Literacy Site

Magic carpet ride

2012-01-22T12:49:00.001-08:00

We had a magic carpet in our room for a week.We learned a poem about a magic carpet and then the children wrote down where they would go to if they had a carpet that could bring them anywhere!

Literacy activities in Senior infants

2012-01-10T11:08:00.001-08:00

Following directions in Junior infants

2011-12-08T06:46:00.001-08:00

Rhyming at words in Senior infants

2011-12-06T11:12:00.001-08:00

We had great fun making new words ending in 'at'.

The Pig in the Pond in Senior infants

2011-12-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

We read the story 'The Pig in the Pond' and put the pictures in order.We retold the story to each other and acted the story out.

More about Owl Babies in Senior infants

2011-11-30T11:53:00.001-08:00

Today we wrote a little bit about the Owl Babies and practised re-telling the story in our own words - have a look at how we got on!!!!

Making sentences in Junior Infants

2011-11-30T08:51:00.001-08:00

Some very clever children made up their own sentences using their names!! The thinking caps are well and truly on now!

Word bingo in Junior infants

2011-11-30T08:47:00.001-08:00

We have great fun playing word Bingo. We are very quiet and use grat concentration and then we get to shout BINGO when all our words are covered.

Owl Babies in Senior Infants

2011-11-28T11:49:00.001-08:00

We love the story of the Owl Babies. by Martin Waddell. We know the story really well by now and each day we have been doing different literacy activities based on the story. We can name the author and illustrator. We learned what the 'blurb' meant and made up our own blurb for the book. We can name the characters and talk about the setting of the story. We can answer who, what, when, where, why and how questions about the story. We can re-tell the story again in our own words and can sequence the events of the story in the correct order. We can pick out our favourite characters in the story and say why we like them (Bill was certainly the most popular character in our class!!!). What a clever bunch we are!! We have also learned about owls in general. Here are some interesting things that we have learned about owls...

1. Owls nest in farm buildings as well as churches, sheds and natural holes in trees.

2. Owls can not move their eyes but they can move their heads almost right around.
3.Owls use their excellent sight and hearing to hunt for food.

4.Owls swallow their food whole and then spit out the bones and fur. This is called a pellet.

5.The Snowy owl is not nocturnal.

6. Owls have three eyelids – one for blinking, one for sleeping and one for keeping the eye clean.

7.Baby owls are called owlets.

8.Owls eat mice, rats, small birds and frogs.

9. Owls catch their prey with their talons.

The Twits in First Class

2011-11-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Teacher read The Twits to us during September. We really loved it and enjoyed hearing about all the tricks that Mr. and Mrs. Twit played on each other, especially the worm spaghetti that Mr. Twit ate!! We made Mr. Twit beards and had great fun pretending to be him. Check us out wearing them.

Junior infant reading time, Room 1

2011-11-22T13:20:00.001-08:00

Reading and being read to is very important for younger children. Everyday we choose one book from the library and we spend five minutes, uninterupted flicking through a story and looking at the pictures.

Instructions-Making sandwiches in First class

2011-11-20T11:15:00.001-08:00

Matching words and pictures in Junior infants

2011-10-25T13:33:00.001-07:00

We are getting very good at matching the names of the Sunny Street Characters to the pictures.

The children tell me they practice every night. Well done to them!

Storyteller in Ballybane library

2011-10-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, we walked all the way to Ballybane library where we were entertained by a funny storyteller.He told us stories about a wide mouthed frog and a princess and rabbit.We had to join in sometimes.It was great fun and the children were very good in the library and during the walk.

Titch the witch in Junior infants

2011-10-18T12:16:00.001-07:00

A friendly witch has come to stay in our classroom. Her name is Titch The Witch. Her broom stopped working and so she is staying in our classroom at night making potions and leaving notes for us to find in the morning. We all work together and write a note back to Titch every morning. We think of the questions we'd like to ask Titch and teacher writes it all down on the note for Titch. Titch sometimes leaves Halloween activities and art ideas for us to try out. She left lots of decorations for us and we all helped to put them up in the class to make Titch feel at home.

We made spooky ghosts, pumkins and bats for Titch already.

Rhyming words in Senior infants

2011-10-17T12:49:00.001-07:00

We are getting very good at rhyming words.

We can say lots of words that rhyme with rat, with map, with hag, with man, with ham and with Dad.

We love looking for rhyming words and we even have a song that goes:

"I wish I had a cat, had a cat.......

And if I had a cat, I would.............."

This song changes every time we sing it.

Ask us to sing it for you at home.

Making words

2011-10-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today we made words using people.They had to turn into whatever word we put on their heads!

"Room on a Broom" in Senior infants

2011-10-11T09:32:00.001-07:00

We have been reading a great story about a witch. It is called "Room on a Broom". We have a small version of this book in our room, and teacher borrowed the big book, so we could all have a good look at the pictures and the words.

Today we took out our instruments, and we used them, and our voices, to put in all the sounds from the story. Have a look at us giving a huge big ROAR like the dragon in the story. The ROAR sounds even more fierce when we use our instruments to help make our voices even more scary.

