We have some good news about our caterpillars! Emma, Stevie, Daisy, Buddy and Cookie have hatched out of their cocoons and emerged as lovely Butterflies. They had been living in a little net for 7 days and have been eating things like oranges, apples, bananas and nectar. They have been getting strong eating all of that food so, because it is a nice day we have decided to set them free. We made an arch of honeysuckle which is a nice plant with lot of food for butterflies on it. You can see in the pictures below that the butterflies are now very happy in their new home. We're very happy you all got to see how they grew from tiny larvae into butterflies.
Update on our caterpillars
Our caterpillars are still doing great. They are still resting in their cocoons and getting ready to become butterflies. Hopefully it'll happen in the next couple of days. We'll put up some photos when they hatch. Get thinking of some names for the caterpillars. We only got two names before we left school, Stevie and Emma. We've 3 more names to come up with.
School on TV for support during COVID19
We would like to bring to your attention an initiative by RTÉ to broadcast school on TV starting Monday. The program will be aimed towards 1st class children up however there is something to be gained from viewing an educational program such as this. If we figure out that this is too advanced for infants we will let you know. Programs are being run by primary school teachers and will be broadcast for hour from 11-12 0n Monday.
Outdoor Learning Continued...
We're receiving some lovely photos that we couldn't but put up another post here. We hope everyone is learning loads while enjoying the fine weather. Don't forget to log into google classrooms to access more ideas for things to do.
Outdoor Learning in Literacy & Numeracy
Many of us took part in a Scavenger Hunt in the outdoors and in our gardens today. We were looking for different types of leaves, flowers, grass, thing's beginning with m, a rock, something that is heavy, something that is light and something that needs sun to live. We were also practicing writing our numbers using chalk and sorting items in our gardens and our toys buy colour and size. It looked like lots of fun! Lots of people were out getting some fresh air and enjoying the sunshine while maintaining physical distance from others. Great to see everyone enjoying the outdoor learning and staying safe :)
Signs of Spring!
Many of us have been busy looking for signs of Spring outdoors or creating them in our own homes. It is great to see lots of people getting some fresh air outside. Some people have spotted some flowers, done some planting, found different types of trees and even found a caterpillar! There has also been some wonderful Spring artwork created too!
Science Experiment - The importance of using soap when washing our hands
What you need - A Bowl, water, some cooking oil, soap, pepper or herbs (something to represent the virus)
Step 1. Pour some water into a bowl
Step 2: Pour some cooking oil into the bowl and watch as the oil floats to the top of the water
Step 3: Sprinkle some herbs or some pepper on top of the oil, this represents the virus or germs that can be present on hands and other surfaces.
Step 4, See what happens when you put your dry finger into the bowl. (Some of the "germs" stick to your finger)
Step 5: Rub some soap on your finger and put it back into the bowl, see what happens to the "germs"
As an additional task, the children could draw the steps of the experiment and how they felt when they saw the final result.
Our Caterpillars have made their cocoons
.A chrysalis is the form a caterpillar takes before it emerges from its cocoon as a fully formed moth or butterfly. The chrysalis has hard skin that's left behind after the caterpillar sheds its soft outer skin. Our caterpillars are now in their cocoons and we will monitor them as they emerge as butterflies.
Spring, Outdoor Learning & Planting
In the Chestnut and Ash classes we have been learning lots about Spring and the Garden Centre. It is great to see that some people have been going on nature walks with their families looking for signs of spring such as different flowers, new growth, animals, insects etc. It has also been great to see some people do some planting in their back gardens. Be sure to let us know any signs of spring you spot and anything you are growing in your gardens.
St. Patrick's Day Celebrations
Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone in the Ash and Chestnut class. It was brilliant to see many people creating their own decorations and learning about the story of St. Patrick over the past few days. We hope everyone had a great time celebrating a little differently this year. Be sure to keep us updated with how you all celebrated!
Don't fear for our caterpillars
Our caterpillars are being well looked after and we will document as they grow over the next few weeks
Emergency Closure - Science Activity
Below is a simple science activity that can be done at home with very few materials needed. Some blue tac can replace modelling clay and you don't really need to be as accurate as using the compasses.
Aistear: Spring has sprung
Our Aistear topic for March is Spring, the children have been busy in the Garden centre, sorting butterfly's, constructing flowers and playing with farm animals. We have had so much learning so far and we are looking forward to planting seeds from Monday.
The Miracle of Metamorphosis in Junior Infants
Junior Infants are in the process of looking after some baby caterpillars at the moment. We are watching them grow and are looking forward to when they turn into chrysalis. We have been guessing what color our butterflies might be. We'll have another update soon.
Aistear - Space Station
Our theme for Aistear in January is Space. We are learning all about the planets, the moon, Astronauts and everything that happens in space. We are also talking about how life in space is different to life on Earth, we are walking like there's no gravity and learning what kind of food Astronauts eat. The children have also compiled lists of what they would bring to the moon, toys were first, then food and then their parents, so at least we know where their priorities lie!
Aistear - "Winter Weather"
Our theme for Aistear this month is Winter weather. We are learning all about the seasons and the weather as well as winter animals and the clothes we wear depending on the weather. Our book this month was the weather monster and the children loved the story involved. In our creative station we made salt dough decorations for the winter fair, hats and mittens from fabric and fiber and snow-globes. Here are some of the photos of the children learning...
Waterproof vs. not waterproof
This week in science in Junior infants we have been learning about things that are waterproof and things that porous.. The children came up with an excellent list of items that were waterproof and we decided to test all of the items we could in the classroom. The children investigated different types of clothing to see if they were waterproof and decided that things that are made from plastic are generally waterproof.
