Fáilte Romhaibh!
Oiche Eolas
• Insight into your child’s first year at
school
• Practical guidance on how you can help
your child.
Happy at School
• Happy child = more effective learning
• Positive experience of school in Junior
Infants
Parents
• “parents are the child's primary educators, and
the life of the home is the most potent factor in
his or her development during the primary school
years". (Primary School Curriculum Introduction, p.21)
• How did your parents involvement in your learning
influence you?
• Home + school = learning
Lá Scoile
• 9:00am – 9:15am Supervision in the líne
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(straight into líne* - treehouse & balancing
beam are out of bounds before school)
9:15am School bell
1. Cóta 2. Mála & bosca lóin 3. H.W. Journals
9.20am school begins
11.00am – 11.10am: sos
12.30pm – 1.00pm: lón
2.00pm: Am dul abhaile**
(write note in diary if alternative arrangements)
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Wet days: Mr. Mahony’s room
** Pick up @ 2pm from back gate – collect your child from shelter area
Curriculum
1. Gaeilge: oral language, CD., puppet. Use simple
phrases at home - confidence.
2. English: oral language, Jolly Phonics
& handwriting.
3. Maths: Curriculum covers 0 - 5. Hands on,
practical. Incorporate into daily life – shape,
time, length, money.
4. SESE – History, Geography and Science
5. Arts – Art, Drama & Music
6. P.E. Wednesdays
7. SPHE (Social Personal Health Education)
Religion - Alive O.
Play is Important!
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Aistear ( 0-6 yrs.)
Framework.
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Highlights the critical roles of play, relationships and
language for young children’s learning.
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Part of daily timetable.
Different types of play; constructive,
manipulative, creative, sand, small world,
roleplay.
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The Early Childhood Curriculum
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Children learn through play – develop
fine and gross motor skills; a time for
thinking, communicating, developing relationships,
problem solving, planning, investigating, experimenting,
practising.
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www.ncca.ie
Classroom Management
• Emphasis is on rewarding positive behaviour. Focus
on children being good.
• Children organised in groups; glas, gorm, buí, dearg,
corcra and oráiste. (30 children in Ms. Glynn’s: 13
girls, 17 boys, and 2 boys in Ms. Lennon’s special
class who will join us at various times throughout
the week)
• Group and whole class rewards
• Timeout (thinking chair!)
• Dalta na Seachtaine - ar an Aoine.
Independence Builds Confidence
Everyday tasks/skills
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Hang up coat
Put on coat when sleeves inside out
Fasten/zip coat
Put on shoes (*velcro shoes best for infants)
Open homework diary on correct page
Open & close ziplock folder and place A4 page/HW
journal inside
Open and close lunchboxes/drinks bottles
Pierce drink with straw
Open yogurts, packets (frubes not allowed in
infants)
Open fruit (bananas, oranges)
Recognise their own name (twistables etc.)
Sharpen a pencil
Flush toilet and wash hands
Look after belongings, no scribbling on books or
book labels etc.
Obair bhaile
• Reinforce and consolidate some of the work
done in school
• 10 minutes *
• Sign homework notebook
• Communication tool – diaries are checked
every day
Communication
Home
School
• Write a note in homework diary
• Sign notes
• Quick word in morning or after
school
• Arrange an appointment
Learning
Learning to Read and Write
Jolly Phonics
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Fun, multi-sensory approach to teaching
literacy.
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foundation for reading and writing.
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International research: the best
multisensory method of teaching
phonics. Actions, stories and songs
make it very motivating for children.
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After one year’s teaching, children
taught with Jolly Phonics have an
average reading age around 12 months
ahead of their actual age.
Jolly Phonics
- 42 main sounds are taught in a specific order (not
alphabetically).
-This enables children to begin building words as early as
possible. (s,a,t,i,p,n = sat, tip, pin, tap, sit …)
Five key skills for reading and writing
1. Learning the letter sounds
2. Learning letter formation
3. Blending (blend sounds together to read new words
e.g. /c/ - /a/ - /t/ =_______)
4. Identifying the sounds in words (Segmenting)
Listening for the sounds in words helps children
with spelling.
5.Tricky words irregular spellings that children have
to learn.
Letter Sounds
Jolly Phonics – Overview
Term 1
-learning majority of 42 sounds
-letter formation (pencil grip, fine motor
control)
-blending sounds to read words (wordlists)
-‘Tricky words’
Term 2
-handwriting
-graded readers; 1 per week
-completion and revision of sounds
-blending
-Tricky words
Term 3
-graded readers; 2 per week
-alternative letter sound spellings
-independent writing; short stories
Jolly Phonics at Home
• Revise new sound (action, song, CD). Cut sound/
tricky word from sheet and add to box.
• Revise sounds/ tricky words previously learned.
• JP Workbook 1; say the sound, colour picture,
practise letter formation, complete activity
(pictures), blend the sounds to read words.
• Monitor pencil grip.
• Encourage reading. Read with your child.
Starting to write
• Good muscle and fine motor control is
important for good handwriting.
• Activities:
-Colouring, drawing, painting, cutting
-Manipulating materials such as márla,
jigsaws, threading and using stencils.
• Posture, hand/arm/wrist position.
• Pencil grip: froggy legs/ tripod
• Common mistakes:
-thumb/index finger overlap
-3rd finger on pencil
Pencil Grip
• Tripod grip
• ‘froggy legs’
movement
Staff working with Junior
Infants
 Additional support from Learning
Support Staff
 Aim:
– address the needs of children finding
particular concepts difficult to grasp
– challenge children who grasp specific
concepts quickly
Assessment
 Continuous informal assessment
 Assessments in literacy and
numeracy at end of each term
 Parent-Teacher meeting in February
 End of year written report
 Standardised testing in Senior
Infants
Other bits and pieces
 Toys (e.g.Toy cars/tractors/Lego)
 Larger toys e.g. Kitchen/workstation
 Costumes
 Questions