Early Start
​
Class 2020-
​
2021

We would like to welcome all the boys and girls who have started school in the Early Start Classroom, September 2020.   We are looking forward to a year of fun and learning through play.  This is where your children will start their journey through education.  AISTEAR ( meaning Journey )

Ms Karla Kelly (Class Teacher) and Mrs Karen Hoban

SPORTS DAY / TEDDY BEARS PICNIC

Water beads.... orbeez

NEWBRIDGE FARM

The children had a wonderful day at the farm. They bottle fed the lambs and gave some branches to the goats. They loved the piglets and saw our hatched chicks settled back into their home on the farm. After the farm we all enjoyed a picnic and had a great time in the playground. There were even some sleepy heads on the bus back to school !!!!

We are making the most out of the sunny days. Water play, picnic lunch and story time !

Anyone for ice cream???

Baby Chicks

We have finally reached day 21 and the baby chicks have hatched ! 4 eggs hatched first and then 2 more the next day....
There is great egg-citment in the classroom. The children took turns to rub the soft fluffy chicks and they love hearing them say 'cheep cheep ' Tomorrow the children will get a chance to hold a chick. They know they must be very gentle. Below are some photos our first day with the chicks. So cute !!

FAST TRACKS

They had great fun with this track. They used the large wooden blocks to build bridges along the track. The cars were very fast and had lights on them. They cheered for their car.... " come on green car".

Building a garden !

Musical Instruments

Hold on to your ears !!!!

HIP HOP DANCING

Hip hop dance classes have now started. The children will warm up with exercises and movement to music and then learn a dance routine. Then to finish, a game of musical statues ! Everyone loved their first class and said " that was fun! " They danced to the song ' Baby Shark ' Thanks to Sly the dance teacher for his cool moves !!

​Frozen letter eggs !

The children found the first letter of their name trapped inside a frozen egg! They had to use water sprays and pipettes to melt the egg and free their letter !

Cutting skills

We are using our scissors skills. This week the children have progressed to cutting along the lines !

BABY CHICKS

The children are very EGGcited ! We have 7 chick eggs growing in an incubator. It takes 21 days for them to hatch..... we cant wait !!!!!

FUN IN THE SUN

Aistear: Supermarket Fun

Welcome to the new Aldi Early start store !!!
There was great excitment in the classroom this week.
With a tuff tray full of groceries, trolleys, baskets, cash registers, money and bags, the children had the experience of buying and selling. They even formed an orderly covid queue !!! Their favourite thing to say was "NEXT PLEASE"
​Here are some snaps from the week.....

Sensory Fun (or not so fun!)

We set up our tuff tray with some blue jelly gloop. The children got stuck in, feeling it with their hands but in the end this was not a big hit !! They didnt stay too long and were unsure about the feel and texture of the jelly ! Thats what sensory play is all about.... using different types of mediums, substances and products, all with different qualities and learning experiences. Its good to try new things !

Outdoor Water Fun

The children had so much fun playing with the new water channels. We had one table set up with water and the other tuff tray set up with cars. It was a sunny day so we took advantage of the fine weather and moved our classroom outdoors !

WE LOVE SCHOOL !!!!

Blowing Bubbles.....

Easter Arts and Crafts

We are making chicks....

Making Easter buns.... yum yum​

The children enjoyed making some Easter buns. They got to pour in some krispies and stir the chocolate mixture. They each used a spoon to scoop some into a bun casing.Then they chose an egg to place on top. Best of all, we shared the chocolate eggs that were left over ! The children were delighted with their buns....What a fun activity...
Slideshow of photos below..

Easter Fun

St Patrick's Day

On line learning

We would like to thank all the parents for their hard work helping their children to stay engaged during lockdown.

During lockdown we worked on our fine motor skills alot! We practised our scissor skills, played with our playdough, learnt how to zip our coats etc We learnt alot about shapes.

We also enjoyed storytime and songs daily and lots of arts and crafts!

Well done to the children and to the parents!

