Letter to parents

Posted on March 27, 2020 by admin

Dear Parents/ Guardians,
Firstly, I hope you are all well and keeping safe. I love school holidays and time off but believe me I wish I was back in school teaching your fantastic kids. There is only so much house work I am willing to tackle!! I miss my audience of little people.
In order to help you and my 2nd class I am going to upload some work that you CAN do while schools are closed but you DON’T HAVE TO do it. I do however suggest you try keep some routine going with your kids as regards school work because they are so bright and capable and really enjoy learning. It also helps maintain some sort of stability during this challenging time.
I hope to keep the work fun and engaging. Each Friday I will upload the following:
• 15 new words; 3 words, Monday to Friday. We can keep it the same of putting them into sentences but instead of writing them out perhaps they could try look the meaning up in a dictionary and writing it down.
• Tables Champion: 1 page a day (Don’t worry if your child finishes the book… that’s a positive not a problem)
-Remember to change things up a little ask your kids the sums orally and get them to beat their previous day’s score. Similar sums can be written down if you feel your child could benefit from more. Or even better still, get them to write you some sums or their brothers or sisters and get them to correct them after.
• Maths: Thematic approaches for example 2D shapes. They will be topics the children have already covered. This is an excellent chance to revise certain topics and it will really help them for next year going into 3rd class.
• PE: I will suggest some activities.
• Art/Drama: I will try and combine both of these together to make it really fun.
• As you know your children do history, geography and science. Instead of focusing on them as individual subjects over the next few weeks instead I will be suggesting mini projects they can do. The project can last a few weeks and be built on each day.
• MOST IMPORTANT: Play play play. This is fundamental. I myself have board games on the go and lots of colouring.
I hope this is of some benefit to you. I have attached a letter you can read to your kids and make them feel like it is specifically written to them from Ms. Walshe. This can help get them on board with doing some school work.
Stay safe,
Ms Walshe

Ms O’Leary

Posted on March 27, 2020 by admin

Hello everybody,
We are all thinking about you and we hope you are keeping healthy during this unusual time. As many of us have said already, the most important thing is that you are happy and healthy, and hopefully you will have a chance to get exercise and some activity. Any learning activities that we suggest are optional and we have no expectations that school work is done. Anything we post here is a menu from which you can choose to do any, all or none.

I’m available to provide individual literacy support to anyone who would like it. Please contact Mr. Donnelly and he will put you in touch with me.

Here are some links for exploring Art, History, Science, Natural Science and the most important one of all … PE and movement.

Making art with the MoMa
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYVzk0sNiGEZXlIltPP7Yy_s5gTM7hf8

MoMa learning website
https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/255

Ideas to do at home from the NY Met
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2020/digital-digest

Smithsonian channel (available to view through Sky or Virgin TV) for interesting Science, History, Geography videos
http://www.smithsonianchannel.co.uk/

Some great info on London Natural History Museum website:
dinosaurs – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/march/the-first-dinosaurs-probably-didn-t-have-feathers.html
elephants – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/february/weird-skulls-of-straight-tusked-elephants-reveal-how-many-species.html
oceans – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/oceans.html

London Science Museum also has great videos such as this one about The Space Race
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/space-race-moon
or Robots
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/robots

Maybe something a little more topical? How about Rationing during World War 2?
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-rationing-in-the-second-world-war

Maybe, like in my house, you are cheered up by some live animal webcams. Try here at the California Academy of Sciences
https://www.calacademy.org/learn-explore/animal-webcams
or our own Dublin Zoo
https://www.dublinzoo.ie/animals/animal-webcams/

And just to make sure you stay bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed (if you have the energy) here’s Joe Wicks to make sure you don’t get a lie-on in the morning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wzoy_J3I_c

Sunshine Class Activities

Posted on March 27, 2020 by admin

Ms Hyland has been communicating directly with parents through email with activities for pupils.

Work for Children from Mr Smyth’s Class

Posted on March 27, 2020 by admin

Hello children,

We hope you are all well!

We would love for you to continue working on some of the tasks that we have been doing together.

