Senior Infants Ms. Collins and Ms. Hurley

Senior Infants 27^th April – 1^st May 2020

Dear Parents,

I hope you are keeping well.

I find it can be challenging to keep the children motivated to continue participating in a little school work at home. Sometimes, knowing that teacher is only a click away can help motivate your child to stay on task.

If you feel comfortable, let your child pick out two pieces of work that he is proud of and email them onto me at mcollins@togherboys.com or ahurley@togherboys.com. I would be delighted to see what the boys are up to while they are off school.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Also remember, I am online, using Microsoft Teams, daily from 10-11am. Microsoft Teams is a lovely way for the boys to chat to each other using a safe platform.

I will be in touch with you by phone during the week.

Take care, stay safe and a massive well done to all the boys for their efforts so far. We are missing them terribly and we are really looking forward to seeing them again soon.

Thanks for your support!

Ms. Collins & Ms. Hurley

Literacy

Oral Language:

Topic – The Farm (See SESE section for details)
Poem – The Farmer (last page of document)

Reading

Reading 15 minutes every day.
This is a great free resource that has levelled readers suitable for your son https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/Portal.aspx

Click teacher log in.

Enter User name: parents@harpercollins.co.uk

Password: Parents20!

Then click on Collins Big Fat Cat. Click on the Blue band books or whichever level you feel your child is able for. Don’t forget to mute your computer during this activity, so your son can read independently.

Poetry – Read and recite the poem Farmer (last page of document)

Phonics/Sounds

Focus on “y” sound at the end of words (which makes an “ee” sound). These short video clips will explain the sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naZWdYBJ70A

Think of at least 5 words that end in y (baby, funny, cheeky, crazy, happy, sandy, fairy, rocky, daisy, holly, mummy, jolly etc.. )
Practise writing words that end in y. Call out the words above and encourage your son to write them down by sounding them out independently.
Just Phonics page p80, 81, revision pages 82, 83 (if you have the book).
Keep revising all letters and sounds. Repetition is very important! Write these sounds out on flashcards and get you son to recite them off by heart to you – oa, ai, oi, ie, ue, ee, or, oo, ng, wh, ou, ay, er, sh, ch, th, qu, ar, er, aw. Call out words which include these sounds and encourage your son to write them down. Write different words out and encourage your son to read them.
This website will allow your child to revise the sounds they already know (Activity Book B) in a fun way https://slp.cjfallon.ie/ . You will find “aw” activities in Activity Book C – Unit 3 The Library – aw/au
Alphablocks on you tube – has some nice phonic video clips that the boys will enjoy.
Rhyming Words: Discuss words that end in “op” and “ing” e.g. mop, flop, pop, shop and wing, ring, fling, sing, bing, cling . Encourage your son to orally list out op words and then ing words to you. Then progress to writing these words out independently.

Tricky Words

Revise 1-60.
Practise writing out and spelling the next 10 tricky words – when, why, where, who, which, any, many, more, before, other.
Practise putting them into simple sentences. / Dictation sentences: Parent calls out a simple sentence three times and child writes.

Examples:

When is my party starting?
Why are the birds sitting in that nest?
Where is my yellow sock?
Who is at the door?
Which dog would you like to take to the park?
I do not have any of my sweets left.
Ken has so many toys in his house.
She wished she had one more wish to make.
Six comes before seven.
Mario drives his other car to school.

– Play a game: ‘Matching Pairs’- Write out 10 tricky words twice. Mix them up and turn them over, facing the table. Take turns at picking 2 tricky words. Whoever has the most matching pairs is the winner.

– Listen to an audible story on https://stories.audible.com/start-listen/ or https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/.

-Read some stories to your son and ask him questions based on the story. Get him to retell you the story in his own words.

Writing

Continue writing a daily diary entry.
Practise forming capital letters S and T (remind your child “ you always start your letters from the top”). If you have the Just Handwriting book do pages 23 and 35. If you don’t have book just practise writing the letters on a lined page.
Independent writing about a topic of your choice. Choose from “My Favourite Hobby”, “When I Am Older I Want To Be …”, or “My Trip To The Park”

Maths

Topic: Money

By the end of Senior Infants the boys are expected to recognise the following coins; 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c.
They should be able to count and add using the following coins; 1c, 2c, 5c.

Activity 1

Lay a mixture of coins out on the table and sort it into groups e.g. 1c together, 2c, together, 5c together, 10c together and 20c together.

Activity 2

Missing Game

Lay out a 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c out in a straight line on table. Ask your child to close his eyes. You take a coin away and he has to identify which coin is missing

(Challenge your child by adding in multiplies of the same coin or introducing a 50c coin).

Activity 3

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money/eur

Activity 4

Maths book p 104, 105,106.

To access the maths book please use this link: https://my.cjfallon.ie/dashboard/student-resources Click on links maths, senior infants, busy at maths

Activity 5 – Board Games

Revision: Continue to practise and revise number work activities; count forwards, count backwards, start on…, go on…., jump on…, where have you landed…? Put numbers in order, what is the missing number? How many more do I need to make….?, What comes before….? What comes after…. ? What number comes between …. And ….? Counts in 2s to 20.

Extra Activities

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ has some lovely maths activities, we use it a lot in the classroom. You will find plenty of maths games listed under Whiteboard Resources

Gaeilge

Encourage your son to watch one cartoon daily in Irish on TnaG.
Cúla4 www.cula4.com
If you do have a little Irish yourself practise some general questions/answers:

Dia duit. Dia is muire duit.

Go raibh maith agat. Tá fáilte romhat.

Cad is ainm duit? ____ is ainm dom.

Conas atá tú? Tá/Níl mé go maith.

