Welcome to
​Suzanne, Siobhan & Mark's
​Junior Infant class.

Fun at the farm!
We really enjoyed our visit to Airfield Farm. 
We saw lots of different kinds of animals - two donkeys called Carol and Connall, a goat called Nanny, sheep, pigs, chickens and a week-old calf and also another calf that had been born
half an hour before we arrived.
We also got to go on a 'Bug Hunt' and we found a frog! 

                    B.S.P. had a visit from                          West Midlands Children's Theatre.
They performed 'The Lost Emerald of Aswan' and the children had a wonderful time!!!

We planted 'Sunflower Seeds' with our buddies.

Word Families
We have been learning about 'Word families'
and loved reading this story that has lots of
    _at words in it. We drew pictures inspired
by the story using oil pastels. 

Active Week 
Junior Infants had great fun during their first
Active Week in B.S.P.!
It was a very busy and energetic week!         Activities included 'GAA' skills with Aoife, 'Playball' with Carl,  Go Noodle, Joe Wicks, Parachute games,        'Scoops' activity and playing with their
own Sports equipment.     

The children had a wonderful time this week when they participated in their first ever        Vertical Banding Friendship Day! 
The girls and boys also took part in an Easter egg hunt with their 5th class buddies and bought some delicious cakes at the Cake Sale in the hall. 

Seachtain na Gaeilge
Táimid ag tnúth le Seachtain na Gaeilge. Béimid ag foghlaim amhráin agus rannta nua as gaeilge agus beidh ceilí againn le Rang a 5 sa chlós. Beidh ceolchoirm mór sa halla fresin.

We are really looking forward to ‘Irish Language Week’.
We will learn some new songs and rhymes in Irish and have a whole school ceilí dance in the yard. We will also take part in a 'Ceolchoirm' (concert) on Thursday.

During ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge’ you might like to log on to Home Cúla4 | TG4 | Súil Eile (cula4.com) and the girls and boys could watch some of their favourite cartoons ‘as gaeilge’ (in Irish), such as PJ Masks, Clifford, Blocuimhreacha etc. 

Alternatively, you could download the Cúla 4 App and play some games (Spraoi) and watch some cartoons (Féach): 
​

World Book Day
We met with the 5th class buddies in the
hall to talk about our favourite books
and to celebrate World Book Day.  

Bee-bot fun!!!
Junior Infants had a brilliant time using the Bee-bots.
We would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who
organised the activities and helped out in school on Friday. 

Silvestry’s Visit
Silvestry visited our class today.
We asked him lots of questions about Africa and what it was like growing up there.
Silvestry told us he comes from Uganda, which is known as the heart of Africa.
He is from the Lango Tribe.
It is very hot in Africa and is often over 25 degrees.
Silvestry used to grow soya beans, millet, yams, bananas and oranges on his compound
and then carry them on his head to market, where he would sell them.
His favourite fruit is the pineapple.
Silvestry has been on safari lots of times.
His favourite animal is the giraffe.
Silvestry has seen over 1000 snakes and over 5000 animals!!
There was once a boa constrictor in his garden and he had to
rescue his goat from being eaten by it!
When Silvestry was small he used to run to school in his bare feet.
Silvestry enjoyed learning and his favourite subject in school was Maths.
He loved playing football and Hide and Seek.
The children really enjoyed Silvestry's visit and had fun trying on his hat! 

We are learning about 'Food and nutrition'
at the moment and have been
focusing on Vegetables.

We read the Charlie and Lola story
'I will not ever never eat a tomato'
and then tasted some orange twiglets,
​green drops, cloud fluff and moonsquirters. 
They were delicious!

Chinese New Year 
 The boys and girls really enjoyed taking part in their
first Chinese New Year parade.

Thankfully they weren't too scared of the dragon!
It is a tradition in the school that 6th class are the dragon, so they can look forward to their turn in a few years time!

Click on the link below for more information. 
 Chinese New Year (topmarks.co.uk) 

Library Lion 
We enjoyed reading the picture book called
'Library Lion' written by Michelle Knudsen
and drew pictures in response to the story. 

Our first visit to Ballywaltrim Library.
We enjoyed walking to the library together.
The librarian gave us a tour of the library
and kindly read a story to us. 
We are really looking forward to taking out our own books next week. 

