Thank you to Ms McDonnell for organising our annual sunflower planting. The children always enjoy it! They brought their sunflowers home today so just remember to keep them watered and on a sunny windowsill. As the get bigger you can transplant them into your garden or to a bigger pot. Make sure to take photos of your flower as it grows super tall and show us in school. 

This week flew by! We got new blinds in our room so we took advantage of having to move everything to give our room a big spring clean! I am happy now that the room is back to normal, with a few little changes. Here is a sneak peek at our relaxation garden. They children will enjoy this area for their DEAR time.

We are coming to an end of our animal topic. Here the children are sorting the animals into groups of domestic or wild animals. We also labelled the parts of the different animals. We discovered that some animals have fur, wool, feathers and scales. Lot's of the animals have tails.

As we start the last term of Junior Infants, I find myself thinking just how far we have come since September and how hard each child has worked. The hard work is done and your children have become real little achievers! You should be
very proud of them! Enjoy the long weekend.

Kind Regards,
Ms Murray

What a great month we have had in Room 5! Thank you to all the parents and children who brought in lovely toys and animals for the pet shop play. They are really enthusiastic about sharing their toys with their peers. Sometimes they are happy to leave them in the pet shop over night but sometimes they want to bring them home again. That's absolutely fine. They can bring the toys in and out as they please. Below is a few photos of the new stations that are well underway. We have also done some really good reports and recounts in our Aistear copies this week. The children are now labelling their pictures with words and trying to write simple sentences. Their oral sentence structure and vocabulary is coming on in leaps and bounds! 

We have been practicing our questioning skills... I am trying to encourage the children to ask questions using language like who, what, where, when, why (The 5 W's). The video below was a quick Q&A session where they explored the idea of questioning. Next week we will look back at this video in class and discuss how we could improve our language and make our questions and answers even more interesting... check back next week to see how we get on.  

We did lots of art this week to set up our new stations. We also were lucky to have a visitor Evan to help us build our new 'People Who Help Us' town. It's not finished but it's looking pretty cool so far! 

We had been working on our spring garden (making the rainbow below) When Maisy came up with the idea to call it a Relaxation Garden! I absolutely loved this idea, I just thought it was so lovely that that word 'relaxation' came to mind when she sat in that area! 

I am really delighted with how quickly the children's handwriting has come on. They are working so hard and they really take pride in their achievements. We save our very best writing for our 'Good Writing' copies. I have told the children that they can take them home on Monday to show you their progress, they are really excited to share their hard work with you and are looking forward to your praise! Please make sure the copies go straight back into the bags though.

Here is a sneek peek preview for my blog readers of a new area I made for the children after they went home today. I know they'll love this one for their DEAR time! 

That's it for this week. Enjoy the spring weather!

Regards,
​Ms Murray

We had a short week in Room 5, only three days as I was out today. We did manage to get lots done though. We are off to a flying start with our new topic of Spring and animals. We are focusing on farm animals and domestic animal for the next few weeks. After a collaborative discussion we have decided on our Aistear stations... We are making a Pet shop that sells various pets, pet food and a accessories. We are turning our other area into a spring garden that will blossom and change as spring  moves into summer summer. We are making a water area that will be our class pond... and lots more! 

Wanted for our Aistear:

• any plastic/fake plants or flowers
• old soft animal toys for our pet store
• any old pet accessories, leads, water bowls, pet beds etc.
• I'm trying to source a strip of artificial grass if anyone has any suggestions? but I've little or no budget for it :(
• any old aquarium/pond accessories

No pressure... just if you have something lying around that would won't mind getting ride of. Thanks

We are learning about the different sounds animals make in the song below! Have a listen at home. 

Maths

We had fun in Maths recording sets and making patterns

We are starting our Yoga and mindfulness. In the busy life of five year old it can be  difficult to take the time to stop, relax and appreciate the here and now. LOL! so we will be learning how to destress while working on our strength and flexibility. Namaste!

Enjoy the weekend... Lets hope the sun comes out!

Kind Regards,
​Ms Murray

This week we have been busy getting ready for the Spring Service on Monday. I hope you can all make it (1pm in the hall). Here is a sneak peek at what we've been up to.

The children are really enjoying their word boxes and I am delighted that they are all able to stretch out the sounds to hear the word. As they become familiar and confident with this technique they can stop stretching out the word and quietly scan the letters to read the words fluently, but for most of the children it is still important to remind them to stretch out the sounds without a gap. For any children who are still unsure of some letter sounds (check their assessment sheet on the inside cover of their sounds copy) I have added a little reference chart. They should look at the letter symbol and then search for it on their chart (this reinforces their visual awareness of the letter symbol). When they find the letter symbol on the chart they will be prompted by a picture which represents the letter sound/action they have learnt. If you have any concerns or questions about your child's blending please just ask me. 

As we continue to learn about the people who help us in our community we have been exploring the difference between the city and the countryside. We are all aware that we live in a busy city. In the exercise below we are sorting different aspects that represent city life and country life. 

Great Homework this week. Well done everyone. 

That's it for this week... enjoy the weekend and we hope to see you on Monday for the Spring Service.

Regards,

​Ms. Murray