Blog Archives - Newtownmountkennedy Primary SchoolJunior School : 01 2819142Senior School: 01 2810048

2nd- 5th June 2020

28/5/2020

Hi everyone,

Here are the learning activities for this week... but please scroll down to find the 'fun stuff' (teacher's note and class news)!

Maths

1. Daily counting: Do the same ‘count around’ as last week, where each person says the one number. The only difference this week is that you choose a special number (e.g. 5). You’re not allowed say the ‘special number’, instead that person must sit down because they’re out. After the person sits down, the next person must start at 1 again. Each person who should be saying the special number, sits down. (For example, 1…2…3…4…*sits down*…1…2…3…4…*sits down* etc. The last person standing wins!)

2. Simple oral problems: Try asking your child some practical addition questions such as “Mammy has 2 apples, Daddy gave her one more, how many does she have now?”/ “Ben has 2 sweets, Susan has 2 more, how many do they have altogether?”/ “If you had 3 blue teddies and 2 yellow teddies; how many teddies would you have altogether?”

English

1. Duck’s Ditty: http://www.newtownprimary.ie/outdoor-activities (scroll down)

2. Commotion in the ocean- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pRhgZ8Jffs

Gaeilge

1. Lá Breithe Sona Duit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoGqHFWZQ-U
2. Cén aois tú? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfkWFAmLQQM
3. Scéal Moncaí: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DX8gxafKnY
4. Cá bhfuil Téidí? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF2Lr08IPxo

SESE

Tree identification sheet: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/48345/leaf-id-sheet.pdf

2d_shapes-_cut_and_stick.pdf
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pre-cursive_alphabet_strip.pdf
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pre-cursive_writing_sentences.pdf
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Dear girls and boys, Mums and Dads,

Very 'Happy Tuesday' to you all! We hope you had a nice relaxed bank holiday weekend, enjoying the fabulous weather!!! We wonder if you have spotted much wildlife around where you live? We know some boys and girls were keeping an eye on some frog spawn, and Ms. Leahy has been earnestly watching a swan's nest to see when the signets will arrive... hopefully soon! :-)

We wanted to let you know that Ms. McGillycuddy will be working with Ms. Leahy for the next while as Ms. Ní Laocha is out sick. We wish her a speedy recovery and don't worry; we'll still be sending out learning activities each day. We're also still here to look after both classes in any way we can, so please don't hesitate to contact either of us if you need help, want to send in news etc... We are here for you! 😊

As a school, we are focusing on well-being this week, so we’ve tried to decrease the amount of ‘sit-down’ work so that you and your family have more time to focus on having fun together. Being outside, active and getting some sun helps keep us happy and healthy so we have also tried to include some more creative activities which can be done while you're outside or on the move... As usual, please don’t feel any pressure to get everything done, and make sure to have a look at the 'Extra Activities' on the website this week; there are some really lovely well-being ideas... why not do some baking or challenge yourself to learn some Irish Sign Language!?

This week we want to wish JAMIE a big huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope you're having a fabulous day today!!!

Check out more class news from Rhea and Emily below!

Warm wishes,
Ms. Leahy & Ms. McGillycuddy

sleahy@newtownprimary.ie
cmcgillycuddy@newtownprimary.ie

Junior Infants catch up!

Rhea's Mum sent Ms. Leahy an email last week to tell us all her news!

Rhea is missing her school terribly. She talks a lot about her teacher, friends and her beautiful memories from school. Rhea is doing her homework very regularly. She is loving gardening these days and she planted some plants in our garden and waters them very regularly, sometimes excessively. She feels so proud to see her flowers growing. Rhea has not lost any teeth yet but she is spending time doing lots of colouring and she loves helping Mummy with the cooking. She is looking forward to getting back to school in September!

Doesn't Rhea look nice and summery in her lovely photo?

We loved hearing your news... it sounds like you're taking great care of
your flowers, well done! :) Also, super job on such neat colouring!

Emily sent a lovely note to Ms. Ní Laocha and her friends last week:

Hi Ms ní Laocha and all my classmates.

I miss you and can't wait to see you again.

I like playing with all my toys. I had my birthday and turned six. I had a brilliant party too with some of my family with presents and cake. It was a great birthday.

This is my rhyme for you:

"Rainbows are colourful,
Rainbows are good.
Rainbows bring happiness to you.
If you see a rainbow you know there is going to be happiness brought to you."

Bye bye,

Emily Murphy

Here's Emily playing 'Keepy Uppy' with her birthday balloons, doesn't it look like she's having a ball!

Thank you Emily for such a lovely letter to your teacher and friends! Your poem is just so full of happiness and colour and cheer... exactly what we all need!! Well done! :)

Blog Notes 25th- 29th May

25/5/2020

Dia dhaoibh gach duine! :-)

We hope you are all happy and ready for another week. We're enjoying time out in the sun with our families and we hope you are too. We know many of you have been out cycling, walking, investigating nature and having BBQ's in your gardens... yum!

We were so delighted to see all the class news last week and we hope you all enjoyed catching up with your classmates. In case you missed it, have a look at the posts under this blog. We're also still hoping for more news to arrive in, so if you forgot just send it in this week, it's no problem!
(s.leahy@newtownprimary.ie/ c19parentsupport@newtownprimary.ie... 'Ms. Ní Laocha Class News').

We have no birthdays this week... so instead we want to remind you of something that is VERY important. Each one of you are special and amazing and this is true of YOU! We want you to remember it.

