Junior Room

October 2023

Wainfest – Trip to Milford Library 

We were so excited to take our first bus trip of the year!! We all travelled to Milford Library to visit an author called Isla McGuckin. She is also Violet’s mum!! She wrote a storybook called April’s Garden. We got to listen to Isla reading her story and we had the opportunity to ask her some important questions about her book! Afterwards we took part in some Literacy Arts and Crafts together creating bookmarks for our books at home and creating pictures. We had a great time.

Maths Week

We had such a fun week this week celebrating Maths Week! We took part in really cool activities with our class mates. We learned so much while having plenty fun too….

Maths Eyes in our Environment

Here we are solving problems that can be seen in our environment every day! We can use our world around us to create and solve Maths problems! Here are some examples of what we were discussing including 2D and 3D shapes,  measuring speed in vehicles by looking at speedometers, using our tables’ skills to answer questions about number in pictures ….

Maths Art

We joined the Senior Room to complete Art using Maths. We looked at different angles, shapes and colours with the help of the senior room pupils. We really enjoyed creating masterpieces  and getting help from our older friends.

Maths Trail 

We completed a Maths Trail in our classroom and yard answering lots of different questions about Maths. We were very busy estimating, measuring and counting together. Here we are before we took off on our trail!

Maths Quiz

We invited the Senior Room into our classroom for a Maths Table Quiz to finish off our Maths Week in style. We got very competitive and really wanted our team to win!

September 2023

We are delighted to have our 3 new Junior Infants join us in Drumfad school. They have settled in so well and are really enjoying school so far! We can’t wait to show them around and get to know them!

Music with Moira

Moira has joined us again to teach us music every Thursday! We are learning about pitch, volume and we are using percussion instruments like Bells, Xylophones and Boom Whackers!!! Moira will help us to prepare a little piece for our Christmas play in December so look out for us on the stage!!

Basketball with Bernie

We are so happy to see Bernie back to teach us basketball again! We are learning so much about basketball skills: Jump stops, Triple Threat, Passes, Dribbles and most importantly communicating with each other and listening. We also had a lot of fun while being active!

Walk to school Week

Some of us walked, ran or scooted to school for Walk to School week. We also went on nature walk up the road beside our school together.

Aistear – Our Bodies/The Doctors/The Dentist 

For the month of September we have been learning all about Our Bodies during Aistear. We focused on The Doctor’s Surgery for 2 weeks followed by The Dentist for 2 weeks. We worked very well in our groups, learning, constructing and designing lots of creative and innovative things. We are so proud of our work!

Autumn

We have been learning all about Autumn during this month too! We created an Exploration Table in our room and brought in things from the yard and from home that we collected when we were out and about. We wrote all about Autumn and studied animals and what happens in nature during Autumn.

 

September 2022 

We are back in action in the junior room after a fantastic summer of events and activities. 

We welcome our new Junior Infants who have settled in very well and always meet me with a smile each morning.

Our theme this month has been “The Hospital”.

We have been exploring our own Letterkenny University Hospital- What it looks like? Who works there? What happens there?

Our Aistear stations of playdough, Construction, Role play and small world have brought us many ideas on ways to help the hospital.

We may even have some paramedics in the future.

School meals have begun in our school this year and it has been very exciting getting our lunch every day. We now use a water fountain to fill our water bottles rather than using a new plastic bottle each time which cuts down on our waste of plastic.

Múinteoir Moira has returned to our classroom on Friday mornings. We are really enjoying playing a number of percussion instruments as well as learning new notes.

On Monday the 19th of September we travelled to Ards Forest Park along with the senior room to meet Dale. He came all the way from Kildare to see us. We had lots of discovering the native trees of Ireland, their seeds and their leaves.

 

In Maths we have been having a fantastic time exploring our colours in Junior and Senior Infants as well as matching items. Junior Infants particularly enjoy playing our matching game together in pairs. Senior Infants have been challenging themselves into counting to 10.

On Thursday 28th September we had representatives from the Postal Bible School join us in school for a prize giving. After all the work we have completed in the past year they came to award us. We sang together and listened to a powerful story of Jonah. (not the one in the senior room).

