Happy holidays

Wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas! All the best for 2018!

Lots of love,

Room 1

Darkness into Light

Darkness into light

It was Tuesday, 21st November, 2017 and all the children arrived in school at 8.50. Something was different.....all the lights were off. Children were asking lots of questions..."why is it so dark?", another child spoke out "I can't see". I explained to the children that today we were having a 'low energy day'. We were going to use natural light as electricity costs money. I opened the blinds and children realised that the sun provides us with lots of light. We brainstormed and came up with lots of alternatives that provide light and cost less money. We also decided not to use any electricity that day....no computer, no whiteboard, no CD player....there was panic around the classroom!!!!

 Guess what???? We managed just fine :)

Here are some pictures of us reading in the dark....we used torches!

We recorded our results on paper.....sources of light!

Yummy Butter

Butter making.......

We were little scientists during Aistear this week. We were busy making butter-all we needed was a glass jar (with the lid tightly screwed on), pouring cream and a marble (helps the cream to move around the jar). all we had to do was...."SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE"

Here are our results.......

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The liquid (cream) turned to a solid (butter)......the colour also changed to yellow. It tasted yummy.

Our trip to the cafe

As our theme in November is 'Food', we set up a cafe as our role-play area in Aistear. It was important to have a real cafe experience before setting one up in the classroom. We visited the local cafe where we ordered food and drink from the waiter. We paid the waiter with our €2, took our seats, ate and chatted with our friends. The manager informed us of all the different work that takes place in the cafe. We now love acting in role in our cafe in the classroom. 

Food Glorious Food.....

In November, we learned a lot about food and where certain foods come from. We now know that some fruits grow on trees and some vegetables grow in the ground-some vegetables are root and others are leafy. It is important to eat lots of fruit and vegetables to grow big and strong-we talked about foods that are good for us and not so good for us. Have a look at this journey through photographs.....we hope you enjoy!!!

We tasted lots of different fruits......apple, banana, orange, strawberry, pineapple, mango, blueberries, raspberries and even melon. Our favourite were the strawberries. They taste delicious. The melon was yucky!

We painted fruits from observation-some fruits have skin we must peel and others must be washed before we eat them. Fruits have lots of different shapes and feels-some are smooth and others are rough like the pineapple.

Vegetables 

Carrots, Peas and Broccoli,

Vegetables are good for me.

For my snack and in my lunch,

Veggie sticks are great to munch.

Carrots, Peas and Broccoli,

Vegetables are good for me.

Ms. Walsh brought in lots of vegetables for us to look at and feel. We had never heard of some of these vegetables before such as the courgette, aubergine and sweet potato. We eat vegetables every night for our dinner as they are important for helping us to grow. They are healthy foods.

We drew as many vegetables as we could think of-like fruit, they have lots of different colours. 

We are learning to write some of our letters but it is important that we have the correct pencil grip so we even practised drawing and writing some fruits and vegetables as a morning activity.

Children were given the opportunity to try out some healthy snacks...carrot sticks, celery and pepper. We dipped these into hummus which made it even tastier. We're not a fan of celery in Room One.

Halloween

Green Halloween

We had a fashion show at Halloween this year. All the boys and girls made costumes out of recyclable materials. We got to show off our costumes in front of the whole school-it was really fun! We made spooky spider hats out of different types of paper and straws. 

Have a look......

And then there was fancy dress......

We were busy this week making halloween potions.....we used vinegar, food colouring and baking powder for the bubbling effect. It was really cool and we got into role as witches.

Have a look at our drawings.......

Marvellous Maths!!!

This week we took Maths outside the classroom and we had a 'Maths Fair' in the hall. Children worked with one teacher in small groups-we used number fans, dice, counters, and dominoes for counting. We used magnetic shapes and flat 2D shapes for making things and we even used a mouse to follow directions which was very cool....maths can be lots of fun!

Awesome Autumn

Awesome Autumn

 In October, we learned all about Autumn and the changes that occur. The leaves change colour and fall from the trees to the ground. We went on an Autumn walk and had fun finding conkers, acorns, berries and lots more.  We examined the shape and colour of the leaves on each of the trees-we will now be able to recognise the Horse Chestnut/Oak and Beech treein our environment.  Our favourite part was listening to the noise of  the leaves on the ground as we kicked them with our feet. 

Have a look at some pictures we took on our walk.....

We drew pictures from observation. Take a look.....

September-Off to school

We have been very busy settling in to school. We're having so much fun making friends in Room 1. Have a look at what we get up to during play time (Aistear)-first we plan for play, then the fun begins and finally we review our play!!!