Love from the Junior Infant teachers.

Numeracy

Daily Counting: continue working 1-10 backwards and forwards. Why not try a game of ‘count around’ with the family each day? The first person says 1, the next says 2 and so on… Keep counting up to 10 (or 20 if your child is comfortable with that), then try doing the same backwards.

Monday: Use the same ‘Spatial Awareness’ document from 2 weeks ago (attached below). If your child is still mixing up any of the 5 prepositions they have been learning (in, on, under, over, beside) then continue practising these. If they know these five, you can now do similar activities described in this document but now add: between and behind.

Wednesday: Spatial Awareness drawing activity attached below.

Thursday: draw out 5 snakes in a copy and see if your child can show you different ways to make four. Make sure they say each sum after they’ve done it. See the photo at the end of the blog for an example I did for number 5. If you have paints at home, you could try finger painting. Don’t worry about getting the sums in order for the moment.

Literacy

Phonics Reader Activities: find the reader ‘Hats’ in this list https://www.speld-sa.org.au/service/162-speld-sa-phonic-books-set-2.html

Monday- Start on page 4. Before your child reads it, get them to flick through the pictures and predict/guess what the story is about. Then get them to read through the reader, last week’s work will have prepared them for it. You might like to remind yourself of our ‘tips for reading’ below. When reading a sentence, they can sound out each word separately but then get them to re-read the full sentence at the end to help them understand the story.

Wednesday- After your child has read each page, read the sentence back with them again and ask them these questions. Page 5- show me a word that starts with ‘h’. Page 6- a word that starts with ‘c’. Page 7- a word that ends in ‘t’. Page 8- a word that ends in ‘g’. Page 9- tell me the three sounds you hear in ‘duck’. Page 10- a word starting with ‘k’. Page 11- which three sounds do you hear in ‘man’. What rhymes with ‘man’?

Thursday- After reading the reader again, ask your child to think of someone or something else that would be funny in a hat (e.g. a bed in a hat). They can pretend they’re making a new page for the reader; write the sentence and draw the picture.

I spy… Game: Use last week’s “I spy…” sheet. This time choose an object and tell them either the sound at the start/ middle/ end of the word and see if they can point to the object. For example, I spy with my little eye, something starting with “b” OR something ending with “n” OR something with “e” in the middle. Generally, children find it easier to hear sounds at the start of the word, it’s harder to hear end sounds and they usually find middle sounds the hardest. So, progress from one to the next only when they’re comfortable with the easier ones.

Summer Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTmJYJplghk

Rhyming Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHroOYO1iOo

Gaeilge

Monday: Cá bhfuil Téidí? Play the same hide and seek game (see last week’s blog) but this week, we will add in “faoin mbord” (under the table), “faoin gcaoithair” (under the table) and “faoin mbosca” (under the box). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MmOkz5AlQI

Tuesday: “Cheannaigh…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpxhxMvbUlk

Wednesday: Song about Teddy- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY_qlPgKoxk

Thursday: Cad atá sa bhaile mór? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnH7kA0rch8

Friday: Féach ar Théidí- https://www.seideansi.ie/dep/files/connacht/Feach_ar_Theidi.html

Religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndGPfM-sXhc

Science: http://www.switchedonkids.org.uk/electrical-safety-in-your-home

Geography: See if you can cut out the animals, match the mothers and babies and then stick them together onto the farm (matching animals- cutting sheet below). If you want a bit more of a challenge, you can also try out this fun matching game online https://matchthememory.com/motherbaby . See if you learn the names of any new baby animals… Ms. Leahy learned what a baby shark was called! 😊

Art: Cut strips of paper any colour you want. Curve them and stick down on paper to make different flowers. See the picture below, using white strips to make daisies. I bet you’ve seen lots of daisies! See can you experiment with different colours, and widths of paper to make other flowers you have seen. You don’t need coloured paper for this….you can colour your own! You could draw on stalks and make a pretty bouquet, or draw in insects and creepy crawlies to make a garden….be as creative as you like!

SPHE: Have a watch of one of the episodes of ‘My Pet and Me’ on RTE junior to see what it’s really like to have a pet.
https://www.rte.ie/player/series/my-pet-and-me/SI0000001161?epguid=AQ000256439

Do you have a pet? What do you do to take care of your pet? You could draw a picture of all the things you need to do to take care of your pet.
If you don’t have a pet, you could draw a picture of one you know…. maybe your Nanny or neighbour has a pet? Or how about finding yourself a new pet from your garden? You can keep a caterpillar in a jar (with air holes, of course!). How about a bug hotel? See the Biodiversity section of the school website http://www.newtownprimary.ie/outdoor-activities.

*We are no longer giving each class extra activities, instead there's a separate part of the website with a range of challenges/ life skills/ exercises that you can choose from each week. Check it out: http://www.newtownprimary.ie/extra-activities

making_5_fingerprint_snakes.mp4
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spatial_awareness.pdf
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spatial_awareness_drawing_activity.pdf
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tips_for_reading.pdf
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matching_animals-_cutting_skills.pdf
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Ms Ní Laocha's Class Catch Up!

21/5/2020

So wonderful to hear from you all! Lots of adventures and stories and so many of you doing wonderful amazing things in your time away from school. Its such a special time to explore learning in activities we don't get to do at school while also spending quality time with our family, Not so good to be away from our friends but slowly things will begin to change again and we will start to see one another once again. In the meantime let's have a look at what some of the class have been getting up to. And if you have forgotten to send in news, don't worry, it's not too late to send in a picture or some news as this will be updated again.

