Plan of Work for May 18th – 22nd Junior Infants

Ms Jean Cosgrove

English Oral Language: At this time in school, I would normally be

developing the children’s oral language with the intention of it being used in our roleplay area entitled ‘The Zoo.’ This could be set up at home if you have any toy zoo animals and maybe some lego or any building blocks to create the various areas in a zoo. Children go into role, acting out various scenarios and roles inside ‘Dublin Zoo’ on a busy morning when school tours are arriving.

There are four pieces of work to be submitted this week:

1. Sentence Writing 4

2. ‘en’ Worksheet 1

3. Busy at Maths Page 37

4. I also ask that your child reads the two books that I have assigned on Epic – ‘The Case of the Lost Cat’ and ‘The Case of the Lost Pup’. Please contact me if these books are too hard or too easy.

Or…Again this week, I have made 2 PowerPoints and they are up on the English section. These PowerPoints are of books that the children would have been reading in school at this time. One is called ‘Sam and Bingo’ and the other is called ‘Sam’s Balloon.’ If you view them ‘as a slideshow’ they look slightly more appealing!

Possible scenarios explored could be a tiger escaping its habitat or a baby elephant being born, etc.

‘The Zoo’ PowerPoints, word-searches and other activities are linked on website.

To coincide with this, I use the Rainbow Oral Language Programme by CJ Fallon. I would use Unit 13: The Jungle in the Junior Infant section and Unit 16: We’re Going to the Zoo on the Senior Infant section. This has become free to all teachers and parents and can be accessed through this link: https://rainbow.cjfallon.ie/#/

Oral Language Games: 1. ‘Headbands’ using animals (Children place picture of animal on their head and others must give clues in order to let the child guess what’s on their head, e.g. your animal has 2 legs, your animal lays eggs, etc. 2. ‘Pairs’ (I make 2 copies of animal pictures for this and all cards are placed upside down and are mixed up. Children take a turn to pick up 2 cards and have to make a match in order to keep their pair. The person with the most pairs at the end wins.

Tricky Words: live – give (I will attach the tricky word PowerPoint that I always use with the children on website. They also love the tricky words songs on YouTube which I will also attach.) Children also enjoy searching through story books and recording any tricky words they find on a whiteboard or sheet of paper.

Sentence writing: ‘Sentence Writing 4’ from Junior Infant page on website. *To be submitted. *When I am teaching the children to write, I aim to use the tricky words that they have covered mixed with words that they can sound out themselves, e.g. The lamp is blue, etc. There will also be times where you will have to spell words for them which is perfectly fine, e.g. blue. Keep it simple and work from there.*

(If a printer is not available, look at the sheet from laptop/iPad/phone and write them on a sheet or copy using the numbers from the sheet.)

Phonics: Word Family:

‘en’ - Children brainstorm words that end with ‘en’ and record them on a whiteboard/copybook/sheet of paper. Further resources on this will be found on Junior Infant page on website including a video. *‘en worksheet 1’ is to be submitted.* (If a printer is not available, look at the sheet from laptop/iPad/phone and write them on a sheet or copy using the numbers from the sheet.)

Handwriting: Instead of assigning handwriting pages, I would prefer if you would correct them on letter formation during the activities above.

Story: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (This will be available throughout the week on the website. I have to access the book in school on Monday.)

Reading: www.getepic.com

Two books for this week: ‘The Case of the Lost Cat’ and ‘The Case of the Lost Pup’ or PowerPoint of books linked on website. If your child has read these or they are too hard/easy please let me know.

Gaeilge (Irish) In March, Junior Infants were learning how to tell the

weather in Irish, this could be something they do orally when they get up in the morning.

Example: Tá/Níl sé fuar inniu. (It is/It isn’t cold today.) Tá/Níl sé fluich inniu. (It is/It isn’t wet today.) Tá/Níl sé te inniu. (It is/It isn’t hot today.) Tá/Níl sé tirim inniu. (It is/It isn’t dry today.) Tá/Níl an ghrian sa spéir. (The sun is/isn’t in the sky.)

New vocabulary: An Cistin (The Kitchen)

Cad atá ar an mbord? What is on the table?