Flower phonic words in Senior infants

2011-10-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

Literacy activities in Senior infants, Ms. Flaherty's class

2011-09-28T14:12:00.001-07:00

We are working really hard at our letters and sounds. We have covered the letters a,b,f and h this month so today we had to match up the lower case letter with its corresponding capital letter. Then teacher put the magnetic letters into a box and we had to close our eyes and pick one letter out of the box. We then had to name the letter and say its sound and write it carefully on the board. We all had to check if the letter was being formed correctly. We all got them right so we really are a very clever bunch!!!

Bingo with letters and words: Senior infants

2011-09-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

Reading Loop game: Senior infants

2011-09-16T14:45:00.001-07:00

We have been practicing all the words we learned last year. We remember them all now, so teacher let us play a loop game with these words. We each had a loop card (some had 2). Each loop card has two words on it. The first person calls out "I have......(they read the top word), who has........(then read the bottom word)". After reading this card, the card is placed in the middle. We all have to watch carefully to be sure to be ready when our turn comes. When we get faster at this teacher will time us, and each time we will try to beat our best time. We work really well together when we play this game.

Language activities in Senior infants

2011-06-16T06:03:00.001-07:00

Travelling Ted's bag

2011-06-11T01:39:00.001-07:00

Mateusz brought Travelling Ted to Poland recently,where he had lots and lots of adventures!Mateusz' mammy thought he could do with a new bag,so she bought him one and drew his picture on it.We think it's fantastic!

Show and tell in Second Class

2011-06-11T01:37:00.001-07:00

We brought in our favourite object to show the class.We told the class why we liked it and what it meant to us.
The class brought in teddies, a judo outfit, a pantomime outfit, an old part of a train, a chain and many more.....

More flower words

2011-05-24T06:07:00.001-07:00

Flower words in Senior infants

2011-05-23T11:43:00.001-07:00

Intensive literacy in 1st class

2011-05-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

Literacy activities in Senior infants

2011-05-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here we are during some of our Literacy activities. We are playing word bingo, word and picture lotto and alphabet bingo. Some of us are also working on the computer.

Characters in second class

2011-05-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

We studied characters from different stories and came up with many different characteristics.We loved drawing the pictures too!

How to write a story, Second class

2011-05-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

An author and illustrator came in to talk to us about how to write your own story and draw the pictures too.

Literacy games in Senior infants

2011-04-08T04:46:00.001-07:00

Leprechauns in Senior Infants

2011-03-23T12:43:00.001-07:00

The children made lovely leprechauns for St.Patrick's Day.They also made up a story about a giant leprechaun with poor eyesight who squishes buildings and people in his village because he can't see them from such a great height!All was resolved at the end when the villagers lifted a new pair of glasses up to him on a crane...

Train books from the Library

2011-03-16T11:42:00.001-07:00

Our library has sent us a large selection of picture books about trains to help us with our Keep on Track project. We read Shark VS Train in school today. It was a good book. From Tuesday on we will borrow a book a night. We will try and read them ourselves, but some are a little hard for us yet, so we hope you Mums and Dads will read them with us and to us each night. Thanks so much Josephine from the Library.

Word bingo in Senior Infants

2011-03-09T08:06:00.001-08:00

Free writing in Senior Infants

2011-03-09T08:05:00.001-08:00

We often share our writing with our classmates and show them our beautiful pictures. It helps us to practise our reading and compliment the work of others.

Word Bingo - Junior Infants

2011-03-08T13:04:00.001-08:00

We have learned alot of words now. We love to play word bingo with all these words. We need to listen very carefully to hear the word teacher calls out and then cover it over. Our favourite bit is shouting BINGO at the end.

Writing a train story in Senior infants

2011-02-28T14:23:00.001-08:00

We have been writing a story about a train. Here are a few of the stories we wrote. Teacher is going to make these stories into a book for all to read.

Click on our logo to go directly to our school's project page

Making new words in Junior Infants

2011-02-28T14:04:00.001-08:00

Writing about our train project: Senior infants

2011-02-22T10:33:00.001-08:00

Playing Word Detective in Junior Infants

2011-02-18T13:15:00.001-08:00

Letter blending in Senior infants

2011-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

We have been using our magnetic letters to put the alphabet together and to create three letter words which we can sound out and read. We are getting much better at our reading.

Sound poems and fairy tales in Second class

2011-02-10T12:30:00.001-08:00

We made up sound poems based on sounds in school.
We also read many fairytales and created an alternative version of Cinderella!

Reading like trains in Senior Infants

2011-02-02T10:48:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Our class is involved in the Keep on Track train project at http://keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/. We are learning songs and rhymes about trains, playing train games in PE, and even reading like trains. Fist of all we play a phonic or word list loop game. (One player calls out "I have pet, who has ten?" and the person with the word "ten" keeps the game moving in the same way.) Once the game has been played and the cards are laid out in order, in the shape of a train track, we read then at a train pace - starting very slowly and then getting quicker and quicker and slowing down at the end. We like the rhythm of this game.

