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April 2023
Under the Sea
From April 17th to May 12th we are learning all about Under the Sea. We are exploring the shipwreck of the Laurentic, The sea life of the Great Barrier Reef, testing the capacity of fish tanks, exploring in the sand and constructing our very own sea life. This is an amazing topic which has really captured the imagination of the Junior pupils.
Drumming with Alan and the Ulster Scots
Drumming has commenced again at Drumfad. We are delighted to have Alan come and join us each week from the Ulster Scots teaching the children the skill of drumming. Each week we are practising and the children really look forward to it.
GAA with Manus
The children are delighted that Manus has returned from Donegal GAA to give lessons to the children in both the Junior and Senior room. On a Tuesday morning the children are outside learning ball handling skills, methods of travelling as well as practising their fundamental movement skills of running, balancing jumping. They are really enjoying themselves and look forward to Manus coming each week.
March 2023
Aengus Returns for Scooter Week (Scoot to School Green Schools)
On Monday 27th March Aengus returned to Drumfad for a scooter day.
First we talked about how we are working towards our travel flag. We showed him our new bird feeders and discussed all the different types of birds which we have seen using them. We went out to our new compost bin and examined how the compost was being made using our skins of fruit and paper shredding.
Then we went on a walk around the school grounds. We explored each of the trees in our playground which are just beginning to shows buds. We cut a number of branches to show the how the roots form over the next few days.
Next it was onto helmet safety. Each of the children took out their helmets. Aengus talked to us about his experiences of helmet safety and how important it is to always wear our helmets when on our bikes as well as our scooters. Each of the children were fitted for their helmet and straps tightened correctly.
Afterwards it was time to get scooting outside. We were taught the correct way to put your feet on the scooter. We practised taking off and our emergency stops. We began following cones to make right hand turns and then left hand turns before picking up the pace, getting faster and faster.
Each of the children had a fantastic day and we thank Aengus for coming to show us his scooter skills.
Jarla returns to Drumfad NS
On Tuesday the 21st of March Jarla the artist returned to our school.
We had a fantastic morning learning to draw a variety of cartoon characters.
We listened carefully to all of Jarla’s instructions and learned many new drawing techniques.
When we were finished he then gave his 4 drawings away to 4 lucky pupils in the junior room.
It was amazing and we hope to keep practising these drawing techniques over the next term.
St Patricks Day Parade
On Thursday the 16th of March we celebrated St Patricks Day together by creating our own creative floats.
1st to 6th class worked together so hard to bring their ideas to life.
With the brilliant weather outside we brought our parade to the playground.
Afterwards we completed a St Patricks Day kahoot quit to recall our learning of the week.
Súgradh le Chéile
Gymnastic Training with Citadel
Seachtain na Gaeilge
De Luan, Rinne muid poster Gaeilge faoi nadúr Fhanáid.
De mháirt , Chuaigh muid go dtí an leabharlann i mBaile na nGalloglach.
De Cheadaoin, Lé chéile lena pháistí on seomra mhór, Rinne muid Trath na gceist.
Trip to Milford Library and Garda Station
On Thursday 2nd March we were very fortunate to go to Milford Garda Station. There we were met by two Garda who showed us around the station.
We got inside each of the interview rooms, got locked into the cells, examined the patrol car and van and explored all the equipment which they have to use each and every day. It was AMAZING!.
Afterwards we walked down to Milford Library to celebrate world book day.
World Book Day Extravaganza!
Look at all our costumes. We had a fantastic day celebrating reading, books and our favourite characters.
February 2023
February the month of pancakes and great fun!
Pancake Tuesday was a great success.
We enjoyed decorating our very own pancakes. The senior room were very kind and made us one each. The 6th class girls were excellent in showing us how to make the batter and weigh out all of the ingredients.
In Gaeilge bhí muid ag saint agus ag comhrá faoi pancòga.
Scríobh muid abairtí faoi ár bpancóga.
Aistear theme this month is Italy.
We have been exploring a new European country which no one in our class has been too before.
We talked about mountains and rivers in it.
We took a virtual tour of the capital city of Rome.
We discovered the volcano of Mount Vesuvius.
We also completed great procedural writing while we made some exciting Italian treats.
1st and 2nd class took great initiative during our SESE lessons and completed a project with a partner. Our themes were food of Italy, famous buildings of Italy and Famous people of Italy.
