Following on our wonderful tradition of STEM education in Scoil Mhuire, we had a very successful whole school science day with an electrifying science show, in-house school scientist visits and even a beach safari visit. All classes promote STEM throughout the school year too! Congratulations and well done to our pupils and teachers.
The junior classes enjoyed a digital storytrail to celebrate World book day. They heard the story of ‘After the fall’ by Dan Santat which tells the story of what happened to Humpty Dumpty after his famous fall and how he overcame his fears. Special thanks to our bookclub members Cleo, Caitlín, Róisín, Maya, Robyn, Cara, Sienna, Máiria and Laura for recording the pages during their lunch break earlier in the week.
Hurling/Camogie training will commence for all classes. We are delighted to welcome our new CDO, Andrew Power, to our school. Andrew will be with us every Monday until the end of the school year. Please remember hurls and helmets and wear appropriate footwear to school.
Colourstrings Music Classes are back for all classes in Scoil Mhuire. We are very fortunate to have Katri Suominen and Peggy Trundle from Maoin Cheoil na Gaillimhe teaching this internationally renowned Music Programme in our school, Colourstrings uses the principles of Kodaly to train children to learn premusic literacy and appreciate different types of music before they formally play an instrument and become a ‘musician’. This involves them reading, using inner hearing and singing, as well as playing simple percussion instruments.
Also Katri is teaching some very lucky children from R3 agus 4 on Wednesday afternoons for Colourstrings Classical Flute lessons. They are going to perform as part of a Galway Youth Orchestra in May. They are really enjoying these lessons. Since starting in October, they have made great progress.
Ready Set Go Maths is a hands-on approach to learning mathematical concepts in Junior and Senior Infants. It is designed to enable children to develop and consolidate their understanding of numbers through activities and interactive games.
In Scoil Mhuire we have implemented this programme in Junior Infants. The Key message behind the programme is that children are engaged in active learning and there is an emphasis on the use of language to explain our mathematical thinking, what we are doing and why we are doing it. Ready, Set, Go Maths focuses on 4 main areas:
Classroom teachers and special education teachers, work with the pupils in the class in smaller groups. Children work on three activity stations and one book work station each day spending 6 minutes at each station before rotating to the next station. Activities generally involve working with concrete materials and playing games.
