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

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

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!

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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

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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

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

February 2 2023

News from Our Media Team!

Autumn leaves

Deep in the woods under the trees,

if you look straight up you’ll see colourful leaves,

some leaves are yellow some leaves are green,

some leaves are bright and bold, some can’t be seen.

Some leaves are strong others are fragile

squirrels leap through the trees looking so agile,

hedgehogs on the ground spiky and small

look up at the trees so giant and tall,

Deep in the woods under the trees,

if you look straight up you’ll see colourful leaves.

By Alice Byrne

Reading with the juniors.

At St Annes we love to read, we also like helping others to read, especially the new Senior and Junior Infants! After a long wait, 6th class finally gets their turn to read to the younger members of the school. Helping them to expand their reading skills is an amazing experience that I and many other 6th classers are very grateful for. Reading with them is a giant responsibility, we must be calm and quiet while we read with the kids and we must be gentle and encouraging.

It is a great benefit for the Seniors and Juniors to have, I remember when I was their age and 6th class came to my classroom to read with me and my class and now it feels so great to finally be reading with them. Just hanging out with the 6th class in school is so special, it makes them feel cool and grown up too.

Library back up and running and our outdoor classroom.

In St Annes the Senior and Juniors aren’t the only ones reading. Our library has finally reopened after covid 19 and we are excited to be back. Our librarians Evelyn and Tanya are working hard to keep our library in tip top shape. Each class has their own time slot for when they go to the library to take out and return books. As well as our library reopening our outdoor classroom has opened up too! Having the outdoor classroom is a great opportunity to get more time in the great outdoors while learning. The classroom is a peaceful and fun experience with a lot to offer on the educational and outdoor front.

Trip to lexicon library

6th class visited Lexicon library in Dún Laoghaire for a science workshop. The theme was “Bright Sparks-the hair-raising story of Electricity”. In this workshop we learned about how electricity was discovered by accident and we repeated this very first electricity experiment. We then made our own batteries using readily available items. We also looked behind the scenes of batteries and investigated what batteries are actually made of. In the Library we used copper coins, gold coins, tinfoil, paper clips and zinc nails and measured them with a voltage measurer. The batteries were not any higher than 0.85 volts altogether so everything was safe but also very exciting. The children really enjoyed this experience and we hope to go on exciting trips and workshops again.

Assembly is back!

Our school assemblies are back in action after a long covid-19 restriction break. Ms. Treacy’s 5th class started senior assembly off and sang ‘lig mé saor’ (wake me up by Avicii)- a great start to our first assembly back. It’s great that covid is a thing of the past so we can continue to get back to normal.

GAA September

The St Annes GAA teams have started up for the new 2022/2023 season! Mr Allen will be running both the boys and girls GAA football teams. People from 4th class and up can play for the team. Both the boys and girls teams have already played a match each with the girls team winning 26-1 and the boys sadly losing by 1 goal. The hurling for both teams will be starting up soon and soccer starting up in early 2023. Hopefully both teams win this year, and good luck!

A big welcome to our new teachers at St Annes

As well as welcoming the Juniors, we’re welcoming four new teachers, Ms Johnson, Mr Higgins, Ms O’Crowley and Ms Mc Creedy. By trying to get to know our teachers a bit more we thought it would be good if we interviewed them and got to know them. We thoroughly enjoyed interviewing them and found it very interesting and fun.

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February 2 2023

December News from Ms. Olson’s Class!

We had such fun in December in Junior Infants! We did lots of fun activities surrounding our theme – Christmas, and we were visited by our elf – Sparkle!

In Aistear, we absolutely loved playing in the Post Office / Santa’s Workshop Home Corner. During the first week in December, we wrote our letters to Santa and posted them to the North Pole in our very own postbox. We had to buy stamps from the Post Office first. Afterwards, the Post Person delivered the letters to Santa and his elves. Santa designed the toys in his workshop and the elves made and wrapped the toys. Once checked off by Santa, he packed his sack and delivered the toys to all the children. His reindeer helped him to fly his sleigh! In week two, we focused on sending Christmas cards in the Post Office!

We also enjoyed playing Small World in Aistear. The children set up their town and pretended that the post person was coming to deliver letters and parcels. In week two, we constructed Santa’s Workshop out of stickle bricks and pretended to be Santa and his elves working away making all the presents. We liked our playdough station as well, we made lots of cookies and cakes for Santa! We loved filling our stockings with toys from the Smyth’s Catalogue at our cut and stick station and we worked hard at making our Christmas cards and other art projects. During the last week of school, we had freeplay and enjoyed choosing our own toys to play with!

In English, we continued learning our Jolly Phonics sounds. We are improving everyday at learning our Tricky Words and our blending is coming along so well too. Soon we will be able to read little books! We enjoyed reading lots of Christmas and Winter themed books including ‘One Snowy Night’ by Nick Buttersworth and ‘Stickman’ by Julia Donaldson. Our handwriting is really coming along too, we enjoyed writing a short letter to Santa as well as simple sentences in our copy books.

