Welcome to Ms. O’Brien’s Class
Welcome to Junior Infants. There are twenty one children in the class. We learn through play and active, hands-on learning which you will see in our pictures. Our classroom is bursting with resources and we love to come into school each morning. Our teacher is Ms. O’Brien. We will keep you updated with all our adventures throughout the year here!
June
June came and went in the blink of an eye. Roisín from An Your Rothar visited our school at the beginning of June. We brought in our bikes and made pathways and played games. We finished up reading our last story- Going Camping. In SPHE we learned about Media Education, discussed different forms of media and how we might know if things on the TV are fake or real. We took part in a Water Safety webinar and learned the importance of staying safe the beach. Over the duration of Active School Week- we completed boxercise, tennis, rugby, rounders and obstacles courses. We were very lucky to have these visiting coaches visit our school. We went to Kia Ora on our school tour. This was a highlight of our time in Junior Infants, we saw lots of amazing animals, had great fun on the go karts and held rabbits. We took part in our annual sports day and visited Huntington Castle. We have had a great year and Ms. O’ Brien will really miss us in the year ahead!
May
The beginning of May brought lots of excitement to our classroom. The whole school took part in a bake sale. There was great excitement as we went up to 5th and 6th Class with our wallets and purses to make our purchases. On May 11th, the class brought their bikes and scooters to school, we created an obstacle course on the back court and had lots of fun. Mark has arrived for our GAA coaching and on May 14th, Jim our new Basketball coach arrived. We played lots of new games. This month we finished our Stay Safe programme, learning about the topics of secrets and telling and strangers. In Irish we are learning about An Zú, our favourite part is our new song ‘ Istigh sa Zú’. We have our colouring ready for the Tullow Show Competition and we will begin our handwriting entries this month too. We are learning all about Summer in SESE, what our Grannies and Grandads did in the Summer months. We finished up Music Generation with MaryAnn this on May 18th. We learned the song ‘ Mr. Sun and used lots of musical instruments, we hope the sunshine arrives soon!
April
We cannot believe how fast April has come and gone! We had special little visitors to our classroom- Cookie and Milk, two little chicks. We were lucky enough to take part in rounders coaching and GAA coaching with Wexford Camogie player Anais Curran. In Maths, we were learning about weight and length. In Irish we learned a new song- An Siopa Milseaín which we sang in assembly. This month in Stay Safe, we have covered the topics of bullying and touches. We really love the Parachute Games in PE. We created Rocket Ships this month in art when we were learning all about Space. In May, we hope to spend lots more time outside!
March
We began March with one of our favourite days of the year World Book Day. Our classroom was filled with Gruffalos, fairies, spidermen and even a thief. We read many stories on the day and even became illustrators creating a Gruffalo. This month we are learning about farming in Spring and mini beasts. We created beautiful art based on mini beasts and our number nine in maths. Look out for our nine ladybirds. In Irish we are learning lots of words based on Lá Fhéile Phádraig and look forward to using these words when we go to parades on St. Patrick’s Day. We are looking forward to performing at the Ceilí on Lá Glás. Our Early Intervention has changed over to Maths this month. Throughout the month our three stations will be based on money, capacity and number. We will interview a farmer this month about his role in Spring.
February
This month our theme was our local area and the people who work in our community. We invited the postman into our classroom! We listened as Seán told us all about his deliveries and how many houses he has to visit each day. We were lucky to have a Grandad come in to visit, he spoke about how Clonegal has changed in the 83 years he has lived here. Charlotte, our local vet came to see us. We had lots of questions for her as we had been reading about the vet and our Aistear area is based on the vet this month. We went on a walk through the village. We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful place. We brought picker pals with us and were surprised by how little rubbish we could find. This month we finished up our Gymnastics Strand of PE. We learned about the weather in Irish and sang about Teidí Beag Buí. We can now write up to number 9 in Maths and can order numbers on the number line.
January
We were all excited to return to school after the New Year to share stories of our Christmas holidays and to be reunited with our friends after our two week break. This month in PE we are working on Gymnastics, the children are practicing their forward roll, pencil roll and teddy bear roll so far. We are also working on balancing. We are learning all about Africa in SESE and can recall many facts about African Animals. Did you know a Hippo cannot swim? We read the story of Handa’s Surprise and acted this out in Drama. We also tasted mango and pineapple, lots of us really enjoyed this. This month we began having our hot meals at lunch time. We made hot chocolate as part of science and observed the chocolate melting before having our own taste test! We are looking forward to our Grandparents visiting on the 19th of January.
December
Have a look at some of our pictures from December. We performed Ralph the Reindeer for Grandparents on December 2nd and then on Wednesday December 3rd we went on stage again. We have enjoyed it so much, the costumes, the acting and singing. These little performers also took to the stage in the local church at the start of Advent, singing Away in a Manger, Rudolph and Jingle Bells. We are ready to take a rest now and get back to learning all about the story of the First Christmas, create some beautiful Christmas decorations and enjoy reading some stories from our Christmas Library. We will enjoy all the magic that December brings as we know its such a special time of year. Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir.
November
When we came back from mid-term we looked a little wiser, a little taller and we were no longer new. We have settled in and made friends and we were so happy to be returning to see them after a week off. It was straight back to learning all of our sounds, learning about hospitals and the doctor in oral language, we learned the poems Miss Polly had a Dolly and Dr. Foster. In Irish we learned all about ag súgradh. In maths we are learning to count, without having to count each number this is called subitising. We are super at this. We created robins in art because in November , we remember all our loved ones up in Heaven. We are learning all about our families in SESE. Lastly, we are getting ready for our show called Ralph the Reindeer. We can be heard singing, dancing and saying our lines! We are so excited to perform for you all on December 3rd!
October
Our classroom looked a little bit different this month with the addition of a witches den, a potion making areas and a spooky house. The children had lots of fun moving from group to group. Our annual Maths Week took place, the older classes came down to help us work on shape and space. We even played Snakes and Ladders. We created pumpkins and witches in Art and make slime with glue and contact lens solution, this was sticky and lots of fun! We learned all about Oíche Shamhna in Irish and performed a poem in Assembly called ‘ 5 Little Pumpkins’. Our class are very excited about dressing up on Thursday and taking part in our Witch Walk to Huntington Castle.
September
We welcomed 20 Junior Infants into our classroom in September and what an exciting time it was. The class were a brave bunch as they waved their parents off. It was all fun and games from the beginning. We are lucky to have Kevin visit on a Tuesday for GAA and Mary Ann comes on a Monday. Have a look at our pictures we learn by doing in this class and are always busy. We love to go to Dramaland and so far we have met Little Rabbit Froo Froo and Humpty Dumpty. In SESE we are learning all about our school, who works in the school and helps us. We collected apples from the apple tree and used them for printing.
