1st Class

Farewell to First Class...

To our dear pupils,

It's hard to believe that our time together in 1st class has come to an end. Mrs Brennan and Ms Lawlor would just like to say again how proud we are of each and every one of you. You worked so hard this year, both at school and at home. You brought a smile to our faces each day with your enthusiasm and positivity. We will cherish the memories that we've made together since September. We hope you have a lovely summer and we wish you all the best in 2nd class and beyond. We look forward to catching up with you soon!

To parents/guardians,

We want to sincerely thank you for the support you've given to your children throughout the year, especially over the past few months. Distance learning was a big adjustment for all of us and you helped make it a great success! We appreciate all your hard work and dedication. Thank you!

This week, we'd like our pupils to have some fun celebrating finishing 1st class.

• Sing along with Mr Collins to our end-of-year song 'This Is Me' from The Greatest Showman (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWp8o9pT-6z2KO1whZHD7mzeiIk-8Osy/view?usp=sharing)

• Have a listen to Ms Jordan's message to all our wonderful pupils on the school website (http://virginians.ie/2020/06/19/a-message-from-ms-jordan/)

• Check out the Positivity Posters created by our fantastic pupils over the past two weeks, they're sure to bring a smile to your face! Can you spot your poster? (http://virginians.ie/2020/06/20/our-positivity-posters/)

Again, a very big thank you to you all! You've made this year a very special one.

Kindest regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Activities for Week beginning June 15th 2020

Welcome to our final full week in first class!

Mrs Brennan and Ms Lawlor are so proud of you all and the work you've put in this year, both at school and at home. We are so lucky to have had the pleasure to teach such wonderful children. Maith sibh!

This week, we want you to have some fun with the following activities:

• Art: Create a 'Poster of Positivity'

As we explained last week, we’ve been so impressed with our pupils’ positivity and resilience during this challenging time. To celebrate this, we’re asking all our pupils to create a ‘Poster of Positivity’. As always, this is just a suggested activity but we’d love to get as many entries as possible as the final product would make a lovely end-of-year keepsake. Your poster could contain a positive message, slogan or quote (see last week's blog post for a list of sample slogans) and a picture to go with it – something that makes you smile. It could contain drawings of things, activities or people that have brought you happiness during this time. Please send us a photo or scan of the poster to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie by this Friday 19^th June. Every class will be putting their posters together to make one big collage of positivity that truly represents how strong and adaptable our fantastic pupils are! We look forward to seeing your entries.

• End-of-Year School Song: This is Me from The Greatest Showman

The very talented Mr Collins has recorded an end-of-year song for all our pupils. You'll find this here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWp8o9pT-6z2KO1whZHD7mzeiIk-8Osy/view?usp=sharing (please note: you may have to download the file to your device in order for the audio to play). The lyrics are linked below so you can sing along!

• Digital Memory Book

Continue the digital memory book you may have started last week (linked below) to reflect on your time in 1st class.

• Virtual Sports Day

This is the third and final week of our virtual sports day. This week's activities are linked below.

• Indoor Scavenger Hunt

See how many of the items on the list (linked below) you can find. If you want to make it more difficult, you could set a timer for yourself. Don't forget to put everything back when you finish the hunt!

• Virtual School Tour

We're very sad to have missed our school tour this year, but that doesn't mean we can't have any fun! Why not try one of these virtual school tours?

San Diego Zoo (https://kids.sandiegozoo.org): Animal lovers will enjoy this one! You can learn about all of your favourite animals, watch them live through the zoo's webcams and even play some interactive games!

Monterey Bay Aquarium (https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams): If you're more interested in the wonders of the ocean, you can watch sea creatures live at this aquarium, including penguins, sea otters, jellyfish and even sharks!

Áras an Uachtaráin (https://president.ie/en/explore-visit/interactive-tour): Ever wondered what President Michael D. Higgins' house is like? Well wonder no more. You can now take a virtual tour of it!

Mrs Brennan and Ms Lawlor wish their pupils all the best in 2nd class and beyond. We know you'll go far and do great things!

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." - Dr Seuss

Suggested Activities for Week beginning June 8th 2020

Hi everyone,

June is always a fun, active month in school and Mrs Brennan and Ms Lawlor are very sad to be missing out on this time with our pupils. As we come to our final couple of weeks in first class, we would like to provide some ideas for enjoyable, interesting activities for our pupils.