First, here are a few letters.....

It's Emily Leyden here. I hope you are keeping safe & well.

I miss school, I miss playing with all my friends. I've been drawing pictures, we've been going for walks, playing outside in the garden a lot. I got a new go cart & I'm playing a lot on the swing.

I love playing with Isabelle, Tiegan, Amy, Lauren, Emily Murphy, Logan, Jackson and Robyn & I'm missing them all a lot.

I've lost 2 teeth!! The tooth fairy came. Lily has learned how to walk & she is a thug!

I drew a picture of happy summer flowers for you & my friends. I hope to see you all soon!

Love & happy rainbows!!

From Emily L. Xxx

Lovely letter from you Emily!. I love this picture...that certainly brings a cheeriness to my day with the beautiful summer flowers and sun shining! Thank you!

Hello

It was so nice to hear from you. I have lots of news. I love my swimming pool. I go for walks with Mammy, Daddy and Anna. I love going on adventures looking for fairies. It has not rained in a long time. It's been sunny.

Everything is growing. The butterflies are flying everywhere. I like being outside and having a picnic. I watched a tv programme about alligators.

The best thing is I nearly have the whole collection of mini Beenie boos. I’m just waiting for corona virus to be over until I can finish off my collection.

I miss my friend Clara. I can't wait to go back to school. My sister Anna is starting school in September. I will hold her hand. I call my Oma in Germany every day. The corona virus is there too. I pick flowers every day.

Neala

Thanks for that lovely letter Neala. That field looks like the perfect place for fairies to hide. Did you manage to find any?They often leave hidden messages.

Hi teacher
Hope you're keeping well. I love you and miss you and my friends so much. I’ve been playing outside loads on my trampoline and on my bike. We go for so many walks and we’re cooking loads of cakes Mum says we have to stop cause she keeps eating them all! James and I also got two new mice. Dad is afraid of them. We also did a sponsored walk for Barnardos with our little cousin Holly and we raised €315. We were looking at the tadpoles.

Can’t wait to see you and big hello to Tess.
Bye teacher love you.
From Isabelle

Thank you for that lovely letter Isabelle....I can understand your mammy eating all that cake...it looks delicious!!! I bet there wasn't much left!
You are amazing raising all that money to help other children who are not as fortunate as you. Well done, that is something to be proud of.

Hello

I was so excited when Mom read your letter to me. I hope you are well and happy. I am doing good and I have been busy with Mom and Dad and my little brother Joseph. He is annoying sometimes but mostly we have lots of fun in the garden on the trampaline and now we got our paddling pool out as the weather is nice and sunny. I made a lego tree house (well Mom helped me) and I have been going for forest walks and going on my scooter. I have also got to level 2 on Teach My Monster to Read.

I really miss you and my friends but it is good to be spending time at home too and soon I will be able to go to Galway to visit my grandparents.

Take care,
Lauren

What a lovely letter to read Lauren. I bet Joseph is delighted to have a kind caring sister to play with. Sounds like you are having lots of fun. The paddling pool is such a laugh in the sun! You could pretend to be on your holidays!!

And here is some other news that was sent in........more adventures!!!

Logan has been busy going on walks and playing on the trampoline and doing his homework. He misses all his friends and his teacher.
Wow Logan, That looks like the spire in Dublin! Great to be doing lots of play as well as your home learning work! Well done!

Klara has been very busy with the important business of eating ice-cream! And of course playing with her dogs! They look like they are having lots of fun! And I hear a tooth was lost!. Did the tooth fairy come?

Wowser Dexter! Look at this lego...it looks like you have put a lot of time, effort and creativity into this. A lego fortress...now that's impressive! Do you add a little bit everyday. I love it. Its cool.

Thank you to everyone who sent in news. We’ll do another class news section on the blog next week so if you have more news or if you forgot to send it this week, you can send your news/ photos to c19parentsuport@newtownprimary.ie marked 'for Ms. Ní Laocha. Parents, please make sure to also give your permission for us to put your child’s photos on the website.

Ms. Leahy's Class News

21/5/2020

Hello Everyone!!! 😊 Welcome to our first ‘Class News’ blog! I was delighted to receive news from many of you, so thank you all. And if you forgot, don’t worry you’re not too late, Mum or Dad can help you send in your news/ photos anytime. I’ll do another news update like this when I get more news in.

I thought you might like to hear some of my news first… Well, I was in school yesterday for the first time since March and I brought a friend home with me from the classroom!!! Yes, that’s right, Snowy the Owl flew home with me and now he’s happily hanging out on my wardrobe! Both Snowy and I have really missed each one of you, that’s why we’re so excited to hear your news. I was also delighted to get to say ‘hello’ to Alfie who was cycling past the school yesterday with his Mum and sister. It looked like they were having a great time.

Like many of you, I have also been walking a lot since March. I enjoy walking by the sea most days and sometimes I see seals in the water. Last weekend I got brave and decided to go for a swim. It was verrrry cold but also very refreshing and fun! I’ve been trying to bake a little bit too, so in the photo you can see my attempts at banana cake and cookies.

Liam and his Mum sent me an email this week telling me that he loves going for walks near his house. He found some trees that have really big swings, so he loves swinging on them! He also collected different things on one of his walks with his Mum and sister. When they got home, they tested the items to see if they would float or sink. In the pictures you can see Liam with some Mario colouring he did and doing experiments out in the garden with different colours. What a great idea, it looks like he’s having great fun!