As we move into October watch out for all our “Homes and Construction” Photos.

 

Basketball with Bernie

We were delighted to have Bernie back to teach us some fun skills with basketballs. We played some great games and worked on our dribbling, bounce passes, shooting and jump stops. We are all going to practise each skill over the summer holidays.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

The Junior Room brought in their favourite teddy bear or toy to school for a picnic. We spent the morning making Teddy Bear treats and then we brought the teddy bears out to the yard for some fun games, music and activities together. We had the best day!

Green Flag News!

Congratulations to the Green-Schools Team who achieved the 3rd Green Flag on Water Conservation after a lot of hard work! Have a look over at our Green Schools page for more information on what work they carried out to achieve the award.  Here we are celebrating all together! Well done everyone!

Spring Clean-Up

The children in Drumfad put on hi-vis jackets, rubber gloves , took some black bin bags and went on a walk around the roads surrounding their school. They filled around 6 bin bags of rubbish. It was shocking to see how much litter was thrown in to the hedges and bushes around our lovely area!

Drumming with Alan from Ulster Scots 

We began drumming lessons with Alan Laird from Ulster Scots for a few weeks. We thoroughly enjoyed Alan’s lessons about rhythm, beats and patterns.  We made lots of noise and had a great time. 

 

Drama lessons with Andrew

We began Drama lessons with Andrew from Ulster Scots. What a great lesson every week. We learmed how to improvise, how to bring stories to life and even a song at the end of the lesson.

 

Water Workshop with Aengus Kennedy

We had a fantastic day with Aengus Kennedy. First of all we  had a learning workshop in school in the morning. We learned some fun facts about Otters and some important information about Water Conservation that we will be implementing in our school. We then went to Drummonaghan Woords in Ramelton and had a nature walk through the woods. We then explored around the water fall and we made Nature Crowns. We were very ready for our lunch back on the bus when we were finished!! 

Seachtain na Gaeilge

We had great fun in Drumfad NS celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge.  We took part in art competitions, a quiz, powerpoint presentations about ourselves etc, made beautiful St. Patrick’s Day Art projects. 

 

World Book Day

We had a wonderful day celebrating World Book Day in Drumfad. We dressed up as our favourite characters from our favourite books. There were so many interesting costumes and a lot of work went into them! We took part in different activities like Paired Reading with the Senior Room, Quiz, designing book marks and other literacy activities. 

 

Pancake Tuesday

The Junior Room brought in a selection of toppings for the boys and girls at Drumfad to enjoy. The Senior Room children mixed the ingredients and cooked the pancakes for everyone to enjoy. What a lovely morning we had!!

 

Breakfast Morning

We had a very successful and enjoyable morning in February for our Breakfast morning in aid of Childline. We enjoyed some tasty cereals and toast.

 

Aistear: Spain

We spent the month of November learning all about Spain We learned about the food, hobbies, the location and other fun facts about Spain,

During Aistear we had some great architects helping with the construction of La Sagrada Familia which took 144 years to build, We even had the famous Antoni Gaudi in to help us 😀

We learned that the Spanish people love Paella! We created Paella in the most interesting ways…

We borrowed lots of lovely books from the library about Spain to read . We read lots of facts during DEAR time

We made Flamenco dresses at our Art station …

1st and 2nd class completed projects on Spain.

 

October  2021 

Manus had his final GAA session with us . He will be back with us in the new year. We great fun during his lessons and games.

Glenveagh

We had a great day out in Glenveagh before Halloween. We did lots of exploring for mini beasts, had a great forest walk, created with clay and did leaf and bark rubbings

 

June 2021 

On Tuesday 15th June we had a Teddy Bears Picnic.
We introduced each of our teddies to the group and enjoyed some sweet treats together.

On Monday 14th June we completed a number of gummy bear experiments.
We placed gummy bears in different solutions.

On Friday 11th June …. we had a bubble party! This was something very new and different. Using tin foil, soap and water we had amazing fun creating bubbles of different sizes.