There are no choice boards this week. Please see the slides below for the suggested activities for the week – we hope you enjoy them!

You’ll also find a new story on the ‘Story Time’ section of the blog. For the past few weeks, we’ve set you some tasks to do while listening to our stories. This week, there are no tasks; just sit back, relax and enjoy the story.

Please Read:

We’ve been so impressed with our pupils’ positivity and resilience during this challenging time. To celebrate this, we’re asking all our pupils to create a ‘Poster of Positivity’. As always, this is just a suggested activity but we’d love to get as many entries as possible as the final product would make a lovely end-of-year keepsake.

Your poster could contain a positive message, slogan or quote and a picture to go with it – something that makes you smile. It could contain drawings of things, activities or people that have brought you happiness during this time. We’ve included some sample slogans you could use below but feel free to make up your own of course! Be as creative as you’d like.

Please send us a photo or scan of the poster to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie by Friday 19^th June. Every class will be putting their posters together to make one big collage of positivity that truly represents how strong and adaptable our fantastic pupils are! We look forward to seeing your entries.

Sample slogans and quotes for your poster:

• Keep smiling!

• Keep calm and carry on.

• Difficult roads often lead to beautiful places.

• “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.” – John Wooden

• “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

• "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain." – Vivian Greene

• “You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting! So get on your way!" - Dr. Seuss

Have fun!

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning June 3rd 2020

Hi everyone,

June is here, as is the sunshine! We hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather. Monday is a bank holiday and we were due to be closed Tuesday 2^nd June. Therefore, this week’s choice boards are much shorter than our usual ones.

We wish to take advantage of many more outdoor activities in June as we would normally do were we in school.

We are disappointed to be missing our Sports Day this year. To make up a little, we invite you to our Virtual Sports Day activities! There will be two activities each week in June. If you complete all six activities and email us with pictures or drop us a few lines about them, you will receive a certificate.

New choice boards can be found below for reading/writing and numeracy for this week. There is a general one for the month of June. The SESE (History/Geography/Science) choice board will remain the same for the month. A quiz has been added that your child can complete after they explore their history topic about Mary Anning and animal fossils (some people experienced technical difficulties with last month’s SESE quiz so we’ve used a different platform this month).

Happy June Bank Holiday and we look forward to hearing from you next week at 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

· English: Activities from literacy choice board.

· Story Time with Mrs Brennan: You can listen to Mrs Brennan reading the story The Hare and the Tortoise by Brian Wildsmith aloud on the ‘Story Time’ section of the blog. Try to identify the key pieces of information in the story as you listen.

· Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board (for any activities that require resources, you will find the resources linked below).

· SESE: Activities from the SESE choice board. This will remain the same for the month of June. You could pick one subject for this week, e.g. history.

· Master Your Maths 1: Complete if you have not already done so.

· Ready, Steady, write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

· Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 28: Súil siar ar cheachtanna 22-26 (Look back at lessons 22-26)

Abair Liom Workbook p. 138 – 139

p. 138: A. Scríobh an focal ceart faoi gach pictiúr. (Write the correct word beneath each picture).

p.139: B. Scríobh agus ceangail. (Write and connect). C. Líon na bearnaí. (Fill in the blanks).

· PE: Week 1 of our Virtual Sport’s Day activities: Sprinting/Running & Long Jump. See explanatory slides linked below.

· SPHE: Please use these resources from Barnardos for wellness activities. It is important to remain positive at this time and to engage with our children in a positive way each day. Suggested activities this week: Heart Activities – Create a feelings book and complete a short guided meditation about feelings from Louise Shanagher’s children’s meditation series.

· Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

We look forward to hearing from you all.

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning May 25th 2020

Welcome to the final week in May first class,

Ms Lawlor and Mrs Brennan hope you are all keeping well. This week saw the beginning of phase one of the roadmap to lifting lockdown. It doesn’t change lots for us yet, but if we continue to abide by the safety guidelines, hopefully we will see our friends and extended families soon.

There was a fun online ‘Rainbow Moments’ survey for each of you to complete last week that gave us a giggle. Hopefully, you found time to complete it. If not, you could still complete it this week: https://forms.gle/MFEdk6bGGrHxmPTf7. We’d love to hear your answers!

Ideally, we would like to hear from every student, every week. Please send an email to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie with a short few lines about how your week is going.

