Blog Posts

Fabric

Thank you to everyone who brought in all the lovely fabrics for our learning theme. We had a great few weeks exploring textiles. We even learnt to sew! Here's are a few snaps of what we got up to.

We learnt the name of some fabrics and some amazing adjectives to describe them!

We wanted to find out what was the most popular fabric so we wrote about our favourite fabric and why.

Following this activity we gathered our findings into a bar chart.

We are going to make our own fabric teddies but first we have to learn how to sew. Step one, we have to learn how to thread a needle.

Next we practiced a basic stitch on card.

Finally we got to put all these new skills to work making our own fabric teddies! We'll finish them off next week and you can come in to see them!

Bringing fabric into our play...

We love being creative in our extra homework tasks!

Next week we move onto the topic of transport. Any old toy car, planes or boats etc. welcome! Have a great weekend,

Kind Regards,
Ms Murray

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Maths Fun!

A big thank you to the parents who came in to play maths games with the children. They had a great time!

Lost & Found By Oliver Jeffers

This week we have been reading lots and lots of books written and illustrated by the wonderfully talented Oliver Jeffers. We should call Ms Fallon the book lady because she comes to our class every day bearing new books and occasionally stays to read them for us!

We learnt to draw our own penguins!

Phonics

Our phonics focus last week was learning about double letter sounds. When we see two consonants together they only make one sound becuase if there wasn't double letters it would change the sound rule of the word. They are great at spotting these double letter words in their books.

Materials and 3D Shapes

We continue to learn about 3D shapes and after assessing the children on Friday I am happy that most of the children are able to identify and name the following shapes: sphere, cone, cylinder, cube, cuboid, pyramid. Why not ask them to name objects around the house and if you see they are not confident identifying any of these shapes to could focus a little extra practice this coming week. In the activity below we are extending our learning to identifying various materials that make our toys.

Handwriting

I am encouraging the children to join their letters together and practice their cursive writing. They are excellent writers and have been working very hard in class.

Ms Fallon's Challenge!

Ms Fallon is always trying to set us a little maths challenge to extend our learning... we say BRING IT ON!

Can you make a Numicon animal?

Can you make me a 3D Shape?

Next week's leaning topic: We will be learning all about clothes and fabric over the next two week. We will be making a clothes shop and would love to add to our store collection, so if you had a few spare items of CLOTHING for our shop please bring them in. We would love a mix of dresses, trousers, jumpers, boots, shoes etc of different materials. Also if anyone had any nice FABRIC they could donate to our learning we would be thrilled to recieve it!

I look forward to seeing everyone for the PTM's on Monday.

Have a great weekend,

Ms Murray

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Friday 11th January

11/1/2019

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A week of 3D shapes

We had great fun this week learning about our 3D shapes. The focus shapes were a cube, cuboid, sphere and cylinder but we also extended are learning to pyramid and cone. I hope your child was able to find some shapes around the house and when they were out and about.

Looking for 3D Shapes everywhere!

More maths fun in Rm 6

Followed by some more.... FUN!

And just a sprinkle of hard work!

Homework

I hope everyone got a chance to read the note home about homework this week. I have spoken to a few parents and the feedback is very positive. It seem the extra time to complete homework works well. I will collect the homework on Monday copies on Monday but the folders will remain in their bag. I will return the homework copies to their folders on Tuesday so you can continue with the next set of homework tasks (see dates on sheet/copy). The children are really enjoying their readers and moving through them at a good pace. Some children are even finding the time to complete some extra homework tasks. Well done.

* Next week we will continue to learn about 3D shapes and I'm looking for some fabric 3D shapes (such as a baby's fabric cube etc.) if anyone have one I could borrow. Also we will be learning all about Oliver Jeffer who is a very well known Irish illustrator & author. If you have any of his books we would love for you to bring them in to share with us or if you have the time you could visit the library to try and find some of his books. One of his books might even inspire your child for this week's homework task! Thanks you.

Enjoy your weekend,

Kind Regards,
Ms Murray

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Friday 15th December

15/12/2018

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Christmas Concert 2018

What an amazing performance from the girls and boys in this years Christmas show "Join The Circus". A BIG thank you to the parents for your help with costumes and endless practising of songs and lines! I think you'll agree it was very much worth all the effort. Enjoy the video below and makes sure you download a copy for their memories collection!

The Circus Themed Learning Continues...

Thank you Maci for the lovely gingerbread men! The children were delighted with their lovely Christmas treat!

Have a great weekend.
Kind Regards,
Ms Murray

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Friday 7th December

9/12/2018

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Winter Walk 2018

I completely forgot to put up the photos of the Winter Walk last week. Thank you to all the parents for making such wonderful winter hats with your child. It was lovely to see so many parent able to join us on the cold but dry winter morning!

This week it's all about the circus!

As you're aware! The circus has come to Rm 6 this week! We've been exploring all our learning through the topic of the circus. The children are having great fun playing Circus during our aistear play. We've even set up our own ticket office and circus stage. Check out the video below where we practice our role-play while learning about time and money!

The Story of Time...

Homework for this coming week...

There will be no homework sheet this coming week. Each night please have your children practice their lines for the play. A sheet went home in their bag on Friday. I would also ask you to have them practice the song below A million Dreams. We have decided to do all of the verses below. I'll send a sheet home in their folder.
The children can also continue with their readers and tricky words. If you have time you could have them practice their spelling of the tricky words. Preparation for the play has meant I haven't had time to reassess their letter sounds but we have ben working hard in school and you have at home so I can see they are making good progress. I will assess them again when the concert is over.

