The children are doing great work on thier word boxes and I'm really happy to see that they enjoy the challenge and want to improve their blending so they can move up to the next word box. Most of the children are doing lovely smooth blending. A little practice every night is important to improve your child's fluency and ease with blending. Here is a video that models nice smooth blending. I would encourage children who are very fluent with their sounds to just go straight to the smooth blend and avoid choppy separation of sounds. 

I will be sending home tricky words for your children to practice too. They can be cut into little flash cards and practiced. Please read the note that explains why your child learns these tricky words. We have also learnt the first set (1-12) so your child should already know these. As we continue to learn new ones I will add them to their set. 

The children have been exploring magnetism and learning about the push and pull force of magnets. They had great fun experimenting with different materials and discovering what materials attract magnets and what ones don't. 

In maths we were learning about 3D shapes and sorting them by shapes that roll and don't roll. We made our own slides to complete the task!  

We also build some bridges for our cars to travel on!

Continuing our topic of Transport we were learning about vehicles that travel by land. The No. 4 to Ballymun stopped by rm 5 this week! Next week it will be all about vehicles that travel by sea. 

Making vehicles out of our 2D shapes. Make sure you come and see them outside our class on the display board.

That's it for this week!

Kind Regards,

Ms Murray

Our new topic transport has been a huge success. The children just love it! So this week we have been learning all about transport in the sky! Through play we have been learning about aeroplanes, hotair balloons and all things that fly. Here are just a few ways we have been exploring our new topic...

We made our own planes...

We have been discussing and learning all about hot air balloons... We talk about what we already knew, what we wanted to learn, and then after researching on the web and in books we were able to answer all our questions.... We even made our own hot balloons!

...and of course we have to have one big enough to take a trip on, but only when the weather conditions are suitable for flying! 

The ticket office has never been busier... everyone is looking to get away somewhere sunny what with all this cold weather! 

When introducing a new topic we always practice our role-play to learn about the different roles we can introduce into our play and the type of language we might use, it is also an opportunity to practice our sequencing, first, next, finally. A massive THANK  YOU to Sofia's mammy for donating some tickets, bag tags and other REAL airport goodies! They are perfect for for our play! 

We sorted different vechials.... 

Sorting 3D shapes

We have been learning all the different names for vehicles... you can practice at home using the 'at home sheet' I sent home this week.

Working on something special.... ???

We have been practicing our tricky words in class. These are words that have a 'tricky part' that does not follow the rules we have learnt. So we just have to learn them off by memory. I will send home a list in the back of their Wordbox copies after the mid term break. I went through the word boxes on Friday... the children are trying very hard. I'm hearing some lovely smooth blending! When your child can read them all well they will move onto the next box. Please do a little practice every night. It is the repetition of this practice that will help them improve. 

Have a great weekend! Reminder that next week the school will be closed on Thursday and Friday for midterm break. See you Monday.
​
Regards,
Ms Murray

What a fantastic week! Our new topic 'Transport' really took off! A big thank you to all the children and parents who sent in towns for us to play with! It really enhanced the children's play! Keep them coming... ​

Lots of people were booking holidays in the sun at the ticket office... I don't blame them after the cold week! 

We even planned our own meals for the aeroplane! 

To finish the week off we made our own aeroplanes... Check back next week to see how they turned out!

Lots of playful maths this week. We were learning '1 More' and '1 less' with the number 1-5. Try asking them to do this at home... 

Counting and matching sets...

...and writing our number 3 and matching set of 3.

We can make patterns every where! Even during yard time! 

We were so thrilled to have some of the parents visit us today to do some wonderful experiments! The children were so excited! 

That you to the parents who took the time to come in and work with us! 

Fantastic homework this week. I can see that parents are taking some time to read through the sheet with their child and discuss the various language tasks. This will be such valuable time spent and your child will learn lots! Thank you.

We were using the resources below during the week and when we tidied up it seemed some of the pieces were missing. They could possibly have fallen into pockets or bags so please, if you do find any at home cold you return them. They are very valuable to us teachers!! lol :) 

We had a reported case of head lice this week. Please check your child's head over the weekend and treat if necessary. Notes will go home on Monday. Thank you.
​

We have started the stay safe programme with the girls and boys in class. It is a very important part of their learning and we would like you to be involved in their awareness and development as your child learns about keeping safe. You will find occasional worksheets going home in their folder. If you could take a little time to talk to your child about what they are learning that would be very helpful. Thank you. 

Have a great weekend! 

Kind Regards,

Ms Murray