This week is Anti- Bullying Week in school- 7-11th November. If you get a chance come and look in the hall at the anti bullying messages we have put up to encourage the children to be kind and caring towards others.
JF

We start the Friends for Life programme next week in school  in 3rd- 6th class. Below is some information on the programme, JF

The ‘FRIENDS for Life’  is a school-based positive mental health programme. The World Health Organisation cites ‘FRIENDS for Life’ as the only evidence-based programme effective at all levels of intervention for anxiety in children (WHO, 2004). This social emotional learning program was developed by Dr Paula Barrett in Australia.

FRIENDS for Life helps students to develop effective life skills strategies to deal with worry, stress and change and teaches the skills required to reduce anxiety and promote resilience. Students identify feelings, explore ways to relax, build strategies to break down challenges/goals into manageable steps, build positive support structures and more. It is known to be beneficial for all students, irrespective of their anxiety level.

The FRIENDS program is taught in the classroom over 10 or more weeks, and may also be integrated into various parts of the curricula year round.

FRIENDS has a parent component, where parents are encouraged to reinforce FRIENDS skills with their children at home for the further integration of these skills.

quotesta.com
A good quote to remember! JF

Prventing summer slide in reading

Three Ways to Prevent Summer Slide

scholastic .com

 

Many children, especially struggling readers, forget some of what they've learned or slip out of practice during the summer months. Try these strategies to help your reader improve her reading during the summer and beyond:

1.     Six books to summer success: Research shows that reading just six books during the summer may keep a struggling reader from regressing. When choosing the six, be sure that they are just right — not too hard and not too easy. Take advantage of your local library. Ask for help selecting books that match your child's age, interests, and abilities..

T

 

2.     Read something every day: Encourage your child to take advantage of every opportunity to read. Find them throughout the day:

·         Morning: The newspaper — even if it is just the comics or today's weather.
 

·         Daytime: Schedules, TV guides, magazines, online resources, etc. For example, if your daughter likes the food channel, help her look for a recipe on the network's Web site — then cook it together for more reading practice.
 

·         Evening: End the day by having your child read to you from the book he is currently reading (one of the six books, above). Have him rehearse a paragraph, page, or chapter before reading to you. Rereading will help him be more fluent — able to read at an appropriate speed, correctly, and with nice expression.
 

3.     Keep reading aloud: Reading aloud benefits all children and teens, especially those who struggle. One benefit is that you can read books your child can't, so she will build listening comprehension skills with grade-level and above books. This will increase her knowledge and expand her experience with text, so that she will do better when she reads on her own.

It's hard to keep up a reading routine in a season packed with distractions and diversions. These suggestions will fit into a busy schedule and make reading fun!

We all need to remember this JF

‘Learning to read is like training for the marathon. Five miles a day 4 x a week is much better preparation than running 20 miles once a week. ’     Christine Ostler  JF 

Something to start us off for the year.JF

2015 2016

2015/16 promises to be a great year full of tips, helpful quotes and hints to inspire!
Please take a look, there might be something that interests you...
If you would like any other information on any of the posts below, please come and talk to me....
JF

Keep trying,

JF

English is hard

Back to school phonics...
JF

Keep calm

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-love-spellings/
JF

Spellings!!

A really good site for setting up your spelling words at home

http://www.spellingcity.com/

As a parent you can input the words for your child and they can practice their spellings... good news... it's free!!!

Have a look,
JF

Pencil grip for left and right handers

This may help to get your child's pencil grip correct. JF

Another great quote found on the web! JF

Funny pic!

JF

think before you speak

Saw this and thought it was a good guideline for all of us!
From http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/
JF

How to help with b/d confusion

This may help some.... JF

Importance of punctuation!

Grammarly website. JF

Being different!

