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That's all from us until next month! Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing break. See you all bright and early on the 10th of April

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TheLearningStation - Kids Songs and Nursery Rhymes

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Boom Chicka Boom 🐰 Easter Songs for Kids 🐰 Best Kids Songs 🐰 The Learning Station

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As part of Seachtain na Gaeilge we learnt how to do The Haka as Gaeilge and Tracey came in to teach us some Irish dancing for our céili - great fun!

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This month we had 'Seachtain na Gaeilge' - a week in which we try really hard to speak more Irish. the boys did a great job of using their 'cúpla focail' and getting in the spirit of things!

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Our time with artist Dee O' Reilly has come to an end but we had an amazing final session with parents before she left. Dee asked us to draw with pastels with our eyes closed - the results were incredible. Here's Alex and his Dad Michael getting creative!

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We are really lucky to have a professional artist working with us this month. Dee O' Reilly specializes in print making and clay so we can look forward to lots of hands-on, messy creativty for the next 6 weeks!

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We learnt all about St. Valentine this month and the boys made a 'Jar of Hearts' writing about things they love. Top of the list, I'm delighted to say, were 'My family' and 'My School'

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The boys really enjoy their daily STEM time (Science/Technology/Engineering/Maths). Each morning the boys have 20 minutes to play and build with educational toys and it seems that Jenga has become the building material of choice this month. We have some definite future architects in our class!

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We were so lucky to have a visit from the Dublin Hedgehog Sanctuary this month. We spent a lot of time learning about hedgehogs, habitats and hibernation in February so it was great to see two real life hedgehogs up close!

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This month we finally got to enjoy our new library. This is the first time that Francis Street C.B.S. has had a library in its 200 year history and it is heaving with new books for the boys to enjoy. The boys have allbeen issued with their own library card and will be able to take a new book our every week. Our library slot is first thing on a Monday - to set us up for the week!

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We were so lucky this month to have had President Michael D. Higgins visit our school. The President came to open our new library and the boys gave him a real Franner welcome!

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President Higgins visits Francis Street C.B.S

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This month we were focussed on getting back to basics. We revised all of our everyday Irish words such as doras, bainne, leithreas, uisce and bia. I made some simple flashcards with these words on them and the boys have been enjoying playing 'Snap' and 'Fishh in the Pond' while practicing their Irish. If you have some card and a marker at home you could make some Gaeilge 'Snap' cards yourself for at home!

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This month we have begun to use Maths Stations with Sarah's class. The boys are divided in to five different groups and move around five different tables, spending 8 minutes at each. We are focusing on improving our number skills and our ICT skills. The boys are really enjoying it.

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We have been really enjoying getting to know some of Roald Dahl's characters, watching 'Matilda' and reading 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' and 'The Twits'. Why not have a look at this amazing poem from Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes' tonight?

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Roald DAHL - Revolting Rhymes - Three Little Pigs

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We had a ball dringing Hot Chocolate and watching 'The Snowman' - really getting in to the Christmas spirit. As you can see from the photo, the boys were glued to the screen!

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We were realy lucky that 4th class took time to come to our class and show us how to do coding. Coding is all about making computers work - a really important skill for the future - and we were all delghted to get stuck in!

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December saw the arrival of a new member of our class - Patch, our Elf on the Shelf. Patch got himself in to all sorts of trouble; swinging out of lights and taking Elfie Selfies!

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We had an amazing trip to the IFI cinema to see the film 'Red Dog' - a beautiful story about the friendship between a boy and his dog. More than a few of us left the cinema with a tear in our eye!

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December was all about practicing for our school play and who knew that we had so many young Marlon Brandos on our hands?! Our play 'The Grinch Who Stole Chirstmas' got 5 stars from all the critics!

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Our Artist of the Month for November was the wonderful Wassily Kandinsky. The boys enjoyed looking at his colourful work which they said 'looked like Smarties' - the best description I have ever heard!

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This month we learned the classic Dubliners Song 'Thank You for Days' which the boys just love to sing. Pop this video on at home some evening and watch your very own Luke Kelly emerge!

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Luke singing Thank You For The Days with various clips.

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This moth we have been learning all about different shapes in our environment. 2D shapes are shapes which are flat and 3-D shapes are those which you can hold in your hand

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Our Book Club is now in full swing and the boys have all been assigned a group book which they will read each week. We are also looking forward to the opening of our new school library in January

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We have been working hard on our Oral Irish this month and the boys have thoroughly enjoyed answering the questions of our resident puppet Sionnaí. Why not try these questions with your child at home?
Cad is ainm duit?
Conas atá tú?
Cé aois thú?

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We have been really lucky to have Brad from Transition Year in coaching us for PE. Brad has fantastic football skills which he is sharing with the boys. the future Messi may well be here in Franner!

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The boys have been LOVING 'The Book With No Pictures' and ask me to read it every single day! Here is a video of the author B.J. Novak reading the book for you to enjoy together.

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This month we have been learning the poem 'Dhá Éinín Beaga' - 'Two Little Dickie Birds' in Irish class.

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Our Artist of the Month this onth was Vincent Van Gogh. We really enjoyed recreating the swirly sky in 'Starry, Starry, Night'

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This month we have been looking at the signs of Autumn that we can see around us. The boys have created some beautiful leaf pictures showing different Autumn scenes

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There has been a huge increase in the amount of boys getting high marks in their spellings and tables tests. Well done! All of your hard work is paying off.

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Our Book Club is up and running! The boys work in small groups reading and discussing different books which are suitable for their own reading level. The boys are using prediction, visualising and comparison skills to discuss their books and some of their opinions have been really interesting!

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We had great fun on Maths Week finding ways to use Maths in our every day lives and to make Maths enjoyable! Conor organized a Maths Relay which was so much fun!

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As a school we are very aware of the importance of keeping fit andactive. As part of Active Schools Week the classes took on the teachers in a number of races and relays. We had to call the Tug-o-War a draw in the end!

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This month we have been focusing on adding with regrouping. This means adding numbers where we have to carry a 'ten' over. Why not ask your son to try these sums at home with you?

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It can be a good idea to recap on some Maths ideas to ensure each child knows the basics.

This Tens and Units PowerPoint will help to explain grouping and regrouping.

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I will be using this Padlet to keep you up to date with the work that is going on in our class, to show off our achievments and to offer some suggestions about games you can play at home with to help reinforce what we are learning in school.

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Our Artist of the Month was Pablo Picasso and we had a great time looking at his weird and wacky self-portraits!

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Why not try this game at home with your son? It's great for building oral language and problem solving skills. See who has the 'Gift of the Gab' in your home!

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We have been discussing the importance of a healthy diet and using the right food to fuel our bodies. This PowerPoint tells us more.

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The boys have been learning all about healthy eating this month and we are learning the names of vegetables in Irish too. An- mhaith!

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We have been working hard at our addition tables and working on vertical addition in class.

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Every morning we do a STEM activity for 20 minutes before lessons. Boys have a chance to build, create and problem solve using a range of different materials. STEM (Science/Technology/
Engineering/Maths) is hugely important in Francis Street and we will be encouraging all boys to engage their STEM brains throughout the year!

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We have started our cursive (joined) writing and are all getting on really well. So far we have covered the letters a, o, d, c and i

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We have been reading these wonderful picture books this month:

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andrae
Jelly Bean Goes to School by Margaret Roc
Oliver's Garden by Alison Bartlet
Totally Wonderful Ms Plumberry by Michael Rosen.

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Scholastic Interactive   Giraffes Can't Dance

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A warm welcome to Cathy's Second Class Padlet.

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A warm welcome to Cathy's Second Class Padlet.