Junior Infants (Miss Hartnett)

First Day of School
The first day of school
Can be hard for Mom and Dad.
Part of you feels excited,
The other part feels sad.
For many years you’ve held their hand
And have been their loving guide.
Now you know the time has come
To leave them by my side.
But it is only for a little while,
As your child will learn and grow.
And at the end of every day
They will share with you all they know.
So as you walk away
Don’t worry anymore.
I’ll take care of your little one
When you leave them at my door.

From Ms. Hartnett

Meet the class!

MARCH

Online Learning Resources

Songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRuLS-Vnjs
Maths
https://ie.ixl.com/math/jr-infants
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/caterpillar-ordering
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=37&AgeGroup=1
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns
Literacy
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/
http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-2-games.html
https://www.readingbear.org/ (Take the quiz!)
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/
https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-story-my-best-friend-short-stories-for-kids/
https://www.storylineonline.net/
https://ie.ixl.com/ela/jr-infants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWYuggn-Pvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZludcLyi8
https://www.starfall.com/h/ltr-classic/
SESE
https://www.youtube.com/user/ComeOutsideTV
Active Breaks & Dances
Search Just Dance on YouTube
https://app.gonoodle.com/login
https://rtejr.rte.ie/10at10/

Activities for home!

We read this story 'The Enormous Turnip' at school and put the pictures in order from start to finish. What happened first? What happened next? What happened finally?

Click on the document and ask your child to read the phrases.

Practice making 5 at home.
Show child 5 counters (objects). Child closes eyes. Cover e.g 3. Child opens eyes. There are 2 now, how many did I cover?

Fun movement activities to try at home!

Go Noodle: guided dance, mindfulness, motor skills, etc. app.gonoodle.com/
Cosmic Kids Yoga: yoga and mindfulness www.cosmickids.com/
Operation 10 at 10: 10 minute exercise videos rtejr.rte.ie/10at10/

Some other activity ideas for home (these activities are not all movement based). This list was taken from: magicmuinteoir.weebly.com/

infant_ideas.pdf
File Size:	41 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Handwriting

Follow the link below to find videos showing the formation of all our letters:
data.cjfallon.ie/resources/gwtf-handwriting/index.html#!/

Click play
Click 'A' for letters e, t, a, o, i, n, h
Click 'B' for letters r, d, l, u, c, m, p, w, v
Once you have clicked A/B then click 'letter formation'
Select the letter you want to see the formation of: e, t, a, o, i, n, h (in the 'A' section) r, d, l, u, c, m, p, w, v (in the 'B' section)

Sounds/Tricky Words

Please use the following link to revise sounds:

www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/digital-flashcards

When you follow the link press play, highlight the sounds you want to revise (you can select the whole row by highlighting the dot at the end of the row - the children now know the sounds in all 4 rows) and press the tick button. Ask your child to say the sound they see, press the tick button and a friendly looking monster will pop up to congratulate them! This happens for all sounds.

Please use the powerpoint to practise tricky words!
The songs and actions for all our sounds can be found in the video.

tricky_words.pptx
File Size:	96 kb
File Type:	pptx

Download File

Reading

You can get access to lots of books for your child to read at the following link:
speld-sa.org.au/services/phonic-books.html
The children have covered all the sounds from Sets 1, 2 and 3 and so can access any of the books from these sets.

Twinkl Access

Twinkl are offering free access to all their resources for one month. Please see their message below for details on this offer:

We are offering all parents and teachers a One Month FREE Ultimate Membership to Twinkl.ie. This will allow parents and teachers unlimited access to every single resource for every single curriculum subject from junior infants to sixth class.
Setting this up is really easy to do - go to www.twinkl.ie/offer and enter the code IRLTWINKLHELPS.
Accessing this offer on Twinkl.ie will allow access to PowerPoints, games, songs, rhymes, stories, worksheets, colouring and much more for every area of all subjects on the curriculum from junior infants to sixth class.

World Book Day!

We celebrated World Book Day with our Buddies in Ms. Hartnett's class. We brought in our favourite book from home. Our Buddies read our books with us and we completed a book review together. You can see our reviews outside our classroom door! Some of us dressed up as a character from a book - take a look at the photos below!

STEM Week - March 2nd - 6th 2020

Please see menu of activities for STEM week for Junior Infants. Please choose at least one activity to complete.