New choice boards can be found below for reading/writing and numeracy for this week. There is a general one for the month of May. The SESE (History/Geography/Science) choice board will remain the same for the month. A quiz has been added that your child can complete after they explore their geography topic about materials.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

· English: Activities from literacy choice board (for any activities that require resources, you will find the resources linked below).

· Story Time with Ms Lawlor: You can listen to Ms Lawlor reading the story Avocado Baby by John Burningham aloud on the ‘Story Time’ section of the blog. Try to identify the key pieces of information in the story as you listen.

· Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board (for any activities that require resources, you will find the resources linked below).

· Spellings: Week 6 spellings and activities.

· SESE: Activities from the SESE choice board. You could pick one subject for this week, e.g. geography.

· Master Your Maths 1: Week 30 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book (final chapter).

· Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

· Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 27: Scéal (Story) – An Circín Rua (The Little Red Hen)

Foclóir: An Circín Rua (Little red hen), madra (dog), cat (cat), lacha (duck), cruithneacht (wheat), arán (bread), plúr (flour)

Frásaí:

Cé a chabhróidh liomsa? (Who will help me?)

Déanfaidh mé féin é. (I’ll do it myself)

Fan go fóill. (Wait a while)

Is fiú an obair i gcónaí. (It is worth the work/effort)

Note: If your child would like to hear the pronunciation of these words and phrases, we have attached a PowerPoint below in which the pronunciations can be heard. However, you must download the PowerPoint to your device in order to be able to hear the audio.

Children should go through the foclóir and frásaí, then listen to the story An Circín Rua online.

Abair Liom Workbook p. 137:

A. Freagair na ceisteanna: answer questions about the story.

B. Cuir in ord: put the story in order by numbering the pictures.

· PE: Continue the Virtual Explore Cavan Challenge (see resources below). Pupils start in Cavan town at all times and calculate their steps whether that is walking, jogging, or running to accumulate their steps within the 5km radius and reach another town (1,000 steps = 1km).

· RTE School Hub: 11am – 12pm (RTE 2) is really informative and engaging for students. Lots of art ideas are introduced as well as a variety of subjects at varying levels.

· Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

Please contact us on the above email if we can be of any assistance. We are happy to help in any way we can.

Take care.

Kindest regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning May 18th 2020

Hi everyone,

We had a wonderful week last week, catching up with all our students! We are really missing our classes so we love hearing from everyone and we promise to get back to each of you. Thank you to all the parents who are facilitating the communication. We realise how busy home life is but it means so much to keep in touch.

Ideally, we would like to hear from every student, every week, with a description of their favourite activity from the week. Please send a photo/file to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie. Your child does not have to appear in the photo if you’d prefer they didn’t. Please note: if you have previously given us permission to put your child’s work on the blog, we presume this carries forward to any future work sent to us unless stated otherwise by you in the email.

New choice boards can be found below for reading/writing and numeracy for the week. There is a general one for the month of May. The SESE (History/Geography/Science) choice board will remain the same for the month. A quiz has been added that your child can complete after they explore their geography topic about materials.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

● English: Activities from literacy choice board (for any activities that require resources, you will find the resources linked below).

● Story Time with Mrs Brennan: You can listen to Mrs Brennan reading the story Can You Catch a Mermaid? by Jane Ray aloud by clicking on our new ‘Story Time’ tab (beside the ‘Wow Work’ section of the blog). Try pausing the story occasionally to make predictions about what you think might happen next.

● Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board (for any activities that require resources, you will find the resources linked below).

● Spellings: Week 5 spellings and activities.

● SESE: Activities from the SESE choice board. You could pick one subject for this week, e.g. geography.

● Master Your Maths 1: Week 29 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book.

● Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students)

● Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 26: Ar saoire (on holidays)

Foclóir: ag ithe (eating), ag ól (drinking), ag léamh (reading), ag rith (running), ag gáire (laughing), ag snámh (swimming), ag súgradh (playing), ag caoineadh (crying), siorc (shark), uachtar reoite (ice-cream), bád (boat), spád (spade), buicéad (bucket), caisleán gainimh (sand castle), crann (tree), bratach (flag), uachtar gréine (sun cream), spéaclaí gréine (sunglasses), liathróid (ball)

Amhrán: ‘Táim ar an Trá Anois’ Dán: ‘Ar an Trá’

Children can use the online resources, posters, games etc. to help them learn the new vocabulary.

