Last Judo session

Today we had our last session of Judo with Andrew and Maeve. We are improving each week and are learning to master some of the more advanced Judo techniques! 

We started today by performing the Rei and stretching...

Next we practised the backwards break fall...

Followed by the forwards roll...

and the sideways roll...

Next we performed the forwards arm crawl...

Then we did the forwards scooch using our arms...

Before finishing up,  we played a game called Nemo, where one person was chosen as a shark and the others had to escape the grasp of the shark. See if you can spot the shark...

We have learnt so much from our Judo instructors this year and we are really looking forward to using what we learnt at home too!

Tin whistle

We are beginning to learn the tin whistle in First Class! Last week we were given our very own tin whistles and we began to practise playing the different notes on it. This week, we are learning to play our first song on the tin whistle, Hot Cross Buns. Even though we are only starting to learn the tin whistle, we are getting better every day! 

If you have a tin whistle, try playing Hot Cross Buns too. The notes are:

B A G B A G

G G G G A A A A 

B A G

Or maybe you can sing the song alon with someone who is playing it on the tin whistle. Here are the lyrics...

Hot cross buns, hot cross buns,

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns.

Learning time!

In our class, we are concentrating hard on doing our best work in handwriting. Every morning we practise our cursive writing, because remember:

Practise makes perfect!

Look how well we are concentrating in our class...

Forest walk

Last week we were the first class in the whole school to get enough stars for best líne, to earn a special reward! We chose to go on a forest walk to Merlin Woods!

We left the school in pairs, following Múinteoir Carol...

We walked along the pathway, using our senses of sight, smell and hearing to explore the local environment. 

We entered the forest with our bags to gather some leaves from all of the different trees we could find...

We discovered some very tall evergreen trees in the forest and we learnt that these trees stay green all year round, even now in autumn!

We then found other trees, that change over the seasons. We gathered lots of leaves from different trees and even found some seeds from some trees on the forest floor...

After we collected the leaves in the forest, we returned to our classroom...

We are going to have lots of fun examining the different leaves and seeds we found! 

Later in the week, we will show you some leaves from the trees that are all around us! 

Maybe then you can explore your  own area and discover some of these trees too!

Judo

Today we had a great time doing Judo in the school hall. First we stretched and warmed up...

Next we practised the forward roll...

the backwards roll...

and the sideways roll...

Then we did the crab crawl...

Finally we performed the 'za rei' - the bow while sitting (in Japanese) and thanked our instructors...

We are very excited to be doing Judo again next week!

Active Learning

We love active learning in Numeracy! We use lots of concrete materials to help up with our sums. Here we are using cubes to add 3 numbers together!