Jamie told me that he has been keeping busy going on cycles with his Mammy and Daddy. He has had lots of trips to the forest where he collected some tadpoles and he has been watching them grow into frogs. In the picture you can see Jamie having lots of fun with his Dad’s new drone. Wow Jamie, you might become a pilot when you’re older!

Macey said in her email that she misses school and her friends very much and she hopes she can see everyone soon. She has been having loads of fun playing in her paddling pool and going for walks with her family. She says that she has a few teeth that are super wobbly and she hopes they fall out soon. You can see Macey here relaxing in the sun and the second photo I think she looks like she’s full of mischief, what do you think? 😉

Amelia’s Mum sent me a message this week to tell me about Amelia’s adventures at home. It looks like she has been very busy! She has been helping her Daddy build a new BBQ and plant seeds in the garden. Just like Liam, Amelia has also been walking loads with her dog Queenie; she loves spotting buzzy bees, butterflies and birds as she walks. She also got up at 4.15am one morning to do Darkness into Light for Suicide Aware. Amelia says she misses everyone in school loads and she drew a picture for Ms. Leahy. Thank you, Amelia!

Kivah has been very busy going for walks and nature trails too. Just like Jamie, she also found some tadpoles and saw lots of wildlife! She misses everyone from school and is looking forward to going back after the Summer. Here is a picture of her on the beach; can you see her name written in the sand? She was collecting stones to paint and decorate at home. She is enjoying doing her school work but sometimes she prefers to take a break and play in the sun. I think we can all understand that feeling Kivah! 😊

Aqil has been working really hard on his home learning activities. He has been doing loads of adding and he only has one letter left in his handwriting. He loves his strawberry plant and he waters it every day. He also made a really nice strawberry painting using hand prints. I love this idea, maybe some of the other boys or girls would like to do a hand print picture of their favourite fruit too?

Thank you to everyone who sent in news. We’ll do another class news section on the blog next week so if you have more news or if you forgot to send it this week, you can send your news/ photos to sleahy@newtownprimary.ie. Parents, please make sure to also give your permission for us to put your child’s photos on the website.

Have a great weekend & we’ll talk you on the blog again on Monday!

Blog notes 18th- 22nd May

13/5/2020

Sending out a big HELLO to all our Super Junior Infants! How have you all been doing? We hope you have been playing, running, laughing and dancing… and doing some learning activities too! 😊 What do we have in store for you this week? Well… you’ll be pretending to be a bird detective, playing hide & seek with Teddy, using your imagination to act out a summer story and making Lego patterns! We hope you have a great week, especially as restrictions are easing slightly, but please continue to take care and remember your safety rules.

Parents, you should have received a little notice(through Aladdin) from Ms. Ní Laocha/ Ms. Leahy on Friday. Don't worry if you missed it, here is the information.

Children, we miss you loads and we know your classmates miss you too, so we have decided to gather some class news. We would like each child to think of a few bits of news they would like to share with the class and an adult can send a quick email telling us about it (c19parentsupport@newtownprimary.ie or sleahy@newtownprimary.ie). You can also send in a photo of yourself at home if you'd like. It is important though that if you’re sending in a photo of yourself, parents must say in the email that they give permission for the school to put the photo on the blog. Please try to send in your news by Wednesday.

*In the 'subject area', please write: for Ms. Leahy OR for Ms. Ní Laocha.

We have another special boy on our birthday list this week… we wish a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aidan!! It is his birthday today!! We hope you are having a super day! 😊

Numeracy

Daily counting: Counting 1-10, forwards and backwards. This week focus on… different starting points, counting backwards from ten.
For example, if you're child is able to count backwards from 10 to 1, then ask them "count backwards from 8/ count backwards from 6 etc."

Monday: See if you can use all five words from last week (in, on, under, beside, over) to make up a story about Rosie. See Ms. Leahy’s video story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRHYHaMLoWw&t=60s

Tuesday: Use the “ways to make 5” PowerPoint to help you think of all the ways to make five. Sing the song and use your counters.

Wednesday: Find the attached document ‘Spatial Awareness Activity’ below; see if you can find all the objects in the picture and say where they are.

Thursday:
Remember to use your counters! 😊

Friday: can you make patterns using 2 or 3 different colours ? Have a look at the picture below.

Literacy

Pre-cursive writing: see blog notes from 20- 24th April.

Reading 3-letter words sheet: read the 3-letter words each day and complete one activity. See the sheet below. If you don't have a printer, draw it in a copy. If you are having difficulty please let us know.

“I spy” phonics activity: choose an item from the “I Spy” sheet. Sound out each of the three sounds for your child (e.g. d-u-ck) and the child must blend the sounds together to get ‘duck’ and then point at the duck.
If your child finds this hard, tell them which line the item is on and then they can choose between 3 items instead of the whole page. If you want to make the task harder, you could tell them the word (e.g. dog) and see if they can tell you the three sounds (d-o-g) and write the word in their pre-cursive writing.

Tricky words: see blog notes from 4th- 8th May.

Gaeilge

Monday
See what happens “An Fear Grinn” when he goes to buy an ice-cream.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN46JxnG99I

Tuesday
Practise with Téidí and Niamh- “Cad atá sa siopa?”   (What’s in the shop?)
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vdNMTRtXzo

Wednesday
Bí ag tarraingt! 😊 (get drawing!)