On Thursday 10th June …. it was skipping day.

We used our new skipping elastics to learn new skipping rhymes and practise our coordination.

On Wednesday 9th June we had smoothies day!

For our last two weeks of school we have had a different day each day!
To start off on Tuesday the 8th June we had our Summer sports day at the beach! It was great fun.
We also had the great surprise of an ice cream van.

First and Second Class have had a very busy term. They each write their very own story!
They create their own storyline, characters, illustrations and front covers. They are amazing and I am very proud of their hard work and dedication to the task.

Our theme is Camping for the end of the year! With all the restrictions we have this year we are excited to be able to think of safe summer holidays.
In Aistear we have been exploring water, camp fires, beaches, and a huge role play areas of camping both indoors and outdoors.
Here are some of our activities. One of our favourites was using our water beads! They are so slippy!

May 2021

The Great Irish Bake off!
On Friday the 21st of May , we enjoyed coming together showcasing each of our baked goodies we made for our homework.
We were all so impressed that we couldn’t pick a winner as our star baker.
we enjoyed decorating our own cupcake made by Miss Gallagher! They were yummy.
Thank you for all donations and €100 was raised for our children’s hospitals .

As we finished up our theme of the Garden Centre we have looked back at all the learning activities which we have done and we are so thankful each of our plants have began to grow in our garden and each of our plants from the classroom so we can take some home.
Here are some of our favourite pictures.

This week we took our learning my doing our phonics outside using chalk! What fun!

As part of our Incredible Edibles project and our theme the garden centre we have explored the world of Honey Bees and Butterflies.
We were very thankful to some local bee keepers which allowed us to look inside a hive and all the equipment which is needed to look after bees.

We all went in search of some bees and butterflies in our local area!
Together very safely we walked over one of the very quiet country roads around our school and found many amazing examples.

This month we have been very observant and patient.
our Junior Infants have started their first independent reading books.
After lots of work on their phonics they are ready and very excited to start their reading like all the other boys and girls of the junior room. 

April 2021

This week we have been exploring the wonderful world of worms.
Our story Yucky worms has really inspired us.

In our small world area we used recycled pipe cleaners to create our own worms within the soil.

 

 

We constructed our very own worm hotels.

We got messy in our painting station. Creating patterns of worms using paints . It was very interesting mixing all of the paints together.

Our school garden has also got underway. We have now planted peas, carrots, onions, beetroot, salad leaves and lettuce in our vegetable patch.
In our flower garden we have also planted some pansies, foxgloves and other great pollination plants to help the bees.

Thursday 22nd of April was Earth Day!
To celebrate we got outside into the sunshine.
We discussed each part of the earth around us.

Taking inspiration from the earth we completed a number of sketches.

We in the junior room are delighted to be back in school this week.

This month we are learning all about the garden centre.
We are exploring what items we can find, how to plant seeds and creating our own gardens.

Our favourite activity of the week has been getting our hands dirty in the soil messy tray.

Our school garden has also undergone a transformation.
We now have the garden raised beds ready for planting.

In the coming weeks we hope to plant peas, carrots, lettuce,chives, parsley ,beetroot as well as many variety of flowers.

In English we have been reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk which has inspired many tasks, such as constructing castles and beanstalks.

 

March 2021

Yellow day for Daffodil Day 26th March 2021

On Friday 26th of March our school had a fantastic, bright yellow day in aid of the Irish Cancer Society.

We created our very own daffodils and raised much needed funds to help others who have cancer.

Easter -March 2021

Well done to all the boys and girls this term. We have been doing many different activities and have really been showing a great effort.

On Friday we had our very own Easter treasure challenge. Where we had to follow each of the clues.

We practised our fine motor skills when designing our Easter eggs. Using clothes pegs and pom poms we created many patterns and mixed our primary colours.

Fanad Clean up – March 25th

On Thursday 25th we completed our annual clean up of Drumfad. As part of the Fanad  Coastal clean up we picked up as much as litter from our roads as possible. Each of the children enjoyed coming up with ways we could also prevent litter in our local area!