Note: If your child would like to hear the pronunciation of these words, we have attached a PowerPoint below in which the pronunciations can be heard. However, you must download the PowerPoint to your device in order to be able to hear the audio.

● PE: Continue the Virtual Explore Cavan Challenge we started last week (Cavan Sports Partnership). Pupils start in Cavan town at all times and calculate their steps whether that is walking, jogging, or running to accumulate their steps within the 5km radius and reach another town (1,000 steps = 1km).

● RTE School Hub: 11am – 12pm (RTE 2) is really informative and engaging for students. Lots of art ideas are introduced as well as a variety of subjects at varying levels.

● Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

We’d love it if you could complete this ‘Rainbow Moments’ form with your child at some stage this week: https://forms.gle/MFEdk6bGGrHxmPTf7. This form will allow you to have some fun with your child creating a positive moment together. We look forward to hearing your answers!

Please contact us at 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie if we can be of any assistance. We are happy to help in any way we can.

Take care.

Kindest regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning May 11th 2020

Hi everyone,

I hope this message finds you all well. Ms Lawlor and Ms Brennan have thoroughly enjoyed hearing from everyone who has emailed us over the last week. Ideally, we would like to hear from every student, every week, with a description of their favourite activity from the week.

Please continue to share with your children all our students’ fantastic work on the 1^st Class Wow Work wall. If you would like to participate, please send a photo/file to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie. Your child does not have to appear in the photo if you would prefer they didn’t. We enjoy all the feedback. We will reply to each email to keep in touch.

New choice boards for this week can be found below for reading/writing and numeracy. There is a general one for the month of May. We introduced an SESE (History/Geography/Science) choice board last week which will remain the same for the month. An exciting new quiz has been added that your child can complete after they explore their geography topic about materials.

The money lessons on the numeracy board remain the same as we are aware that last week was a short week. Money is a complex topic in maths that students often find challenging. The extra time spent on this topic might benefit students. If your child is comfortable with the content, feel free to challenge them with larger amounts and two-step money problems, playing shop and giving change up to €5 or €10.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

• English: Activities from literacy choice board (for any activities that require resources, i.e. oral language cards, ‘roll a die’ activity, you will find the resources linked below).

• Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board (for any activities that require resources, i.e. Lego challenge activity, you will find the resources linked below).

• Spellings: Week 4 spellings and activities.

• SESE: Activities from the SESE choice board. You could pick one subject for this week, e.g. science.

• Master Your Maths 1: Week 28 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book.

• Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

• Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 25: Ag pacáil (packing)

Foclóir: t-léine (t-shirt), bríste gairid (shorts), gúna (dress), sciorta (skirt), culaith shnámha (swimsuit), spéaclaí gréine (sunglasses), hata (hat), pitseámaí (pyjamas), scuab fiacla (toothbrush), taos fiacla (toothpaste), uachtar gréine (sun cream), ticéid (tickets), airgead (money), cás (case), scáthán (mirror), ag pacáil (packing)

Amhrán: Tá mo Chás Lán Dán: Ag Pacáil

Children can use the online resources, posters, games etc. to help them learn the new vocabulary.

Note: If your child would like to hear the pronunciation of these words, we have attached a PowerPoint below in which the pronunciations can be heard. However, you must download the PowerPoint to your device in order to be able to hear the audio.

• PE: Cavan Sports Partnership is dedicated to keeping the children of Cavan fit and healthy and so has designed a ‘Virtual Explore Cavan Challenge’ so pupils can keep active and learn along the way. This challenge will now be included as part of the PE homework starting Monday May 11^th for a 5 week block so pupils can run, have fun and learn about their county. You will find a letter explaining the challenge and the resources required for the challenge attached below.

• RTE School Hub: 11am – 12pm (RTE 2) is really informative and engaging for students. Lots of art ideas are introduced as well as a variety of subjects at varying levels.

• Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

Please contact us on the above email if we can be of any assistance. We are happy to help in any way we can.

Continued good health everyone!

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning May 5th 2020

Hi all,

It is very surreal to be welcoming May and us still at home. However, we know that this is where we need to be right now, and Mrs Brennan and Ms Lawlor are planning to make the most of our virtual time together. We confer daily to plan our work week to week. We miss our classes hugely. The Wow Work wall has been such a welcome addition to our class blog. We love seeing what adventures and activities everyone has been up to. Both structured and unstructured learning is so valuable, as is learning life skills during this time. We welcome all and any input to help with our continued sense of class community.

