Many thanks to Thomas Potterton who allowed us to visit his estate agents in Trim! He spoke to us about the different jobs an estate agent or auctioneer has and showed us the things he uses for his job. We got to see the properties he has for sale and got a special estate agents goodie bag! We learned loads for Aistear!
As well as being architects and builders, the children were also interior designers! Last week they had to imagine, design and begin gathering supplies to create their dream bedroom and then they were completed this week.
The creative ideas the children came up with were amazing! They had to problem-solve to work out how to make their plans come to life. Children who were out sick last week helped a friend to complete their bedroom, which provided opportunities for collaborative learning and compromising. As usual, the children exceeded expectations! Have a look at their work below, and watch the videos to hear about their rooms!
We have done lots of learning about different types of houses and homes, as well as about construction sites where these homes would be built. Through Aistear, the children are processing and consolidating what they have learned in real-life settings.
Station 1: Small-World play with doll house
Station 2: Plan, design and gather materials to create Dream Bedroom next week
Station 3: Role Play-'At Home'
Station 4: Construction Site-architects design the blueprints and then the builders use these to construct the homes.
There were lots of brilliant oral language opportunities, social skill development, examples of collaborative learning and imaginations at work!
Many thanks to Fiachra Reilly in 2nd Class who facilitated our Safe Pass training course yesterday in the Junior Room! We have been learning all about houses and homes, and are looking forward to being construction workers and architects next week during Aistear. However, we need to be sure we know about construction site safety first!
Fiachra was extremely professional and prepared for his Safety Talk. He then helped to administer the safe pass test. We were delighted when we confirmed all of the groups had passed!
Our theme for the month of April was 'Houses and Homes'. Here are some of the learning activities we did over the past few weeks....
In History we discussed what our homes looked like and what was used to build them. Everyone got a sheet of paper and drew their home on one half of it. Then the children looked at pictures of homes from the past in pairs. They had to find things that were different to their homes and circle them. Some children came up and explained the differences they found to the rest of the class. The children then drew a house from long ago on the other half of their page.
For Geography the children learned the names of different types of homes, and actions for each type to help everyone to remember them! We learned about detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, flats or apartments, bungalows, igloos, caravans and tepees. Everyone completed a writing activity about the type of house they lived in. During playtime the children were in role as builders and made different types of homes and buildings using the pictures below and others as stimulus.
As part of playtime the children were also given shoe boxes and assorted furniture and characters in their groups. They created different rooms and engaged in free play. This helped develop social skills, oral language and teamwork, as well as building on their vocabulary about homes and different rooms.
In English we read the story of The Three Little Pigs and discussed which house we would have built. The children then made whichever house they liked using straw, match sticks or red ribbon for bricks.
We then heard another version of the Three Little Pigs, this time told from the wolf's point of view!
We then came up with our own version of another fairy tale-Little Red Riding Hood orally as a whole class. Once we had the story written, the children had to become the illustrators and read their page and draw an appropriate picture. Now we have a very interesting class book!
We also looked at a story called Town Mouse and Country Mouse. We talked about where we would rather live, the town or the country, and why. The children then did some writing about their reasons and for art they were given lots of materials, e.g. lollipop sticks, coloured paper, ribbon, matchsticks, etc., and allowed to create their town or country house.
Hopefully everyone is enjoying the well earned week off after a busy April :)