They were amazing and presented them to their class with great confidence.
We took great inspiration from a famous Italian artist Michelangelo. We painted upside down.
One of his most famous paintings is the ceiling of Sistine Chapel. He painted this upside down lying on scaffolding.
So we painted upside down our very own paintings. It was a lot harder than we thought. It taught us a great skill of only using a little paint at a time.
January 2023
January has been an exciting month for everyone in the junior classroom.
We have started swimming 🙂
We are very exited to get learning a new skill and developing our swimming skills from last year for the older classes.
The first week we had lots of fun and everyone came home with great big smiles but tired eyes.
Our theme for this month is Clothes. We have our very own clothes shop in our classroom and really enjoy our role play time here. We are constructing shops, new changing rooms, people with clothes and clothing rails. We are also using lots of coins and learning how to give the correct money but also receiving change.
With the winter weather still here, we explored all the clothes we wear at different times of the year.
Winter mittens and hat are our favourite!
Time
This month 1st and 2nd class are focusing on telling the time. We are using o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter too. We found this challenging at the beginning but having our classroom clock makes it a lot easier for everyone.
Snow Days
Children in the Junior classroom had so much fun outside in the snow over a few bad weather days this month.
We took inspiration from these and created our own stories partnering with the Senior Classroom.
It was great fun. We even had some hot chocolate to help our imagination.
December 2022
Christmas Play
Santa’s Workshop
November 2022
We are back at school again and full of energy for the weeks coming up to Christmas.
We are working very hard on our theme of Space!
We know a lot already look at out KWL Chart.
We have changed our Role play area and have our new space station which we love!
We read the story “A way back home” by Oliver Jeffers this week and we took inspiration from his illustrations in our art this week.
Science week has been a great adventure for us in November.
We were very lucky to have the opportunity to go to the ATU for a science show.
Junior Infants have begun their phonics this week!
We are working all on the letter “s”. We are very proud of their work and how hard they have worked to learn about the letter sound “s”.
1st Class have been working very hard on their maths this week! Focusing on numbers 15-20.
We have started our workshops on Mindfulness for our school.
We have welcomed Karen Mc Hugh to our class and look forward to our lessons over the next four weeks. Here we are making our Monkey Minds.
On Fridays we also have Muinteoir Triona with us for song singing. We are throughly enjoying every minute!
Well done to our Credit Union Winners for this year. We are very proud of you all.
Over this term the entire school has been super busy with our reading partners programme.
It has been very exciting reading with the senior room each week.
Maths Week 2022
Maths week is one of our favourite in the Junior Room.
On Monday we completed maths riddles along with a maths quiz with Junior Infants being our winners.
On Tuesday we complete a class shape hunt. We got out into our local environment and had a great time. We were able to find so many different shapes. 1st and 2nd class were great leaders and aided the junior infants and senior infants very well.
On Wednesday we create our potions ingredients list. We counted the number of syringes of each liquid we needed as well as other items. Each of the children created their own with 1st and 2nd class using numerals while junior and senior infants drew each of the ingredients they liked.
On Thursday we followed a maths trail around the school. Many new discoveries were made and we found numerals in many different places.
On Friday it was potion day! After break time we cleared our desks. We opened out our recycled plastic bags and began creating our potions using our ingredients lists from Wednesday. This was an amazing activity which everyone enjoyed even our teacher Ms Gallagher.
October 2022
This month we are exploring all things Homes and Houses.
We have been examining the shape and style of homes, how homes have been built.
We created our own homes using materials and items we found in our classroom.
The Architects office has been very busy and many new houses both big and small are being designed by our team of experts.
Animal homes have been a very interesting part of our study.
Our messy play sand area has been one of our favourites. Our JCB diggers, dumpers and cement lorry has been very busy making driveways for our houses, foundations for houses and even a playground.
We have chose our favourite rooms in our house and chose all the items which we find there.
In Maths we have been adding many different numbers together and challenging ourselves to become experts.
Junior Infants have had a super time exploring matching items of colour and style together. We have not realised how many different colours we have in our classroom.
I nGaeilge Tá muid ag foghlaim focail faoi An Picnic agus An Bosca Lóin. Is maith linn a lán bia mí-shlaintiúl.
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 22nd 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.
