Welcome to First Class!
ON WEEK ONE, WE ALL SHARED OUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ABOUT WHAT WE’D LIKE TO BE WHEN WE GREW UP, AND ABOUT OUR FAVOURITE THINGS. FOR EXAMPLE; OUR FAVOURITE GAMES, ANIMALS, FOODS, PROGRAMMES, SONGS, BOOKS, SUBJECTS ETC. WE DREW PICTURES OF OUR FAVOURITE THINGS ON THE SHAPE OF A HEAD AND STUCK IT TO OUR FAVOURITE COLOUR!
Autumn is such a beautiful time of year! The children enjoyed going on a nature walk and collecting leaves, berries, flowers and seeds to populate our nature table....which is now gloriously overflowing!!! The coloured leaves really fascinated them, so we decided to learn all about what leaves came from which tree. We did this by observing the leaf shapes and sizes. We then traced around the shapes of leaves and wrote the names of the trees underneath. Check out our paintings below J
One day we decided to create EXPLODING CIRCLES!!!
We experimented with drawing designs on the shape of a plain white circle, using various marks and lines. We then cut them out and glued all these designs to the outer surface of the circle.
.........BOOOM!!!
We experimented with drawing designs on the shape of a plain white circle, using various marks and lines. We then cut them out and glued all these designs to the outer surface of the circle.
.........BOOOM!!!
We learned a little bit about the famous artist “Claude Monet”. He used a special “Tache (Touch) Technique” to create his impressionistic paintings. We were inspired by his waterlilies, so we decided to create our own collection.
We know that we need strong fingers to ensure neat writing. This year we have been working hard to strengthen our fingers by;
using kinetic sand, replicating “String Along” pictures, piecing together tangram designs, making jigsaw puzzles, creating peg board patterns, building items from straws etc
Our writing is getting so much better already!
using kinetic sand, replicating “String Along” pictures, piecing together tangram designs, making jigsaw puzzles, creating peg board patterns, building items from straws etc
Our writing is getting so much better already!
Last week we were lucky enough to go see our “Fairytale Friends” in the Civic Theatre. We were so excited sitting in our seats before the show. It was very interactive. Azeez from our class (along with some other children) was called up on stage to act like a wolf. He did a great job, and ended up being chosen as the best wolf!
Most recently, we have been getting in to the Halloween spirit of things. We created spooky haunted houses with interesting sunsets and backgrounds. It was fun mixing paint to make new colours. The collages turned out great and we have started decorating our classroom.
A guard came in to school on Tuesday to remind us how to stay safe at Halloween. He warned us about the dangers of bonfires and bangers. We know we should stand back from any fires and must never touch bangers in case they explode in our hands.
We can enjoy looking at fireworks in the night sky though.
They all look different. Just like these.
We can enjoy looking at fireworks in the night sky though.
They all look different. Just like these.
This week is Maths week! Keep an eye out here to see what we get up to!
We've been having lots of fun this past week. We've been playing maths games such as "10 on the spot", "Addition and Subtraction Bingo", "Boggle" and "Snakes and Ladders". It's been very exciting (very noisy) and competitive in class! We love it!
Ms. O' Connell came around with a big jar full of chocolates too... and we had to guess how many are inside! Our class decided to guess 44 so hopefully we're right as the winning class wins the whole jar!!! We'll find out the winners tomorrow in assembly. Fingers crossed!
Ms. O' Connell came around with a big jar full of chocolates too... and we had to guess how many are inside! Our class decided to guess 44 so hopefully we're right as the winning class wins the whole jar!!! We'll find out the winners tomorrow in assembly. Fingers crossed!
We also went on a "Maths Trail" to try and see maths in the environment.
First we looked at the church and identified and drew different shapes that we could see on the building.
Next we counted how many cars in the car park.
We acknowledged numbers and letters on the number plates of cars and learned what these mean.
Our next stop was the Willow tree. We estimated how many giant steps it would take to bring us to the gate.
We wrote down our guess and then measured the actual amount. Some of us were extremely accurate!
We also observed the shapes of leaves and flowers around us, as well as the various materials that are used in the school.
We had lots of fun outside on our maths trail and made sure to record all our findings.
First we looked at the church and identified and drew different shapes that we could see on the building.
Next we counted how many cars in the car park.
We acknowledged numbers and letters on the number plates of cars and learned what these mean.
Our next stop was the Willow tree. We estimated how many giant steps it would take to bring us to the gate.
We wrote down our guess and then measured the actual amount. Some of us were extremely accurate!
We also observed the shapes of leaves and flowers around us, as well as the various materials that are used in the school.
We had lots of fun outside on our maths trail and made sure to record all our findings.
Last Thursday we started up GAA again. This year our coach is called "Stephen". He make's it so much fun! We were learning how to hold the ball when running and when to bounce it. Here's a few snaps from our first training session.
As well as all the activities, we have been working hard in school and at home to improve our writing. We have been learning about the "Narrative Writing Genre" and how to use a framework to help us write exciting stories.
Our parents have been fantastic to encourage and remind us to do our best writing at homework time. We always try to remember our capital letters and full stops. Check out some of our lovely neat homework sentences.
Our parents have been fantastic to encourage and remind us to do our best writing at homework time. We always try to remember our capital letters and full stops. Check out some of our lovely neat homework sentences.
