Aistear- The Doctors' Surgery

During playtime in school the children are given opportunities to learn through play. Every month there will be new themes and through Aistear the children cover topics in SESE, Drama, Art, Literacy, Numeracy, SPHE, etc...More information on Aistear can be found by clicking this link: AISTEAR

Our themes at the moment are Myself and The Doctors' Surgery. Each station has a different activity and over the week the children will experience each one. 

Table1: Cut and Paste items from the Doctor's bag. As well as developing fine motor skills, the children are working on language development as they recognise the different items.

Table2: Visual Art. This week the children are doing wax resist self-portraits. This is linking in with the story we did this week, Ronald the Rhino, where we learnt that the best person we can be is our self! They are also encouraged to talk about different features and colours they have (in English and as Gaeilge).

Table3: Role Play. After a whole class discussion and work on an interactive poster about the Doctors' Surgery, the children role play. They are using the new language they have learned, developing social skills, using Literacy and Numeracy informally...  

Table4: Construction. The children here have been asked to build a new hospital for Ireland. They work on spatial skills, teamwork, oral language and motor skills. 

We are also learning body parts as Gaeilge, so Aistear provides opportunities for the children to use their frásaí nua!

Have a look at our photos below!

English Stations

Here are some pictures of us working hard this morning during English Stations. 

At Table 1 we read one of Ms. Keane's favourite books, Rhyme Crime! The Juniors came up with new rhymes out loud and the Seniors did some writing. 

At Table 2, the children were building their names to work on recognition and formation.

Table 3 got the IPads and used an app to introduce them to sight words through fun games and stories.

The children got Oxford Readers at Table 4 and read these books. Every child will practice their reading on Monday and Wednesday using the readers out loud with an adult, and then read them at home for their homework too. These books are changed on Mon and Wed, so please ensure that they are in your child's homework folder every day! 

Maths Stations

The Juniors have been settling into the school routine so well. They've done a great job on the first full week in school! 

Here we are doing Maths Stations today. 

Sorting camels (making sets, classifying objects)

Shape towers (shape recognition, spatial awareness)

Interactive Whiteboard games: Juniors played Fuzzbugs on abcya.com which practices sorting, classifying and ordering skills.

Seniors played a different Fuzzbugs game which worked on addition and making number bonds.

Magsnaps (shape recognition, spatial awareness)

Stations are great because they also work on oral language skills, teamwork and working as a group, sharing and turn taking, and much more!