Powerstown ETNS’ PTA would like to cordially invite all our families and school community to attend our annual Winter Fair on Friday, December 6th. There’ll be lots of familiar stands with a few new events this year! There’ll be a new games area, face painting, raffle prizes, toy & bake sales. The children of the school are also busy preparing some very special artwork for sale, sure to be a cherished gift or memento for relatives and family members.
Don’t forget that we’ll also have a VERY special visitor dressed all in red and ready to meet each child and perhaps provide a small gift too!
Toys and Bake Sale Items needed for our Winter Fair! We will have a toy and baked goods table for sale at the fair. If any parents have old toys that are in good condition that they would like to donate they can do so on Thursday, December 5th. Parents who would like to donate baked goods for the bake sale can drop these into the school on the morning of the Winter Fair, Friday, December 6th., We kindly request that any food items be nut and seed free. Other speciality and savoury foods are also welcome! Friday, December 6th.
Raffle Prizes We are looking for raffle prizes for our Winter Fair Raffle. If know a local business or your place of employment that might be able to support us with the provision of small raffle prize please let us know!
Science for fun in Junior Infants
Junior Infants completed a number of experiments together with a number of parents for Science week. There was loads of fun learning about forces, particularly wind forces, volcanoes from baking soda and vinegar and categorizing things that float and sink. We hope they remember some of the experiments to show you and experiment with at home.
Visit from Dublin Zoo
Junior Infants were very lucky this year to get a visit from Dublin Zoo. We learned all about the animals kept in the zoo and we got to see some interesting artifacts like a tiger hyde, elephant foot and a skull of an orangutan. Some of the photos from the visit are below.
November Theme - Food and the Supermarket
We have started our new theme of Food & the Supermarket this month. We learned all about what foods are healthy and unhealthy and learned about where food goes in the food pyramid. We have started to learn where food comes from and figured out from the little red hen that bread comes from flour which is made from wheat. We will start on Monday playing in the supermarket, we will make food from salt dough, we'll make soup in the water and play a Greedy Gorilla's board game to learn about healthy food. Here's some photos of our role play area and our active learning of the food pyramid.
Welcome to Junior Infants - Parents information afternoon
Hi parents!
We are delighted to welcome you and your children to Powerstown Educate Together and we are really looking forward to caring for your children in the coming year! This going to be a whole new experience for the children in "big school" and we understand that you may have concerns. We are always here to lend a hand and will be happy to resolve any concerns you may have. We aim to post as many pictures as we can here of different things we do in class so stay tuned for lots of updates! If you are not comfortable with your child being in photographs, be sure to let us know. We will have a meeting with all of you on September 11th at 1:20pm so it would be great to see you there to talk you through the year and answer any questions you may have. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Regards Diarmaid & Hannah
Aistear September - Marvelous Me
The theme for Aistear this September is "Marvelous Me". The children will be learning all about the human body, myself and my family, my news, respect for one another and in the role play area will be the doctors surgery. As you can see from the sample of photos, the children have had a fantastic first few days turning the classroom into a doctors surgery and learning and performing new songs and nursery rhymes about the human body, e.g. miss polly had a dolly and head shoulders knees and toes.
Peace Day Performances
We would like to invite all families to attend our celebration of PeaceDay 2019 with a performance in the Assembly Hall at 9am on Friday 20th September. Classes have been preparing songs and poems and are looking forward to performing for you on Friday. See you there!
Peace Day Performance 2019
Our Junior Infants performed a lovely little song for their first performance of the year on Peace Day. A big thank you to all the parents that came out to support them on the day. Here's some photos of the performance, a video will be uploaded to the schools Facebook page shortly.
Houses and Homes
Junior Infants children have been having loads of fun learning all about houses and homes in October. We have made houses from straw, houses from sticks and houses from bricks (Just like the three little bricks). We have had fun role playing in our home area and making some interesting meals for dinner, we even had some fights over the remote control. We learned about homes from all different countries, all types of homes in our country and even some homes animals live in. We learned all about the hedgehogs home and decided to make our own hedgehogs from clay. Here are some of the photos of the children learning through play in Chestnut and Ash Class.
Road Safety Week
We have been busy learning all about road safety this month. We became very familiar with the safe cross code and practised chanting and acting this out in our classroom. We all got high-visibility vests which we can wear in the mornings and evenings walking to and from school. We know how to cross the road safely and how to be a safe passenger in the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIluoGcCKNg
The Three Little Pigs
We’ve been learning all about homes in our classroom this month in Aistear, through story, songs and in SESE. One of our favourite stories which we have read based on homes is ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Here we are acting out a drama of ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We were role-playing the different characters in the story; Mammy pig, the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. We really enjoyed dressing up and acting like the characters in the story. We have been working hard at sequencing the story and completing writing activities based on the story during Aistear too.
Maths Week 2019
We were very busy for Maths week in the Chestnut and Ash classes. We completed a Maths trail around our school working on our counting skills, looking for shapes, colours, length and sets. We also made our own shape houses using lots of different shapes and were making our own patterns. We practised our estimation skills by guessing the weight of our class pumpkins and guessing how much pasta was in the jar. We had lots of fun during maths week!
Fire Safety Week
Ash Class were very lucky this week as we had a visit from the Dublin Fire Brigade. All of the children got to use the hose and to sit in the Fire truck. You can see how happy the children were and we hope they have lots to say about it when they get home. A big thank you Dublin Fire Brigade for helping out here.
November R.S.E. Month
Dear Parents & Guardians, As per school policy and the legal requirements of the Irish curriculum, your child will be learning about a number of R.S.E. related topics in the next couple of weeks. We have included the pages that your child will be discussing in class below. The topics include, self identity, family units, people who help keep us safe, new life, physical growth and making choices. If you wish to discuss any of these topics in more detail prior to the lessons I will be teaching, please let us know. Regards, Diarmaid & Hannah