Blog Posts - Citywest ETNS Fourth Class

Citywest ETNS Fourth Class

Patterns, patterns, patterns...

1/31/2018

We have been learning all about patterns in Junior Infants this week. We found some patterns in our school - on our clothes and in some of our pictures. We then worked to design our own patterns, using cubes, colours, blocks, animals, links and lots of other objects we could find in our classroom.
We also practiced cutting and sticking, as we made patterns for our copies. Check out some of our patterns below!

Station teaching

1/25/2018

We have team teaching with Ruth, Ciara and Margaret on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Orla's class. We really enjoy it and we are doing great learning in our groups.
This morning, as a change, Orla set up four new stations for us to try, all focused on the number 5!
We are lucky enough to have Elena (a Spanish student teacher) working with us on Thursday mornings. She took charge of the sand station, where we practiced our counting and tracing the number 5 in the sand. Another group practiced writing the number 5, while a third group used playdough to make the number. The final group worked on practicing their number formation of all numbers from 1 - 5. It was a great start to our day!

This week in Orla's class!

1/17/2018

We have been busy since we came back to school for our second term in Junior Infants! Firstly, we got a new class photo, as we have all grown a lot since our first photo together in September!

Our Play Rota this month is based on the Opticians! We have been learning all about the optician, focusing on new vocabulary, including eye test, glasses, case, contact lenses, eye patch, receptionist, appointment. We have been designing glass in our art area and at the Mobilo station.

In P.E. this month, we are focusing on Dance. Before each lesson, we do some work on the Fundamental Movement Skill which we are focusing on. These are basic skills, which we are working on, as a whole-school. This month, the Fundamental Movement Skill is balancing. Orla showed us some tricky balances and we tried to hold each one for 10 seconds!

We are still working hard on our phonics, and have nearly learned all 42 sounds by now! We are also doing lots of blending practice and working on our letter formation.
Lots of practice can be done at home, revising the sounds using videos like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COJdn6sbbsk or by practicing blending CVC words together (eg. d-o-g, c-a-t, r-u-n etc.)

"The Doctor Will See You Now!"

12/3/2017

This month, Laura's class have been playing in The Doctor's Surgery. We have been exploring and adopting the roles of doctors, nurses, receptionists and patients. We have learned a lot whilst having lots of fun!

Check out some photographs of us in action!

Buddy Reading- Laura's JI & Tadhg's 2nd Class

12/3/2017

Inspired by Orla's class and Bobby's class, Laura's Junior Infants and Tadhg's Second Class met in the library for some buddy, or paired, reading. We chose a book and a buddy and sat reading together quietly.

We explored new books and made new friends, all at the same time!

We hope to do this again soon!

Buddy reading - Orla's class and Bobby's class

11/24/2017

Orla's class have made some new reading buddies! We have met up with Bobby's 2nd class twice, to do some reading with them in our school library. We love seeing our buddies and having a chat with them. We can't wait to do it again!

Junior Infants at Assembly

11/20/2017

Every week, assembly takes place in our school. In Junior Infants, we have been working really hard to do our best listening at assembly.

Lots of different things take place at assembly. Firstly, we listen to Caitríona read out the names all of the children who have made it into the Golden Book for that week. Each month, there is a different reason for being nominated for the Golden Book. For the month of November, children are being nominated for showing caring behaviour. This may be caring for each other, caring for the environment, caring for school resources, caring for their own belongings etc., the list goes on and on!
You can read more about assembly here.

Over the last two weeks, we had two extra assemblies to go to - both the Brendan Martin cup and the Sam Maguire came to our school.
The Brendan Martin cup was won by the Dublin Ladies football team, after they won the All-Ireland final this year. Olwyn Carey came with the cup and told us all about how she learned to play football, and how it felt to be an All-Ireland champion.

The Sam Maguire came to our school a week later. This is the cup which was won by the Dublin Mens football team, as they are also the All-Ireland champions!

While lots of other things may take place at assembly (Active Assemblies, Student Council announcements), we always finish our assembly by singing our school song together. This year, we have chosen a new song to sing - 'Count on Me' by Bruno Mars. It is a fantastic way to end our assembly!

Art in Orla's Junior Infants

11/20/2017

We have been working hard on our fine motor skills in Junior Infants - practicing our cutting, colouring, sticking and using our pencils. This week, we made some beautiful colourful umbrellas, which linked nicely with the new sound we had just learned - 'u'. We also discuss the weather each morning when we arrive to school, and have noticed that we are having many more wet and rainy days now that it is November!

A trip to the library!

11/12/2017

On Tuesday afternoon, Laura's class paid a visit to the school library. We chose a book and were sure to search for all of the sounds we have been learning in class.

There were so many wonderful books to choose from! Some of us read in pairs and some of us chose to read individually. We were so quiet and respectful of one another and the classrooms surrounding us.

We can't wait to go back!

Exploring Tangrams!

10/30/2017

During the month of October, Laura's class were learning about shapes. We used our new knowledge to explore tangrams. Tangrams are puzzles consisting of a variety of shapes, or pieces, which can be arranged in many ways to create different shapes. We paid particular attention to our problem solving skills as well as working in pairs.

We created lots of shapes and had great fun working both individually and with our peers!