Please share with your children all our students’ fantastic work on the First Class Wow Work wall. If you would like to participate please send a photo/file to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie. We love to hear from you all.

New choice boards can be found below for reading/writing and numeracy. There is also a new general choice board for the month of May. We have introduced an SESE (History/Geography/Science) choice board which will remain the same for the month. An exciting new quiz has been added that your child can complete after they explore their geography topic about materials. An idea could be to do the history activities one week, science the next, geography the following week and finally the quiz on the last week of the month, but this is just a suggestion.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

• English: Activities from literacy choice board (this week’s choice board includes an oral language ‘Would You Rather?’ activity – you will find the oral language cards for this activity linked below).

• Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board.

• Spellings: Week 3 spellings and activities.

• SESE: Activities from the SESE choice board. You could pick one subject for this week, e.g. history.

• Master Your Maths 1: Week 27 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book.

• Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

• Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 24: Ag péinteáil

Foclóir: an seomra codlata (bedroom), an seomra suite (sitting room), an seomra folctha (bathroom), an chistin (kitchen), an halla (hall), an t-áiléar (attic), thuas staighre (upstairs), thíos staighre (downstairs), balla (wall), síleáil (ceiling), dréimire (ladder), leithreas (toilet), leaba (bed), tolg (couch), teilifís (television), bord (table), cuisneoir (fridge), bosca (box), péint (paint), scuab (brush)

Amhrán: Bí ag péinteáil Dán: Sa Bhaile

Children can use the online resources, posters, games etc. to help them learn the new vocabulary.

Note: If your child would like to hear the pronunciation of these words, we have attached a PowerPoint below in which the pronunciations can be heard. However, you must download the PowerPoint to your device in order to be able to hear the audio.

• PE: Why not try this “Wizard of Oz” cosmic kids yoga one day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_3weVPH0-U

• RTE School Hub: 11am – 12 pm (RTE 2) is really informative and engaging for students. Lots of art ideas are introduced as well as a variety of subjects at varying levels.

• Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

We want to remind you again that we do not have expectations that all this work will be completed in a week. This is a menu of resources that you may choose from to suit you and your child’s needs and situation.

Please contact us on the above email if we can be of any assistance.

Continued good health everyone!

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning April 27th 2020

Hi all,

Welcome to the final week of April. We would like to sincerely thank you for all you are doing.

A special mention to our wonderful students who are hard at work at home! Please come and share in our students' fantastic work on the Wow Work section of the First Class blog. If you would like to participate please send a photo/file to 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie. We love to hear from you all.

This week's spellings and activities can be found below, as well as new choice boards for reading/writing and numeracy. We have included links to our class books and resources online which you will need to complete some of the activities on the choice boards. If you are having trouble registering, drop us an email and we can help. These websites have made all their resources available for free.

Don't forget there's also lots of general activities to keep pupils busy on the April General Choice Board in a previous blog post below. We'll have a new one ready to go for our new month of May next week!

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

· English: Activities from literacy choice board

· Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board

· Spellings: Week 2 spellings and activities

· Master Your Maths 1: Week 26 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book.

· Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

· Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 22: Ag ceannach sú

Foclóir: sútha talún, piorra, banana, anann, oráiste, fíonchaora, úll, cupán mór, cupán beag, sú oráiste, sop, sparán, ag ól

Dán: ‘An Moncaí’ Amhrán: ‘Cupán Mór Sú’

Children can use the online resources, posters, games etc. to help them learn the new vocabulary.

· Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, PE, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

We want to take this opportunity to acknowledge that we do not have expectations that all this work will be completed in a week. This is a menu of resources that you may choose from to suit you and your child’s needs and situation.

Please contact us on the above email if we can be of any assistance.

Continued good health everyone!

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

How to Access our 'Wow Work' Page

23/04/20

Hi everyone,

We've already received some fantastic pieces of Wow Work.

Ms Brennan and Ms Lawlor are super impressed! Keep up the good work.

We've set up a Wow Work section on the blog to showcase this lovely work (we'll only upload work to the blog with permission from parents/guardians).

We've attached screenshots below to show you where to find the Wow Work page.

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning April 20th 2020

Hi all,

Welcome back after our sunny Easter break. We hope you all enjoyed a safe and happy Easter together. We look forward to the day when we can sit with our classes and hear all their news. For now, we must all stay safe with our families.