Thursday
Get one of your teddies and play hide and seek with him or her.

Question: Cá bhfuil Téidí ? (Where is Teddy?)
Answer: Tá Téidí ar an mbord/ ar an gcathaoir/ ar an mbosca.
              Teddy is on the table/ on the chair/ on the box.
See the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_vr1aHZ2lo

Friday
We hope you enjoy this story about Granddad- Daideo ag siopadoireact… we think he forgot something! 😉
https://www.seideansi.ie/dep/files/munster/Daideo_ag_siopadoireacht.html

Religion
We’re still thinking about ‘water’ this week. Here’s a video to tell us about how God provided water and food for Moses and His People when they were in the desert for a long time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki84LIbqsdI
We can also think about how water is involved in baptism, chat about baptism with your child and fill in Grow in Love page 49.

Science
Go through the ‘staying safe around electricity’ poster with your child, then see if they can spot the electrical dangers in the kitchen (attached below).

Geography
Usually in school during May we focus on biodiversity and learn all about the trees, plants, birds, insects that live all around us. Instead of doing this in school, this year you’re going to investigate the green areas near where you live. This week we will pretend to be bird detectives; use the special poster in the link to identify the birds you see and draw a picture of your favourite one… Have fun! http://birdwatchcork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Challenge-ID-Poster.pdf

Drama
Ok, put on your ‘drama hat’ and come on a Summer adventure with us… 😊 We can’t go many places at the moment because of the restrictions in place but that doesn’t mean we can’t use our imaginations to pretend all sorts of things!!! See the ‘summer story’ document below.

Music
Today you’re going to go through the Summer story again but this time we want you to think about the sounds you might hear if you were actually on the beach, having a BBQ etc. Here are some questions and suggestions to help you; what type of sounds might you hear when lying on the beach (e.g. other people, water lapping, an airplane flying by, a baby crying, a wasp buzzing around). What if it starts to rain? What would you hear then?
Now see if you can make these sounds yourself- using your mouth, your body or household items. For example, you can make the sound of a baby crying with your voice/ go to the sink or gently splash a container of water for the waves/ you can gently clap hands or tap your thighs to make the sound of rain etc.

Now, think about the other parts of the story and what you might hear ? See if you can make a 'sound picture' using all the sounds that you imagine are in the story.

We are no longer giving each class daily challenges, instead there's a separate part of the website with a range of challenges/ life skills/ exercises that you can choose from each week. Check it out: http://www.newtownprimary.ie/extra-activities

Extra activities for early-finishers:

Choose another biodiversity activity to do while you're out and about: http://www.newtownprimary.ie/outdoor-activities
Here is a list of more Phonics Readers to do if your child is wanting to read more:https://www.speld-sa.org.au/service/163-speld-sa-phonic-books-set-1.html--> Choose a title and click on ‘online flash version’ to open.
Get an adult to choose an item from the “I spy” page (say the word properly, not broken into sounds), the child must say the word slowly and see if they can hear each sound. Write each sound in the word and see if you get it correct!
Listen to this lovely Irish song 'An Maidrín Rua' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdED_gjzKEI (the lyrics are attached below if you'd like to see them)
Any of the schoolbooks sent home.

an_maidrín_rua_lyrics___link.pdf
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i_spy_phonics_game.pdf
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reading_three-letter_words_2.pdf
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ways_to_make_5.pptx
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spatial_awareness_activity.pdf
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spot_the_electrical_dangers.pdf
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stay_safe_around_electricity_poster.pdf
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summer_story.pdf
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Blog Notes 11th- 15th May

7/5/2020

Good morning Junior Infants! We hope you have had a nice week since we “spoke” to you last. We hope you’ve been out in the sunshine loads, keeping an eye out for some nice flowers, birds or insects and that you’ve had fun with your family. We also hope you’ve been creative and used your imagination!
We have some fun learning activities for you this week- you’ll be playing ‘Simon Says’ and building towers for Maths, learning a lovely poem about dandelions in English and setting up a little pretend shop in Gaeilge. We also have some daily challenges for you at the end… will you be able to paint with water or make a toilet roll tower??? We hope so… and we’d love to see photos if you take some! 😊

We have a special boy on our birthday list this week… we wish a big...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Alex!! We hope you have a great day on Wednesday!!!

Numeracy

Daily counting: Counting 1-10, forwards and backwards. This week focus on different starting points, e.g. start at 5 and count up to 10/ start at 3 and count up to 10 etc.

Monday: Build some Maths Towers (see image at the bottom of the blog). Look at the sum, say it aloud and make a tower showing each number with a different colour. For example, if the sum is ‘3 and 2’ then you could build a tower of 3 blue cubes and 2 yellow cubes. When you’ve built your tower make sure to count how many altogether. You would say: ‘3 and 2 altogether makes 5’. You can print out the ‘Maths Tower Mats’ if you like or else draw out a similar sheet for you child to build on.

Tuesday:
Play this simple addition game on the FOLENS website. It is at the following link: https://content.folensonline.ie/programmes/PlanetMaths/PMJI/resources/activities/pm_ji_115/index.html
You might have to sign in to access the game, if so, follow these instructions… Simply register as a teacher and use the special code (Prim20) instead of putting in a Roll Number.

Wednesday
Remember to use your counters as shown in the second activity in last week's video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_jHKHqO1g&feature=youtu.be)

Thursday/Friday

See the document “spatial awareness” attached below for today’s activities.

