We were very busy during science week in first and second class. We read a story a day about different scientists- Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell. 

We completed two science experiments-one with hot chocolate and the other was lava lamp making. 

We completed numerous stem activities including-catapults, marble mazes, box designing and dream house floor planning. We read some great books to whet our appetites-If I Built a House and Marshall Mellow.

IMG_4784

In first and second class, twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the children participate in imagination stations.

These are based on our theme for the month whic for September, was Growing Up in Ireland.

We learned about Ross Castle, the different amenities in our area and all about growing up in Ireland.

The imagination stations are both play based and inquiry based in nature. There is usually a creative area, junk art area, small world area and a construction area.

Children are free to go to whichever area they like. Most recently, we have designed a new bridge for Mountnugent, created our own Ross Castle and imagined what life was like in Mountnugent 100 years ago.

We focused on the strand of drawing in September in our art lessons and had plenty of opportunities to explore and develop our skills. 
We read the story, The Dot by Peter Reynolds and we responded to the story through drawing the endless possibilities of one black dot. 
We made self portraits with lovely colourful backgrounds too.
Our artist of the month was the street artist Banksy and we learned about his fascinating pieces including the shredding of his piece of art at an auction. 
We created our own version of ‘Girl with Balloon’ using he original for inspiration. 

We have been busy in First and Second creating some Spring Art. 

Two topics we have explored in January are data and time. We took part in some fun activities to consolidate the learning 

We have been taking part in phonics stations the past few weeks. There are five groups and each group completes a sound a day. We are covering a variety of phonics-magic e, vowel teams, digraphs, inflections and blends. 

For imagination stations at the beginning of January, we focused on winter and its effect on the world around us. We made bird feeders, designed an ice rink for Mountnugent and incorporated wellbeing week into our art activities when we painted a time we were happy. 

As part of our topic on responsible shopping, we have been learning about Moore Street.
The children then got a change to create their own stalls during Imagination Stations.
We’ve also been learning the words to Molly Malone too.  

Imagination Stations take place three afternoons a week and include art, design and make, maths, co -operation and collaboration activities. 

We have a topic a month and some of the topics covered between September and December are Community, Homes, Carong for the Sick and Antarctica. 

We explore inquiry based learning through play which is great for oral language development too. 

Imagination Stations have been a huge hit in 1st and 2nd. Three days a week we incorporate all curriculum subjects into these  stations. We are building our team work, problem solving and our creativity during this time. 
We base our stations loosely around our monthly theme. Check out below some examples of what we’ve been getting up to.