Welcome to Ms. Nolan’s class!
Our classroom has individual work stations and a large open area where we work in groups, listen to a story, sing songs or have circle time.
We also have an area near the sink for paint, water and messy play. We use the outside soft play area regularly when the weather allows, otherwise we have a room inside with a soft floor covering and soft padding on the walls where we can bounce around on space hoppers and large round or peanut shaped balls. Another favourite area is the multi-sensory room. We can relax and watch shapes projected on the wall, play with soft toys, practise aiming and target throwing . There is also a smaller play area with a sand tray, jigsaws, cars, farms, train set, lego and board games. All of these activities help with our fine and gross motor development. These areas also provide opportunities for us to practise our social skills.
May
This month we learned about the Vet and read the stories ‘Lamb goes to the Vet’ and ‘Show and Tell’. We learned about bees, pollination and honey. We read the story ‘The Greedy Bee’ and for art we made a beautiful bee display board. The students integrated for Music, Rugby, GAA and Social, Personal and Health Education.
April
This month has been busy as usual in the Junior ASD room. We have enjoyed the good weather. The students painted beautiful Spring pictures, played outside on the playground and went for walks to the river which we enjoyed. For Easter we read The Easter story, constructed Easter baskets using card, glue and twistables and filled them with some delicious treats.
March
This month the class had their RSE talk and learned to bath and care for a baby. We also made pancakes for Pancake Tuesday. The toppings we used were sugar, lemon and Nutella. Each student helped make the batter. We learned about St. Patrick and decorated the classroom. For Lá Glas we dressed in green and did our best to recreate Riverdance. Lots and lots of fun!
February
This month the children learned about the Stone Age, celebrated Saint Brigid’s Day, learned 2d and 3d shapes and for fun we drew shapes in shaving foam, looked for signs of spring and made beautiful daffodils for the Spring display board. They got into the spirit of Valentines and made sponge print flowers and Valentine baskets with a sweet treat inside for their loved ones. We are delighted to welcome Catherine back for some yoga sessions. The children love to learn new yoga poses, listen to the brass Tibetan singing bowl and practicing their breathing.
January
January has been an exciting month. A new student started in our class and we are enjoying making new friendships. There were two winners from our classroom in the Credit Union Art competition. Conor won second prize in the first round and James won first prize in the first and second round. James’s beautiful art work has made it to the All-Ireland final of the Credit Union Art competition. We are so proud of him and wish him the best of luck with the All-Ireland judging. During Catholic Schools Week Fr. Hughes came to visit the class and we had a lovely conversation with him.
December
Excitement is in the air this month. Santa’s robin has visited our school and we are pleased to report all children are on their best behaviour so I’m sure all reports are good. It has been a busy month we worked on measures in maths, letter sounds, blending and letter formation, the history of Christmas, made Santa pictures, Christmas chains, Rudolf plate decorations, danced, sang songs, read stories to name a few.
September
It is great to be back in school. Everyone was happy to see their friends and we welcomed two new students to our class. September has been an exciting and busy, we settled into new routines, got to know new friends and worked with new resources in our room. We were lucky to have Seamus back to teach us GAA and we learned about Autumn and the hedgehog. We went on an Autumn walk and collected leaves for our nature table.