Literacy

Summer poem: see the image below to discover the lovely poem ‘O dandelion’. To write your own poem, we have attached a template called ‘Summer poem.’ We hope you enjoy thinking and writing about summer. We look forward to seeing your poems, try your best with your pre-cursive writing but if you find it hard Mum and Dad can help you! 😊

Revising phonics sounds: flash sound for child, see if they can say the sound and then tell you some words that start or end in that sound. If you have time, why not do a page from Sounds Good Phonics to revise the sound (e.g. pages 41, 47 or 52 would be suitable to revise the sound ‘k’- the letter(s) being focused on are shown at the top of the page).

Pre-cursive writing: see blog notes from 20- 24th April.

Tricky words: see last week’s blog and attached documents.

Gaeilge

Monday
Learn this fun rhyme with Teddy. This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFz2eeZw3M
We hope Teddy doesn’t feel sick after eating milseán AND uachtar reoite!!! 😊 The words of the rhyme are attached below if you need them (Siopa Milseán).

Tuesday
Scéal-Gug ag siopadoireacht- https://www.seideansi.ie/dep/files/connacht/Gug_ag_Siopadoireacht.html

Wednesday
Dramaíocht- set up a little table with a few food items (choose from sweets, lollipop, banana, apple, sandwich, milk, butter). Child pretends to go in to buy something. They can use these sentences in the drama. They can take a turn doing both roles.

Say hello- “Dia duit”/ “Dia ‘s Muire duit”.
Ask for something- “Tabhair dom __________”/ “Seo duit ________.” Saying thank you- “Go raibh maith agat”/ “Fáilte romhat”.

{sweets = milseán, lollipop = líreacán, banana = banana, apple = úll, sandwich = ceapaire, milk = báinne, butter = im }

This video of Téidí going shopping should help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNHzsMa40Ww

Thursday
Éist agus tarraing- let’s draw! Give your child these instructions of what to draw in their shop and what colours to use.

Tarraing úll. Dathaigh an úll glas. (Draw an apple. Colour the apple green).
Tarraing banana. Dathaigh an banana buí. (Draw a banana. Colour the banana yellow).
Tarraing ceapaire. Dathaigh an ceapaire donn. (Draw a sandwich. Colour the sandwich brown).
Tarraing milseán. Dathaigh an milseán gorm. (Draw sweets. Colour the sweets blue).

Friday
Game- get any bag and use your food items from your ‘siopa’ (banana, úll, milseán, báinne, im, líriceán, ceapaire). One player closes their eyes and the other player hides one food item in the bag. The other player then opens their eyes and must guess what’s in the bag. The players only swap roles when they successfully guess what’s in the bag.

Player one: Cad atá sa mhála ?
Player two: Ceapaire?
Player one: Tá/ Níl.

Religion
-Have a chat with your child about how precious water is, how we can be careful not to waste water and thank God for water.

-OR you can login to Grow in Love to use some nice resources. Use the sign-in information here (Email: trial@growinlove.ie Password: growinlove). Click Junior Infants > Theme 8 Water > Water is Wonderful! Here you’ll find a lovely video “This is Enestina”, the children usually like this and enjoy chatting about similarities (e.g. she has brothers and sisters) and differences (e.g. she makes dinner for her family) between her life and their lives. There's also a song – “Water”, a ‘conservation for kids’ poster and ‘caring for water’ activity. You can have a flick through these!

-You can also do pages 46 & 47 of your workbook, if you haven’t already done it.

Science
Have fun learning about electricity- find the PowerPoint attached below, and don’t forget to draw any appliances that you see around your home that use electricity. There’s a sheet to print out if you’d like, but you can also just draw them in a copy.

SPHE
We hope you remember all about Water and Sun Safety. Below you will find a ‘spot the dangers’ poster and a ‘cut and stick’ activity. If you don’t have a printer, why not draw your own bag with all the items you would need to stay safe in the sun.

History
Rosie’s Walk is a lovely story we use in school. Read through it once or twice with your child, then see if they can re-tell the story back to you, using the pictures to help them. They don’t have to know word-for-word but just a general idea.
If you don’t have the book at home, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aynZh1-fsBg

Website links for each day
Monday: Learn more about plants & animals with this fun science game- https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/plantsanimals.html
Tuesday: Phonics Play website- https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/member-only/PicnicOnPluto.html (Username: march20 Password: home)
Wednesday: IXL Maths, revise long and short- https://ie.ixl.com/math/jr-infants/long-and-short
Thursday: Sounds Like Phonics- https://slp.cjfallon.ie/. Click on book A > Unit 1 > Revision > word family activity > click “-at” to play.
Friday: IXL Maths, revise “which has more?”- https://ie.ixl.com/math/jr-infants/more

Exercise activity for each day- see the attached document "alphabet workout" and each day spell out a different word using the exercises on the sheet.
Monday: today's word- kite
Tuesday: today's word- hen
Wednesday: today's word- red
Thursday: today's word- duck
Friday: spell your name today (hard one if you've a loooong name)

Daily Challenge
Monday: Pretend you're a detective, go outside and see if you can spot any mini-beasts. Draw what you find. **To find a mini-beast chart and for more really lovely outdoor activities, see this new page of our school website: http://www.newtownprimary.ie/outdoor-activities **
Tuesday: Fine motor activity (https://funlearningforkids.com/favorite-fine-motor-activities-preschoolers/)
Wednesday: Get a container of water of any size and a paintbrush, go outside and ‘paint’ something with the water. Try painting on the path, or the wall or you could paint the fence or the picnic table!
Thursday: Get an adult to sound out an animal to you and you have to pretend to be that animal! (e.g. adult says each sound in the word c-a-t, child has to blend the sounds together to get the word ‘cat’ and then pretend to be a cat. You could also do r-a-t/ d-o-g/ h-e-n/ d-u-ck/ fr-o-g/ c-ow/ p-i-g)
Friday: Make a boat using a margarine tub, light plastic lunchbox or tubber-wear. Make sure it floats, then add one coin at a time and see how many coins it takes to sink your boat.

