The junior infants celebrated World Book day with fantastic costumes and wonderful books!
We had some time to read our stories with our big buddies and we also took some time to read with each other too!
Junior Infants have gone to the jungle for the month of February and they had so much fun exploring this new world!
We read lots of books all about the jungle and the animals that live there. We loved learning about lots of different animals and the snake was a firm favorite. We learned about lots of different types of snakes and do you know that if we line up one behind the other we can stretch to 9 meters which is the same length as the green anaconda? That’s the longest snake in the world and they live in the jungle!
Junior Infants worked really hard to complete this shared writing piece on some to share some of the information we learned about snakes!
We created a jungle safari sociodramatic play area in our classroom and we used this area to explore what it might be like to go on a safari through the jungle. We needed a safari driver and tour guide, a ticket sales person and of course lots of keen tourists to go on the adventures. We were busy animal spotting, taking pictures and creating all sorts of adventures in our imagination.
We looked at the different layers of the jungle and the animals that live in some of the different parts! Did you know that there are four layers to the jungle?
We turned the area outside our classroom into a jungle, complete with our paper snakes and some of our work!
We explored clay as part of our art this month and, because we loved snakes so much, we used this opportunity to make our own snakes from clay! We had to role them, shape them, let them dry and then paint them! Luckily they are very friendly and don’t bite!
Junior Infants were learning all about looking after ourselves for the month of January and a huge part of looking after ourselves when we are in Junior Infants is looking after our teeth. We are old enough now to do this self care task ourselves and we learned all about our teeth, how important they are and how we can look after them.
We also learned all about the dentist. We explored what the job of a dentist involves and how they have an important role to play in helping us to care for our teeth. We had so much fun learning all about dental nurses, dentists, waiting rooms, receptions, dental surgeries, x-rays, and more in our dentist sociodramatic play area!
Nun’s Cross recently celebrated our annual Well-Being Week. This is a very special week in our annual calendar where we focus on a variety of areas that help our overall wellbeing. From mindfulness to looking after our bodies, helping in our community, and reducing our time on screens we had activities across the school to cover it all.
This year, the children also got a chance to explore some hidden talents, and skills or discover new hobbies through a genius hour we organised. Each teacher organised a club that explored a new interest the children may not have considered exploring, taught a new skill, or allowed a space for the children’s talents to be encouraged. The children had an opportunity to take part in two clubs out of a wide variety of choices from fashion design to dance, marbles, cooperative games, drama, jewellery making, minibeast adventures, and more. It was a great week and was enjoyed by the whole school community!
Today 58 pupils from 3rd - 6th class represented Nuns Cross in the Mile Challenge at Avondale. The children all ran excellently and enjoyed a fantastic day out.
Today 1st class made the most of the weather and got outside to do some minibeast hunting. The children worked in groups to see if there were any spiders, insects or other creepy crawlies on the school grounds. We used magnifying glasses to find the minibeasts, the best place we found was under rocks and pieces of wood. We used pooters and magnifying pots to collect them. It was great fun! We collected so many worms, woodlice, millipedes (these were really really fast!), centipedes, spiders, ants and ladybirds. We then gave them some food in the form of leaves and places to hide under rocks and soil. Take a look at our pictures below.
With the help of the magnifying boxes, we were able to view our minibeasts in great detail. When we got back into the class we viewed what we had collected and drew some really detailed pictures before releasing them back into nature again.
During the month of January, 6th class were very busy learning all about Australia.
In pairs, or individually, the children created projects based on their chosen territories. Some of the children decided to create PowerPoints, while others went for posters or comic strips.
Below are some of the incredible projects created by the class. We hope you enjoy.
Queensland by Chloe & Addison
Tasmania by Brooke & Erin
Queensland by Carrie
New South Wales by Joe & Sam
New South Wales by Meghan & Eliza
Northern Territory by Hollyanne
Victoria by Nate & Aisling
Queensland by Holly
Queensland by Robert
New South Wales by Lucy
For the month of January we have been learning all about Winter in senior infants.
It has been a busy month as we started Gaa. Here we are having fun with Darren
For aistear this month we got to make snow dough. We loved the smell in our classroom after making this.
We also got to experiment practicing our writing in shaving foam.
At the weened Nun’s Cross was represented by two pupils in the Leinster Schools Swimming Competition at the National aquatic centre. Charlotte (5th class) and Isaac (2nd class) did an excellent job, both recording personal best times, Isaac in the backstroke and Charlotte in the Freestyle, Breaststroke and 100 Individual Medley. We are delighted to have found out that Charlotte has qualified for the National Swimming Competition in March in the Butterfly. Well done Charlotte, we are so proud of you!
