Tony Walsh, Author at Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School

Stay Safe Programme

We’re learning all about being ‘safe’ with the Stay Safe programme this month.

The Stay Safe Programme is a mandatory programme for all primary school children to help them deal with ‘Feeling Safe and Unsafe’, ‘Friendship & Bullying’, ‘Touches’, ‘Secrets & Telling’ and ‘Strangers’. The children will be taught this programme at an age-appropriate level from Junior Infants right up to Sixth Class. Parents can learn more about this programme here.

This week in Junior Infants we were learning all about feeling safe, and who we could tell if we were feeling unsafe e.g. if we got lost in the shopping centre, or someone was always hurting us or being mean to us. Here are some examples of who our students would tell:

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

World Book Day

Junior Infants brought in their favourite books on World Book Day!

The boys and girls in Junior Infants brought in their favourite books to share with the class on World Book Day! We had hoped to visit Dolphin’s Barn library for storytime on the day, but the weather was pretty cold and wet out there, so we stayed nice and cosy in the classroom instead. We hope to visit the newly refurbished Kevin Street Library very soon with the class, and we’ll share a post with you about it then. (It’s pretty amazing. There’s a slide!!!)

In the meantime, we were able to buy over 600 (YES 600!!) Oxford Reading Tree books with the money the parents fundraised from our Sponsored Walk. These will be such a huge help when we begin team-teaching for literacy and power hour in levelled reading groups next term 🙂

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Engineer’s Week & Aistear Time

Junior Infants had lots of fun this week building bridges, constructing castles, creating towers from junk art and generally having a fabulous time throughout Engineer’s Week. Check out the pictures below!

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Making Pancake Batter

Junior Infants made pancake batter in school today! First they sieved in the flour. Then they each cracked and added an egg. Finally they added the milk. They whisked and whisked and whisked until there were no lumps left. Ciara and Sarah helped the boys and girls add the batter to jars so they could bring them home and fry them up for Pancake Tuesday! Yummy!

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Shape Monster Homework

Did you know our school has a no homework policy? Instead of written homework each night, children are encouraged to read for enjoyment at home with their parents, and occasionally they can complete some project-based work that links in with our theme of the month.

Last term the boys and girls made a meal at home with help from their parents and guardians. They helped to cut vegetables, boil pasta, prepare the table and serve their dinner. Their parents sent in lots of pictures, and the boys and girls took turns presenting their meal plan and the steps they took in making their meal with the rest of the class. We really feel this helps to build their confidence speaking in front of their peers, and also builds their expressive vocabulary.

This term, Junior Infants had to design and create their own Shape Monster using 2D and 3D shapes, and recyclable materials. We’re were so impressed with the unique monsters that came to visit our room. The boys and girls took turns showing off their monster and explaining how they made them. They pointed out and named all the different shapes they used. It was really interesting! Check out some of their monsters below…

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Happy Valentine’s Day

Junior Infants were very busy on Valentine’s Day! They painted heart shapes in the style of Kandinsky, and used them to make flowers and cards for the people they love. You can see some of the boys and girls made cards for their Mam and Dad, some made them for their Granny, one boy made an extra card for his little sister 🙂 They all worked really hard with their handwriting, and made beautiful cards to bring home. Aren’t they beautiful? Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Our NEW Sensory Area!

Our Inclusion Support Assistant (ISA) Ciara set up our NEW sensory play area outside the classroom. The children who especially need it can take movement breaks and use the sensory area each day. Every student in Dublin South City Educate Together NS has had a chance to use this space and absolutely love the ‘lava’ squares! We’re sharing this building with the students from Griffith Barracks MDS and they’ve also been able to use the space. We all feel very lucky. Thanks Ciara!

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Happy Holidays

Junior Infants made some lovely cards for our families to wish them well over the holidays. Sarah helped us to write the addresses, and we got to write the names of the people we were posting them to on the front of our envelopes. We stuck on the stamps. Finally we put on our coats and hats and walked across the road to the post box. We had to reach up really high to post our cards! We can’t wait until they arrive home with our families. It will be such a nice surprise 🙂

To those of you who observe the festivals of Christmas, Hanukkah or Hogmanay, have a wonderful time celebrating! May 2019 bring more love, happiness and kindness to you all.

Niamh.

Tony Walsh In Junior Infants, News

Science Week

Junior Infants had so much fun during Science Week. Niamh’s daughter Katie came in to help us make some cool lava lamps! We poured oil and into tall glasses. We made predictions about what would happen when we added the food colouring and alka-seltzer tablets. Some boys and girls predicted that the glasses would EXPLODE!!! When we added in alka-seltzer, the ‘lava’ started to bubble. It was such a fun science experiment.