Daily Life Skill
Monday: Help sort the cutlery into the drawer after clean up.
Tuesday: Do you know your full name and address? This is important to know, see if you can learn it off.
Wednesday: Make sure you say ‘thank you’ to whoever prepares your meals for you.
Thursday: Wipe off the table or counter after lunch.
Friday: Do you know your parent’s phone numbers? These are important to know, see if you can learn one off.

Extra activities for early-finishers:

Here is a list of more Phonics Readers but please only do these if your child found reading ‘A Pan’ very easy and they want to read more, otherwise it may knock their confidence. https://www.speld-sa.org.au/service/163-speld-sa-phonic-books-set-1.html--> Choose a title and click on ‘online flash version’ to open.
Planet Maths- any pages before page 90.
Sounds Good Phonics- After ‘final sounds’, you can move onto ‘medial sounds’.
Go with the Flow A- any pages with pre-writing activities.

maths_towers_mat.pdf
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spatial_awareness.pdf
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summer_poem.pdf
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siopa_milseáin.pdf
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electricity_powerpoint.pptx
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electricity_worksheet.pdf
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sun_safety-_cut_and_stick.pdf
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alphabet_exercises.pdf
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Blog Notes 4th- 8th May

1/5/2020

Good morning Junior Infants! 😊 We hope you enjoyed some of your challenges from yesterday and that you had fun on your Nature Walk (if you missed it, no worries- just look at the blog post below). We miss each one of you and want to remind you that we would be delighted to see some of your work/ art/ photos on the website or if you want to get in contact with us, use this address (c19parentsupport@newtownprimary.ie) and the message will be forwarded on. Thanks to those who already sent in work and art, very well done! However, we know that this might not be possible for everyone so there’s no pressure. We hope you are remembering to stay safe and stay kind at home- helping around the house and of course having fun too!! Here are the learning activities for this week, we hope you enjoy them.

Oh, we have one more special message… we want to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Emily, we hope you have a fantastic day on Thursday!!! 😊

Numeracy

Daily counting: 1-10, forwards and backwards and this week you could ask your child about the number before, e.g. what number comes before 7? More counting ideas here: https://www.pdst.ie/sites/default/files/RSGM%20Counting%20Activities.pdf

Tuesday- Pizza or chips? - see document attached below.

Wednesday

1. Divide a plate in two using a lollipop stick and see how many ways you can make four with your counters, see the first part of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_jHKHqO1g (sorry about the bad quality, it was Ms. Leahy’s first ever attempt at filming!) 2. After doing the activity on the video, then do page 111. Remind the children they’re still making 4 but this time using pictures of shells in the book.

Thursday

Planet Maths, p.102+103 (instructions/ questions below):

Q1. Find the items that roll, chat about them and colour them green. Find some things at your house that roll. Q2. Find the items that will not roll, chat about them and colour them blue. Find some things at your house that will not roll. Q3. Look at the children beside the ladder, is there one ladder for each child? What are they going to do? Q4. Is there a bucket for each spade? Is there a nest for each bird? Is there a hula-hoop for each child? Q5. Look at the children eating fruit. How many children are eating apples? How many are eating bananas? Are there more children eating apples or bananas? Q6. Colour the rest of the picture and send in a photo of your lovely colouring for the website if you’d like! 😊

Friday

Planet Maths p. 113, use some counters when doing this. See the second part of this video as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_jHKHqO1g

Literacy
Tuesday

Tricky words: see two documents attached below (Tricky word flashcards & What to do with the tricky-words). Little Bo Peep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI8OiJ2TAtw

Wednesday

Phonics Reader here: https://www.speld-sa.org.au/component/flippingbook/book/3-a-pan. The title is “A Pan” and last week’s work will have prepared your child for this reader. Click onto page 4. Before reading through the words, click through the pages with your child and get them to guess what the story’s going to be about by looking at the pictures. Then go back to page 4 and they can read through each page- please see the attached document: ‘tips for reading’.

When they get to the words ‘tips’, ‘sits’ and ‘sips’, cover over the ‘s’ at the end and get them to sound out the first three letters first. When they get the word, then they can add the ‘s’. You can just tell them the word ‘spits’ as it is a hard one.

Pre-cursive writing: see Blog notes 20th- 24th April. (If anyone reaches the end of their pre-cursive letters and wants more worksheets, please let us know… and if you’re no where near finished that’s absolutely fine too!! 😊)

Thursday

Same reader as yesterday (‘A Pan’), this time as your child reads each page you can ask them questions linked to the pictures, such as “Have you ever seen someone cooking outside like that? How do we cook our food at home? Do you think our dog/ the neighbour’s dog would eat up our dinner like that if it ended up on the floor? Pat the dog sleeps in a kennel outside, where does our dog sleep?”

Friday

Phonics Reader- ‘A Pan’. This time, after your child reads through, choose a word from each page and see if your child can tell you some words that rhyme with it.
Tricky words- same as Tuesday.

