Ourselves September 2021

Welcome to Primary 1 and 2!!

Our topic this month is all about ‘Ourselves’.

We will be learning about Ourselves as a baby and how we have grown up to be a toddler and now a child in P.1 and p.2. We will also learn how important family life is and how to eat healthily.

The children will paint portraits and use play dough to make faces. They will make a life size model of a P.1 child. We will also build homes with lego, mobilo and stickle bricks. At table top the children will cut and stick mum, dad and baby pictures. During talking and listening we will listen to and carry out instructions learning about our body.

In Number we will learn about sorting and the numbers 0,1 and 2,3. P.2’s will work on numbers 10 and 11.

Each week we will be looking after our ‘Mental Health’ through the ‘Helping Hands ‘ programme.

We will have PE daily. We will follow the ‘Grow in love’ programme for September.

October  - Fruit and Vegetables & Autumn.

Our topic during this month of October will be focussing on Autumn and then moving on to Fruit and Vegetables. The children will be developing their knowledge and skills through a variety of play experiences in cluding-: The Fruit &  Vegetable shop/weighing with scales and using money. In the house corner we will introduce cooking utensils. We will make hedgehogs. We will make patterns using fruit /vegetables, also doing experiments with these on floating and sinking. We will explore healthy and non- healthy foods and also sort different types of leaves.

Through World Around Us we will be learning about Autumnal changes, characteristics of Autumn, how the leaves change colours , different clothes we wear in the seasons and the weather. We will learn about different types of fruit and vegetables and make a pictogram of favourite fruit and vegetables. Mr Mc Veigh is sending us out on a scavenger hunt to find various vegetables and Autumn leaves /twigs for his Maths topic around the playground. We can't wait!!!

We can't wait !!! 

 November - Sound

This month in the P1/P2 classroom we will be learning about the topic" Sound".

We Will-:

Design and make a musical instrument/ Learn about loud and quiet sounds, danger sounds, good /bad sounds. We will learn about the parts of the Ear and make a Class one together. We will experiment with sounds of different musical instruments in the music corner. The children will be reading lots of factual texts about sounds and fiction stories about animal/environmental sounds.

We will read the Class story of 'Peace at Last' and the children will use their musical instruments to re-tell this story. Also we will have fun using the new Music Apps- Blob Chorus and Jelly Band.

It is going to be a very noisy and creative musical room this month in P1/P2!!!  

December- Christmas toy- Old and New / Santa's Grotto

We love this month in our classroom! It is so much fun and  we are so,so busy getting ready for Santa.

We will be-: Dressing up in the Christmas Grotto. Santa, his little helpers, wrapping presents, writing cards/labels. Making Christmas decorations, angels, trees, stockings and nativity cribs. We will learn about Christmas around the world and how it is celebrated. We will be reading and listening to lots of Christmas stories. It is very important to write letters to Santa. In maths we will be sorting present and toys for shape/ size/ colour and weight. We will work on Grow and love books about the birth of and Jesus and partake in the school Nativity Tableau as angels and shepherds.

The highlight of the month is a Trip to the Museum in Downpatrick to link in with our Christmas Topic about 'Toys Old and New'..... We are so excited … Happy Christmas to all from P1/P2.    

January   - Winter weather and Animals in Winter

Our topic in P1/2 this month is all about Winter. We will learn about -:

Winter animals, winter weather, winter clothes and keeping warm. In the World around Us we will learn about materials in the environment and seasonal changes. we will understand that water changes in different conditions(i.e water - to - ice).

Numeracy

We will sort random collections of materials, use money in the winter shop, build igloos out of junk art.

Measure blocks for the igloo and sort them in order of size.

Literacy

Enjoy a range of Winter storyboards; Use books to find out information about penguins, polar bears and seals.

Listen to and carry out instructions; Ask and answer questions: Read fiction/non -fiction books about winter. We will design snow /winter pictures in ICT. In TSPC we will build self confidence and form good relationships and learn how to respect others.

 February - The Zoo  

During this month P1 and P2 had great enjoyment from the topic about Zoo Animals and how to take care of them in the Vet hospital. We had a hospital with vet dressing up clothes/ hospital equipment and different food for the sick animals. The monkeys, flamingos, lions and giraffes were fantastic which the children made in art. In Literacy  they developed topic vocabulary through show/tell, circle time and role-play.

In Writing the children made lists of facts about the zoo animals, jobs to be done in the Zoo, appointment times and feeding times.

In Reading  the children read stories and poems about the Zoo, Dear Zoo; The view at the Zoo; How the leopard got his spots, Goodnight Gorilla and many more. We also had our special visit from Jame's Dad with his variety of snakes and lizards.

In Numeracy -we focussed on problem solving relating to building/ designing tasks. Matching and sorting animals. Making cages for the zoo animals. We used language associated with-: counting animals, Noahs Ark in 2's, long /longer :short/shorter: tall/taller.

Use of Money in the zoo shop change from10p and 20p. We made a pictogram of our favourite zoo animal.

An exciting topic for the children which they thoroughly enjoyed and participated in with such enthusiasm. 

March/April "Farm/ Spring and Easter

During this month P1/P2 will learn all about " The Farm and farm animals in Spring". The children will develop their knowledge and skills through a variety of play experiences.

1. Shop- A farm shop selling milk, butter, cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables.
2. Role-play - Dress up as a farmer
3. Act out the story 'Mud Walk'- Mrs Wishy Washy.
4. Learn about differences between adult, baby animals.
5. Living/non-living things on the farm.
6. Farm life, crops and machinery.
7. Safety on the Farm.
8. We will paint Farm animals, tractors, diggers etc.
9. Make farm animals out of play dough.
10. Junk art, make a farm yard scene.
11. Grow sun flowers and measure their growth.
12.  

World Around Us 

How the weather affects the crops on the farm. Where do animals live on the farm? How do they get fed and cleaned. To know the different names of animals and the jobs of the farmer.

Numeracy 

We will sort seeds. We will compare colour and size of animals. Also we will use money in the farm shop - change from 10p and beyond. We will measure how much the sunflowers grow.

Literacy

We will read books about  the farm and animals. Write lists of jobs on the farm. Take orders in the farm shop. Write about the characters in the story 'Mud Walk' and Mrs Mopples Washing' and finally a piece of narrative writing about a Farm story. 

May/June - Garden / Under The Sea

P1/2 have learnt about 

In Literacy we developed our writing skills through daily writing sessions related to our topics. We enhanced our reading skills to include a variety of texts including fiction and non-fiction. We worked on letter sounds , building words as well as basic puncuation. We used ipads and computers to reinforce our skills.

In Numeracy we worked on numbers from 1-20 and beyond. We learnt to add and subtract and now know odd and even numbers. We can read number words and sing number songs. We have learnt shapes , time , money to 20p and how to read picture graphs. 

During play , we were able to enjoy our new outdoor nature play zone . We also had weekly sessions using large equipment in the assembly hall as well as topic sessions in our class room.

One day each week year 1&2 enjoy a structured play session in our assembly hall. Here they get to play with large toys and equipment , helping to develop gross motor skills , dexterity, balance , flexibility , social skills and lots more. View how we get on in our gallery.