Junior Room Bird Identification and Care

In the junior room in January and February, we did lots of work on Environmental Awareness and Care. With so many beautiful trees and bushes around our school, we can always hear lots of bird song and particularly when the children are working very quietly! We thought it would be nice to learn about the garden birds who visit our school grounds and be able to identify their names from their appearance and even from their call. The children observed images of birds and just like the artist we studied called Robert Bateman, they created their own painted birds, really focusing on the colours, patterns, shapes and lines they observed in the photos they looked at.

In taking care of the birds, we also made some bird feeders to help out the little birds when the ground gets cold and hard and food may be difficult for them to source themselves.

Pancakes

'Ag déanamh pancóga' was our theme for Gaeilge in the junior classroom prior to Shrove Tuesday so we put all the phrases and vocabulary we had learned to good use in making delicious pancakes in the classroom. We even shared some with the senior room! We heard lots of expressions of 'Is maith liom...' 'Is breá liom....' agus 'Is aoibhinn liom...'!!

St Brigid's Crosses

The junior room pupils made their own interpretation of St. Brigid's crosses. We listened to the story of St. Brigid's cloak and learned about what a kind and generous person Brigid was.

Clay Candle Holders

In the junior classroom, we worked on making coiled pots from clay. The children really worked hard with their fine motor skills to roll out coils, create a structure and smooth the surfaces to build little pots, attaching stars and painting them to hold their nightlights.

Making Wreaths

Painting decorations for wreaths which our Parent Association will make and sell to raise money for our school.

Magical Handprints

We explored and investigated how different materials and substances would react when they were mixed together. We discovered that sometimes, there was no reaction but bread soda and turmeric had a magical reaction! We painted bread soda on our hands mixed with water and made handprints. When they were dry, we painted over them with a green paint solution without any exciting results but when we painted with turmeric mixed with water, ta da! Magic reddish handprints appeared!

The science:

Turmeric is a natural pH indicator. When it’s in contact with something alkaline, it turns red.

Polkadot Pumpkins

Finding Shapes in Houses

We observed houses around our school and drew the shapes and lines we saw. We then translated this into clay, forming shapes and inscribing lines to make little houses of our own.

Stabilising Houses

The children were trying to figure out how to stabilise the pigs house so that the Big Bad Wolf wouldn't knock it down

Flowers March 2023

For the month of March, The Flower Shop is our Aistear and SESE theme in the junior classroom. The children made some beautiful flowers from playdough which they imagined they would like to sell in our classroom florist!

We Made Rockets February 2023

Science Week in the Junior Room November 2022

1/1

Junior Classroom Treat June 2022

1/1

Boat Designing May 2022

1/1

Active School Week - Ballet & Yoga May 2022

1/1

Active School Week - Orienteering May 2022

1/1

Butterflies March / April 2022

1/1

Shadow Puppets March 2022

1/1

Junior Room Percussion Instruments March 2022

1/1

Matisse Inspired Art January 2022

1/1

Odd Sock Day November 2021

1/1

Science Week 2021 November 2021

1/1

The Construction Site - Science Week 2021

1/1

Treehouses - Mixed Media Art November 2021

1/1

Different Families Same Love October 2021

1/1

Making Playdough Pizzas October 2021

1/1

Osmosis October 2021

1/1

Role Play September 2021

1/1

Making Pizzerias September 2021

1/1

Sign Language June 2021

1/1

Junior Class Art Exhibition of Paintings Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe May 2021

1/1

Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Paintings May 2021

1/1

Junior Room Stick Sculptures in the Park March 2021

1/1

Next Stage Theatre School March 2021

1/1

Positive & Negative Space in Artwork March 2021

1/1

Reading Together March 2021

1/1

Book in a Box March 2021

1/2

Creative Schools Workshop December 2020

1/1

Art in the Junior Classroom November 2020

1/1

Science Week 2020 November 2020

1/1

Camouflaged Elephants

We had the most fun Art Class in the Junior Room this week. We discovered all about camouflage and made the most wonderful artwork. Click below and see how we did it.....

1/1

Easter Egg Hunt

All the children had loads of fun searching the school for their paper Easter eggs. Some of the pupils even solved riddles to help them find their hiding spots! Their reward for finding their egg was a delicious chocolate egg! Many thanks to the Parents’ Association for providing both the paper and chocolate eggs. Do you recognise any chick or bunny below????

Beanstalks

The pupils in the junior room planted broad beans and designed beautiful castles in the clouds for the beans to grow towards. Hopefully with lots of care from their owners, the bean stalks will reach the castles in no time!

Egg Creatures

The junior classroom made tiny creatures to go inside their eggs..we had birds, monsters and all sorts!

1/1

Na Muca Beaga

We had great fun this month learning the story of Na Muca Beaga. We told the story with stick puppets and also used masks to make a little film version of the story re-told by us as Gaeilge. See our little snippets here!

Those were the days...

We examined some wonderful objects that people used to use in the past but we no longer use. It’s amazing what people can find in their houses! Some of the children brought in an old bike lamp, an old telephone and an old phone and MP3 player.

1/1

The senior room pupils helped the junior room pupils to use the 'I can animate' app on the tablets. Using the rockets and backgrounds that the juniors made themselves, they created fabulous animations.

Our Planets.... in song

We learnt this wonderful song which teaches us about all the planets in the solar system... Do have a listen....

Teddy Bears in SPACE.....

We had a teddy bears' picnic in space! We learned so much about space and the planets throughout January. We made space passports and also helmets to protect us on our journey. We saw the planets and the sun when we went to space and it was wonderful because we knew so much about them!

1/1

Lift off................. We've landed.....

Junior Room Bake-off.....

The Junior Room had a wonderful baking afternoon on Thursday, 18th October. They prepared delicious biscuits for baking. Having been baked overnight, they were returned to the school the next morning for decorating. Not too sure how many biscuits made it home for tasting, but I am sure if you didn't happen to try one you would agree they were absolutely delicious!

Step 2 - add the eggs and stir.... hard work....

Step 4 - Cut shapes with cookie cutter...

Finished - some of the most scrumptious cookies!

YUM YUM!!

Step 1 - mix the flour and butter....

Step 3 - Roll it out...

Step 5 - Baked overnight they are ready for decorating the next day...