Gaeilge

Tuesday- Scéal: https://www.seideansi.ie/dep/files/connacht/Eoin_ar_an_Teilifis.html

Wednesday & Thursday: once your child has learned these sentences, they can be used around the house every day. If they want to turn on or off the TV, radio or light try to get them to say it in Irish. Your child could also use it when playing, e.g. ‘Téidí, cuir an solas ar siúl.’ and the child pretends to get their teddy to turn on the light etc. They could also draw pictures to show what they’ve learned if they prefer.

Friday

The Gruffalo in Irish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8MT3mFjCAc
Counting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luUPVZmgCG0 / If you remember how to count to ten, do ten Jumping Jacks while counting and then ten squats.

S.E.S.E.- find the weather chart below, or draw out your own! 😊

Art
Make a simple musical instrument using recycled materials from home. To make a mini drum all you need is a tin can (from a tin of beans, for example), a balloon, paint and a stick to bang it. To make a rainbow shaker, all you need is a kitchen/ toilet paper roll, tape, paint and something like rice or dried beans to go inside! Have a look at this website for tons of more easy ideas: https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/Music-Instruments-for-Kids-to-Make

Music
If you didn’t manage to make an instrument yesterday, that’s no problem! Give your child a wooden spoon and something to bang and they can drum to the beat.

S.P.H.E.
You can find Sammy Seagull’s summer safety PowerPoint story & poster attached below.

Website links for each day
Tuesday: Phonics Play website- https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/member-only/PicnicOnPluto.html (Username: march20 Password: home)
Wednesday: IXL Maths, counting shapes- https://ie.ixl.com/math/jr-infants/count-shapes-up-to-5
Thursday: Choose a story to listen to from these lovely online animations- https://www.storyplace.org/
Friday: IXL Maths- revising 3D shapes (they may need some help with some of these): https://ie.ixl.com/math/jr-infants/select-solid-shapes

Daily Challenge
Tuesday: Fine motor activity (*Fine-motor activities can be as simple as building something with Lego, putting clothes pegs onto a clothes line, sticking small objects (like sticks or buttons) into Play-Doh and pulling them out again, threading beads or peeling off stickers and sticking them onto a piece of paper. (https://funlearningforkids.com/favorite-fine-motor-activities-preschoolers/)
Wednesday: Make a jigsaw- see if you can beat last weeks’ time!
Thursday: Get an adult to sound out an action to you and you have to do it! (e.g. adult says each sound in the word h-o-p, child has to blend the sounds together to get the word ‘hop’ and then start hopping. You could also do r-u-n/ s-i-t/ j-u-m-p/ sk-i-p/ j-o-g/… keep the words to 3 or 4 sounds)
Friday: Play a game using a dice- see if you can start recognising the numbers without counting each dot. There’s an online dice here, if needed: https://eslkidsgames.com/classroom-dice

Daily Life Skill
Tuesday: Clear your plate after eating.
Wednesday: Practise writing your name in your pre-cursive writing.
Thursday: Practise zipping and buttoning your clothes.
Friday: Make sure you wash your teeth properly in the mornings and evenings.

Extra activities for early-finishers:

Here is a list of more Phonics Readers but please only do these if your child found reading ‘A Pan’ very easy and they want to read more, otherwise it may knock their confidence. https://www.speld-sa.org.au/service/163-speld-sa-phonic-books-set-1.html--> Choose a title and click on ‘online flash version’ to open.
Grow in Love Religion- have a chat about how we use water, thank God for water and how your family can care for water. Book pages 46 & 47.
Planet Maths- any pages before page 90.
Sounds Good Phonics- ‘final sounds’, then move on to ‘middle sounds’.
Go with the Flow A- any pages with pre-writing activities.

beach_safety_poster.pdf
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pizza_or_chips.pdf
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sammy-seagulls-summer-safety-story-powerpoint.ppt
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tips_for_reading.pdf
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tricky_word_flashcards.pdf
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what_to_do_with_the_tricky_words.pdf
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weather_chart.pdf
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Monday 4th April... Bank Holiday!!! :-)

1/5/2020

Monday challenges-
Good morning everyone! We hope you’re enjoying your bank holiday weekend and that you can all get out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine today. There are no home learning work assigned for today but here are some challenges we thought you might like. Have fun- and don’t forget to be kind!

Go for a Nature Walk- see if you can find signs of summer- such as buds, flowers, bees, birds, butterflies, blossoms etc. Ms. Leahy’s friend ‘Angel’ went for her own Nature Walk, look at the photos below to see what she found! 😊 (Make sure to let us know/ send photos to show us what you find on your adventures.)
Online game- Word Machine: https://www.starfall.com/h/word-machines/word_machine_a/?
Daily life skill: pick up any clothes or toys from the floor of your room and put them away where they belong.
Fun challenge: see if you can clap out the syllables for each of these jungle animals- elephant (3), tiger (2), ape (1), giraffe (2), hippopotamus (5), crocodile (3), snake (1), monkey (2), zebra (2).
Two exercise challenges today: 1. Pick your favourite ‘active home week’ activity from last week and do it again. 2. Have fun dancing to a Junior Infant class favourite from school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=388Q44ReOWE.

We hope you enjoyed doing your ‘Active Home Week’ last week, we’d love to see your activity charts from the week or if you’d like to send in some photos!!

Check back in tomorrow for this week's learning activities...