Sixth Class have enjoyed working with Junior Infants this term on many things such as Scary Woods, Maths Week, art lessons and paired reading. During December, we did some collaborative Christmas tree art and even wrote Christmas stories for our buddies. Both classes love working with each other and are excited to do it more next term!
Sixth Class had a book tasting this term to encourage reading and to broaden the range of books they read. They create a ‘wish list’ of new books for the classroom and these purchased wrapped up and kept secret with just a few clues about the book written on the outside. The students then had to go book shopping based on the clues and this encouraged the students to choose books based on interests and not just on the cover. It also added a little magic to the book selection process. After unwrapping their chosen book students then got to sit back and enjoy reading their new book with some hot chocolate. A winner all round!
Congratulations to our Sixth Class debating team for winning the first round of the Concern Primary Debate competition. Kilglass opposed the motion that ‘Every person in Ireland should be given a bike’ and while there were great ideas presented by both sides Kilglass was successful and the motion was defeated. A lot of hard work, researching and editing was done by the whole class and the students are already planning ahead for round two.
Sixth Class celebrated Science Week with many different activities but the students particularly enjoyed exploring computer science and coding. We learned about a famous Irish computer programmer and used Scratch to create our own videos. Scratch is free to use and access so students can continue to explore coding at home.
Sixth Class are learning about multiplication and division this term. To make our learning engaging and fun we are ‘cracking codes’ by solving maths equations. Students get to work together and move about the school looking for questions; with each question they solve students are becoming more confident and accurate!
Sixth Class have been learning about electricity this month. Students created different types of circuits and explored how electricity travels from a power source to an object. Using this knowledge, the students were challenged to design and build their own car. Most succeeded (and some with serious speed) but everyone discovered how important working together is, how sharing knowledge helps us find solutions quicker and to never give up! Meet the engineers and designers of the future!
Sixth class are inquiring into electricity by building their own series and parallel circuits. Students worked in groups and determined how circuits worked, how to describe a circuit, the role of the power source and how the wires allow for the movement of electricity (all while having lots of fun). We also have a STEAM challenge involving electricity coming up which will be very exciting and we will keep you posted!
In our Gaeilge lessons the students have been working together to learn and use the language in a fun and engaging way. We have played many games to help us practice our Irish such as Guess Who, Bingo, vocabulary games and online games also. Sixth class have focused on the themes of Mé Féin (myself) and Bia (food) so far and we are learning how to use our dictionaries and focloir.ie to help use learn and understand new words.
We’ve had lots of fun with doing group and paired work in our first few weeks to build up our communication skills. The students worked together in many subjects such as Maths, English, Gaeilge and P.E and we’re looking forward to lots more collaborative learning opportunities!
Personal
Factual
Imaginative
Who? What? When?
Where? Why? How?
In time order
**Recount writing is always
written in time order**
My School Tour
St. Patrick’s Day
Specific participants
Linking words to do with time, e.g. later, after, before
Paragraphs in time order sequence
Action verbs
Simple past tense
Objects
People
Places
Animals
What is it?
Size? Shape? Features?
Where? What?
What does it do?
Frogs
Generalised participants
Impersonal objective language
Timeless present tense
Subject specific vocabulary
Give instructions on how to operate something e.g. washing machine
Show steps for making and doing e.g. baking a cake, playing a game
List sequences of actions e.g. find a location
What is to be done
List of what is needed
How to do it
Was it successful?
Cooking
Directions
Detailed factual description
Reader referred to in a general way or not mentioned at all, e.g. draw a line
Linking words to do with time e.g. after, as soon as
Tense is timeless
Action verbs often begin each sentence
persuade readers to agree with one point of view
show all points of view and reach conclusion e.g. debate
argue a case
Mobile phones should be banned
Generalised participants
Passives to help text structure
Linking words associated with reasoning e.g. therefore
Nominalisation (actions become things) e.g. to pollute becomes pollution
Explains how things occur e.g. how does a rainbow occur?
How things work e.g. how do engines work?
Why things are or happen
What is it?
Describe
How it works
When/Where it works, how it’s used
How erosion occurs
Generalised non-human participants
Cause and effect relationships
Some passives e.g. is driven by
Timeless present tense e.g. soil is deposited
Who? Where? When?
How did the characters get involved?
What is the problem? What is the conflict?
How was it solved?
• Fairy tales
• Novels
• Fables
Usually past tense
Defined characters
Dialogue
Descriptive language to create images
Linking words to do with time
Predicting is like being a detective.
I can make predictions before and during reading.
I think about the information I know from the cover, pictures and the story.
I think about what will happen next and listen to the author’s clues.
It doesn’t have to be right!!
“I predict that …”
Explains why
Use prior knowledge
Use evidence and clues
What has happened so far?
What is the reason for your prediction?
Why do you think that?
What clues are you using to predict?
What will happen next because of this event? Why do you think this will happen?
We can ask questions anytime!
They help us to think more about what we read.
Sometimes we can find answers to our questions in the story or using our background knowledge.
Sometimes the author leaves us wondering!
Asking questions helps us to “solve” the story by putting all the pieces together.
“I wonder …?”
“Here” questions have obvious answers
What? When? Where? Which? How?
“Head” questions
Use your own thoughts, feelings and opinions
Use prior knowledge to make connections
Was it something that happened that made you think that?
Do you need to infer?
“Hidden” Questions
Try to use all the clues from the story so far.
Think about the characters in the story and the things they are doing
Why do you think he did that? How do you know?
Why do you think she felt that way? How do you know?
Why do you think he said that? How do you know?
Picture / movie in your head
We use our “movie” to help us picture the story inside our heads. Smells, sounds, taste and touch can make your movie better.
The words are like the script.
Change your movie as you get more information.
Everybody will have a slightly different movie.
Are you connecting with something?
My picture is slightly different …
Why did that picture come into your head?
Can you describe what you saw in the film of you head while reading?
Can you describe something you could see? / feel? / touch? / hear?
We can make connections at any time.
You think about something that happened in the story that reminds you of something else in:
The Story – Text to Text
Your Own Life – Text to Self
The World – Text to World.
Our background knowledge is very important here.
It makes the story come to life and you can imagine it better.
“It reminds me of …”
Did you make a connection with this text?
Did it remind you of anything?
What type of connection is that?
This strategy encourages readers to constantly ask themselves what is important in a sentence, phrase, paragraph, chapter or whole text.
I can understand the main ideas of the text and what the author’s message is.
The text was mostly about…
The important details were…
I will underline the key words ….
I think … and … are important
Who, what, when, where, why …
Famous Five Key Word Search
What’s Your Story
Main Idea Pyramid
Summarising is the ability to reduce a larger piece of text so the focus is on the most important elements of the text.
When I summarise I can think about what I have read and then focus on the most important elements.
First, next, finally, then…
I think the purpose of this text was to…
I can think about the most important parts and retell them in my own words…