Cén aois thú? Tá mé 6 bliana d’aois/ Tá mé 7 mbliana d’aois.

Cén sort aimsire ann inniu? Tá sé ag cur báistí (raining). Tá sé scamallach (cloudy). Tá sé tirim (dry). Tá sé fuar (cold). Tá sé té (hot). Ta an ghrian ag taitneamh (sunny).

An maith Leat? Is maith liom ___ (I like ___) / Ní maith liom ____

P.E:

Athletic skills.

Practise jumping like a frog (keeping 2 feet together)
Practice jumping from one foot to another (taking long strides)
Practise hopping like a bunny ( Hop for 5-10 on 1 leg, then switch to the other).
Practise balancing using different poses e.g. balance one 1 foot and 1 hand, 2 feet a 1 hand, 2 knees and 1 elbow etc.. (Twister is a great game for this!)
Practice running in straight lines, in zigzags, in circles. Have a race/play a game of tag with a family member.
Go for a run/cycle/scoot with someone in your family.

Other Activities

RTE Junior have several 10-minute work outs that the children love to do https://rtejr.rte.ie/10at10/
www.gonoodle.com for short movement breaks, stretches and dance routines.
Cosmic kids yoga on You Tube
The Body Coach on YouTube channel

S.E.S.E

The Farm

Discuss the farm, farm animals and farm machinery. Some helpful words for your chat; farm, farmyard, barn, field, tractor, combine harvester, trailer, hay baler, straw, cows, bulls, calves, udder, goats, sheep, chickens, eggs, dairy, milk, milking parlour, meat, ducks, ducklings, pigs, piglets, farmer, sheepdog etc…
Suggested activities; make farm animals out of playdough, draw animals/tractor/farm yard, set up your own imaginary farm using some toys you have at home.
Books available on You Tube; Farmer Duck, Baa Moo What Will We Do ?, Pig In The Pond.
Write a few sentences about the farm and draw a picture to go with your writing piece.

SPHE – Relationships

This story will help your child discover that sometimes they may feel a little excluded but they do have personal strengths and they just have to discover them.

Read the following story to you son:

What Sinéad Can Do!

Sinéad was having a BAD day! She had nothing to do and no one to play with. Daddy was in the kitchen doing the ironing. ‘Can I help with the ironing?’ asked Sinéad. Daddy laughed. ‘Not yet!’ he said. You will have to wait until you are taller and stronger. The iron is hot and heavy and you might drop it or burn yourself. You’ll just have to wait until you’re older. Then you can do all the ironing you like! I could do with some help:

Sinéad’s big sister Carol was holding a club meeting outside with her friends. Her club was called The Terrific Three’ Can I be in your club too?’ asked Sinéad. ‘No’ said Carol, ‘we like being The Terrific Three. If you were in our gang we’d have to be ‘The Fantastic Four’ and that would be no fun! ‘Please,’ said Sinéad. “Oh go on, give her a chance said one of the others. Well said Carol, let me think. You can be in our gang if you can … whistle. Can you whistle? ‘Not yet, said Sinéad sadly. That settles it!’ said Carol. “Now go away and let us get on with our meeting!

Sinéad’s big brother Tom was playing football with his friends. Can I play too? asked Sinéad. ‘Sure you can!’ said Tom. Tom passed the ball to Sinéad. Sinéad kicked it towards the goal and ran after it. She got there before the others and kicked again. ‘Good shot!’ said Tom. Sinéad ran even harder She got to the ball again and tripped and fell and bumped her head. ‘Hard luck!’ said Tom.

Daddy came out when he heard Sinéad crying. ‘Cheer up!’ he said and gave her a big hug, ‘Why don’t you call for Conor? I’m sure there would be something you could do with him: Conor WAS glad to see her. I’m making a den under the table, he said but the walls keep falling down. ‘Do you think you can fix it?’ I think I can,’ said Sinéad. Conor had made a cosy den under the kitchen table. There was a big sheet over the table and sure enough it kept on slipping off. Sinéad showed Conor how to put cushions on top of the sheet so it didn’t fall off.

“Great’, said Conor, What will we do now?’ ‘We can have a club meeting like the big children do. We can be called the Terrific Two!’ said Sinéad. That’s a great idea!’ said Conor.

Chat About The Story:

Can you remember why Sinéad was having a bad day?
Who did she talk to first?
What was Daddy doing?
Why couldn’t she help Daddy?
When will she be able to do the ironing?
Was Daddy kind to her?
Could Sinéad join Carol’s gang? Why? Was this the real reason? When will Sinéad be able to whistle? Was Carol kind to her?
Did you ever ask someone could you play with them? Did anyone ever say ‘no’? How did this make you feel? Do other children ask you can they play with you? What do you say? Do you ever say ‘no’? Why? Is this kind?
Was Tom, her brother who was playing football, kind to Sinéad? Was Sinéad good at football? Why did she stop playing football?
Who did she go to see then? What was he doing? Did you ever make a den under a table or any where else? What did Conor need help with? Was Sinéad able to help? How did she help? What did they do in the end?
Discuss all the things that your son is good at and build up his confidence.

Religion

You can now assess Grow In Love website and resources using the email trial@growinlove.ie and password growinlove. There are stories, songs and prayers available here. The boys are up as far as Theme 7.
Senior Infants Prayers: Morning and night time prayer, Hail Mary.

Other Suggested Activities

Lego project: Prince Charming needs you to build a castle for him and Cinderella to live in. Are you up for the challenge? Maybe design your castle on paper first and then get building.

Art – Go on a nature hunt and collect flowers, leaves, twigs etc… to create a pictures.

Boardgames

Baking – and then write out the recipe in steps.

Boy – Don’t forget to do some house jobs for your mums at home.

Book Scavenger Hunt