September was a busy month in the Junior Infant classroom.  It was a time for beginnings and for all things new.  The Junior Infants took it all in their stride, embracing their new school life with open arms and a showing a huge appetitie for exploring and understanding.  Here is a snapshot of September in our Junior Infant room.  Enjoy😊

On their first day of school each Junior Infant child made a brand new friend! A friend to have all to him/herself!  Sitting on top of their table was a little brown teddy who was waiting patiently, eager to get a cuddle from the child who would sit in the chair in front of it.  Much love and cuddles have been showered on these little Teddy friends. The boys and girls named their teddies for e.g. LoveHeart, Star, Cupcake.   Every teddy needs a bed to rest in after a busy day in the Junior Infant room so one of our first jobs in September was to turn a shoe box into a cosy bed for Teddy complete with a warm and fuzzy blanket.  Our day begins with waking  Teddy up  with a kiss and a cudddle and ends with putting Teddy into it’s ‘Leaba’ until the next busy day of learning and play begins in the Junior Infant room.😍

Playing with our new toys!

When we sent out a toy appeal in early September to replenish our play resources the response was phenomenal.  Thanks to the genorosity of families right throughout the school our empty shelves began to fill up with toys of all shapes and sizes.  Here the children explore the new toys and get right down to what they do best- play!😃

We can sort things according to colour.

In maths we focused on Early Mathematical Learning including concepts such as matching, comparing and ordering and classifying.  These kind of mathematical concepts are best internalised through hands on learning.  We enjoyed working in our groups to match and sort items according to various criteria e.g. colour, size, shape.

Where will my imagination take me today?

The children love to don their art aprons and get stuck into a paint pot or two!  In Art we explored different lines such as wavy, straight, zig-zag, curly etc. This also helps us to understand how to write our letter shapes.  We used pastels and paints to create different lines and individual creations.  We also love to just let our imagination loose and paint whatever tickles our fancy!✨

Play Dough faces!

We love play dough in the Junior Infant room.  In September the children were given individual tubs of homemade play dough complete with glitter and a hint of Lavender.  Play dough is an extremely fun way for fine motor skills to be developed which in turn strengthens little fingers and hands when learning to write  letter shapes.  It also provides opportunities for sensory play which is extremely regulating and calming.  😀

Nature is all around us!

Our Nature Table filled up with all kinds of autumn leaves, nuts and seeds earning each little nature gatherer a gold star for his/her efforts.  In September we looked at examples of horse chestnut, ash, oak, beech, sycamore etc and even learned about the different Autumn fairies that live in each of these trees!  We love Nature in the Junior Infants.💕

A Busy Day at the Building Site!

Grown ups work – children play! In September we began learning through child-led and teacher – led play.  This is the philosophy of Aistear The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework.  Our September classroom play areas included  the sand area, the home corner, the story corner, the building site adn the small world area.  Our golden rule for play is “We are helpful, friendly and fair, we take turns and always share”☺

Going on a yoga adventure.

Every Friday morning we go on a Yoga Adventure.  This is a time for getting to  know what our bodies can do and how we can make different shapes with our bodies.  We follow Jamie from Cosmic Kids who takes us on yoga adventure each week. And we always remember our secret yoga code word ‘Namaste’.😜

Yummeeee!

It’s not every Junior Infant class that get a surprise ice-cream cone when they are about to lauch into some pre-writing activities! Thanks to the Credit Union this is exactly what happened to us much to our glorious delight.  Life is sweet when you’re in Junior Infants.😝