March 24 2023

February News from Ms. Olson’s Junior Infants!

We had another busy month in Junior Infants! Our theme for February was Homes and Houses. In Aistear we had great fun doing lots of different activities each week. In the socio-dramatic play corner, we enjoyed playing in the kitchen making dinner; acting out the different parts in ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and pretending to be the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf! We did lots of construction activities such as playing with Lego, Duplo, Stickle Bricks and Straws – we made things like houses for the Three Little Pigs and different sized furniture for Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We enjoyed playing with playdough – we bricks, sticks and straws for the Three Little Pigs’ houses. We also practised our cutting and sticking skills whilst sequencing the stories of Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs and designing our own houses. We also enjoyed acting out the stories in the puppet theatre and with the doll’s house in small world.

In English we continued to learn our Jolly Phonics and Tricky Words and we enjoyed playing phonics games. We enjoyed engaging with the book – ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson and we are really progressing with our own differentiated readers! We are loving using our blending skills to decipher all the words in our books. We participated in the ‘Write a Book’ competition and produced a fantastic book about our favourite things. We worked really hard on the writing and pictures and sent it off to be judged. We received it back last week and we got lovely feedback and special certificates!

In Gaeilge we enjoyed learning about ‘Sa Bhaile’ (At Home). We liked learning one song in particular ‘Dhá Éan Bheaga’ as it is the Gaeilge version of ‘Two Little Birdies Sitting in a Tree’! In Maths we followed on from partitioning and combining within five and learnt the number stories for four! We also enjoyed learning about capacity. We used the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ to investigate the how much each bears’ porridge bowl could hold. We also had a popcorn party for Goldilocks and had to decide which container would be the most suitable for holding the popcorn! We enjoyed eating the popcorn too! We also celebrated Pancake Tuesday in Junior Infants and enjoyed sequencing how to make a pancake before eating our own! Yum!

In S.E.S.E (Science, Geography and History), we learnt about  homes and electricity. We learnt about the different rooms in homes, things you might find in those rooms and activities that happen there. We looked at homes in the past and we discussed what type of home everyone lived in. We learned about electricity and we investigated making static electricity. We managed to make our hair stand up, we attached a balloon to a wall, we picked up pieces of paper using a balloon and we bent water in the tap using a balloon!

In P.E. we loved our dance lessons with Ms. Casey and our ball skills sessions with Coach Steve.

In Art, we made lovely Valentine’s Day cards for our parents. We also drew and painted our dream houses.

 

We hope you enjoyed our blog, tune in next month to hear what we got up to!

Category: Junior Infants, Literacy, Numeracy, Aistear, S.E.S.E, Art, Physical Education | Comments Off on February News from Ms. Olson’s Junior Infants!
March 22 2023

January News from Ms. Olson’s Junior Infants!

In January, we learned all about the Polar Regions in Junior Infants. In Aistear we had lots of fun playing in both the Arctic and Antarctica home corner. We were polar explorers searching for different animals, we had to set up camp in the freezing climates and build igloos. It was lots of fun. We had fun playing with small world based in the Polar Regions using our tuff tray. We enjoyed making fake snow to add to our tuff tray so that we could play small world in the Polar regions with Antarctic and Arctic animals. We especially enjoyed ice-skating the frozen Polar animals across our tuff tray and diving the penguins into our water bath. We also did lots of cut and stick activities to learn about penguins and polar bears and constructed snowmobiles with Lego and polar animals with playdough.

      

In English we continued to learn our Jolly Phonics, Tricky Words and we enjoyed playing phonics games. We enjoyed engaging with the books – ‘The Emperor’s Egg’ by Martin Jenkins, ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers and ‘The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud’ by Jane Cabrera. We found ‘The Emperor’s Egg’ to be very informative and we learned many facts about penguins. We also enjoyed our literacy stations – writing our news, playing phonics games and practising our cutting skills.

In Gaeilge we enjoyed learning about ‘Caitheamh Aimsire’ (Hobbies). We liked learning about ‘Caitheamh Aimsire’ as we learned new vocabulary and sang songs and rhymes relating to toys! Toys were definitely on our minds in January straight after Christmas! In Maths we took a giant leap forward as we started learning how to partition and combine within five! We have been learning our number stories for all the ways we can make five: 0 and 5; 5 and 0; 1 and 4; 4 and 1; 2 and 3; 3; and 2. We also enjoyed playing maths games on the iPads.

In S.E.S.E, we learned all about Antarctica and the Arctic – we especially liked learning about penguins and polar bears. We learned about the Irish explorer, Tom Crean, who almost made it to the South Pole. We learned the names of the seven continents and we had such fun singing the continents song on YouTube. We also completed our work on the five senses and had great fun exploring our sense of touch! We used blindfolds and felt different materials and textures.

In P.E. we had lots of fun during our dance classes with Ms. Casey from the Catherine Casey School of Dance and we enjoyed learning lots of GAA Ball Skills with Coach Steve from Shankill GAA. We also got our new climbing wall in the Junior Yard and had such fun trying it out!

