Early Start
Early Start Online Learning
22nd of June – 29th of June, 2020
Could any parent who hasn’t yet completed an Application Form for Junior Infants, please contact Linda, our school secretary, at 086 344 4663 or at: officemarist@gmail.com.
Hello everybody! We have arrived at our final, full week of the school year! It has been a strange and uncertain year but we are so very proud of the way all the children have coped. If you would like to send us any more pictures of activities you have done recently, we would love to see them. You can contact us this week at:
maristearlystart@gmail.com
During our final full week in school, we would return to an animal theme but this time not the farm but the Zoo! We would set up a Zoo in the classroom using stuffed animal teddies and making a kiosk where the children could pay for their entrance tickets. You could do this at home by making tickets and using your stuffed toys. You may even have some animal costumes your child could dress up in! You might like to help your child draw a map of the zoo that shows them how to find their way around.
Dublin Zoo has reopened so you may even be able to visit it. If not you can take virtual tours of the zoo here: https://www.dublinzoo.ie/virtual-tours-2/
Most importantly, share language about the zoo with your child. Talk to your child about the zoo using words such as: tickets, entrance fee, opening times, tiger, lion, elephant, giraffe, rhinocerous, hippopotamus, monkey, gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan, leopard, snow leapard, lama, crocodile, alligator, habitat, zebras and so much more!
If we were in school, our DVD for Friday might be ‘Peppa Pig – The Zoo'. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG79NIO0x7w
The following stories would be good to share in connection with the Zoo theme:
· Dear Zoo: . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rudDGRQ9QGA
· This Zoo is Not For You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqW9IuCZsrw a rhyming story that will encourage chat about how we are all different and the need to be kind.
· The View at the Zoo: another rhyming story that describes well some of the things we see at the zoo and also makes us think about how maybe animals and humans aren't so different!
Social and Personal Development:
· Talk with your child about The Zoo. Is it good that we can visit them? Or is it sad that the animals are in cages? Are the animals taken care of well in the Zoo? Would they be better off in the wild or would they be less safe? Allow your child to explore how they feel and understand that others may have different feelings.
· Continue to use good manners.
· Take turns and listen.
· Encourage your child to show confidence and to be pleased with things they do.
· Play with others (if possible.)
· Continue to take turns, work with a partner and share, sometimes learning to compromise.
· Complete tasks independently; for example, getting dressed, tidying up, helping out at home, feeding themselves etc.
Language and Literacy:
· Role Play: create a zoo with staff, animals and visitors. Pretend to be the animals: what noises do they make? Pretend to be a zookeeper who feeds and takes care of the animals when sick and cleans their habitat too.
· Sing nursery rhymes:
o Five Little Monkeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0NHrFNZWh0
o The Bear Went Over the Mountain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCLjdL8g-8s
o We're Going to the Zoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FSqxFQlSGk
· Encourage your child to carry out two and three part commands, for example, “Can I have two tickets for the zoo please, a guide map and can you point me in the direction of the zebras?”
· Read books with your child. Encourage them to look at the print and to follow it with their finger as you read.
· Play a Zoo listening game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JA2yR8ZMzc
· Continue to develop fine motor skills, playing with jigsaws, constructing and building with toys, creating junk art, playing with playdough (rolling, squeezing, pinching), stringing or lacing cut up straws or pasta.
· Use pencils to colour pictures and to trace over straight and curvy lines with developing control.
· Use chalk and children’s scissors.
· Encourage your child to recognise their own name in print. Write it down for them along with some other names, can they identify theirs?
· Help your child to start writing their name (in lower case letters, using a capital letter only for the first letter) by tracing over what you have already written in a thicker pen (like a highlighter.) Guide them by showing the correct direction to follow when writing individual letters.
Mathematical Development:
· Practice counting and recognising numbers: https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/hideseek/
· Play a memory game: http://www.literactive.com/Download/live.asp?swf=story_files/sequence_game_US.swf.
· Continue to use positional language such as: in front, behind, next to, below, above, under, beside, beneath, on top etc.
· Revise basic 2D shapes: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns
· Revise colours, copy patterns and explore 3D shapes: http://resources.hwb.wales.gov.uk/VTC/building_game/eng/Introduction/Plenary.htm
· Understand short and long and practise sorting animals: http://resources.hwb.wales.gov.uk/VTC/the_zoo/eng/Introduction/mainsession1.htm
· Practise sorting and understanding 'least' and 'most': https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/hats/
Creative Development:
· Sing nursery rhymes:
o Five Little Monkeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0NHrFNZWh0
o The Bear Went Over the Mountain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCLjdL8g-8s
o We're Going to the Zoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FSqxFQlSGk
· Role play in the Zoo or any other role play corner that you create.
· Create a paper plate zoo animal: https://homeschoolpreschool.net/zoo-animal-paper-plate-crafts/
· Colour in a picture: https://www.coloring.ws/animals.html
· Make a paper cup snake: https://www.ohcrafts.net/kids-paper-cups-snake.php
· Create a handprint lion: https://www.iheartartsncrafts.com/handprint-lion-card-kids-craft-youre-rawr-able/
Physical Development:
· Create an obstacle course at home.
· Kids Zoo Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7kUDFRV5ZA
· Continue to compete in races: running, fast walking, jumping, egg and spoon, relay races etc.
· Dance along to Go Noodle Animal Instincts Mega Mix!: https://family.gonoodle.com/activities/animal-instincts
Some Useful Links:
· https://thekidshouldseethis.com/tagged/animals
· https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/videos/amazing-animals/
Well done boys and girls for all you have achieved since 12th March! We have seen some wonderful work from you and we are delighted that you have stayed safe and helped your family over the last three months. We are so proud of you! We hope to speak to each of you before Tuesday 30th to catch up and wish you all the best for the summer.
Have a great week!
Miss Leacy, Miss Murray, Breda and Susan