We would like to wish all our families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. !!
Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday.
Karla and Karen Xx

A beautiful hand made card by Adam

Santa came to visit the school and gave the children presents. They sang a Christmas song for Santa and his Elf.  The children opened and played with their presents in the classroom. It was a fun day !! 

Lots of arts and crafts.

Nativity songs

SANTAS GROTTO

The children absolutely adored the Grotto. They took turns to be santa. They had a sack full of wrapped presents to give out. There was a cosy corner in the grotto where children could read books. We even looked after a reindeer.

Christmas stockings....

We hung our stockings on the corridor for all to see !

This years Crib

Aistear theme : The post Office

The children had great fun dressing up as post men/women. The made cards and letters, put them in envelopes and put a stamp on them. We even had our own post box in the class room. They used an ' an post' bag to deliver. Its a very important job!!

Christmas Arts and Crafts

We started off with some cute penguins. The children enjoyed this sticking activity which we displayed on some cotton wool snow in the corridor. We read some books about penguins and pufflings. We danced the winter freeze song.

The Gruffalo

The children loved this book. We made our very own Gruffalo's and we sang the Gruffalo song. We also read The Gruffalos Child.

Doctors surgery

Our Aistear theme was the Doctors Surgery. The children had a waiting area for patients and used their Drs bag and instruments to examine patients. We all took turns dressing up and even used dolls as patients.

Science week

We had great fun this week. The children carried out various experiments. Floating and sinking, mixing colours, magnets, rainbow skittles experiment.

We carved our pumpkin, turned off the lights and lit the candle while we said our scary Halloween poem.  Some children didnt want to put their hand in to take out the seeds and pulp ! Some loved the messy experience ! 
We also created a fun activity and used hammers to put golf tees into our pumpkin.  This exercise helps hand and eye co ordination and also strengthens muscles.  We played a fun game called 'pin the nose on the witch'  We used a blindfold for this game.  The children loved all our action songs for Halloween.

Look at our spooky Halloween Costumes !

Happy Halloween Everyone

Halloween preparations

The children are very busy with Halloween arts and crafts.  They painted pumpkins, made witches hats, hand print spiders, footprint ghosts and frankensteins, coloured bats and cauldrons and decorated real pumpkins. The children loved our frozen skulls and used pipets to melt and free the spiders !  There has been great excitement as WINNIE the witch visits our classroom and makes it more spooky each day.  We have a haunted house, a giant spider, broomsticks and spooky water for making potions.  We are singing lots of Halloween songs and reading spooky stories.

Activities

The children are kept very busy with lots of tabletop activities.  These include kenetic sand trays, sorting shapes, jigsaws, painting, colouring, pegs, playdough, rice trays, building with blocks and cubes.  Below is a selection of photos taken over the past few weeks.  

Yard Time

The children enjoy outdoor play each day.  We bring out some toys and games for them.  They especially like the mud kitchens and the bark and we get some great ' dinners ' made for us !!

Activity Time

We have lots of activities in the classroom such as painting, sticking, colouring, fine manipulative activities, hand and eye co-ordination, jigsaws, construction play, Imagination/creativity, playdough, role play, water and sand.  The children are loving all activities and getting a wide variety of play experiences.  Click below on the slideshow and have a look !!

Here are some photos taken during the first week. The children are free playing and have the choice to move freely around the classroom, engaging in play, making friends, exploring, discovering, laughing, and most importantly......having fun !!!

Making friends and settling in.

The first few weeks can always be unsettling especially when children don't know their surroundings.  We set up the classroom with a variety of toys, small world, cars, sand, water, construction, home corner and different tabletop activities.  This gave the children lots to choose from and the freedom to choose what they liked and where they felt most comfortable.  Some children took a week to settle and there were a few tears so a big thank you to the parents for being patient and trusting that given some time, their children would settle and feel safe and happy.
​We begin with a WELCOME SONG each day with the help of TEDDY.  This is a great way for the children to learn each others names and for them to get to know one another. 

First Day At School 

SAY CHEESE !!!!
The children enjoyed holding our ' First Day At School ' picture frame and posed for a photo.  
We thought this would be a lovely keep sake and photos will be provided in the coming weeks.