    

In Art we made beautiful penguin and polar bear collage pictures. We also decorated a handprint poem for Grandparents’ Day.  In Music, we sang some lovely songs – our favourite being ‘Boa Constrictor’. The song is so funny as it is about being eaten by a boa constrictor!

  

We hoped you enjoyed our blog this month – stay tuned for February’s news!

Category: Junior Infants, Literacy, Numeracy, Aistear, S.E.S.E, Art, Physical Education | Comments Off on January News from Ms. Olson’s Junior Infants!
March 1 2023

Write a Book

A huge number of classes took part in the annual ‘Write a book’ competition. Although we cannot wait to find out the winners, we are so proud of every student who made an entry. We definitely have some budding authors in St Anne’s!

Category: Media Team, Literacy | Comments Off on Write a Book
March 1 2023

Service of Light

All three 6th Classes recently had their Service of Light. Emily Lowe in 6th Class has written this piece about all the preparation that went into it!

On the second of February, St. Anne’s Sixth Class, along with a handful of students from other schools, celebrated our Ceremony of Light. The Ceremony of Light is an important Catholic event, as it focuses on our parents sharing their light of faith with us. This is a key step in preparing for our Confirmation.

To prepare for our Ceremony of Light, Ms. Maguire and Ms. Elmes asked students to participate in the choir. A few students from each of the three Sixth Classes volunteered, and choir rehearsals were held to practice our hymns. Our Sixth Class teachers, our Sixth Class SNA, and Father Jamie helped us greatly to prepare for this celebration, and I think I speak for everyone when I say their faith inspired us every step of the way.

At seven o’clock in the evening, we all gathered in St. Anne’s Church. Every family had a Holy Candle that would be passed from parent to child toward the end of the ceremony. Once everyone was seated, the members of the choir began with the opening hymn: “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” When the hymn was over, we returned to our seats in the pews, and the ceremony began. Father Jamie gave a speech about a scene in The Lion King and linked it to God speaking to us, his sons and daughters. The teachers came around and lit our Holy Candles, and then the time came for our parents to pass the candle of faith to us. The choir sang the closing hymn: “This Little Light of Mine,” and the ceremony came to an end!

By Emily M. Lowe

Category: Sixth Class, Media Team, Religion | Comments Off on Service of Light
March 1 2023

Grandparents’ Day!

We were very lucky to have our annual celebration of Grandparents’ Day return this year. The excitement could be heard throughout the whole school. Grandparents were treated to tea and coffee before getting the chance to experience what it is like to be in their grandchildren’s classroom. We know that everyone involved had a great time! Some of our Media Team met with teachers before and after to get an idea of what happened.

Ms. McManus and her class are going to sing two songs and they will read a poem with their grandparents. After that, the children will have a chat. Ms. Johnson and her class are going to sing the song “Count on me”. Once they have sung that they plan to read a poem. They will then interview their grandparents about when they were younger.

Ms. D’Arcy and her class are going to read a poem. They will then do a disco dance to remind their grandparents of their youth.

Let’s have a little check-in and see if all their plans work out!

Ms. Johnson and her class did everything but the song. They instead showed their grandparents their Viking boats which they loved!!

Ms. D’Arcy and her class did everything! The grandparents loved the disco dance and said it was lovely, entertaining and interesting!

By Sian O’Sullivan

Category: Sixth Class, Media Team | Comments Off on Grandparents’ Day!
March 1 2023

New Rock Climbing Wall by Hayley Carraher

The children in Junior Yard were delighted this month when they arrived to see a brand new climbing frame. The climbing frame takes up a section of the wall and has been a huge hit since its installation. Some of our Media Team members decided to find out more about it. They met with Mr. Fingleton and also some of the lucky students who have already had a chance to try it out!

The new climbing wall was Mr Fingleton’s idea. He got it from a company called ‘Small Walls’. They made it and came to install it. He thinks it is a great addition to the Junior Yard and will keep the children occupied. The children seem to be enjoying it so far.

There are some rules to the new frame for safety. You must climb sideways so as to never interfere with someone else. There can only be two climbers per panel at a time for safety. You can make it more difficult by only choosing to touch certain colours or avoid some. The black panel with colourful holds is really striking and stands out in the yard.

I spoke to all the Junior classes who simply think it is AMAZING!!

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March 1 2023

Every Voice Matters

Our Student Council has been working really hard on their slogan “Every Voice Matters”. They have created vibrant posters to put around the school to remind everyone how important their voice is!

Lily Byrne (5th Class) is a member of the Student Council. She wrote this poem to highlight the importance of using your voice.

 

Everyone has a choice,

To use their voice,

Your voice matters,

like chocolate chips do in cookie batter,

If you think no one wants to hear you I promise,

That’s not true and someone wants to hear your wonderful voice,

We need to speak for those who don’t have a choice,

Some don’t want to speak and others are just too weak,

So let’s spread the message around,

If your voice was once lost now it’s been found!

 

Lily Byrne (5th Class)

Category: Fifth Class, Media Team | Comments Off on Every Voice Matters