Incy Wincy Spider

Nursery rhymes are important for so many reasons: 

Last week we looked at The Incy Wincy Spider. We practiced rhyming, counting syllables, performing the rhyme, oral language and more! 

While Juniors and Seniors did a cut and paste sequencing activity for the rhyme, 1st Class came up with this great version and made posters for it: 

 Poor Incy!!!

Check out each pod performing the rhyme below

Aistear-Learning Through Play

The children in the Junior Room all take part in Aistear, or learning through play. There is further information found below, taken from  https://curriculumonline.ie/Early-Childhood/ 

Aistear is a fantastic, safe and supported way for the children to make sense their world, expand vocabulary, make connections, interact and develop a wide variety of curriculum, social, physical and emotional skills. It is far more than just playing! 

We have spent the first few weeks of school getting used to the new normal routine for Aistear; limiting shared resources, separate play areas for each pod, cleaning and quarantining toys so everyone can stay safe, etc. Moving forward, we will have monthly themes for our Aistear time which will link to many other curriculum areas. 1st Class will also be set more challenging activities to complete alongside the thematic play. 

Have a look at what we have been getting up to recently: 

Making prints for Visual Arts (motor skills, self-expression, exploration of colours, self-esteem, visual processing, coordination, sensory play, problem solving, creativity, imagination...)

Exploring the sandpit (hand-eye coordination, sensory play, oral language, social skills, fine motor, gross motor, social skills)

Making puppets for the theatre (mark making, free writing, fine motor skills, imagination, storytelling, pencil and scissors grip, problem solving..) 

Construction (imaginative play, fine/gross motor development, problem solving, cooperative learning, sharing, creative thinking, self-esteem..)

Small world (creative thinking, drama, cooperation, social skills, sharing, language development, motor skills, free writing element supports English curriculum...)

Most importantly, we get to have fun, make a mess and encourage the children to associate school as an engaging, interactive, positive place to be! 

 

Phonological Awareness with Infants

Phonological awareness involves thinking about the sounds in words rather than the meaning of a word. It is a crucial step in learning to read for young children. Infants are working very hard on developing these skills to prepare them for learning the sounds and learning to read later on in the school year. 

Today we did some animal noises. 

The children had to make each animal sound. This introduces the concept of symbols (e.g. letters) having a sound that is different than the name. By doing a line of sounds they are also working on left-right reading orientation and the concept of blending sounds together. 

After a lot of practice, the children drew their own sound boards. Have a look: 

 

Rhyming and Writing our Names

We listened to this great rhyming song, and then made up our own versions! We all got squashed when the elephant sat on us! We even squashed some of our family members 🙈

Then we practiced writing our names. It is really important to use the correct pencil grip, so please try to encourage this at home when possible! The Juniors need to build up the muscles in their hands before they start formal writing in school. Loads of playdough, cutting, tearing and building activities are great for this! 

We are looking for the Dynamic Tripod Posture! 

1st Class will be doing cursive writing this year, so they practiced writing their names in joined up writing. Seniors and Juniors did rainbow names! Great work everyone 👍

Displays

The children have been helping to decorate our classroom! Have a look at their lovely work. 

We learned about the Feelings Monsters and made our own ones! The children did an amazing job on these!

Look at our self portraits that we painted last week! The children were so well behaved when using the paint! Great job!

First Class were working as historians and gathering evidence about their own history.

Here are everyone's family portraits

The children made a great 'Wash Your Hands' collage...have a look at the process...

The Seniors and 1st Class children made some posters about when and how to wash your hands too. 

Having Lots of Fun!

The children have been doing amazing work in school and are all settling into the school routine well! Have a look at some of the fun we've been having:

Fine motor skill work in the morning

Aistear (learning through play) in our classroom pods