Hello and welcome to our blog! We are Cecelia's senior infants in Balbriggan ETNS. Please feel free to follow us on Twitter and leave lots of comments on our blog. Go raibh míle maith agaibh! :-D
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Friday 28 February 2014

Tricky Word Song - want

Here's the tricky word 'want'. 

Remember it's NOT wOnt, it's wAnt!

Thursday 27 February 2014

Froggy number lines!


Since we're all experts at counting on by now, we've started learning a new strategy to help us complete maths problems - using the number line! 

We all pretended we were little frogs who were jumping around a number line trying to solve maths problems. 

The frogs always like to sit on the bigger number and jump the smaller number. 

They never EVER jump up and down - they always jump forwards or backwards. 

The number they land on gives you the answer to the problem. 

There's a great game to help you practise this here! 



Remember + means you are adding the two numbers together so it's getting bigger - jump forward. 
 - means you are taking away one of the numbers so it's getting smaller - jump backwards! Have fun!

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Buddy Handwriting


We had some visitors in our classroom today! 

Orlagh's 5th class have kindly agreed to do some buddy handwriting with us. We each got a partner who is able to help us with our pencil grip, letter formation, sizing and all the things we need to remember for good handwriting. 

Today we were working on roundy letters so all the letters started with a c shape. We worked really hard and the fifth class were all really nice to us and gave us lots of praise for our work. 

It was a lovely experience and we're already looking forward to next week's session!


















Tuesday 25 February 2014

We are Growing and Changing!


In history today, we were learning all about growing up and how we change. 

We read a book all about it and we had a look at photos of us when we were younger.

It was really interesting to see how people had grown and changed since they were babies. 

We even saw one photo of someone when they were still inside their mother's tummy! This is called an ultrasound. 

It was a fun history lesson!








Higher or Lower?


Today, we played a game 'Higher or Lower'. 

You have to think about how many numbers are more and less than each number and guess whether the next one will be higher or lower. 

It takes a lot of thinking and problem solving to make a good guess in this game!




Tricky Word Songs - because


Today we learned how to spell the super tricky word 'because'!

Monday 24 February 2014

Adding (Counting On)


We were practising our adding (counting on) today. 

When we add two numbers, we put the bigger number in our heads, hold up the smaller number on our fingers, nod our head while saying the big number and count on for each finger we have. 

Practise your counting on with this alien game!


Looking after your teeth!


Today, Dan was teaching us all about looking after our teeth. 

We learned that you need to brush your teeth at least twice a day with a toothbrush and some toothpaste. 

You also need to brush your teeth for at least two minutes. 

Here's a song to help you with this. 

If you sing the whole song TWICE over - that makes two minutes!

Five Little Speckled Frogs


Welcome back everyone! I hope you had an excellent mid term break. 

The very first thing we learned this morning was our rhyme for the week - Five Little Speckled Frogs. 

Practise singing along here!

Saturday 15 February 2014

Greenwave Project


As you may know, our class is currently participating in the Greenwave project for schools. 

This involves measuring the weather and watching out for signs of spring arriving in the area. 

The six signs are: 
- Primroses blooming 
- Frogspawn 
- Bud burst of ash tree (emergence of the leaf at the end of the branch) 
- Bud burst of horse chestnut tree (emergence of the leaf at the end of the branch) 
- Bud burst of hawthorn tree (emergence of the leaf at the end of the branch) 
- Arrival of swallows. 

Over the midterm break, please keep an eye out for these happenings. If you spot any of them, please email cecelia.class@gmail.com (or comment here!). If possible, please also take a photograph and send it on to accompany it as Greenwave are also running a photography competition for schools this year too. 

Primroses and hawthorn can be found in the hedgerows around Balbriggan, including the hedges beside our school. You will find ash and chestnut trees in the park behind St. Peter & Paul’s church carpark and also in the small park to the left of the church. Keep an eye out for swallows nesting in sheds or warehouses. You may be lucky enough to find frogspawn in ponds or ditches, but please be careful when you are near water. 

Additional information and guides to identification can be found on www.greenwave.ie.


Revise your Phonic Sounds!


During Parent Teacher Meetings, some parents asked for some assistance with helping their children say the phonic sounds correctly. 

Consequently... here's a link to online flashcards for both the initial group of phonic sounds and also the phonic alternatives that we do in senior infants. 

You can use the class account or (even better) create your own account. If you have a personal account, the site remembers which ones you don’t know and let’s you practise them more. 

Class account: 
username: seniorinfants@live.co.uk 
password: _betns123 

First set of phonic sounds 



Phonic alternatives covered in senior infants 



Here are some other flashcards that help you practise reading the Tricky Words (Click on 'Study').

Reading - Set 1



Reading - Set 2



And here are some flashcards that help you practise writing the Tricky Words (Click on 'Type it in').

 Writing - Set 1



 Writing - Set 2




Have fun!  

P.s, Sometimes the flashcard site can have some loading issues so if it doesn't work at first, try reloading it or leaving it for a minute or two and then trying again.  

Friday 14 February 2014

Jack and the Beanstalk Sequencing


We had great fun sequencing the picture cards of the story Jack and the Beanstalk.

We've really improved our group work skills and this showed in the lesson today. 

Keep up the great work everyone! 




Jack and the Beanstalk


We've been learning all about the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. 

We've listened to the story, sequenced the events in the tale and also painted pictures inspired by the story! 

Check out a video of the story here...

Read the story and play lots of great activities here...


And look at our fabulous paintings here!



The Land at the Top of the Beanstalk

International Mother Language Day - 21st February 2014


Human rights education is one of the key aspects of the Learn Together curriculum for Educate Together schools. In Balbriggan ETNS, we do a lot of work on human rights - not just during our Human Rights Month of October but right throughout the year! 

One of the rights highlighted in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the right to a language. 

To celebrate International Mother Language Day on the 21st February, we decided to do a video project celebrating the first languages of the members of our school community (including English and Irish of course!). 

We asked the families who spoke different languages to translate some key phrases from English into their first language. The student council then assisted one of the teachers to collect together the children who chose to be identified with the different linguistic groups (and of course who wanted to participate in the project!) to create a video of them teaching others some key words in their language or singing the song Frére Jacques in their language (for those who were so inclined). 

Huge and heartfelt thanks to all the children and families who participated for sharing their languages with us! 

Check out the project here!
http://languagesinbetns.weebly.com/

Thursday 13 February 2014

3000 views!


Wow!!! 


We've just passed 3000 views on our blog!  That's like if everyone in the class visited the blog 130 times!!

That's a lot of people who are interested in what we are learning - even 1 visitor from Sudan (not sure if that's North or South but definitely very exciting)!

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Money, Money, Money!


We've been learning all about money for the last two weeks so our maths stations today had money everywhere! 

We had a bank (for exchanging coins), a shop, a money matching game and the good old Rekenrek (bead bars). 

It was a great day of learning!








Monday 10 February 2014

I Had A Little Nut Tree


Here's our nursery rhyme for the week!

Thursday 6 February 2014

Money Monsters!


We were making 'Money Monsters' in visual art today! We used coins of different denominations to make rubbings of the different parts of the monster's body. It was a little tricky at first but we got the hang of it after a minute or two! 

Check out the pictures of us working here!