Just a thought. JF

Helping your child with subtraction: tens and units

Please follow the link below from NCCA to access a tip sheet on helping you child with subtraction (remaming) in maths:

http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Parents/Primary/1st_and_2nd_Classes/Tipsheet_Helping_you_child_with_subtraction.pdf

JF

BBC article on screen time. Interesting read

 Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19870199        9 October 2012

Limit children's screen time, expert urges

 By Hannah Richardson BBC News education and family reporter

The amount of time children spend in front of screens should be curbed to stave off development and health problems, an expert says. Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman says children of all ages are watching more screen media than ever, and starting earlier.

The average 10-year-old has access to five different screens at home, he says. And some are becoming addicted to them or depressed as a result, he warns.

Writing in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Dr Sigman says a child born today will have spent a full year glued to screens by the time they reach the age of seven. He adds: "In addition to the main family television, for example, many very young children have their own bedroom TV along with portable hand-held computer game consoles (eg, Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox), smartphone with games, internet and video, a family computer and a laptop and/or a tablet computer (eg iPad).

Dr Sigman cites from a string of published studies suggesting links between prolonged screen time and conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. But he suggests the effects go further than those simply associated with being sedentary for long periods. He says prolonged screen time can lead to reductions in attention span because of its effects on the brain chemical dopamine. Dopamine is produced in response to "screen novelty", says Dr Sigman. It is a key component of the brain's reward system and implicated in addictive behaviour and the inability to pay attention.

 "The advice from a growing number of both researchers and medical associations and government departments elsewhere is becoming unequivocal - reduce screen time."

Developmental psychopathology expert Prof Lynne Murray, of the University of Reading, said: "There is a well-established literature showing the adverse effects of screen experience on the cognitive development of children under three, and the US Paediatric Association for example has recommended no screen time before this age. "If children do watch, however, adverse effects are mitigated by watching with a supportive partner - usually adult , who can scaffold and support the child's experience, and by watching more familiar material.

JF

Spelling!

‘I have a spelling checker 

It came with my PC

It plainly marks for my revue 

Mistakes I cannot sea

I’ve run this poem threw it

I’m sure your please to no, 

It’s letter perfect in it’s weigh

My checker tolled me sew!’

Anonymous

JF

Seven steps to more fluent reading

Improve your child’s reading in 10 minutes a day  

Louise Holden: Irish Times Article

Seven steps to more fluent reading

1 In a busy home, finding time and space for quiet reading is perhaps the most difficult challenge, but the results are well worth it. Create a spot where reading sessions always happen – a corner of your child’s room for example. Find a time that works, maybe just after dinner or just before bedtime. Even try getting up 10 minutes earlier in the morning.

2 Choose the right reading material. It has to be interesting but not frustrating. Don’t give a child reading material with content that is too babyish for them. There are books for children whose reading level is behind their interest level. If you can’t get your hands on such material, try compiling material from the internet or newspapers in the form of a project that interests the child.

3 Start with a conversation. What is this book going to be about? What does the title suggest? What do the pictures suggest? These help children to read with purpose.

4 Paired reading is when a teacher or parent reads with a child to help model good reading and to support the child’s own efforts. There are several kinds of paired reading – try them all to see what works.

* Assisted reading

Read a part of the text and let the child take over at an agreed point. You read every second page, for example, or, if the going is very slow, every second paragraph. This can alleviate frustration.

* Chorus reading

Parent and child read together out loud. This way the child gets a sense of your tone and cadences, where you stop and pause and how you add expression. Listen closely to ensure that your child is able to read with you most of the time. If she is dropping out too frequently the material is too advanced.

* Echo reading

This is very effective for children experiencing significant difficulties with fluency. First you read the sentence. Then you and the child read the sentence together. Finally the child reads the sentence alone.

You are modelling the right way to read, scaffolding the child’s attempt, and then giving the child an independent run at it.

Shadow reading uses a similar approach, but you use longer blocks of text.

5 If you look at any reading passage you will find that certain words occur again and again. These are known as high-frequency words (an internet search will find them).

Various studies have compiled lists of these; for example, the Dolch list contains 100 words that can constitute up to half the words in the material we read. If a child can recognise these words fluently it makes the job of reading much easier.

