Hi everyone,
I hope you are all safe and well during this strange time. Here are some activities/ ideas to keep you going over the next while. These are suggested activities so don’t feel too much pressure to get everything done! Every child is different and if something is not going to plan, park it and move onto something else/come back to it later.
I would recommend that you sign up to CJ Fallon, Folens and Twinkl for free. You will be able to access ebook versions of the children’s school books on Folens and CJ Fallon. There are numerous resources available on Twinkl designed by teachers. Details of how to sign up can be found under “Corona virus Learning Resources” on this website’s homepage.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again when we get back to school,
Miss Fitzgibbon.
Senior Infants
English
Continue with the sounds book, revising sounds and blending words on the blending pages.
Parent can call out one or two words a day and child can try their best to write the word.
Continue practising writing in the green writing copy.
One/ two days, instead of writing in the green copy, children can write their “News”. Focus more on news from the child’s life. Children should be familiar with writing their “news” from school. Start by getting them to tell you something interesting they did/ played/ made recently. Children can copy/ trace your writing and then try to write one line independently. 2/3 lines is plenty for Senior Infants! Normally we put it in this format:
Today is Monday.
It is sunny.
Yesterday I played ball with my dog Spot.
Spot loves to play.
He wags his tail.
Read a book with your child, ask them to draw a picture about their favourite part of the story.
There are plenty of free ebooks on oxfordowl.co.uk if you register an account with them.
Maths
Busy at Maths Home/ School link book- complete pages up to pg. 33
Here are some maths activities/ games that you could do with your child to help their understanding.
Writing the numeral 10
When writing the number 10, say; For the numeral 1, start at the top and come straight down. For the numeral 0, start at the top. Go around and around again.
Practise writing the numeral 10.
Practise writing the numeral 10 with your child using a pencil and paper. You could also put some sand in the lid of a biscuit tin and have your child write the numeral ten in the sand with his/ her finger. You can also revise the numerals 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.
Hopscotch
If you have chalk/ mats with digit cards you could set up a game of hopscotch in the garden/driveway. This game is played by putting one foot down on the numeral 1, both feet on 2 &3 and so on until you reach the numeral 10. You must avoid putting a foot on any of the lines.
Making sets of ten
Place a number of small objects that are normally around the house on the table, e.g. clothes pegs, apples, grapes, spoons, tins of food, toys etc. Have three plates on the table in a row. Ask your child to put 10 clothes pegs on the first plate, then 10 grapes on the second plate and 10 toys on the last plate. Explain to your child that each plate has a set of 10 objects.
Making necklaces of ten
Give your child a piece of string, twine, or thread as well as ten beads, spools or buttons. Ask him/her to make a necklace. They could also make a necklace using ten bottle tops/ circles/squares/rectangles cut out from paper.
Sing
Ten Green Bottles:
Ten green bottles sitting on the wall,
Ten green bottles sitting on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There’ll be nine green bottles sitting on the wall.
Nine green bottles sitting on the wall,
Nine green bottles sitting on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There’ll be eight green bottles sitting on the wall.
Eight green bottles sitting on the wall,
Eight green bottles sitting on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There’ll be seven green bottles sitting on the wall.
And so on
Game: 10 pin bowling
With your child, arrange 10 empty, plastic bottles/ skittles in a perfect triangular shape. Take turns throwing a soft ball/beanbag to try and knock over as many of the 10 bottles/ skittles as possible. Keep the score and the player to knock down the most pins wins the game.
Gaeilge
Listen to the story Cinnín Óir agus na Trí Bhéar (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) on youtube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Aa8lBXUos&t=78
Children may not understand everything in the video but listening to the story a few times will be beneficial for them. A lot of the language is repeated for example “ a haon (1) a dó (2) a trí (3)” you can discuss the meaning of some of this language.
Draw a picture about the story. You can include:
béar mór ( a big bear), Béar an-mhór ( a very big bear) , Béirín beag buí ( a little yellow bear), Cinnín Óir- Goldilocks
SESE:
Go on a spring hunt! See: https://www.twinkl.ie/resource/t-t-5045-spring-hunt-checklist
See if you can see a daffodil, seedling, blossom, green leaf, insect, bird, nest, flower bud, flower.
