Newsletter April 20

White class students have been working on the Level 1 Numeracy Learning Outcome 2.24 Participate in a shopping experience where real money is used functionally.
We made a class shop where each student got to purchase an item needed for our cookery lesson. Students were shown a photo of the item they had to purchase. Students then had to find the item in the class shop, bring then item up to shopkeeper Anne to see how much it cost. Students then handed over the correct coin from €1 or €2 in their wallet.

Students loved the activity and we had lots of fun using the class shop. What made it even more exciting was that we immediately used all the ingredients we purchased to make some yummy foods in cookery.

Dear Parents/guardians,

We are so conscious that this is not an easy time for you as our students love their routine which includes school. All of our teachers are available through Seesaw to communicate with you and offer help and suggestions. You can contact me directly at principal@stceciliasschool.ie if there is something you need.  Keep well.

Kind Regards

Éilis Dillon

Principal

Following the DES advice that all schools, colleges and childcare facilities will close until 19 April because of Covid-19, St. Cecilia’s will remain closed until that date. More detailed information and updates will be available via national broadcaster and official HSE website.

Dear all,
The Department of Education and Skills has received an updated letter for all schools from the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan, addressing the recent school closure as a result of the confirmed Covid-19 case.

The letter is attached here and is also available on our website below under
the heading, ‘Chief Medical Officer advice for parents and schools.’

<https://www.education.ie/en/The-Department/Announcements/information-for-sc
hools-preschools-and-third-level-institutions-on-the-coronavirus.html>

Dear Parents,

Please note that enrolment for the school year 2020-2021  closes  on Friday March 20th @ 3:00pm.   Thank you.

Our food theme has kept us extremely busy this term – from visiting a variety of different places to buy food on our community outings to making new food and trying/ exploring/ smelling a variety of new foods we haven’t tried before. We have used food for counting and with learning all our new food words we have been extremely busy!

Reading the very hungry caterpillar was by far our favourite activity this term!

White class students have been enjoying their daily yoga sessions over the past few weeks and what progress has been made. We begin each session with a focus on our breathing; we breath in pretending to smell flowers and breath out pretending we are blowing out a candle. This helps everyone to focused and become centred. We then work through our poses starting with those which require the students to be close to the ground which include snake pose, downward dog, and airplane pose. After exerting lots of energy we then rest in child’s pose, listening to music and learning to be still! This is the most difficult few minutes of the session as white class students just love to move!!

It’s then time to stand up for moon, bear and tree pose and finically we finish with butterfly pose. What fun we have had mastering our yoga poses. After half term we are changing things up and starting circuit training – watch this space!

This term in Red class we have been exploring the world of food. we are working hard on grouping different types of foods, we have been using food as a basis for works of art, and also singing our own food related songs. We have been out and about in the community exploring supermarkets and the wide variety of foods that are available to buy. We have made purchases and used the ingredients to make tasty treats for ourselves!

We have been learning lots about food this term we have explored many different types of food using our sense of smell touch and taste. We have made stewed apple, some sweet treats and lots of different types of fruit. We have also used lots of food in our messy play activities. In art we have used the theme of food as inspiration for our activities.

We loved the theme ‘food’ in Navy class. We have taken part in a variety of numeracy activities, sorting and matching fruit and vegetables. We have also been busy developing our personal care and well-being through food and nutrition lessons. We have made lots of different healthy snacks during cookery. We really enjoyed going on a community outing to buy the ingredients to make healthy banana,blueberry and oat muffins!

We have really enjoyed our food unit so far in Pink class. We were the first in the school to produce “Fruity Friday” for the students. It was a real honour. 

In cookery we have made several healthy dishes as well as a mixture of smoothies. As part of our Personal Care PLU we have been:

• Sorting food into the different food groups
• Identified safe practice for food preparation and storage
• Demonstrated appropriate food hygiene and safety  

 Finally we even went on a trip to identify which countries our fruits and vegetables come from and looked at how far they have travelled.

Orange Class have been engaging in a variety of sensory activities surrounding the theme of food.

In SPHE, we are covering: Myself – Taking Care of My Body (Show an awareness of familiar foods; and Show an awareness of what keeps the body healthy and well).

We experienced food through a variety of multi-sensory activities:

• We explored real fruits and vegetables through touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing.
• We actively explored the difference between oats and custard before and after water was added.
• We made prints with paint using a variety of vegetables.
• We listened to the story ‘The Silly Waiter’ told through Lámh signs.
• We matched real foods to their pictures.
• We sorted real foods into sweet and savory.

As part of SPHE we are also covering ‘Myself – Growing and Changing – (Showing awareness of the care needed by small babies’). We all had a turn feeding the baby!

Yellow Class went shopping for fruit and vegetables to make healthy smoothies. Students were tasked with finding, scanning and packing the ingredients we needed. They did an amazing job and were rewarded with a delicious smoothie! Next week we are trying our hand at baking as we make porridge bread.

In Blue class, we have been investigating different food groups and the food we have in each of our different meals. We made breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice. We used any leftover bread to create wonderful pieces of printed artwork!

We have also been using our fine motor skills to paint, cut out and make paper pizzas!