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Presentation Primary School Waterford

A great tradition of education in Waterford since 1798

First Class

Mrs O'Brien

February is here…..we can say it is officially Spring! We have been enjoying our free writing, listening to stories such as the Three Billy Goat’s Gruff and all about St. Valentine. We enjoy going to the library and picking a book to read. We wrote a poem on pancakes and had some pancakes too!
In Irish, we learned about ‘An Aimsir’ and started our theme ‘Eadaí’. We love singing songs and making up actions to go with them.
In Maths, we have been learning all about patterns, fractions and practised our adding and subtracting.
In SESE, we have been learning about Neil Armstrong, The Sun and The Planets. We took part in a little quiz to see if we knew our planets. We also looked at a thermometer and compared the temperatures inside and outside the classroom.
In Music, we learned ‘the rain’ song and ‘Mr. Sun.’ We hope that Mr. Sun shines down on us now that Spring is here.
For Drama, we took part in a space-themed activity and had to pretend we were in a rocket travelling around to all the planets. It really encouraged us to use our imagination. Ms. O’ Brien had to bring us back down to earth so to speak!! We also took part in a drama activity ‘at the clothes shop.’
Our Art was very much based on St. Valentine’s and we made beautiful cards and hand-print art for our loved ones. We also did rocket art to link up with our SESE. We used tissue paper to represent the flames!!
In SPHE, we reinforced the important steps involved in being safe around bullying situations and also revised the five senses and their functions. We created a lovely poem on the 5 senses.
In PE, we revised Athletics. We love jumping over the hurdles! Swimming is starting soon and we cannot wait.
In Religion, we learned about Ash Wednesday and explored different ways of turning towards God during Lent.
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January…

Welcome to January. We have been very busy since we came back after the holidays, We have been practising our writing and listening to various stories such as Little Red Riding Hood, the Runaway Iceberg, Tom Crean’s Rabbit, The Children of Lir to name a few. We did Character Profiles and comprehensions. We also enjoyed free writing and wrote facts on Penguins and Green Schools.

In Irish, we have been doing the theme Caitheamh Aimsire and learned the poem ‘Cuimil do Bhosa’ and the song ‘Mo Liathróid Donn.’ in addition to lots of new vocabulary.

In Maths, we are continuing our tables, focussed on place value of numbers,money and 3D Shapes . We love playing games in Maths.

In SESE, we learned about Tom Crean, the differences in the North and South Pole and learned important facts on Penguins. We also did the story of the Salmon of Knowledge, all about recycling and the water cycle. We did an experiment for the water cycle and have it stuck on our windows. Now all we have to do is to wait for the sun and observe how the water evaporates!

In Music, we learned the song from Happy Feet, the North and South Pole Song, You’ve got a Friend in Me and the Water Cycle song.

We love doing drama activities and did Improvisations on Tom Crean and mime /still images on the Runaway Iceberg story in addition to drama activities based on Green Schools and the Children of Lir.

We made Penguins from Clay and painted them. They were so cute!! We also made Chinese lanterns to celebrate the Chinese New Year which is celebrated much later than our new year. We learned all about colour mixing and did a colour wheel eye! We also designed a cloak for St. Brigid. We really enjoyed getting together with Mr. Stoke’s 3rd class to do Buddy Art for well-being week.

For SPHE, we learned about ways to keep healthy. We looked at the Food Pyramid and we had a choice on whether we wanted to design a poster on Looking after our Teeth or Handwashing. For well-being week, we focussed on being thankful and there is a lot to be thankful for.

For PE, we have been doing games and it has been great fun! We also did Yoga with a yoga teacher for well-being week. It was really relaxing! We had ‘Feel Good Friday’ with music in the yard also.

All in all, January was a fast month and well-being week was a success! We all dressed up for Wacky Wednesday- teacher included! We have never seen Ms. O’ Brien in such bright colourful clothes!!

Spring is almost here; we cannot wait for the longer evenings!

December…
December is here! The month for celebrating all things Christmassy! The girls have been doing some Christmas writing and did a poem called ‘Snowball.’ They enjoyed listening to stories such as The Night Before Christmas, The Nativity Story, The Christmas Extravaganza Hotel to name a few.
Our theme in Irish was  ‘An Nollag’ and the girls have enjoyed song-singing , learning all the new vocabulary and playing interactive games.
In Maths, we have been doing a lot of counting, forwards, backwards- you name it! We have been doing a lot of fun worksheets – Christmas related!
In SESE, we learned about toys in the past, toys around the world and how to stay active through play.
We have been practising ‘Ten Little Angels’ and put on a performance in the church for Christmas. Well done to all the girls for all their hard work in remembering the words and the actions! In class, we also sang the ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and enjoyed singing numerous Christmas Carols.
For Drama, we did Christmas Improvisation Challenge Cards and really enjoyed letting our imaginations run free (or wild!!)
For Art, we did snowmen art, 3D Christmas Cards, masking out ornament art with paint and made a Christmas Stocking fridge magnet!
We also learned about the dangers that can happen in the home with hanging stockings near the fire-place and making sure our Christmas lights are turned off at night time.
We finished up Gymnastics and want to thank the girls who came in especially to do this with us every week. We also did some creative dancing and showed off our dance moves!!
In Religion, we learned all about Advent and the story of Jesus.
We want to wish everyone a very safe and Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for the year ahead. 🎄