Each home will be working in an individual, unique way. Our role is to provide you with a guide to what you and your child may do from week to week. The focus is on choice. Please use your own initiative to find a rhythm that works in your house.

Please tell your son/daughter that we say hello and that we hope they enjoyed some treats over Easter. We hope each of our students are helping out at home. Each day, try to get active in some way; get some fresh air as well as enjoying some quiet time with a book or jigsaw. Once a week, it would be lovely to play a family game.

Suggested schoolwork for this week:

· English: Activities from literacy choice board (see note below)

· Maths: Activities from numeracy choice board (see note below)

· Spellings: Week 1 spellings and activities (see note below)

· Master Your Maths 1: Week 25 Monday – Thursday & one weekly test from the back of this book.

· Ready, Steady, Write 1: Next 4 pages (the exact page will vary for students).

· Abair Liom C: https://www.folensonline.ie/home/library/programmes/abair-liom-1st-class/resources/

Lesson 22: Ag imirt rugbaí

Foclóir: geansaí, bríste gairid, liathróid, stoca, bróg peile, crann, féar, dréimire, grán rósta, ag ithe, ag ól, ag tafann, ag ciceáil na liathróide, ag rith, ag gáire

Dán: ‘An Liathróid’ Amhrán: ‘Ag Imirt Rugbaí’

Children can use the online resources, posters, games etc. to help them learn the new vocabulary.

· World Earth Day (Wednesday 22^nd April): https://www.earthday.org/campaign/environmental-education/

· Feel free to engage in any other activities, e.g. art, science experiments, music, nature walks, PE, etc. throughout the week. You will find lots of websites and resources to help you in our first blog post.

Spellings:

We are including a six-week overview of spellings. Each week, the students can focus on one list of 10 words. There will be a phonics “rule” to each week. You could explore a wider range of words that use the same rule, e.g. “ow” – how and now are on the list but brown also uses the rule. There is a PowerPoint explaining the phonics rule for the children. We will include weekly activity sheets but printing these is not compulsory. We have attached sample dictation sentences based on the week's spelling rule. You can call these out and your child may practise their written expression by writing the sentences into a copy/on a piece of paper. You will find these and all spelling resources for the week in the folder linked below.

Choice boards:

There is a general choice board for the month of April, a literacy one (a combination of reading and writing activities) for the week and a numeracy choice board for the week. We’ve designed the choice boards to focus on topics we would be covering in English and Maths in school at the moment. For example, this week’s numeracy choice board includes activities based on time and 2-D shapes. Use these choice boards at your discretion; your child can complete as many or as little of the activities on these choice boards as they are able to.

Finally, we’d love to see what our pupils have been up to! It’d be great if you could send us one piece of ‘Wow Work’ per week from your child to our email address below (you can send it as a file or just a picture of the work). This could be a piece of work that we have set for the children or something else they did, for example, art, a science experiment, a project on something that interests them, etc. With permission from parents, we will upload this work to the ‘Wow Work’ section of the blog. Seeing their work displayed on here might motivate the children and they might even get some new ideas for activities from their classmates!

Both of us want to take this opportunity to say we value any work completed with students. You will enrich the lives of your children by any and all activities you are doing together as a family. This online platform is here to support you. You may dip into it sometimes or quite often. It may vary from week to week. This is natural.

In these highly unusual times, we want to wish you and your loved ones continued health.

Please contact us on our school email address if you wish to ask us anything specific or to show us your child’s ‘Wow Work’: 1stclassteachers@virginians.ie

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

Suggested Work for Week beginning March 30th 2020

Hi all,

Following on from our previous post, we've designed some 'choice boards' for the children in 1st class.

There is a general choice board for each month (this contains a range of various activites), a reading choice board, a writing choice board and a numeracy choice board. Children could pick one activity from each board to do per day (they or you may choose to do more/less, depending on the child). Hopefully the children will find these activities engaging and will enjoy having a choice in the work they do. Completing these or similar activities will ensure the children are practising vital literacy and numeracy skills at home.

The children could also complete the next week in their 'Master Your Maths' book and the next two letters (i.e. 4 pages) in their handwriting book this week.

Remember - this is suggested work only so no pressure!

Kind regards,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor

27th March 2020 - A Note for Parents

Hi everyone,

We hope you're all keeping safe and well.

