Welcome to the page for the Junior Classroom where Junior Infants to Second Class work side by side. It’s a busy room, but I absolutely love teaching here! Many people often ask me how on earth you can teach 4 classes together. If you’ve not been to a small school yourself it can be hard to imagine. It certainly involves a lot of planning! But I have to say there are many benefits for the children learning in a multi-class environment which make the juggling very worthwhile. I am always very happy to talk to parents to explain how it works.
I will update the page as we go through the year so you can see what the children are up to. You can also follow the class on Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter
But in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the scenes from autumn 2015 so far.
We returned to school on August 31st. The day beforehand I called in to finish the last preparations for the start of term. It was the last time my class was so silent!
The calm before the excitement!
9.15am on the first day
All the classes side by side beavering away.
Within 2 days our two newbie Junior infants were flying ahead with Jolly Phonics. This is the smallest group I’ve ever had! So needless to say they get LOTS of attention!
Learning with jolly Phonics on the Interactive Whiteboard
Searching for sounds with Jolly Phonics
Our school playing field had a super crop of blackberries on the brambles along the perimeter this year. We spent one very happy lunch break picking berries for everyone.
Assessing where to pick the best crop!
We found some fabulous juicy berries.
This September we once again held a coffee morning for Marymount Hospice in the school. Each year this has been a wonderful occasion and an opportunity for the whole school community to come together at the start of the school year, while raising funds for a truly worthy cause. It’s also an excuse to get baking in the classroom! Maths, English, Gaeilge, Science, SPHE and a whole lot of fun all wrapped up in one.
We loved making Rice Krispie buns.
Licking our lips!!
Rinne Rang 2 borróga blasta iad féin.
The whole classroom smelled of chocolate.
And the best part is licking the spoon!
Baking selfie. Great fun!
There was a super crowd for the coffee morning and we raised €800 for Marymount! We would like to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who came and donated so generously. Schools are so often looking to raise funds for ourselves, it’s just fantastic when we can raise money like this for other people too.
We had such fun and raised €800!!
Of course it’s not all countryside walks and Rice Krispie buns!! We work really hard each day, but it’s not always book-based either. Sometimes we do reading with things like Readers’ Theatre instead of the textbooks for a few days. It’s fabulous fun and a really motivating way to apply the reading skills we’re learning. I have a class of Oscar Nominees I think!
Readers Theatre
Our Parents’ Association has been marvellous in funding and supplying computers and laptops for the school. We have a computer corner in the classroom where each group work every day. Phonics, maths, typing, Gaeilge and reading all seem fun when they’re tied up in a computer game!
Taking our turns in the computer corner.
We had one week where almost everything we did had apples as a theme. We used apples for everything from maths to History. And we ate them too. Yum! Luckily we had a super supply of apples just outside the window in the school garden. It was great fun picking the apples together.
Printing during Apple Week
Bhí na h’úlla blasta.
Some apples were fairly high!
Each year at the start of term we go over the Safe Cross Code. Everyone passed with flying colours!
What step of the Safe Cross Code is this?
We will always take care on the road.
We all had a super Halloween and the build-up in school is always lots of fun.
Mise an chailleach ghránna!
The corridors were full of Halloween art
Coinnle agus báirín breac.
Bhí an-spórt againn ag ullmhú le h’aghaidh Oíche Shamhna.
Bhí an-spórt againn ag ullmhú le h’aghaidh Oíche Shamhna.
Emily, Ally and Caoimhe make it to the paper! Here they are seen at the Cork Pops Orchestra at the Cork City Hall recently. It’s a annual trip for the school and one which they all enjoy.
Every Friday Gareth comes out and trains us rugby. He is from New Zealand.
Garda Lynch visits us and talks to us about internet and road safety.
Here is a picture of Alfie the tortoise. We had a really fun day at Roald Dahl day. We all dressed up.
Garda Lynch comes to school to tell us about the safe cross code. He tells us to be safe around roads and remember you need the code to cross the road!!!
For the Green Flag, we all are coming up with energy saving ideas. We are hoping to get the Green Flag.
The children in Gurrane N.S. really enjoyed the fantastic music at the Cork pops orchestra. There was also brilliant singing and lots of amazing instruments to look and listen to.
It’s a few weeks into the school term and our Junior Infants have settled in well into their new environment. Here they are with their parents on their First Day! We would like to extend a warm welcome to them and hope they enjoy their years in Gurrane school, we are sure they will love …
The children in the Junior Room were enjoying a story recently called “Old Bear” by June Hissey. It tells the tale of how Old Bear was put into the attic for safe keeping when the children were small. but now the children are older the other toys wonder if there is some way they …
We were delighted to have local historian Barry O’ Mahony to visit the school recently. He came and entertained us all with wonderful Cork history. We were amazed to learn about the Kinsale Giant, Patrick Cotter. He was born in 1761 and when he was fully grown he was 2.5m tall! Come into the classroom …