To Parents/Guardians,
I hope you are all well and have been able to enjoy and make the most of this time at home with your families. After our Taoiseach’s announcement last Friday it will be important to keep the link between home and school open and active. I understand many of you will choose not to broadcast return dates in order to maintain motivation during the coming weeks.
It will become more important to engage with our school website and Seesaw to help prepare your child for the new school year. Many of you have downloaded Seesaw as an app to your phones which appears to make uploading photos and videos very straightforward and quick. I encourage you all to post as much as you can so I, along with the teachers who have worked with our class this year, can comment, encourage and provide guidance on their learning.
I’m delighted to see lots of you posting some of the activities I have suggested here on the school website. I am also thrilled to see pictures of creative activities you have come up with yourselves, from gardening, sewing, playing, baking, juicing, singing, art and craft activities to collage and story making! These are all fantastic learning experiences for your child. It is clear that so much valuable play and learning is happening at home. So please share these activities to help keep the home-school link open.
Please note that we understand that everyone’s situation at home is different and that it may be more difficult for some people to engage than others. We do not want to overwhelm anybody, so do what is feasible for you and your family.
Well done to those of you who have already shared items on Seesaw. If anyone is having difficulty logging in, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr. Donnelly. Please ensure you have sent on your consent to use Seesaw to Mr. Donnelly. His phone number and e-mail address are on the home page under ‘About’.
Regards,
S. Leonard
Hello girls and boys in Junior Infants,
I hope you all have had a lovely week and you enjoyed bank holiday Monday. I’ve been delighted to see all the activities that you’ve been doing at home and while you’ve been out for some exercise. It’s clear that you have been learning your sounds, practising your writing and drawing, improving your counting and so much more! Keep taking some photos as I, along with Ms. Dunne, Ms. Fitzpatrick, Ms.Hanlon and Ms. Condron love to see all these wonderful things! Below you will find some new activites to keep you busy next week. Happy Birthday to Tadhg and Will who celebrated their birthdays this week.
One challenge I would like you all to try this week is to record your voice saying/ singing one of the nursery rhymes I have suggested over the last few weeks. Post this to Seesaw. Remember, don’t rush and take your time. Best of luck!
Ms. Leonard
Phonics Practise
Reminder of Link to phonics resources on CJ Fallon website
- https://slp.cjfallon.ie/ . If you haven’t tried it yet, please have a look.
- Junior Infants should focus only on the first book ‘Sounds like Phonics Activity Book A’. Within it you will be presented with four units; The Funfair, The Market, The Toy Shop and The Zoo.
- Look for the letter you are practising that day in one of those four units.
- You will find a variety of activities to help focus on that letter – a letter formation video, a video demonstrating your mouth position when saying the sound, sound discrimination activities, letter discrimination activities etc.
Click on pictures to link to songs
Reading Choice Board
Online stories – this week’s suggestion
https://www.storylineonline.net/books/no-more-noisy-nights/
Maths Choice Board
Number Rhyme
Click for link to video
Nursery Rhyme Suggestion
Some other activities to try
I have enjoyed looking at and listening to lots of birds outside my home. Many of you also told me you have seen lots of birds. This week I would like you to do some birdwatching and bird listening. Below are four birds that you may be able to spot. The busy people at Dublin Zoo created some short videos for children to learn about wildlife. Click on the robin to link you to Dublin Zoo’s website and find out more about these wild birds. You will find out the name of each bird, what the male and female look like and the sound of their birdsong.
Perhaps you could make a bird feeder or a water bath like in the videos. I hope you have fun watching and listening out for these beautiful birds.
Don’t forget –
- Have a look at activity suggestions made by some other teachers in our school
- Take pictures/videos of what you do and post them on Seesaw so I can see them.
- Read a story or rhyme every day.
- Count forwards and backwards every day.
- Do some colouring or drawing when you can.
- Play every day.
- Boys and girls help to tidy-up!