We also make sure to read everyday. We have special groups for "Guided Reading", but we also have ten minutes each day where we "Drop. Everything. And. Read." We call this "D.E.A.R Time", and we love it! There are so many book worms in our class.
This week, we decided to create "lanterns" that we could carry around with us on spooky dark Halloween Night. As we had been learning about "Occasions throughout the year", one child cleverly suggested we could also use these lanterns at "Diwali" to help celebrate the "Festival of Lights". This year the 5 day Indian festival starts on the 27th of October!
Today we celebrated Halloween! We all introduced ourselves and our new personas when dressed up in costume!
We danced the Skeleton Dance,
listened to the story "Ready, Steady, Ghost!",
we did lots of Halloween related colouring,
watched "Room on the Broom",
we heard interesting facts about Halloween while in assembly,
we played Fruit-Salad (Halloween-Salad!) in the tiled hall,
we played musical statues, "Good Morning Your Majesty" and musical chairs....
and finally because we were all so good - we ate some treats!
What a day!!!! Happy Halloween Everybody!!!
We danced the Skeleton Dance,
listened to the story "Ready, Steady, Ghost!",
we did lots of Halloween related colouring,
watched "Room on the Broom",
we heard interesting facts about Halloween while in assembly,
we played Fruit-Salad (Halloween-Salad!) in the tiled hall,
we played musical statues, "Good Morning Your Majesty" and musical chairs....
and finally because we were all so good - we ate some treats!
What a day!!!! Happy Halloween Everybody!!!
With all that wind and rain out there these days, we've ended up having some crazy hair!!!
Check out our "Crazy Hair Characters" below!!!
Check out our "Crazy Hair Characters" below!!!
The year is flying by, and it's hard to believe it's already November! As we reflect on how lucky we are here in Ireland, and look forward to the exciting festivities of Christmas, we think of people further afield who we can share the joy with.
Two women from "Team Hope" came to visit us before the Halloween break, to tell us about the "Christmas Shoebox Appeal". We learned that we can make up "Shoebox Presents" for children in other countries who may not ever have received a Christmas present before.
In our shoeboxes we're going to try and include items that begin with the 4 "w"s.
For example, something to: wash with, something to write with, something to wear and something to WOW!
Here are some of the things we're filling our shoeboxes with!
A big thank you to all the children and parents who are sending in "shoebox fillers". We really appreciate it, and we know the children overseas will be absolutely thrilled!!!
Two women from "Team Hope" came to visit us before the Halloween break, to tell us about the "Christmas Shoebox Appeal". We learned that we can make up "Shoebox Presents" for children in other countries who may not ever have received a Christmas present before.
In our shoeboxes we're going to try and include items that begin with the 4 "w"s.
For example, something to: wash with, something to write with, something to wear and something to WOW!
Here are some of the things we're filling our shoeboxes with!
A big thank you to all the children and parents who are sending in "shoebox fillers". We really appreciate it, and we know the children overseas will be absolutely thrilled!!!
Today a man from "Team Hope" came to collect the shoe-boxes from the school. There were 98 boxes in total. We were so happy imagining all the children who would receive a Christmas present who may not have got one otherwise. Look at our shoebox pyramid that Miss McGillycuddy and all of the support team put together!
It's "Science Week" this week and we're learning all about Climate Change. We are realising just how important our trees are to clean the air. We decided we would use leaves from the trees to create different creatures in art this week. All of these creatures need clean air to survive.
As we were learning a bit about the forces of "push and pull" this week, we decided to make rockets in Art class. We know that the force of moving air coming out the back of the rocket causes it to shoot up in to the air!!! Check out out colourful creations!
We're such a lucky class! Miss Reilly decided to arrange a surprise visit from "Animal Magic" so that we could learn more about wild animals living here in Ireland and abroad. We learned so many interesting facts, and had so much fun petting them!
It's important that parents know what topics we're covering in maths each week or fortnight so that they can help us to see maths in the environment around us. This way, we begin to realise just how useful maths can be in the real world. We will be keeping our "WALT Chart" (We Are Learning To... Chart) up to date on our window. Why not take a look!
In the month of November we were covering the topic of "Food" in Gaeilge - "Bia". We learned lots of different words for different foods that we eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and plenty of phrases too.
Cad a d’ith tú don bhricfeasta?
D’ith mé ___. (leite, ubh, iógart, gránach, tósta, arán, im agus subh)
Cad a d’ól tú don bhricfeasta?
D’ól mé ___. (bainne, sú oráiste, buidéal uisce, cupán tae)
If we play games it helps us to remember the words a bit better. Here's a few snaps of us drawing various foods, doing matching cards and playing bingo.
Cad a d’ith tú don bhricfeasta?
D’ith mé ___. (leite, ubh, iógart, gránach, tósta, arán, im agus subh)
Cad a d’ól tú don bhricfeasta?
D’ól mé ___. (bainne, sú oráiste, buidéal uisce, cupán tae)
If we play games it helps us to remember the words a bit better. Here's a few snaps of us drawing various foods, doing matching cards and playing bingo.
Christmas is just around the corner!!!
We made some origami Christmas trees out of green paper to get in the spirit of things. We had to be careful when cutting and glueing....but they turned out great! :)
We made some origami Christmas trees out of green paper to get in the spirit of things. We had to be careful when cutting and glueing....but they turned out great! :)