On Wednesday, our Active Committee organised a Santa Dash for the whole school to participate in. On this day we met down at the square in Ashford and registered to either run to school or walk to school. The children chose which dash they wanted to complete. The Active Committee contacted the Guards in Ashford and they kindly escorted us on our trip up to school. It was great to see such a great turn out, with lots of festive gear on show. We would like to say a huge thank you to all who came along on Wednesday morning, the parents who walked and ran along with us, the Gardaí who escorted us with their lights flashing and sirens blaring, to the parents who brought pupil’s school bags to the school and to everyone who donated to such a wonderful cause. We were delighted that we raised a whopping 470 euro. Take a look at some of our photos from the event below.
This week, all classes participated in the Nuns Cross Christmas Games which were organised by our wonderful Active Committee. The junior classes participated in a range of activities including ‘find the elf’ scavenger hunt, ‘North Pole, South Pole Santa’s Sleigh’, ‘How many days until Christmas Santa Claus?’, ‘Tinsel Tug of War’, ‘Snowman Bowling’ and ‘Santa’s Sack relay race’. These cleverly thought out names were Christmas versions of some of our favourite well-known games. The senior classes completed a different selection of games, including ‘Pull Santa’s Sleigh Race’, ‘Tinsel Tug of War’, ‘Holiday Caroling’ and ‘Snowman Dodgeball’. Check out some pictures of these fantastic events below.
Today Ms Turner’s class were treated to a Stop Motion taster session with Peter. We had a fantastic day creating Lego Stop Motion videos. It was so interesting learning how to piece together different movements, a lot of thinking, patience and problem solving was needed. The children worked in groups using two characters, the Lego board and some blu tack. Take a look at some of their creations below…
The 3rd & 4th class Stop Motion production December 2022
Today our Junior classes were treated to a puppet show performance which took place in the Junior Infant classroom. The children were introduced to Grandad, baby, red crayon, the wicked Witch of the West and Santa even paid a visit. It was a laugh a minute and the children got really involved in the performance. Once again we would like to say a huge thank you to our Super PTA who funded this visit. We had a really great day.
Last week all of the pupils in 3rd - 6th classes attended Ella Enchanted the Musical in the Dominican in Wicklow Town. We were so delighted to be getting a bus for our big day out. The children brought some snacks with them which they could enjoy during the show.
We were overjoyed when we found out that we had the best seats in the house, sitting right up the front. The show lasted for 80 minutes in total, with a short break in the middle. The acting was excellent, we could not believe the amount of preparation which must have gone into putting the show together. Fantastic singing, stunning costumes and a wonderful story where Ella struggled with the gift of obedience which had been given to her by her fairy godmother. We were delighted that there was a happy ending to the story, with Ella falling in love with the prince and no longer having to be obedient. We learned that although obedience can be something very good at times, there are also times where obedience can be a dangerous and bad thing.
We would like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful PTA who kindly funded this trip for the children.
The Junior Infants have been busy little workers this week making their own Christmas tree crafts to decorate our classroom for the festive season! Take a look at their creations!
6th class were faced with the task of building treehouses last week. The children worked individually or in small groups and were tasked with building a miniature treehouse with access routes into and out of it. Once the outside structure was complete, the children were tasked with designing the interior.
The children designed their treehouses on blank paper initially and then began by using squared paper to create the floor plan for their treehouses. It was very interesting to see how each group approached the task, with some groups deciding to bring in materials from home to enhance their designs.
We ended up having cargo nets, ladders, ziplines and bridges and methods of entering and exiting the treehouses. Some treehouses featured furniture, with others including sky gardens.
Have a look at the process and some of our creations:
During the first term, 6th class have had the opportunity to learn podcasting skills from Peter as part of the Creative School’s programme. The children wrote an article with the guidance of Peter and then edited these to make them more suitable to be read as part of a podcast.
During the podcasting process, the children learned many different skills. They learned how to record their voices, ensuring that there voice waves remained within range; how to alter the tempo of their voice to ensure clarity when reading; how to add sound effects or music to the background of their podcast and add introductory and concluding jingles.
The children also had the opportunity to design their own artwork to match their podcast. We learned so many skills and look forward to having Peter come back to visit us later in the school year.
4th and 5th Class have been learning all about The Vikings this month. They have been working hard creating their own projects to showcase their knowledge. On Friday the pupils from 2nd - 6th classes were invited to view the projects in our room.
4 th and 5 th class had great fun developing their STEM skills with the Egg Drop Challenge. They had to create something that would allow their egg to drop out of the top floor window without breaking. They were allowed to use balloons, plastic cups, cupcake cases, paper, glue, tape, elastic bands, cardboard, string and bags.
Before they tested their creations, they made predictions about each one. It was hugely successful with only 3 eggs out of 10 breaking!
The Nun’s Cross Book Fair was a very exciting event which we were delighted to have back after many years! The book trolleys were stocked to the brim with books for all ages and interests! There was something for everyone. Thank you to all who visited and supported the book fair this year. It raised a huge €1622! Of the money raised, the school was awarded 60%, equating to €973, to spend on new books for our class libraries. We can’t wait to get stuck into all our new wonderful books!
The stacks of new books we got from the fair for our class libraries