November is almost over which means only one thing- Christmas is around the corner!! In November, we have been listening to stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and The Three Bears and Owl Babies to name a few. We love doing writing activities based on our stories. We are also improving on our handwriting all the time- practice makes perfect!

We are learning all about food in Irish and learning new vocabulary and love singing along to the song ‘Cad atá uait don Bhricfeasta?’

In Maths, we were learning how to tell the Time, practising counting to 100 and playing games on the whiteboard.

For SESE, we have been learning about food- the history of Keelings, food around the world and all about healthy eating. We also received a certificate from Ms. Duke for Science week. We were delighted!! We tested three experiments – Rainbow Skittles, Dancing Raisins and the Magic Bag Experiment. We predicted what would happen first. It was great fun!!

We also learned about Nano Nagle and celebrated her life in school on Monday 21st November. We have also been learning about all the people in our community who help us and all the different sounds in the environment around us.

We love Music in our classroom and enjoy learning actions to go with our songs. We did the Fruit Song, the Soda Pop Waltz and a song about People Who Help Us.

Drama is good fun and we enjoy linking in with our stories and doing role-play. 

For Art, we did Goldilocks and The Three bears using fabric, we made Mosaic Fruit Bowls, and did Owl Baby Art. We are hoping to do some clay art too before the month is out!

We are doing the topic of my Family in SPHE and we listened to the story ‘Annie and Moon.’

We have been doing gymnastics and dance for PE. Gymnastics lessons are great fun and we have someone coming in to teach us every Friday. 

October…

October has been a busy month. We wore orange to support the Solas Centre, it was great to be part of such a worthy cause and to raise awareness for all the wonderful work they do. Some girls did the Solas walk with their families, a big well done to them, a great achievement.

We read stories such as ‘The Little Acorn,’  ‘The Enormous Turnip,’ ‘Room on the Broom,’ and ‘Winnie the Witch.’ We are getting really good at our handwriting and enjoying free writing.
We are learning about ‘Our Scoil’ and ‘Oíche Shamhna’ in Irish and enjoy doing the listening exercises on the Interactive whiteboard and learning new vocabulary.
We had great fun for Maths week. We did a Maths trail in the corridor and had to find out all the answers to the questions by using our ‘Maths Eyes.’
For SESE, we learned about autumn signs around us, the history of Halloween and facts on spiders although we didn’t spend too long on the topic of spiders as Ms. O’ Brien was keen to move off that topic as she is not a fan of spiders!
We learned songs such as  ‘Autumn leaves are Falling Down.’ ‘Winnie the Witch,’ and ‘Five Little Pumpkins.’
We love Drama!. We did hot seating drama activities for Halloween and did role play on the story of the Enormous Turnip. Drama is all about having fun and finding our confidence.
We made beautiful autumn leaf rubbings, leaf sun catchers for our windows and made witches for Halloween.
We discussed how to stay safe at Halloween and wrote down some important points to remember.
We love PE and going out to the soft play area! We have been doing relay races and can be very competitive!
We want to say a big well done to Vitoria and Harper on being presented with their ‘Summer Stars’ certificate and medal. Well done girls!
Lily made lovely miniature colour pencils using toothpicks and markers!
                                                           

We decorated our door and our classroom for Halloween. Happy Halloween to everyone, enjoy the break! 🎃

 

September…

A big well done to Reeva who ran in the RSC last week and well done to everyone that took part.

In our classroom, we love story time. The girls sequenced the story of the ‘Little Red Hen’ and really enjoyed the story ‘Giraffe’s Can’t Dance.’ They did beautiful dancing giraffe’s for Art. Some of our giraffe’s were doing wonderful things like headstands and what not- who knew giraffe’s had such talent!
We enjoy singing songs in Irish and are currently learning the songs ‘Ceann, Gualainn, Glúin is Cos’ and ‘Teidí Tinn.’
We are also learning about our 5 Senses and we had fun discussing what senses we use on our way to school!
Drama is good fun too! We re-enacted the story of the Little Red Hen and used face masks as props. We also love mime and taking on various little challenges where the other kids have to guess what role we are taking on.
This week is friendship week and we are learning about the importance of friendship and looking out for one another. We designed a beautiful friendship chain and we are going to link our chain with the other first classes.
September is almost over, where did the time go!