Christmas Art Work

Our Christmas Show. 

​

​
Click on the link to play
the Snowman Game.

https://www.starfall.com/h/holiday/snowman/?sn=main
​  

Aistear theme of  Santa's Workshop.
​The children enjoyed dressing up as Santa and his elves and reindeers. They made toys and wrapped presents and then put the sacks of toys into Santa's sleigh, which the children made using large construction.

Hanukkah
The children have been learning about Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light which takes place between
8th - 16th December this year.
They learned about the special candlestick called the 'menorah' and about the foods eaten during Hanukkah,
​ such as jelly donuts and 'latkes'.
The children even learned a song about a popular game called 'Dreidel' which is played during Hanukkah and they were delighted to hear that you can win chocolate gold coins!

We had fun doing lots of experiments
​during Science Week. 
We'd like to say a big thank you to the parents that came in and helped out during the week. 

 The Jolly Phonics Programme 

Junior Infants are following the Jolly Phonics literacy scheme.
It is a multi-sensory and child centred approach to teaching literacy. 
The children will learn 2 new letter sounds each week.
Please encourage your child to practice saying their letter sounds and doing the appropriate actions on a daily basis. Your child can also practice letter formation by completing the writing activities in their copy.                            
Visit www.jollylearning.co.uk for more information. 

Look at our fantastic Halloween costumes!

Halloween time with the buddies!

Our funny Pumpkins!

Oíche Shamhna - Toraíocht Taisce sa Chlós!
We went on a special Halloween treasure hunt with our buddies in the yard today. We had to find pictures of a puimcín, cailleach, púca, mála, cat dubh, úll, cáca agus milseáin.

Road Safety 
We have been learning about Road Safety and how to keep safe when crossing the road. We love wearing our new hi-viz jackets!

Safe Cross Code dance

Diwali
As part of our B.S.S.E. subject the children have been learning about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light. Diwali comes from the Hindu word Deepavali which means “row of lights.”
The Festival of Diwali started on Monday (24th Oct.) and will continue for 5 days. We are learning about some of the
customs and traditions associated with the festival.
    Today we coloured in Rangoli patterns and made Diwali cards.   We also made Diyas out of clay.        

Halloween:
Sing along to some of our favourite Halloween songs!

Click on the link below to complete the
​"Pick the Pumpkin" activity that we played in class.
more2.starfall.com/n/holiday/halloween/load.htm?f&n=main​ 

We are looking forward to doing lots of fun maths
activities together every day this week. ​​​
We hope you enjoy doing the
Maths Week Counting Challenge at home together!   

Our favourite numbers.

Maths Week fun!

Aistear:
Aistear is the early childhood curriculum framework for learning centred around play.
Each month a new theme is introduced and a lot of subjects are tied in with this theme.
This month’s theme is The Farm.
The children are enjoying taking part in activities such as Small World,
Construction, Art, Literacy, Numeracy and role play activities.
Other themes include: Myself and my Family, The Doctor/ Hospital, Santa’s Workshop,
The Market, The Vet, The Puppet theatre, The Fire Station and The Airport.

Clay Hedgehogs:
We had great fun working with clay to make
our fantastic hedgehogs!

Leaf Hunt with our buddies!
We had fun searching for sycamore, oak, lime and beech leaves.

Rosh Hashanah

We have been learning about the Jewish New Year festival of Rosh Hashanah.
During the festival people go to the synagogue to pray and
the shofar ​(a trumpet made of a ram’s horn) is sounded.
We enjoyed tasting apples and honey.
Apples and honey are eaten for a sweet New Year!!!  

Maths Stations:
Sorting and Matching activities.

Name Art.

Shared reading fun with our buddies!

We enjoyed meeting our 5th class
​buddies for the first time!

 Story teller Niall de Búrca visited our school today. 
The children were enthralled by the performance and there were lots of smiles and fun and laughter throughout! 

Yard time!

Activity Time
We have lots of fun playing with
​our friends during activity time.

Sing along to some of our favourite Nursery Rhymes.

          The girls and boys have been learning about how to stay healthy.
               They are very good at doing The Vampire Cough!   

​We have been learning how to be soaper-heroes!