Our Aistear theme this month is the building and construction site! The children have been playing in role as builders, architects, designers and clients as they plan and construct their very own houses, towers and buildings. Have a look for yourself and ask your child about what is happening in each of the photos. Ask questions like "I wonder how they built that?" or "What is the child making in this picture?". Your child can fill you in on all of the news from the building site!

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We have been learning about diggers, cranes, bulldozers and cement mixers and how they help with the materials needed for construction. The children have also been investigating and constructing with recycled materials at the Junk Art station. There have been lots of great Lego towers and bridges built in Junior Infants.... Although some of them have also come tumbling down! All of these experiences are part of investigating, testing, trial and error as a successful builder :) 

On our last day before midterm break we dressed up in our favourite costumes and Halloween outfits to celebrate! Milena prepared Halloween biscuits for us to decorate and bake in school. We used chocolate squares and smarties to create spooky skeleton faces. After our baking we played musical statues and had a picnic while we watched a Halloween movie. It was a great day!

​September was a busy month with lots of new changes to our school! The children in Room 1 started primary school for the very first time and we were blown away by how well they settled in. They were extremely brave and all settled in so quickly to the new routines and rules about handwashing and keep their hands to themselves. 

During the day, the children use a lot of hand-held materials and resources (eg. Lego, blocks, beads, counters, figurines, cards). We are very careful that children only play with the resources allocated to their pod to prevent any mixing between table groups. Each day, we steralise the materials using antibacterial soap and warm water, or alternatively we quarantine the toys in sealed containers for 72 hours until it is safe for the children to use them again. We change the activities at the table groups each day so that all of the children get a chance to play with new activities every day!
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