Dress Rehearsal - Wednesday

Please wear correct underclothes for free rehearsal on Wednesday as well as Thursdays. Girls can wear tights and shoes. Boys can wear tracksuit and round neck t-shirts under jumpers.
Thank you.

A Million Dreams (video below)

We are looking forward to our Play on Thursday. Please arrive promptly as we will be one of the first acts. It is ok to collect the children after the whole show is over. Please have the girls wear colourful tights and shoes into school. The boys can wear round neck t-shirts under their track suits.

Thank you,

Regards,
Ms Murray

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Friday 30th November

30/11/2018

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Christmas Play

Our Christmas Play will have a circus theme this year. We are doing an adaptation of The Greatest Showman. If you have any circus costumes that you could lend us, that would be great but please DO NOT spend any money. Please have your child practice the following song at home whenever possible.

A Million Dreams

Only the first 1.30 mins of the song below.

Join The Circus

Only the first 1.50 mins of the song below.

Come Follow The Band

Only the first 1.55 mins

Dictation

The children are getting really good at their dictation. This activity requires them to listen to me call out a sentence. They then have to recall all the letter rules I taught them to segment out the different letters in spell a words (throw in a few tricky words here!). At the same time, they also have to recall how to write these letters in written text. That's before we think about the sentence structure rules which require them to remember to leave a space between words, capital letter at the start of the sentence and full stop at the end!

Not as easy as you would think right!?

So credit to the children for working so hard in school. After Christmas we will be changing the homework around a little and dictation will be part of their home practice, but feel free to give it a go whenever you get a chance!

Science Week

Mr Mulcahy joined us for some super experiments to celebrate Science Week!The children were engrossed in the experiments as you can see in the video below.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend! Only Three school weeks to CHRISTMAS! ??

Kind Regards,

Ms Murray

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Practicing Letter Sounds and Tricky Words.

19/11/2018

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The children and I wanted to share some videos to show their grown-ups how we practice our letters sound in school. All the activities shown can also be a playful way to practice tricky words too. We hope you will find the videos helpful and supportive of your child's practice at home. While we do lots of these activities in school, some children really need a quieter environment to practice, with one to one support. This is not always possible in a busy classroom so please take the time to work with your child at home. It will be extremely beneficial to their reading development. Following an assessment, some children have been sent home with a list of sounds they need to practice. It's perfectly normal that they don't know some of the double letter sounds yet. But with plenty of practice they'll get them in no time. Also I just want to say a BIG WELL DONE! to all the children for being such super stars in the videos!

Activity One - Drawing and labelling words that contain the focus sound

Sometimes we tend to offer the children words that contain the focus sound. But having the children think up of their own words will help them retain this information in their long term memory. Drawing a picture and writing the word is a fun activity. Collect their drawing and staple them together to make their own sound book for them to read back over!

Playing Go Fish

Using the letter sound flash cards i have sent home have a go playing this game. This game will help your child to recognise and read the sounds or tricky words. The reason I ask the children to take a picture of the sounds (in this video) is to make sure that they look at the sound while they say it. This helps make a connection between the text and the sound.

Go Fish from Ms Murray on Vimeo.

Spotting the sounds in your environment

Looking for the focus sound in books, on cereal packets or anywhere throughout the day is a great way to reinforce the focus sounds or tricky words. It also helps put the sounds they have been learning into context.

Read it, Write it, Check it!

Your child may be able to recognise the sound when shown letter/s. But they also need to be able to write the sounds/tricky words when dictated. Follow this simple activity to practice writing the sounds/tricky words and when you feel your child knows them well. Try having them list down the sounds/words as you call them out. Please make sure your child uses the correct letter formation for writing.

Look, Cover, Check! from Ms Murray on Vimeo.

Smooth Blending

It is really important to say the sounds just right if your child is going to be able to blend smoothly. Make sure you do not add an "uh" sound to the end of letter sounds. Your child will explain to you how some sounds are stretchy (continuous sounds) and some bouncy (stops sounds). Look at the list below to see which sounds can be stretched when enunciated correctly and which cannot.

The children are getting really good at their blending so they will probably fly through these word boxes but there's no harm in going over them again.

Some children will have a focus flashcard pack in their homework folders this week. They do not have an extra homework sheet until they know their sounds fluently and are confident blending them in words and writing them. Please practice one or more of the above activities every night for homework. Other children are asked to continue with homework sheet for now and focus on their readers. I will be sending everyone home tricky words next week.
Thank you for your support in your children learning and should you have any questions about your child's homework, just ask!

Kind Regards,
Ms Murray

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Friday 16th November

18/11/2018

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This week we developed our learning about our community by looking at all the different people who work in our community. This topic is one that offers the children lots of scope for their Aistear role play.

Learning about money and data in our play!

I hope everyone managed to get a book from the visiting book people. These fantastic children have such a love for books!

Check back to the blog on Monday for a special post on practicing letter sounds, reading, blending and tricky words at home.

Have a great weekend,
Ms Murray

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Friday 8th November

11/11/2018

3 Comments

This week we stared our new theme ‘Community and people who help us’. To introduce our new theme we took a virtual trip around our community and explored the different buildings. Together we learnt how to map our own community and learnt the aspects of mapping.

Bringing all our learning into our play.

GAA with Gerry this week! They adore him 🤗

Great homework this week everyone! Well done 👍

We will be having GAA for the next 6 eeek in Thursday so please wear tracksuit and runners. We will be doing dance lessons on Monday for the next weeks so please wear tracksuits on these days.
Have a great weekend,
Ms Murray

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