- Tá leite ar an mbord. (There is porridge on the table.)- Tá bainne ar an mbord. (There is milk on the table.)- Tá oráiste ar an mbord. (There is an orange on the

table.)- Tá ubh ar an mbord. (There is an egg on the table.)- Tá im ar an mbord. (There is butter on the table.)- Tá subh ar an mbord. (There is jam on the table.)- Tá úll ar an mbord. (There is an apple on the table.)- Tá milseán ar an mbord. (There is a sweet on the

table.)- Tá banana ar an mbord. (There is a banana on the

table.)- Tá ceapaire ar an mbord. (There is a sandwich on the

table.)- Tá cáca ar an mbord. (There is cake on the table.)

*There is an Irish video on website to coincide with this. A new audio link has been put up on the website of some informal Irish that could be used throughout the day.*

Please Note: I have recently discovered that the Bua na Cainte software that the children use in school has become free to download during this period. It has to be downloaded onto a laptop. See picture below.

MathsTopic: Time - Page 37 in Busy at Maths Home/School Links Book. *To be submitted.

Please note:For the topic of Money, I would like you to split the topic into 2 weeks. Week 1: Recognition and Sorting of Coins Week 2: Counting Money

It is important that children have a good awareness of the value of each coin and what it looks like before they move onto counting money. If children have good exposure to recognition and value of coins, they will finding the counting of them much easier.

All resources for Week 1 will be on the website. If the children were at school, I would give them a big bundle of real coins – 1cent, 2cent and 5cent coins and let them become familiar with them through play (pretend shop or restaurant with cash register or empty lunchboxes). Then I would ask them to sort them into bundles of 1cent, 2cent and 5cent.

*Extra worksheets from the children’s Busy at Maths book at school are linked on the website. Games for Money are also linked there and can be played on a phone or laptop. Playing the game first can be useful before completing the worksheet.

General Counting Activities:

This is the adding machine. The children make up sums using and put that number of items down through the tubes to get their answer, e.g. 4+1=5. They can then record their answer on a whiteboard or sheet of paper. It can also help them find the answers to sums that are already written down.

This can be easily made using a hanger, wooden pegs and a marker. Children could make it themselves or parent could write the numbers on the pegs and ask the child to sequence them independently. These sort of activities are very effective when done daily in order to develop children’s concept of sequencing the number-line.

This is a counting stick. This could be made at home using the inside of a tin foil tube and paint. There are 10 sections and I place my hand on one section and ask the children to guess what number it would represent if it were a number-line. The children have to count up in their head to get the answer.

This is a tambourine. The children close their eyes and listen while I tap the tambourine a certain number of times. The children must count in their heads until I stop tapping and tell me the number they reached.

This is a tin and marbles. You could also use an empty jar. The children close their eyes and listen while I drop a certain number of marbles into the tin. The children must count in their heads until I stop dropping and tell me the number they reached.

This is the number-line that the children are used to seeing. I will link the printable document on the website. I use it to question the

children and ask them to use the number-line to get their answer, e.g. what number comes in between 5 and 7? Go to 4…take 2 jumps…

where did you land? Etc. If you don’t have a printer, children can make their own number-line.

SESE:

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly – All PowerPoints and resources are on the website. (Egg – Caterpillar - Chrysalis – Butterfly) *If the children were in school, I would normally order this kit online where 5 real caterpillars are sent to you in a jar. It also comes with a net. Children watch the caterpillars make their cocoons/chrysalis in the jar and then transfer them to the net where the butterflies emerge from the cocoons. This process takes place over a number of weeks. If you are interested, follow the link below but it is by no means vital! There are also plenty of videos on YouTube that show the life cycle! https://www.insectlore.co.uk/butterflies/live-butterfly-kits/butterfly-garden-with-3-5-live-caterpillars.html

Music: Song: I’m a Very Hungry Caterpillar… Video Link on website.

PE:

Virtual Explore Cavan Challenge – ALL resources on website.

Art

This is a matching/ordering activity that the children do independently. Counting the dots from 6-10 requires more patience and concentration

than 1-5. Children must point to each dot as they count it.

This could also easily be made at home.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Art:

Children print the body of a caterpillar using large marshmallows (see pic below the caterpillar). If you can’t your hands on large marshmallows, you could cut up a kitchen sponge. You don’t have to cut it out like the picture below, you could add grass, sun and clouds to the painting instead.

Religion Page 48 and 49: Welcomed with Water – Watch video link

from website and complete pages.

*I have a scrapbook for every child at school that contains a collection of work covered in History, Geography and Science since September. Please feel free to keep any work your child has done and I will stick it in when we return to school.*