Length- New Maths Topic

This week we have been learning about the topic of length. Junior and Senior infants went in search of short and tall, narrow and wide items in our local environment.

While 1st and 2nd used our metre strings to find anything which was greater than, less than and equal to 1 metre. We were amazed at the number of things which are around the school 1 metre in length.

St Patrick’s day

This year while there are no parades to celebrate St Patrick’s day, we decided to create our own.
1st and 2nd Class became very creative with recycled cardboard boxes and school supplies. They look fantastic.

While 1st and 2nd Class were very busy Junior and Senior infants created their own St Patrick’s day decorations. Using shamrocks, green paper and extra designer details.

I hope everyone enjoys a fantastic day!

World Book Day 2021

We were so happy to be in school this week for World Book Day!
We discussed lots of our favourite books and discovered many new authors.
Here are pictures of our costumes on the day! There was great competition.

Welcome back to school junior classes!

It has been fantastic getting back into school this week with Junior Infants to 2nd class.
This month we are learning all about the vets. With so many of our pupils living on farms and having pets, it is a very fitting theme.
This week we are looking at Vets on the farm. Every class is enjoying our story of Farmer Duck.

In Aistear we have four areas of role play, construction small world and play dough. The children are so very creative and exploring areas of looking after animals.

February 2021 

Welcome Spring!

This month we are learning about the season of Spring.
While at home we have been looking at how plants grow.  Many got outside and explored their local environment within their 5km.

1st and 2nd class examined report writing. It was amazing creating  mind maps and organising information into groups.  We focused our final report on frogs which was very informative.

January 2021

Happy New Year everyone!

This New Year has brought with it a new adventure of distance learning. This year we are using the platform Seesaw and Zoom! These are new to our class and we are learning many new tips and tricks together each day. We enjoy meeting each other virtually and seeing all our friends and teachers. Each day we can complete our work at home and upload it to our class Seesaw.

Our theme for January is the amazing Antarctica.

• We have been exploring the continents and winter animals such as penguin’s, seals and sea lions.
• We have investigated how to keep ice from melting and recalled the journey of great explorers such as Tom Crean and Captain Robert Falcon Scott.
• Stories such as “Snow Penguin”, “Sophie Scott goes South” and “Tom Crean” have aided our learning of this amazing continent. 
• We have kept fit and energised by following PE with Joe Wicks.
• We have also been writing our own diary entries about our time at home during this lockdown. We have focused on adjectives and writing in the first person.

 

Here are a number of examples of Antarctic work.

 

December 2020

As we come up to Christmas it has been very busy.

In our Elves workshop we have been busy wrapping, making and designing presents to help the elves.

We have designed our very own sleighs to help Santa be more efficient in travelling around the world.

We used our skills of letter writing to create Christmas cards for those at Fanad Day Centre, as we cannot go to sing for them this year. We designed each card ourselves and sent them using our post box.

During the month of December we began to think on those less fortunate than we are. There are many who are hungry and cannot afford to buy food.  Together we donated a wide variety of foods to donate to our local food bank in Letterkenny. We want to thank everyone who helped us with our food collection and it was received with open arms on the 22^nd of December.

As we could not hold our annual Christmas show this year we chose, practised and recorded a number of our favourite songs and poems for the first ever Drumfad Junior Room Virtual Carol Service. After many recordings we each one just right and sent home our Virtual Carol Service to each of our families.

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a happy new year!

 

Term 1

September to November 2020

This term has been incredibly unique and exciting with many things taking place to help us return safely.

As we started back to school in September we have new do many new things to keep us all safe and well. We try our best to keep ourselves and our areas clean and stay within our class pods.

We have also had lots of fun!

We have created our very own Post Office. It is here we have sorted mail, delivered packages and processed many applications for passports.

We made post boxes from our old cereal boxes. We chose our own numbers to put on them also.

We examined the parts of a letter. We wrote to Ms Nairn to ask her how she was and her new baby Sophia.

We began playing again with our friends with all of the amazing resources in our classroom.