Spring
The Spring equinox took place last week followed by the clocks springing forward at the weekend, bringing us into longer days and shorter nights. This is a great opportunity to get out and about at home while the weather is fine and try to reflect on some positives from this time. It is a fantastic opportunity to reset, spend time with family and it allows us all to appreciate what is really important.
Each class group has been sent out work, here is a suggested timetable which can be altered to suit the needs of your child/ current lifestyle:
Exercise for 30 minutes before beginning work. Some suggestions:
Joe Wicks live at 9am every weekday.
Go for a walk/skip/jog/run around the house/ within 2km of your home.
Core Subjects: Children can get started with list of work from teachers.
Sos beag: It’s important to take a small break after subjects or transitioning between subjects to gain full concentration. Get some fresh air, take a stretch and re-start.
Continue core subjects.
School On TV: Every day on RTE2 at 11am they are showing School on TV for 1st-6th class- this may/may not suit your schedule but you could give it a try!
Lunch Time: It's important to eat lunch and take a break.
Finish off today’s work and include some DEAR time- drop everything and read.
Free time: Use this as you please. some suggestions include LEGO challenges, writing/ art competition, art projects, exercise challenges and scroll through the school website for more ideas.
Some new ideas for the week ahead:
Enniskeane and Desertserges Parish have set out an artwork challenge as part of Parish Holy Week Celebrations this year. All children are invited to draw/create/colour one of the 14 Stations of the Cross and younger children and infants are invited to pick one of the 14 stations and colour in a pre-printed sheet available to view and download from the website. Deadline for this is Tuesday April 7th. More details can be found on https://bit.ly/2vYW38V
David Walliams has started releasing a free audio book everyday at 11am on his website. https://bit.ly/3avoIBn
Skype with a Relative/friend: This can be a nice idea while we all have to self-isolate. It’s a way for children to use oral language and is a great way of keeping in contact while we cannot meet in person. If you do not have a skype account, watsapp video call, viber video call, facebook video call, zoom or snapchat video call would all be similar.
Family Tree: Do out your family tree either by hand or digitally and see how far you can trace it back. Maybe you have some cousins nearby that you didn’t know about!
Activity village have a fantastic range of resources including how to sketch/draw, puzzles, crafts and games and offer many free packages during this time: https://bit.ly/2vXkTWz
Teach starter also offer a range of free resources for all class levels. This month they are also focusing on little learners so there are a selection of free resource packs for Montessori and infant level. They also have resources for 1st-6th class. https://bit.ly/2WSCfPu
Games:
Play 20 questions with different versions-sports person, someone in school, someone at GAA/ rugby/ swimming/ gymnastics/ horse riding/ athletics, someone from TV, singer/band, as gaeilge.
A-Z- pick a topic and see how many items you can name with each letter of the alphabet, for example cars/ items of clothes/ food etc. Try this game as gaeilge.
pick one letter and see how many you can complete in 30 seconds: Boys name, girls name, place, occupation, animal, car, colour, food, kitchen appliance, school subject, sport, drink, item of clothing. Try this game as Gaeilge.
Deck of Cards: Playing cards is a great way to include all the family with such a huge selection of games to choose from. It helps practice mathematical skills in a fun way. Here are a list of some card games and how to play them: https://bit.ly/2UO5vnQ
New GAA skills challenges:
Hand-pass challenge: you will need a sliotar, a timer and a wall. How many hand-passes can you get in 30 seconds using the sliotar?
Over-head challenge camóige/ hurling: you will need a hurley, wall, sliotar and timer. How many over-head catches from pucking the sliotar high on the wall can you do in 30 seconds?
Over-head challenge football: You will need a football, a wall and a timer. How many over-head catches can up get from bouncing the ball high off the wall in 30 seconds?
Running: you will need a timer. How fast can you run around your house? Time it and try beat your time! This can also be made more difficult by soloing around the house with a football or sliotar/hurl.