Best wishes,

Ms. Condron and Ms. Hanlon

Atlas Skills:

Choose 5 countries that you would like to visit.

Find them on a map.
Draw their flag.
List what are the main languages spoken in this country.
Name their capital city.

Countdown Challenge:

What is the longest word you can make using these letters?
How many short words can you make?

s p o e y n a j m

General Knowledge:

Choose an animal you are interested in.
Try to find an interesting fact you didn’t know about this animal before.

March Homework for 1st Class

Posted on March 27, 2020 by admin

Hi Class,

I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.I hope you are taking care of your Watercress and Pea plants too! Below is a set of activities for the next 2 weeks.

Your child will just need a copybook and a pencil and rubber/eraser for these activities.

Your Homework Bingo sheet (see below- can be downloaded as a pdf) has 25 different activities. You can pick a couple of different activities each day and see if you can get all 25 completed in the next two weeks. The activities are designed to be completed without having to print off worksheets- just using your pencil, colours and copybook or by watching videos/ listening to stories online.

March Homework BINGO

Activities for children from my class who go to Ms Condron/ Ms Hanlon are available here

Please note: As always, for internet based activities please ensure your children are supervised while accessing the internet.

Thanks and take care,

Mr Smyth

Continue reading →

School Update March 26th

Posted on March 26, 2020 by admin

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope this message finds you and your family well in a very uncertain time and by now most of you will have had a phone call from Mike our HSCL. We are glad that you finding the links on the school website useful.

From Friday March 27th there will be specific homework going up on the website for each class and also for children who attend additional classes with our Support Teachers in so far as possible. This is a menu that you can choose from if you wish. However, many of you have indicated that you have your own learning routine going using the opportunity to play, bake, do yoga, arts & crafts, reading stories and poetry and writing your own, writing letters, keeping a diary, going on nature walks, etc. and this is also fine.

We understand that at this time there are many stresses in different households. Many of you will be trying to work from home, some of you may find yourselves suddenly out of work, some of you may have someone self-isolating or waiting to be tested, some of you are caring for elderly family members or have news of sick family members abroad so the advice would be to just do what you can to keep a link with school going. You could tell your child their teacher sent them some work to do as this may be encouraging for them and a different voice. As a parent with my husband still working outside the home I am finding the whole situation extremely challenging. Take it day by day and do not fight over school work as we have a lot more to be concerned about.

There is a lot of talk in the media about home schooling which is adding unnecessary stress to us all. You are not expected to home school but you can do some school related work with your child. It is important more than ever that your child feels loved and secure and this experience will build resilience in us all.

After Easter if we find ourselves still at home then we as a staff will come up with ways of working more closely with you over the phone and online as well as getting books and copies out to you under the guidance of the HSE. Rest assured we will do whatever it takes in the coming weeks to support the continued learning of your child.

If you have any feedback in relation to how we can support you and your child to continue to learn or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me principal@stgabrielsns.ie or call our HSCL Mike Donnelly on the HSCL number 085 187 1173.

This is a very uncertain time so more important than anything is that we stay at home and bond with our children. We will be watching more TV and playing computer games but we will also be going on walks, baking, playing games and talking to each other. We have time to spend with our children and once they are happy and secure that is what matters. Learning through play is so valuable.

Keep your eye on the website as we will add to it in the coming weeks.

Please see following link on Social Distancing: https://stgabrielsns.ie/?p=7601

Stay Safe & Best Wishes

Suzanne Comerford

Principal

Online Activities for your Children at Home

Posted on March 12, 2020 by admin

Over the period of school closure due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) parents may find the following websites useful for good activities that they might like to try out at home.

*Please note: As always, for internet based activities please ensure your children are supervised while accessing the internet.

Twinkl:

Twinkl Ireland have created a brand new section; School Closure Packs which will help children learn during the period of school closures. This new section includes a range of comprehensive, fun and interactive packs to keep children busy and learning for the whole week. These packs include English, Maths, Gaeilge, Art, Geography, History, Science and STEM activities which will help your children continue to learn.