In Gaeilge, we enjoyed learning about ‘Ócáidí Speisialta – An Nollaig’ (Special Occasions – Christmas) using our Bua na Cainte programme. We love singing the songs, playing the games and listening to the stories.

In Maths, we learned about time. We focused on learning the days of the week as well as sequencing stories such as ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle. We enjoyed playing lots of time challenges and we timed them by counting the number of claps it took to complete the challenge. We compared the times it took to do two different challenges when we played the game, ‘Who Finishes First?’. One child had to do an activity such as building a tower of unifix cubes whilst the other child had to do a physical activity such as jumping jacks. We had to guess who would finish first and then test out our theories!

In S.E.S.E, we learned about the signs of Winter as well as learning all about the story of Christmas. We explored toys too – we compared toys from today and toys from the past and we investigated which toys are pulled and which are pushed.

We did lots of Christmas art this month including Christmas elves, stained-glass Nativity scenes, cardboard angels, handprint robins, Christmas wreaths and Christmas cards! Take a look at our creations.

In Music, we learnt lots of lovely songs including ‘Jog Along Little Donkey to Bethlehem’, ‘Féach ar an Máinséar’ and ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’. In S.P.H.E., we learnt about our senses and our families. We had lots of fun tasting different foods to identify different tastes including sour, bitter, sweet and salty.

We also baked real cookies for Santa, but we decided they wouldn’t last until Christmas so we had to eat them ourselves!

As if all of that wasn’t enough, we performed our Christmas play – ‘Our First Nativity’ which we had been working so hard on for several weeks. It was so nice to have a full audience once again and our parents, teacher and SNA were so proud of us! It was a roaring success! Afterwards, we had a lovely party to celebrate!

Thanks for reading our blog, we hope you enjoyed it!

Category: Junior Infants, Literacy, Numeracy, Gaeilge, Aistear, S.E.S.E, Art | Comments Off

February 2 2023

December News Featured in the Scan Magazine!

Author’s corner

The tree journey

All the tree wanted was a home. Not a fancy thing or anything but he was more so looking for a family that comes with a home. He was not picky, far from it. He was stuck in the outdoor area of the supermarket with all the other trees. He was not liked by them; the tree in question was not very tall which is why the other trees made fun of him.

One day a bird came down and landed on the tree. They became great friends and the bird never left him. On the 7th of December there seemed to be a lot of families in the supermarket buying trees. A Lot of trees were sold but not our tree. All the other trees were making fun of him and saying that no family wanted a tree as small as him. His bird friend felt sorry for him and decided to fly into the store to find him a family. He spotted a boy. The boy noticed the bird too. He wanted to follow the bird and was tugging at his mom to follow the bird. She wouldn’t, so the boy followed by himself. His mother followed in panic. The boy followed the bird all the way to the tree. He loved the tree instantly. He pleaded with his mom to get the tree and she agreed. Once they got home with the tree the mother and son noticed that the bird was still in the tree and they all spent that lovely Christmas together.

By Megan Quinn

Christmas plays

Most classes are doing Christmas plays this year and we are happy to have parents back in the school to see these plays. The junior infants are doing a nativity play. They are all very excited. They all have wonderful costumes and have learned their lines. They are very excited about their first Christmas play. A highlight of their show for them is the Reindeer Hokey Pokey. Here are some pictures of Ms. Aivalikli’s class

By Haley

Carol Singing for Shankill Day Care Center

An interview with Ms Maguire who was one of the teachers involved with the carol singing. By Sian

How long have you been singing Christmas carols?

This is our first opportunity to get a small choir together since the covid restrictions and we really enjoyed it. We only formed the group this month and they did great!

Do you like singing at such events ?

Yes, I love singing for the community and I think it is a great opportunity for the children to do something really positive in the community.

What made you decide to do it?

We were invited and we were delighted to do it!

What made you like singing?

I just loved singing myself as a child and I joined lots of choirs when I was young. I still sing in choirs now and love giving children the opportunity to sing.

Do you play any instruments?

Yes, I play piano and a little guitar.

What songs do you like to sing?

Definitely Christmas music like this carol service but also Irish music and pop.

Did everyone enjoy the service?

Yes I think they did. I think it can bring back a lot of memories to a lot of people about their own choir experiences and songs they may have learned along the way.

Christmas Art by Andre Price

Mr Ryan’s 5th class made christmas tree art. Each child got one tree and they had to tessellate it many times to make a big tree and then decorate it.

Ms Kelly’s 6th class made shape art using cut up strips of paper to form another image. In this case a christmas tree.

Ms D’Arcy’s 4th class made a winter scene with paint. They firstly made a background with different shades of blue. They added a tree and some robins and then each child added their own touches to it.

Mr Higgins 2nd class got very creative and made stamps out of folded straws and dabbed it in a circle to make a wreath. They added red paint for berries and felt red bows for added detail.

Ms Olson’s junior infant class turned themselves into elves using colourful cards in different ways to make their bodys and printed pictures of their faces. They used a contrast of dark cards for detail and colorful background to make this unique nativity scene.

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