This term has been shorter than normal and the girls have been busy in all subject areas. They love to get outside and get their hands stuck into learning. I think they will all deserve a really happy St. Patrick’s day, and Easter break is just around the corner too.
We have covered a lot in Maths this term. We like group work and learning from each other. The girls learned how to estimate, and then measure capacity while keeping a tally. We also moved on to bigger numbers and learned about place value – 10 units = 1 ten, 10 tens = 1 hundred, 100 units = 1 hundred. Using hands on materials, the girls could see the differences. It also made adding and subtracting easier. Strangely enough, the units (love heart sweets) disappeared soon after!! More work in Place Value and Capacity helped the children have better estimates too. How many cups (units) to fill a jug (tens), how many jugs (tens) to fill a basin (hundreds).
We moved on to weight too and had fun measuring, comparing, balancing, estimating, before moving on to weighing scales finding greater than, equal to and less than 250g, 500g, 750g, 1000g/1Kg. When we were learning about time, we made sundials and placed them in the yard at different times of the day to see how time was told years ago. We learned about Spatial Awareness too and created routes around our school, giving instructions and following instructions.
Finally, the girls have been learning about Area, Length and Capacity and how to measure using non-standard and standard units of measure. We also went on a school 3D maths trail to find as many 3D shapes as we could in our school surrounding.
In Geography the girls learned about direction. This linked in nicely with our Maths lesson. We then learned how to use a compass and went outside to give and follow instructions.
The girls got creative in Science and used many materials to create different sounds – high and low pitch. They worked in teams to plan and choose their materials and then set to work to make and create. I think we all had a headache going home on this day!!
We also were learning about Force in in Science and how air and water can exert force. But instead of telling the girls what air and water can do, the girls were given materials and some vocabulary. They had to discover ways that air and water could make things move or float. And also how to make things stronger.
We looked at Friction also and used various surfaces and toy cars to investigate where there was more or less friction.
In Geography we learned about the Water Cycle and we carried out an experiment where the girls could see the different parts of the cycle – Condensation, Precipitation, Collection, Evaporation. We also dramatised it which was very entertaining!
The girls had so much energy in our PE class where we did Creative Dance for 6 weeks. Well done on your creativity, partner and team work.
The girls created some lovely clay pieces in Art this term which linked in with our other theme of transport. To experiment and become familiar with working with clay, they created a pinch pot. The following week, they could choose a form of transport to shape and finally they created a fossil of some toy vehicles. To finish, we spray varnished them to take them home. Here is a video reel of all their work – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_TgwSVQzaHoBpcJfxnRItOI3T70h320T/view?usp=drive_link
The girls got creative with Fabric and various other materials to create Dreamcatchers. They were very good to follow directions and create individual pieces to hang at home.
And finally, here are a few snippets of some special celebratory days in Term 2 – Little Red Kettle, Pancake Tuesday, World Book day, Safer Internet day, Irish dancing in the Little Sisters, St. Patrick’s school celebrations. Here is a video clip of the girls dancing in the Little Sisters.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_UAUnKgBcFzaaXQHoxmSVRRVLdo-kY5V/view?usp=drive_link
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone.
Mrs. Power
