Christmas Reading Challenge

Ms. McDonagh's class are in the middle of a reading challenge! We started it a few weeks ago to try and read more and more books! We all had to set our own target with our parents and try our best to reach that, we all have different targets. We have a record sheet that we must record the books we read and an adult must sign it to say it has been read. We have D.E.A.R (Drop Everything and Read) time in school nearly every day so if a parent hasn't seen us read the book maybe ask us questions just to see how well we understood the story. We are going to have a lovely afternoon in school on the 11th of December to mark the end of the Christmas Reading Challenge for the boys who have really tried their best with their reading. 

I have seen a great improvement in a lot of boys reading and we are really enjoying books more! Keep up the fantastic work boys!

Reading Folders

The reading folders have been going home for the last few weeks. We get a new book on a Monday and we have the book for the week. Try and follow the laminated sheet that accompanies the book in the reading folder. This sheet outlines how to work on the specific strategy for the week.

We would like you to break the reader up each night rather than reading it all in one go. This may change during the year. Parents, please remember to sign the sheet every Thursday and put it back in the folder for checking on Friday.

Questioning

We are also learning about the comprehension strategy called Questioning. We are still practising using this strategy in school.

If we ask questions before, during and after we read it helps us to think more about what we read, help us to organise what we are thinking and find certain information we need to help us understand what we read. If we ask ourselves questions as we read it helps us to focus on the text.

We are making up our own questions as we read. Some of these questions can be answered in the story, but some are not, and that is okay because we can read between the lines and make some predictions, or we could try and find out the answer by researching it more.

We are using 'I wonder' questions a lot. Our hand signal for this strategy is a 'W' with our hands to show 'I wonder'.

Comprehension Strategy - Predicting

A strategy is a plan. When footballers are playing a match they have a strategy in place, they have a plan of action. Good readers have a plan when they read as well.

One of the strategies we have been learning about is predicting. Predicting is when we think about what might happen next in a story. We use the title, pictures, our prior knowledge and the information the author gives us as clues to make a good guess about what the story might be about or what might happen next. We can make predictions before reading, during our reading and after reading.

If we make predictions about the story we want to find out what is going to happen and check if our predictions were right. We know that our predictions will not always be right and that is okay.

This is our hand signal that we are going to use in school when we have a prediction to make. We can use it at home too when we are reading. We make the letter P with our hands.

School calendars for sale

The school calendars will be going on sale on the 20th November. They cost €5 each and can be bought in the office.

pencil grips

 

Two transition year boys from Coláiste Éanna came to our classroom on Wednesday and explained the use of these pencil grips to the boys. They are intended to encourage young writers to use the correct grip when writing. They are €2 each and the students will be back this week with their pencil grips if any children are interested in purchasing.

Stay Safe Programme

The Stay Safe lessons for 2nd class expand and develop the personal safety concepts and skills taught at previous levels. The children learn how to differentiate between 'Yes' and 'No' feelings, acknowledge who their helpers are, learn how to deal with strangers and understand what good and bad secrets are.

 

When a Stay Safe lesson has been covered in class, we will be sending home the related worksheet to be completed and signed at home. These sheets will always be accompanied by a note, explaining what we did and how the topic could be explored further at home.

 

Please find below a link to the Stay Safe Parents' Guide .

 

http://www.staysafe.ie/PDFs/Parents/Stay%20Safe-Parents%20Guide.pdf

Lego Workshop

What a fantastic afternoon the two 2nd classes had today!! We went to the library and learned all about building robots out of Lego! Ms. Fannin's class worked in teams to create a moving, jaw-snapping alligator while Ms. McDonagh's class made a moving plane!! Rob and Niamh were great instructors and we all got our 'toys' finished just in the nick of time.

Learnit was the name of the company and they have a website where you can find further information on their services. www.learnit.ie

Maths games

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/counting

The link above is a great resource for our budding mathematicians to use at home when homework is finished or as a tool for reinforcement if a topic is proving to be challenging.

Remember that mums and dads can encourage children to find maths everywhere and to use maths language as often as possible e.g. look at the portion sizes for dinner...who eats the most?!!