. We worked really hard to decorate our school in preparation of the visit. We had balloons, bunting, ribbons and flags in the Kenyan colours - red, black and green. All our pupils lined up at the front of the school and they waved their Kenyan flags to welcome the Ambassador.

The Ambassador planted a tree outside the school to commemorate her visit. She then went to visit 4th, 5th and 6th class to talk to them about life in Kenya. The girls had lots of questions for the Ambassador, and the Ambassador brought some gifts from Kenya for the girls. It was an excellent visit.

Over the next few weeks the girls will continue to learn about Kenya and they will prepare their display for their Windows on the World shop front. We can't wait to see it.

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.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Life Cycle of the Frog

Junior and Senior Infants are learning about the Life Cycle of the frog. Here are some activities to practice this at home.

Frog Life Cycle Game

Frog Life Cycle Colouring Pages

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Spring

Junior Infants are learning about Spring. Be sure to look out for signs of Spring - baby animals, daffodils, tulips, nests, buds and blossoms on trees, frog spawn, birds singing......

Art Exhibition

Our mums and dads loved our art exhibition at Christmas!

Gymnastics in Junior Infants

For the last two months Junior Infants have been doing Gymnastics in PE.

We are learning lots of different ways to travel using our hands and feet, we are learning different types of rolls - pencil roll, ball roll and the forward roll, and we are learning to use some gymnastics equipments like benches and mats.

It has been lots of fun. Here is a video of us in our PE class.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

We love Gaeilge!!

Junior Infants are learning Irish. Last month we learned how to talk about our clothes or our Eadaí.

We know sciorta, geansai, stocai, broga, briste, guna, hata agus cota.

We are also practicing our Irish songs and rhymes every day. Here is out rhyme about teidí's clothes:
Tá teidí agam.
Teidí deas bui.
Ta hata agus cóta air
Le broga is stocaí.

Every month we learn a little bit more. Look at our lovely Líne Éadaí

Sunday 17 February 2013

We're learning all about the farm.

Junior Infants are learning all about life on the farm this month. For the last two weeks we have been learning about all the animals that live on the farm.

We have made some farm animal crafts which we have displayed around our corridor and our classrooms.

We are learning to describe all the different farm animals, and their baby animals.

Why don't you talk to your child at home about life on the farm and the animals they will see there. Maybe you could also bring your child to visit a real farm. Glenroe Farm is just down the road. You can visit their website here: http://www.glenroefarm.com/

Here are some videos you can watch at home:

Here are some Animal Songs to sing together:

Have fun learning all about the farm!!

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Step it Up - Keeping Healthy during Operation Transformation

We are taking part in Operation Transformation in our school. Everyone is trying to be more healthy, to eat better and to do more exercise. Our parents and staff have even set up their own Operation Transformation Groups.

To help everyone in the school be fitter and more active the girls from 6th class went to every other class in the school to teach them the Step It Up dance. They came to visit us today and we danced and jumped and clapped. It was a great idea to keep us warm on a cold day.

You can see the official Step It Up video on You Tube by clicking here.

Here is a video of the 6th class girls teaching Junior Infants the Step it Up dance.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Spring Time Hunt

It's Spring Time again and Ms McHale's class went out to explore the school grounds and to hunt for signs of springtime appearing around the school.

The children were given partners and each pair had their own binoculars to help them to find things, and a clipboard with a special Spring time Checklist, so they could record everything they saw on their walk.

We had a great time looking for buds and leaves on the plants and trees. Hunting for spring flowers like daffodils and crocuses. And we were very quiet when we were listening to the birds singing their spring time songs.

Here are some photos we took of our walk and some of the things we found on our walk.

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.

Junior Infant Nativity Play

We had great fun this year doing our first school Nativity play. Our play was called the Sleepless Night. It was about a poor innkeeper who was woken up by all the different visitors who came to visit the baby Jesus when he was born in Bethelehem.
Here are some photos of us on the stage.