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November in Junior and Senior Infants
November was a fun and busy month. We learned all about the Antarctica and Weather.
Our Aistear theme for the first half of November was Tom Crean and the Antarctica. We made penguins from 2D shapes, built igloos, made Antarctica animals using playdough and built exploration ships to explore floating and sinking.
Our STEM challenge this month was to build an igloo using marshmallows and matchsticks. The children had to plan, design and evaluate their work. The children enjoyed the challenge.
During the second half of the month, we focused on Winter and Weather as our theme for Aistear. The children designed wooly hats using marble printing techniques, made and tested windsocks, created and recorded their own weather forecasts and sorted clothes according to the weather.
Toy Show:
We had our very own Toy Show in our classroom. The children were invited to bring in their favourite toy for a “Show and Tell”. It was great fun and made us even more excited for the RTE Toy Show.
Birthdays:
We had lots of birthdays this month:
In Junior Infants, Mikey, Shay and Cían Quigley turned 5 while Nathan and Vivienne in Senior Infants turned 6. Happy Birthday!!
5th and 6th Class
Someone Like Me Art Competition
This fantastic competition aims to raise disability awareness among primary school children and give them a greater understanding of what unites children of differing abilities. Pupils were given the task to create a piece of art in any form to showcase what “Someone Like Me” means to them. Well done all who participated!
Sherkin Island Marine Station Art Competition
Huge well done to Isobell O’Hora and Maisie Power who both won ‘The Complete Naturalist” prize in the Sherkin Island Marine Station Art Competition.
5th and 6th Class Art:
Drama with Amy
A big thank you to Amy for her excellent delivery of drama lessons over the previous number of weeks.
October in Junior and Senior Infants
October was a busy month in the infant room as we learned all about Autumn and Halloween!
In Aistear and SESE, we learned all about autumn animals – owls, hedgehogs and squirrels. We learned that some animals are nocturnal and some are busy getting ready for hibernation.
We went on an autumn hunt to find and gather some autumn items.
Taste Test:
We explored our sense of taste and tasted sweet, sour, bitter and salty foods.
Integrated Learning Through Play: The following photos were taken during Aistear:
Halloween Fun:
We are very excited about Halloween and have been busy getting ready. We completed the following activities:
- History: Read and sequenced the story ‘Room on the Broom’ .
- Visual Arts: Constructed Halloween spiders and ghosts
- Maths: Designed pumpkins using 2D shapes.
- Science: Created magic potions.
- Music: Learned the songs and actions to the song ‘Ghostbusters’.
We dressed up in our Halloween costumes and had a party!!
Birthdays:
Mia turned 5 – Happy Birthday Mia!
September in Junior and Senior Infants
September was a super busy month in the infant room [hence the very late post!] as the new Junior Infants settled into the routine of “big school”. The Senior Infants have been very helpful in helping their new classmates settle – well done to all! We would like to share some of our learning from the month of September!
Throughout the month of September, the themes covered in Aistear were All About Me and School. Aistear is a methodolgy used to consolidate learning through play. To find out more information about Aistear please click on the following link: http://www.ncca.biz/Aistear/pdfs/Guidelines_ENG/Play_ENG.pdf
Here are some pictures of the children during Aistear:
Building a school and a school bus 
Building a school using blueprints of the carpark, classroom and playground 
Busy building a house 
School themed playdough 
School themed playdough 
Designing their own schoolbags 
Junior Infants 1st day of School 
Cutting and pasting 
Picasso inspired portraits 
‘I have grown’ 
We all fit together in Junior and Senior Infants 
First Day of School Frames 
Infants School Trip
Junior and Senior Infants had an enjoyable day out today at the Copper Coast Mini Farm. They got to see different animals big and small, had fun in the playground and indoor sandpit and drove their mini tractors!
Infants – Seed Sowing
Over the next couple of days infants will be bringing home a cup planted with seeds as part of the GIY and Innocent drinks Big Grow campaign – www.innocentbiggrow.com
Peas, tomatoes and cress seeds will be planted. Here are some tips for how to look after the plants at home over the coming months.
Induction
Parents are invited to an informative ‘Induction Meeting’ for parents only, in Ballyneale National School next Thursday the 14th June at 2.15pm. This informal gathering will give you the opportunity to meet with other parents of new Junior Infant pupils enrolling for the 2018/2019 school year. Whilst discussing the daily routine of the school, we will endeavour to address all queries or concerns that you may have.
The following publication from the INTO is a useful resource for the parents of new entrants to primary school.
