The boys and girls in Senior Infants had a great start to the new term!
In September, we kicked the year off with learning all about Growth Mindset and giving our best to their work, play and tasks. The children engaged so well in these activities and we were blown away by their enthusiasm for learning.
They have had great fun getting stuck into Aistear (our learning through play framework) focusing on The GP surgery, The Veterinary Clinic & Halloween. We have been focusing on increasing vocabulary and language development around these topics. The children have really grown in their confidence stepping into the roles of different people in our community.
It has also really benefited the children in both group and collaboration work. During Aistear time we have also been working hard on further developing their motor skills- engaging in lots of hands-on creative tasks.
We have been developing the children’s creative writing skills, with a specific focus on recount writing. They have been so proud of their work and they have been gaining more independence and confidence week on week!
The children have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in gymnastics every week this term. They have been learning functional movement skills that will set them up to move well and be a great foundation for other sports!
This has just been a small insight into the very busy work and play that the children have been getting up to in the past few weeks. We have posted photos of some of their lovely work that they have completed and some activities they have been doing!
November and December have been busy months in Senior Infants, to say the least! In literacy, we have been focusing on letter-writing and procedural writing. This tied in nicely with our November Aistear theme, the Post Office. We wrote letters to the children in Senior Infants in St Anne’s National School, Shankill and are eagerly awaiting a reply! We also walked to the post box at Dundrum Town Centre to post our invitations to the Junior Carol Service. We paid a bonus visit to the playground next to the post box on this excursion too! We also immersed ourselves in the story "Owl Babies" and completed some super creative writing based on the main themes of the story.
A highlight of Mini Music was when our teacher, Kim, brought in her flute and played it for us! We also put a huge amount of effort into learning the songs for our Nativity, all of which culminated in a wonderful performance at our Junior Carol Service last week. Well done to all the children for such fantastic singing on the day!
We welcomed Mrs Zacchei as our new Reading Assistant in November. We feel so fortunate to have the support of Mrs Zacchei and the children are really enjoying getting to know her and of course, sharing their love of reading with her.
The children’s aptitude for learning and performing songs has transferred to Irish aswell where they have been singing songs covering the topics of Bia (food), Me Fein (myself) and Nollaig (Christmas) with ease!
In Maths, we have been concentrating on the number 6 and 7 and have been getting stuck into 3D shapes and ordinal numbers, with the help of lots of hands-on tasks and games.
History and SPHE saw us delving into the topics of Growing and Changing, which included the challenge of sequencing photographs of teacher from baby to adult…no easy feat! In Geography, we took a virtual trip to a beef farm as part of AgriAware’s "Farming Through the Seasons" initiative. We even got to ask Farmer James some questions. In PE, we have been focusing on the important skills of throwing and catching as well as lots of fun, cooperative games.
Santa’s Workshop has been in full swing over the month of December where we have been busy getting into the Christmas spirit by means of present-wrapping to paperchain-making to quality-checking the toys we have constructed for Santa!
There was great excitement when our Christmas cards arrived back from the printers and we saw our designs in all their glory. Other Art activities included "Snowmen with a different perspective", line drawings, clay and of course, our fabulous elves!
The children have worked so hard and deserve a well-earned rest over the holidays. You will see some snapshots of what they have been up to below. Wishing you all a lovely Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