Literacy games in second class

2011-02-01T14:15:00.001-08:00

The Sound Collector

2011-01-25T10:44:00.001-08:00

We learned the poem The Sound Collector by Rodger Mc Gough when we came to school after our Christmas holidays. Then we wrote our own versions of the poem. Here are some of verses we made up:
The purring of the kitten.                        The roaring of the lion,
The roaring of the lion.                           The hissing of the snake.
The croaking of the frog.                        The barking of the dog.
The barking of the dog.                          The squeaking of the
The neighing of the horse.                     mouse.
The snapping of the crocodile.              The purring of the cat.
The squeaking of the mice.                   The munching of the giraffe.
The Hissing of the snake.                      The stumping of the rhino.
By Laura                                                  By Daniela

The squeaking of a mouse                    The purring of the cat.
The barking of the dog.                          The barking of the dog.
The screaming of a monkey.                  The hissing of a snake.
The roaring of a cheetah.                        The roaring of a lion.
The hissing of a snake.                           The croaking of a frog.
The tweeting of a bird.                             The howling crocodile.
The neighing of horse.                             By Martin
The creaking of the spider.
By Jacob

Making words in Senior Infants

2011-01-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

We are getting really good at sounding out words and also at making new words. Last week we were working on the 'at' family. We made lots of 'at' words on the board using large magnetic letters. Teacher sounded out a word for us and we had to listen very carefully to see if we could guess the word she was sounding out. Then we had to come up to the board and make the word using the magnetic letters. Some of the words we had to make were real words and some were nonsense words. We also had to say whether or not it was a real or a nonsense word.

Literacy games in Senior Infants

2011-01-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

Recipe Booklets in Second Class

2011-01-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

We learned how to write our own recipes.Every recipe includes 'you will need' and the method. We added a witch stew recipe for Haloween!

Phonic games: Senior infants

2010-11-10T08:03:00.001-08:00

We played the Phonic Loop game today. We each have 2 words on our cards, and we take turns in saying for example: "I have hat, who has man". We time how long it takes us to finish the loop and use up all the cards. It is quite an exciting game.

We also played with the phonic folder, making words out of letters. Some of the words make sense, but others are just nonsense words.

Matching Words: Junior Infants

2010-11-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Fun with letters: Junior Infants

2010-11-08T12:47:00.001-08:00

We are getting very good at recognising our letters and sounds. We love playing the puddles game. The aim of our game is to get from one side of the river bank to the other by jumping on the letter lilly pads. We can only jump on to the lilly pad if we know the letter, the sound it makes and a word that starts with that letter. We were all very good at this game.

New letter "h" Junior Infants

2010-10-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Every week we learn a new letter. This week we are learning about the letter h. h is a very quiet letter. We brought in some objects from home that begin with the letter h. The children brought in hairbrushes, hair, Hannah Montana, a hedgehog. We practice air tracing our letter, writing it with our pencil and throwing the sound. As you can see in the picture we make the letter with playdough.

Reading big books

2010-09-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 21st, 2010

Teacher has lots of big books. We love listening to these stories, and we like it even more when we can read (or look at the pictures of) these books ourselves.

Storyteller

2010-05-23T15:54:00.001-07:00

Friday, May 21st, 2010

A story teller came to our school. He had some great stories to tell. We listened well and loved the whole experience. We even played some listening games with him.

Fun with words

2010-05-15T04:57:00.001-07:00

Literacy Activities

2010-05-07T13:38:00.001-07:00

Learning new words in Room 5

2010-04-19T07:42:00.001-07:00

Storytime in Room 1

2010-03-12T01:32:00.001-08:00

Today we were very lucky as Mary Meaney came in and told us a story. The story was called We're Going On a Bear Hunt. It is a really good story with lots of noises like swishy swashy, stumble trip. After Mary told us the story we went down to the PE hall and we carried out actions to the story and we pretended we were going on the bear hunt. It was great fun.

Puddles of Words, Junior Infants, Room 1

2010-03-08T07:17:00.001-08:00

This week we played a game with all our new words from our reader. We had to call out the word and then jump onto the puddle. It was great fun. It is a great way for us to learn our words.

Literacy Games in Senior Infants

2010-01-08T04:49:00.001-08:00

Friday, January 8th, 2010
We have some great literacy games in our class. We all had a chance to try each game this week. We played Look and Find Lotto, Twist and Check Phonic cards, Shopping List game, Red Folder matching words and Magnetic Rhyming Words. We are becoming really good readers in this class.

More Literacy Games in Room 5

2009-05-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

We have nice new activities with which we were playing today. We have games with: silly sentences, building words, word families, and 3D shape sorting. They are fun to play, and we are learning lots when we play with them.

Literacy Games

2009-04-28T07:57:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
We are playing lots of literacy games. Some of the games use phonics (phonic bingo and twist and check phonics),

some focus on reading (red folder games)

and some are language games (look and find lotto and the shopping game). They are all great fun.

Some Reading Activities from Room 5

2007-11-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

Our Senior Infants are busily trying out our new reading skills. Have a look at some of the games we play in our class.