Park Trip in the Infant Classroom
On Thursday 10th April Maryborough NS completed their 3km sponsored walk. On our way back from the sponsored walk on such a glorious day we decided to stop by the park and have some time to play in the sunshine. Looking at the photos below, I think it’s fair to say that we had an amazing time!!
A Visit from Portlaoise Fire Brigade!!
Yesterday we had a very exciting visit from the firemen from Portlaoise Fire Station. We got to climb aboard the fire engine, spray water and look at some of the equipment they use. They reminded us to check the batteries in our fire alarms and of the number to dial if there is an emergency (999 or 112)
Active Maths in the Infant Room
Pupils in Junior and Senior Infants pictured having great fun making 2D & 3D shapes as well as measuring each other using cubes, lollipop sticks and hands.
The Great Travel Challenge
Our Green Schools Committee have had a busy two weeks during the Big Travel Challenge. We have being doing our best to promote sustainable, green ways of travelling to school to reduce emissions in Portlaoise and make getting to school a safer, fun experience for all.
We had an online meeting with the other schools in Portlaoise that are taking part in the Travel Cluster where we discussed ideas to encourage as many people as possible to walk, cycle, car- pool, park and stride or take the bus to school.
We then met up again as a committee, to make a plan for our school and did out a timetable of events to take place. We surveyed parents (Huge thanks to all the parents who responded – our response rate has been the best of all the schools in the town so far!) We surveyed every child in the school three times over the course of the the two weeks and recorded the scores to see if there was an improvement in numbers travelling sustainably. We applied for more bike/scooter parking to cater for the increasing number of students needing it. We organised a whole school assembly with the wonderful Michéle from the Green Schools, to teach us more about the benefits of walking. cycling, taking the scooter, and park and striding to school. Our 5th and 6th class wrote very moving, love letters to the earth – Check out our beautiful display in the entrance to see these inspiring pieces! Our Green Schools Committee organised a colouring competition for all the classes, art lessons for younger classes and gorgeous displays with the older classes. We put an extra special emphasis on our WOW Day on the 12th of February where we all came dressed in red to show our love for the earth. This has definitely been our best WOW day to date with record numbers taking part! We finished off our two weeks with a beautiful walk in the People’s Park.
Well done to all the children and parents in our school for engaging so enthusiastically with all the activities. We can’t wait to organise some more events in the near future – Watch this space!
Winners of the Great Travel Challenge Colouring Competition
Congratulations to the lucky winners of our colouring competition. Well done to all who entered! The Green Schools Committee had their work cut out for them trying to choose a winner from each class. The winners are: Junior Infants: Ella
Senior Infants : Zahra
1st Class : Dhyan
2nd Class : Rouaa
3rd Class : Abigail
4th Class : Ava
5th Class : Izabella F
6th Class : Sinéad
Infant School Tour 2024
On Tuesday 11th June the Junior and Senior Infants alongside their teacher, Ms. Handcock, Ms. Gow and Mrs.O’Brien headed to Castleview Open Farm, Cullohill. We had a great day exploring the farm animals, small animals, playing in the playground, examining the maize and playing mini-golf. An amazing day was had by all!!
Active Maths!!
In the infant classroom we love active maths; manipulating resources, partaking in group work and exploring new mathematical concepts. Recently pupils have been exploring shape and space, weight, length and capacity. Who doesn’t love a mad maths lesson…
Playground Leaders
As part of the Active Schools Flag and working towards our Active Flag we have implemented our Playground Leaders. Twice a week 5th and 6th class set up active stations on the yard during the junior end lunchtime. Pupils enjoy this as they get to interact with others and they can also learn from one another. Our stations are chosen by the Active Flag Committee, some of our stations have included: skipping, racing, over/under ball game, red light green light, duck duck goose, hoop throws and many more. Take a look at the huge smiles during Playground Leaders time…
Play Sessions in Action!!
In the infant classroom we cannot wait for Play Sessions everyday. Every month our theme changes and we enjoy learning about new things, exploring our relationships with others and the wider world. Each theme also brings a new challenge in the socio-dramatic play area which is by far the most favored area of the play sessions, pupils go into role and act out various scenarios through their theme. Pupils have the opportunity to act, construct, be creative and explore new ideas. So far this year we have been teachers, builders, shopkeepers, elves, waiters, waitresses, chefs, customers and gardeners. Take a look at some of the recent pictures of our play sessions!!
