Ukuleles!
On Tuesdays, over the next 12 weeks, Catherine McGlinchey from Music Generation will be sharing her fantastic musical talents with the children in Sixth Class.
We are being introduced to the world of rhythm, beat, tempo and percussion. Lots of the clapping and rhythmic games are already zooming in on our listening and responding skills. We are learning all about rhythm syllables (ta, titi) and staff notation (crotchets and quavers) in a fun and engaging manner.
Electric Fun!
Towards the end of the Summer Term last year the Parent Association purchased a range of science kits for the school to the value of €1250 based on the many topics of the Science Curriculum including Materials, Heat, Air, Water, Sound, Electricity, Magnetism and Forces.
Since our return in September, Sixth Class have been extremely busy investigating and having great fun exploring the new equipment in our Electricity Kit. We have made simple circuits, series circuits and parallel circuits. We have made circuits with switches, bulbs, motors and buzzers and have examined and grouped materials as conductors and insulators. We have learned a lot and hope to apply our knowledge and the results of our investigations to some design and make tasks in the weeks ahead.
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…
Figure It Out