Pay particular attention to these words as they crop up in the text and reinforce them with your child.

6 If a child is reading without expression or apparent comprehension, but getting the words right, try asking them to read the same paragraph a number of times, but with feeling. You can model this for them. This can even be fun if you really exaggerate, use accents and hand gestures.

7 Finish the session with discussion and praise. Even if you have only succeeded in reading a few lines in your session, talk to your child about the meaning of what you have just read. This conversation extends vocabulary, aids comprehension and whets their appetite for the next session.

JF

Happy New Year

May every day of the New Year glow with good cheer, health and happiness for you and all your family. Happy New Year JF

An Educational Quote fom Nelson Mandela

" Education is the most powerful weapon which you  can use to change the world" Nelson Mandela
JF

Another relevant quote from Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite” Nelson Mandela

JF

A little information about Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

(1918-2013)

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918. He was in prison from 1962 to 1990. He became President of South Africa in 1994, and retired in 1999. He became a hero to people all over the world due in the main to his long fight against bad government and racial prejudice.

As South Africa's President, he was respected for his courage and wisdom in bringing people together to live in peace. Another famous South African, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called South Africa a 'rainbow nation'. Nelson Mandela also spoke of it this way. Its people were of all races and colours, working together.

Nelson Mandela died on 5 December 2013, aged 95. 

JF

Tips for Parents

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has tip sheets for parents if you follow the link/copy and paste the link below:

www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Parents/Primary/

All you have to do is search under the class your child is in and there are tips in the form of booklets to read.  It also includes tips on the transition from primary to post primary. Happy reading!

JF

 ..

Tips for parents for helping their child with reading

Parents and young children reading together

1. Setting aside time to read aloud to children helps them to learn that reading is a pleasant experience, that reading is something that you care about, and that reading opens up a whole new world of fun and adventure.
2. Join the library and go regularly with your child. Everyone can have access to good books. Encourage your child to choose books. Ask the librarian for help.
3. Praise your child’s interest in books and reading. To become a reader your child needs to read and be read to at home - it doesn’t just come from schoolwork.
4. Discuss the pictures and the story with your child. Put your finger under the words as you read to give the child the idea of linking words with sounds.
5. Young children love to hear the same stories over and over. When they become familiar, encourage your child to say any of the lines s/he remembers at the right time. Praise their early ‘reading’ even when it is from memory, because this is an important first step.

Children who can read independently

1. Keep on reading aloud to your child - continue as long as you both enjoy it. Children love the cosy feeling of their parent reading to them, and it keeps them interested in books.
2. Try to find books on their interests - librarians can help here. Ask in bookshops for particular topics.
3. Try starting a new book together to help the child get ‘into’ it, and then see if it takes off for them.
4. Try to encourage a varied reading diet - comics are fine as long as they are not the only texts read. Don’t forget how much some children like fact books and list books. Libraries have good selections of these. Also look out for remainder bargains and second hand books stalls
5. Encourage your young reader to read to you or to a younger child and praise them. Talk to them about what they are reading, and respect their opinions. Tell them about books you enjoyed as a child. Make reading something to be proud of.
6. Use books and comics as rewards instead of sweets.
7. Show them that you enjoy reading also - the paper, magazines and books.
8. Parents can also children to read simple Irish books sometimes and praise and encourage them.

  Taken from the site:  www.reading.ie/content/tips-parents

JF

Multiplication Practice website

If you are looking for a good site to revise multiplication games in a fun way... 

 www.multiplication.com/   

It is a free site with a great variety of fun games to liven up learning of multiplication tables !

JF

Quote

"Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon" Anon


JF

Reading is vital!

We all know that reading opens the door to all learning.

A child who reads a lot will become a good reader.

A good reader will be able to read challenging material.

A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn.

The more a child learns the more a child wants to find out.

It is, therefore, vital that your child finds learning to read and write a rewarding and successful experience. Keep up the good work!

JF

A quote for us all to remember...

'Every child is a different kind of flower and all together make this world a beautiful garden'



JF