Welcome back everyone!! And a huge welcome to Imogen who has started in Senior Infants this week. All the children wanted work, work and more work this week…so that’s what we did. We learned 2 new songs, we learned about our bones, we did Irish, English and Maths, we did indoor and outdoor play and Art…I hope everyone is as tired as me now but ready and excited for the year ahead.
Homework – please read carefully and ask for clarification if needed.
Homework will be slightly different again this year. Please work with me on this one for a little while and see how it works. The children will have reading EVERY NIGHT – this might be word lists, word walls or books…but it’s all reading.
For the first 2 weeks of the month : There will be 2 worksheets per week – 1 literacy and 1 numeracy – you can decide when these are done but they will be collected and corrected on a Friday.
For the second 2 weeks of the month : I will give every child a blank copy and a menu of activities. Everyone will be expected to collect 3 items from the menu. As before, these activities are meant as ideas for you and your child, they are not set in stone. If you have a better idea, try it out. They will be based on our Aistear theme of the month. They should be documented/ stuck into, recorded in the copybook, dated and signed. This will make correcting and feedback easier. This is not intended to be a competition between parents or children to see who can produce the biggest and best project. Again, it is the child’s work that will be corrected!!
Outdoor Play
I intend to continue with this again this year, every Friday morning. Everyone still has their pillowcase bag here in school with raingear that was provided last year. If this needs to be updated or checked please feel free to do so. Everyone should have wellies, a waterproof jacket and trousers.
Mindfulness & SPHE
This year I intend to practice a lot of different mindfulness techniques with the children. We started this week on concentrating on tummy breathing, using the Hoberman Sphere as a visual. Ask the children! This was used as a way to calm ourselves before ‘work’. I also would like to introduce Breathing Buddies. For this, all children must have a SMALL cuddly toy, which will stay in school and be used during this exercise. If you have an assortment of small cuddly toys that you wish to get rid of….I’ll gladly take them. During SPHE lessons the children will also be learning about Character strengths and we will be using the language of these in our classroom regularly. Words such as perseverance, humility, gratitude, love, happiness, self regulation, prudence etc
5 stars
Instead of Golden time this year I am using the concept of stars. Everyone in the class must earn 5 stars and when this happens the whole class will celebrate with a reward. The rewards picked by the class are – a trip to the playground, a disco party, extra play time outside, watching an episode, afternoon tea party. The children can earn stars for a huge variety of things – showing kindness, waiting patiently, showing great leadership, showing gratitude, having a good attitude, being brave, amazing work, not shouting out…the list is endless!
Pencil cases
There are colouring pencils and writing pencils in school on every table, however your child can use their own pencil case if they so wish. If this is the case, I would suggest you have two – one for school and one for home/crèche/minder/homework. The pencil cases will be kept in your child’s work box to eliminate children running in and out of the classroom for them. No markers please.
Shoes and Hair
Sensible shoes that your child can manage are recommended. If your child cannot tie their laces please don’t send them in with laces. Developmentally, children don’t learn to tie their laces until they turn 7. I will know later this week when we will do PE. Runners, that stay on the feet, should be worn on this day.
All children with long hair, should have it tied back from their faces.
Aistear theme
This month, we are learning about pets and vets. I am hoping to arrange a trip for 2 weeks time…more information to follow soon. If you have a pet and would like to bring them in to visit the class, we would love it. Be prepared to chat to us about how to care for them! If you know a vet that would like to visit, we would love to welcome them into our class.
I’m really looking forward to the year ahead. If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to contact me and make an appointment. Many thanks for your support.