Menu of STEM activities

Make a maze on cardboard using straws and blow a small piece of paper through the maze
Humpty Dumpty – build a device to prevent Humpty from cracking – cushion his fall
Little Miss Muffet - Make a spider trap
Make the three beds for Goldilocks
Make the three chairs for Goldilocks from Lego
Build a bridge – cardboard/Lego
George’s Marvellous Medicine – make the potion
Create a puppet
Make a zipline for a character at home – string/eggcup/teddy
Make a rocket
Make a famous building using Lego/spaghetti and marshmallow/matchsticks and blu tack
Design a costume/waterproof outfit for doll or teddy
Make a pirate ship
Make a carriage for a princess
Make a bridge
Make a cover to keep a drink warm/make an outfit to keep a snowman cold
Make a fort at home and take a picture/draw a picture of what you made
Create a musical instrument
Create a gift
Create something from paper/nature
Teach Your Monster to Read - download app on Ipad/tablet – phonics based app (free for February)
Use a device to take a picture and print it out
Go on a number hunt around the house e.g. count windows/door, find numbers on labels
Weigh toys on a weighing scales – which is the heaviest/lightest
Sorting toys into groups
Mixing colours
Blow painting
Create an obstacle course
Design a basket for Little Red Riding Hood
Make butter/Bake something
Plant something
Surprise us with your own ideas!

Useful Websites for STEM activities:
www.teachoutsidethebox.com
https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/discover-primary-science-and-maths/activities-search/
www.avonmore.ie/superscience
https://innocentbiggrow.com/
www.engineersweek.ie
www.topmarks.co.uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
www.scoilnet.ie
http://www.haveyougotmathseyes.com/
www.pinterest.ie
www.sciencekids.co.nz/projects.html
www.schooldays.ie/articles/Primary-Maths-Resources
https://www.nasa.gov/stem/forstudents/k-4/index.html
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
www.scratchjr.org/ - Scratch Junior

STEM at school!

We had great fun at home and school to celebrate STEM week. In school we constructed a bridge for the gingerbread man to cross the river safely. We designed a way for Rapunzel to escape from the tower (we came up with fantastic ideas!). We used a Lego app on the Ipads to order our numbers. Our teacher also showed us how to use the Bee Bots. We all got to direct the Bee Bot on the mat! We were amazed!! We can't wait to continue these great activities during the year.
On Friday we had Show and Tell. We brought in our STEM projects we worked on at home and showed our class and Buddies. We also got to go upstairs and look at the great projects the older classes did for STEM week. It was a great day!

FEBRUARY

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY!

We learnt a very special poem and wrote it in our Valentine's Cards. Have a look at our poem below!

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet and so are you!

ST. BRIGID'S DAY

On 1st February we celebrate St. Brigid's Day each year. St Brigid is very special to our school because our school is named after her. We read the story 'St Brigid's Cloak'. Brigid was a nun who built a church for people to pray. We went to mass to celebrate St. Brigid's Day and Grandparent's Day. We were delighted when some of our grandparents came to visit our school and classroom. We said a special prayer for all of our grandparents. We made a lovely display in the halla for our grandparents. We drew pictures of our grandparents.

JANUARY

Investigating Heat in Science

In Science this month we have been learning about the topic of Heat. Did you know if you rub your hands together you can make heat?
We investigated which place was the hottest in our classroom. Our predictions were the sink, the radiator and on the window sill because the sun shines in the window. We tested the three areas. We put an ice cube in each place and watched them throughout the day. The ice cube on the radiator melted the fastest so we knew it was the hottest place. The ice cube in the sink melted slowly so that was the coolest place of our three predictions. It was great fun watching the ice cubes melt - we couldn't keep our eyes off of them!!!! We recorded our results.
We also explored the effect of heating and cooling chocolate by making Rice Krispie buns - it was a very enjoyable investigation!

Our Winter Walk

We have been learning about the season of Winter. We have been looking out for and discussing the signs of winter e.g. bare trees, robins etc. We wrapped up warm on the morning of our winter walk - coats, scarves, gloves and hats.
We had read the story of the Holly tree so we were hoping to see some holly branches on the walk. The female holly tree grows red berries, the male holly tree doesn't have red berries. The lower leaves of the holly tree are prickly to prevent animals from eating them but the higher leaves of the holly tree are not because animals cannot reach them.
On our walk we saw deciduous trees with no leaves and evergreen trees which never lose their leaves. We spotted female holly trees - we knew they were female because they had red berries. We remembered not to touch them as they are poisonous. We saw some horses in the field with blankets on to keep warm in this cold winter weather.
The Hugging Tree is a deciduous tree because it has no leaves on it's branches. We hope to see the leaves when we go back in spring. We had a great winter walk and didn't forget to make our wish at the Hugging Tree before walking home.

OPERATION TRANSFORMATION 10@10

We have dropped everything for 10 minutes to get in our Operation Transformation 10@10 movement break! Try this at home! We had great fun.

