Today we had the pleasure of having Tracy join us for our session. She appeared at our classroom door with a big smile, and caught us on finishing a very quick symmetrical art / scissor activity. As she is a Maths expert, I was hoping we wouldn’t let ourselves down, and I think we just about got away with it!

She went round each table talking to the children about what they had done, giving me a chance to get organised for the session.

Shortly afterwards Helen appeared on the screen, and the boys and girls told her that we had a visitor. They supplied her with a few clues which were so good that Helen was able to offer the right answer!

CLUES:

Conal: Her name begins with T.

She has yellow curly hair with bits of black in it.

She is a lady from “Virtually There.”

“SHOW AND TELL.” This week there was another wide selection of items which the children wanted to show Helen.

Darragh wanted to tell her about his experience at “We are Vertigo” on the trampoline. He hurt his foot and it was swollen.

Kella had a squishy Moshum.

Cliodhna had her Elf on a Shelf. Apparently he moves about on Christmas Eve.

Sarah showed her shimmering dragon.

Eimear couldn’t wait to show her bird book, and there was a page about starlings. (Remember the murmuration?)

Sophie had made a pretty paper butterfly.

Ryan had drawn Peecho.

Olivia had a press of plastic nails which take on the shape of whatever is pressed into it. (I had a metal one in the 1970s!)

Tia showed her book about Bread – (our current WAU topic). She had made a pizza at home using naan bread as a base. (I said that was cheating!) The toppings were cheese. pepperoni, pineapple and mushrooms. I began to feel quite hungry so we moved on swiftly!

Aoife had a great story book called “The Stray Dragon.”

Helen told us that she had been to the beach on Sunday as it was a sunny day. The tide was out and everyone enjoyed jumping about in their wellies. She also told the children that she has been busy during the week making egg decorations for an Easter tree in her house. She showed us two ENORMOUS eggs which she painted gold and silver. She said that the insides of the eggs were sucked out! She attached string to the eggs so that they can hang from the branches which she put in a container in her living room. It will look beautiful when it is finished.

  

She showed us an image and asked what we thought it was.

                                  

The children had some very creative thoughts and suggestions:

Darragh said it looked like a huge dog toy.

Ryan thought it was a waterslide.

Sophie suggested that it was a “pippy” thing for water.

Sarah got the right answer! She said it looked like a rubber bath mat.

Helen told us that it was the underside of the bath mat, where you see the suction circles. She is involved in lots of projects, and one of them is a “boat” into which you can climb and rock backwards and forwards. Bells ring when the boat is in motion. It sounds intriguing and I want to have a go in it!

TODAY’S TARGET ACTIVITIES:

• Attach the portraits (made last week) to 4 of the faces of each cuboid.
• Each child/pair of children will make a map showing their journey to school. Two maps will be attached to the bottom face of each cuboid. TIME PERMITTING.

                                                

                                                                          This is Helen’s map.

• In the Lunch hall or in an outdoors space, each pair of children will practise making a circle using a pen and string – (in preparation for Monday’s willow planting session). The children will write their thoughts about First Confession/faith inside each circle. TIME PERMITTING.
• Helen showed us some photographs of a similar activity which she did with a class of 30 girls in a school in Dublin.

       

Helen also showed us images of a range of willow domes…one looked like an igloo with wood blocks for seats inside it (my favourite).

         

         

      

When the leaves come out on the willow dome it looks more like a den. Everyone loved the idea of planting the willow, taking care of it, and watching it grow to maturity. Helen said the boys and girls would be like Guardians.

Helen showed us the willow branches which she is bringing to school next Monday (10/4/17) on the bus from Goatstown. Her Uncle Tom and Aunt Iseult gave her the cuttings. Thank you to both of them.

   

   

                                     

                                            We could see shoots and little leaves opening up.

Helen also showed this image. We liked the star pattern which the 5 bodies made. She told us that children lay in the soil and other children traced around them. Then the outline was filled in with pebbles and other materials. They look like members of the Northern Ireland football team.

                                              

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Then Helen showed us how she had attached her laminates to a cube. She stuck black paper to the two long sides and wrapped them over the top and bottom of the frame. We took a simpler approach by using sellotape!

    

Tracy and the teacher facilitated the attachment of the portraits to the cuboids and then it was BREAKTIME. Where does time go? TEMPUS FUGIT indeed!!!

The cuboids looked really good! The sunlight shining through was quite reminiscent of the stained glass windows which we saw in St. Michael the Archangel Church. (next door)

                      

                

                          

                 

                            

                                 

                      

After BREAK we went to the Lunch Hall and pairs of children made a good attempt to draw a circle. on a very long roll of paper, using a pen and string. This was a tricky task for the boys and girls. Helen had drawn a picture to illustrate how to do this.

                                   

LOTS OF PROBLEM SOLVING OPPORTUNITIES arose.

• Keeping the string taut, and in the same middle position was very difficult.
• How do you draw when someone is in the way?
• How does the string holder manoeuvre around so that the pen holder can have access?
• Can the circle end exactly where it began?

   

    

                                 Well look at what we did!

                  Eimear and Stephen worked as partners.

The children managed quite well, considering this was their first attempt, and the paper had a “sort of shiny” finish, which was a little slippery.

     

        

 Circles of different sizes were produced.

At the end of the activity, one of our P3 teachers arrived (Mrs Campbell) with her daughter and new baby boy. This caused a lot of excitement amongst the children!

                                            

At the end of this activity I asked the children to think of why the circles ended up being different sizes. Stephen said, “It’s because the string was different lengths.”  

Good thinking young man!

Back in the classroom, we had a “thought sharing“session about how the children felt about the circle making activity.

      

The representatives from each table came up to tell Helen how they found the activity.

Carl: It was a wee bit hard.

Darragh and his partner Laoise: It was easy.

Olivia and Conal: It was fun and “medium.”

Sarah and Sophie: It was super easy.

Ciaran and Tia: It was medium to easy.

PLENARY:

• The teacher started off by congratulating the children on good concentration and listening.
• The boys and girls learned a new skill – making a circle using string and a pen.
• They learned that keeping the string taut produces a better circle.
• Sometimes things are difficult to do. but you just keep on going because practice makes perfect!

LUNCH TIME and time to get organised. We said, “See you soon,” to Helen, and thanked Tracy for her visit. 

We are all looking forward to seeing Helen again on Monday morning (in reality), with her bundle of willow cuttings.