Students - hopefully the work we set you last week has kept you busy so far, but don't forget there's lots of other ways to keep busy too! Helping out with the housework, keeping active, getting some fresh air, playing board games with your brothers and sisters and reading your favourite books are all great ways to pass the time.

Parents - we will be uploading some work suggestions to this blog to assist you as best we can during this time. Please note that these are suggestions only and are not compulsory. All work we will suggest is revision. Be reassured that we will meet our students where they are at, on our return to school.

The following are some resources you may find useful:

Twinkl - this website has a vast range of educational resources on almost all subjects. To support parents during school closures, Twinkl has made its site free to use for a month. To create an account, go to www.twinkl.ie/offer, enter your email address and create a password and enter the offer code IRLTWINKLHELPS.

RTE School TV - RTE have announced that they will be broadcasting daily 'school' on TV in association with the Department of Education to support families at home from Monday 30th March. The show promises to be "educational, but also fun and engaging." It will run from 11am - 12pm, Monday to Friday on RTE2. It will also be available on RTE Player and worksheets and other materials will be accessible on RTE.ie/learn.

Oxford Owls Readers (https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk) - Just a few minutes of reading everyday would be of great benefit to your child's learning. As the library is no longer an option, it can be tough to constantly find new material for your child in order to keep them interested in reading. Oxford Owls has a wide range of e-books available once you create an account (it is free to do so). The e-books are organised by age and there is something to suit all abilities.

Audible (https://stories.audible.com/start-listen) - Amazon have cancelled the need to have a subscription to access books and audio stories for children and students of all ages as long as schools are closed. Students everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.

Folens Online (https://www.folensonline.ie) - Parents can set up a free account on FolensOnline. Here, you can access the Irish programme we use in the classroom 'Abair Liom C'. Children will be familiar with this resource and if there is a tablet/laptop available to them, they can play the interactive games/explore the interactive posters etc. to revise their Gaeilge vocabulary and learn some new vocabulary (the next lesson we were due to start in class was Lesson 23 'Ag ceannach sú'). There are also a selection of other programmes in various subject areas available on FolensOnline that might interest your child.

David Walliams Audiobooks (http://bit.ly/AudioElevenses) - When it comes to authors, David Walliams is a firm favourite among many children. He will be releasing a free audio story every day for the next 30 days.

Dublin Zoo Activity Books (https://www.dublinzoo.ie/news/dublinzoofun/) - Here's one for the animal lovers! Not only can your children explore the zoo through the live webcams on the website, the zoo are also posting an activity book based on one of the animals at Dublin Zoo daily that your kids can download and complete.

GoNoodle (https://www.gonoodle.com) - Your child will be familiar with GoNoodle as it is a resource we use in the classroom. This website has a range of activities, from guided dance routines to workouts to mindfulness breathing. There's sure to be something your child will enjoy while keeping them fit and active.

P.E. with Joe (https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1) - Every weekday morning at 9am Joe Wicks (The Body Coach) does a live workout session for kids on his YouTube channel. Don't worry if 9am doesn't suit as once the session is complete the video will be available to view on his channel at anytime.

RTE Jr's 10@10 (https://rtejr.rte.ie/10at10/) - These are a selection of short 10-minute workouts that can be handy if your child needs a quick movement break.

Cosmic Kids Yoga (https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga) - Here you will find a selection of yoga, mindfulness and relaxation videos for children. A lot of these are based on popular children's stories or films which the kids really enjoy.

Art for Kids Hub (https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtforKidsHub) - Here's one for all the artists out there! Your child will be familiar with this one too. These videos allow children to engage in guided drawing. There's a range of pictures and topics to choose from so there should be something to suit every child. The best part is... all they need is a pencil and crayons/colouring pencils! Pinterest is another great site for providing art ideas.

Primary Science (https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/discover-primary-science-and-maths/activities-search/index.xml) - Here you'll find various science experiments, many of which you could undertake at home. These are based on the Primary Science Curriculum and there are experiments to suit all class levels. The site provides easy to follow, step-by-step instructions for each experiement.

Any time you spend with your child engaging in activities such as reading/baking/cooking/playing/going for a walk etc. can be a valuable learning experience for him/her. As parents, you know what structure works best for both you and your child during this time so the work uploaded to this blog is non-compulsory and is just here to support you should you wish to use it.

Kind regards & stay safe,

Ms Brennan & Ms Lawlor