Draw a picture of the things you see in Spring!
Art:
Plenty of drawing and colouring!
Children learn through play so outdoor play, time with playdoh, lego, imaginative play, dress up etc. is all just as important as the above!
First Class
English
Continue with spelling booklet.
Write your news – Focus on news from the child’s life. Children should be familiar with writing their “news” from school. Start by getting them to tell you something interesting they did/ played/ made recently. The piece of writing should include
What happened?
When did it happen?
Where did it happen?
Who was there?
How did it make them feel?
5/6 sentences is plenty!
Read a book with your child, ask them to draw a picture about their favourite part of the story.
There are plenty of free ebooks on oxfordowl.co.uk if you register an account with them.
Maths:
Continue with Master Your Maths. There are also “test” pages at the back for Friday.
This book touches on all the topics to be covered in 1st class in every daily exercise. Therefore it is great for practicing everything a little every day, but children may also come across 1/ 2 questions that we have not covered in our Busy at Maths, such as adding two digit numbers with tens and units. You might need to help them with these.
Here are some maths activities/ games you could try out if you like.
These revise tens and units to 99
Game 1: Guess my number!
Write a number between 50 and 99, e.g. 87 on a piece of paper. Hide the number behind a box/chair/ sofa and slowly push the number up over the box. Stop when part of the number can be seen by your child. Have your child guess what the number might be. If your child fails to recognise the number, show a little more of it until such time as s/he calls out the correct number.
Game 2: Who am I?
Give your child some clues about the secret number, e.g. 73. Have your child work out what the number is.
For example:
Example 1
I am an odd number.
I have two digits.
I am more than 70.
I am less than 75.
My second digit is 3.
Who am I?
I am 73.
Example 2: (a little harder)
I am an even number.
I have two digits.
My first digit is 10 more than 70.
My second digit is 3 less than 9.
Who am I?
I am 86
Game 3: Mystery Number
Write down a mystery number between 50 and 99 on a sheet of paper. Your child has to ask you some questions in order to find out what the mystery number is, but you can only reply using yes or no answers. Have your child ask at least 3 questions before s/he guesses what the mystery number is. For example s/he can ask
- Is it less than 80?
- Is it an even number?
- Does it have 7 tens?
Game 4: Order us
Make number cards 50-99 on pieces of paper/ Post-it notes. Place them in a box/ bag. Ask your child to pick out three of the numeral cards. Get him/her to order the cards from smallest to biggest number.
The game can be continued by asking your child to pick out up to 10 numbers at a time and to order them from smallest to biggest.
Abacus
Draw a simple abacus on an A4 piece of paper, label the left column tens, and the right units.
Ask your child to show different numbers from 50 to 99 on the abacus
Using coins: 1c coins go in the units column and 10c coins go in the tens column.
For example, 76: Here your child should place six 1c coins on the units column
and seven 10c coins in the tens column. Do this with several other numbers.
Gaeilge
Listen to the story Cinnín Óir agus na Trí Bhéar (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) on youtube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Aa8lBXUos&t=78
Children may not understand everything in the video but listening to the story a few times will be beneficial for them. A lot of the language is repeated for example “ a haon (1) a dó (2) a trí (3)” you can discuss the meaning of some of this language.
Draw a picture about the story. You can include:
béar mór ( a big bear), Béar an-mhór ( a very big bear) , Béirín beag buí ( a little yellow bear), Cinnín Óir- Goldilocks
If you’ve done Cinnín Óir already:
Look at the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvBSZb6y5FA “DinoLingo Irish for kids – Learning Irish for kids – Irish lessons”
Draw and label cat (cat) , madra (dog) éin (bird) iasc( fish).
SESE:
Go on a spring hunt! See: https://www.twinkl.ie/resource/t-t-5045-spring-hunt-checklist
See if you can see a daffodil, seedling, blossom, green leaf, insect, bird, nest, flower bud, flower.
Draw a picture of the things you see in Spring!
Art:
Plenty of drawing and colouring!
Children learn through play so outdoor play, time with playdoh, lego, imaginative play, dress up etc. is all just as important as the above!