AFRICA

We read a story about 'Ella's Adventure in Africa'. In Africa the weather is hot. Ella went to one of the local markets in Africa. Ella tasted a juicy fruit called a mango in Africa. Plantain, a type of banana grows in Africa. It has green skin and is yellow on the inside. It tastes like a potato. Giraffes, rhinos and lions live in Africa. The highest mountain in Africa is called Kilimanjaro. The Congo rainforest in Africa has lots of animals. We decided to create a colourful parrot in our art lesson - parrots live in a rainforest.

RHYMING

Rhyming: We are continuing to learn rhyming words in Ms. Hartnett's class.
Sounds: We have learnt lots of sounds in Junior Infants.
Have a look at the games below.
Can you find the rhyming pair? Can you match the picture to the correct sound?

December

Ireland V The Arctic!

We looked at the differences between Ireland and The Arctic. We found both places on the map. In Ireland we live in houses. In the Arctic the Inuits live in igloos in the winter and tents during the summer. We travel from place to place in cars, buses and trains. In the Arctic, huskies pull sleds for the Inuits to get around. Most of the food they eat has been hunted for or fished. We get most of our food from the supermarket. We saw Arctic polar bears, Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves and seals that live in the Arctic. They keep warm by growing more fur.

All set for the Christmas Display! We were very excited....

Buddy Time!
We swapped cards with our buddies before Christmas. They read some books for us in the hall. We really enjoyed listening to the stories.

Digital Literacy In Action

This term we learned how to turn on/off an Ipad and open an app. We really enjoyed it. Ms. Hartnett never saw us so focused!!

ART/Science

We learned all about the life cycle of the Robin. We sequenced the life cycle and made beautiful robins in Art.

Planting Daffodils

Our Trip to the Post Office!

We posted our Christmas Cards to our families.

Fun with our Buddies!

November

Art
We made lovely pictures with wool. For Advent we created the Christmas scene.

Science Week

For Science week we learned about the life cycle of the Horse Chestnut Tree.

Geography

In Geography we have been learning about the different rooms in houses and the items in each.

Watch these videos to learn how to blend sounds to make words. Practice blending these sounds on your arm to make the words.

October

Games for practising sounds!

Phonics game

Rhyming game

We are learning to hear rhyming words. Play the game below to practice. Say the words together. Identify words that rhyme/odd one out.

Autumn Walk

We went on a walk with our Buddies to look for signs of Autumn. We saw fallen leaves, conkers, conker husks and acorns. We each made a special wish at the Hugging Tree with our Buddy. We couldn't tell anyone our wish as then it wouldn't come true! We collected our signs of Autumn in a bag and examined our bags when we came back to school. We recorded what we found back in the classroom and drew pictures of what we saw, smelt, felt and heard. We really enjoyed our day and can't wait to go back to the Hugging Tree for our next walk.

Making Patterns

Science - Shades of colour

In our Science lesson we looked at the different shades of red, blue, green and yellow. We sorted the shades from darkest to lightest.

We investigated how to make tones of colour by adding white to the paint. If we want it very light we have to add more white!! We can't wait to try this at home!

Some of our displays from this month....

Fun with our Buddies
Every Wednesday our buddies come to our classroom to do some activities. We made aliens from clay and rockets using toilet roll holders for Space Week. We learned about day and night. We also made Monsters for Halloween and Mosaic Acorns. Take a look at the fun we are having....

Colour Hunt
In our Science lesson we went on a colour hunt around the school. We marked off the colours as we saw them. We were looking for red, green, yellow, blue, purple and orange. We also passed some objects on the way and we had to remember what colour they were when we came back to the classroom.

We have started to learn our sounds. Listen to the songs here...

You can listen to the sounds here: https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/resource-bank/learn-the-letter-sounds/

Taste - SPHE

We investigated our sense of taste using our tongue. We tasted a lemon (bitter), natural yoghurt (sour), crackers (salty) and jelly tots (sweet). You will never guess what our favourite taste was?!! Take a look at our facial expressions.....

Gymnastics

We are enjoying gymnastics every Wednesday! We are learning lots and improving each week.

Our School
This month we are getting to know our school and the people who work in Scoil Bhride.
We met Anke our secretary, Cathal our caretaker and Ms. Dorgan our vice principal. We stopped at Mrs. Howard's office too.
We saw the staffroom where the teachers have their lunch. We were very excited to see all the classes upstairs.
We saw St. Brigid's cross and our teacher read us the Golden rules.

What sound does a snake make?

September

September in photos....

Take a look at some of our class displays!

We have been learning the days of the week.