Weekly Note & Reminders 20th October

Castle Park School

Weekly Note & Reminders 20th October 2023

From Mr McKernan (Principal, Whole School) Wednesday 16th Dear Parents, High Performance Learning HPL - Linking and Analysing During this week's Teaching Assembly, we delved deeper into the skills of 'Linking' and 'Analysing'. Building upon our exploration of Seamus Heaney's poem 'The Forge' last week, we shifted our focus to tackle spelling. 'Linking' is a valuable technique for enhancing memory by actively seeking connections during the learning process, and in the Assembly, the pupils utilised this method to help them master complex/tricky spellings. They were encouraged to dig into the words and discover connections among the letters, making it easier to remember how to spell them accurately. This not only made the process more engaging but also significantly more effective.

Here are some examples: During our analysis of the word ‘Committee’, we made an interesting observation: the word contains two ‘m’s, two ‘t’s, and two ‘e’s. This discovery led us to a creative mnemonic method for remembering the spelling. We associated this pattern with the notion that a committee enjoys hearing information twice, which served as a fun and effective memory aid.

We also examined the word ‘Government’ and noted that its primary purpose is to govern. This observation helped our senior pupils remember the commonly overlooked ‘n’ in the word.

Half Term Break Friday 20th October to Sunday 5th November *******

The Week Ahead Tuesday 7th November ***

Wednesday 8th November ***

Thursday 9th November ***

Lastly, we considered the word ‘veterinary’ and the fact that the ‘er’ is often left out. To make the spelling easier to remember, we made a clever connection by highlighting that a Veterinary Clinic is also called an Animal 'ER'.

Please take a look at the additional examples below.

You can find details of all fixtures/events/activities on the Parent Portal Calendar

Linking and Analysing in the Early Years Department Our Early Years children have also enthusiastically embraced these concepts.

Ms Kennedy and the Early Years Teachers have introduced a highly engaging High-Performance Learning (HPL) Board specifically designed for our young learners. This innovative board features characters representing each ACP (Advanced Cognitive Performance) skill, with this week's characters ‘Analysing Andy’ and ‘Linking Larry’ among them.

Please take a moment to view the images of ‘Analysing Andy’ and ‘Linking Larry’ below.

Wednesday 16th

Kindness Award This week, the Award was presented to: ***

Early Years Harvest Concert This morning, our Junior and Senior Infant classes took to the stage for their Harvest Concert. The children presented a series of seasonal songs and poems, much to the audience's delight. Congratulations to the children for their enthusiastic and animated performances, and a special thanks to Ms McKiernan and the Class Teachers for all the preparations. Please see the photographs from today’s performance in the Picture Gallery below.

Halloween Disco & Dress Up Day I am delighted to share that our Halloween Disco, which took place today, was a resounding success. The children had a wonderful time, and the Assembly Hall was filled with fun, excitement, and lots of dancing!

A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the parents who generously gave up their time and energy to decorate the School, which looked spectacular; we appreciate your hard work and creativity. I would also like to thank the FCP for their exceptional organisation of this event. Your dedication to enriching our pupils' school experience is admirable, and the Halloween disco was a shining example of your commitment.

Please CLICK HERE to view our Halloween Photo Book.

Half-Term School Office Hours During the half-term break, please note that our School Office will be open from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm for any enquiries or assistance.

Congratulations ***

Thank You

Changes to Weekly Notes & Reminders Starting on Friday, 10th November, our Weekly Notes & Reminders publication will be sent to parents on Thursday evenings, as requested by the Class Mentors. Additionally, we will make some minor adjustments to the format, including adding a calendar briefing for the subsequent two weeks.

Theme of the Week

Media Consents We kindly remind you to review and update your media consent preferences.

Currently, we are unable to publish many of the photographs we have taken as parents haven’t indicated consent via the Parent Portal; their child’s status is set to ‘No Information Given’. Media consent needs to be updated annually as there may be changes in the scope of the consent. For further information and instructions on how to update consent on the Portal, please CLICK HERE.

From Ms Kennedy (Assistant Principal, Early Years) ECCE extra days An additional ECCE week is scheduled from Monday, 23rd, through Friday, 27th October in the K2 Early Years classrooms. If your child is currently registered for ECCE and you would like them to attend this additional week, please CLICK HERE to book a place so that we can adequately plan staffing and resources. Your child should bring a small snack and wear comfortable ‘non-uniform’ clothes if attending.

Analysing

Composer of the Week

Finally, Ms Edel Smith (formally McCarthy) is leaving us to go on maternity leave; she will return in the summer term. Edel will be missed by all of us, but we wish her and Dan all the best and can’t wait to meet their new baby! After the half-term break, we will welcome a new temporary team member who will be joining us to fill Edel's role in Day Care.

Sergei Prokofiev

Le gach dea-ghuí Stephen McKernan Principal

Irish Phrase of the Week Anailís a dhéanamh ar shonraí

Artist of the Week

- To analyse data

David *** Just in time for the Halloween season, the pupils in Form III have been looking at the artwork of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Famous for her love of pumpkins and the use of dots, the pupils created colourful still-life images using paper and black markers inspired by Kusama’s artwork.

Analysing Andy Andy is great at asking the right questions to solve problems. He looks carefully at problems and thinks logically and critically to find solutions. He likes to be precise and tries hard to find the best way to do things. Andy is very good at working within the rules.

Andy says, “my exploring skills help me to pay attention, look carefully and spot any clues.”

Halloween Art Competition Winners

Junior Halloween Art Competition 1st: Alexander *** 2nd: Oliver *** 3rd: Rory *** 3rd: Robin ***

Senior Halloween Art Competition

1st: Abigail *** 2nd: Célestine *** 3rd: Amelia *** 3rd: Maxim ***

SwimCamp News

Save The Date

Join us to see how well your child is doing in their school swimming lessons! Don't forget to save the date for the week of November 27th.

With the Halloween break approaching, we'd like to emphasise the benefits of consistent swimming.

While our weekly school lessons provide a strong foundation, actual progress and skill development come from more frequent pool time.

We encourage you to bring your young swimmers for additional sessions, be it fun family swims, dedicated swimming lessons, or club swimming activities. This not only helps them explore the joys of swimming but also ensures they develop and advance at a faster pace. Remember, a single session per week is just the starting point!

Halloween Swimming Camp 3 Day Intensive - 45 minutes Wed 1st Nov - Fri 3rd Nov 4:45 pm or 5:30 pm

Register here

👉 https://www.swimcamp.ie/halloween-swimming-camp

News from the Classroom - Form I-P

Form I-P has had a busy half term, getting acquainted with life in the Junior Corridor. The boys and girls have adapted well to their new routines and are thriving as Form I pupils.

They have performed their classroom duties exceptionally well, taking on the roles of distributors, collectors, classroom monitors, and messengers. Great job, everyone!

During the first few days, we established classroom agreements and a concise list of principles to foster a positive and productive learning environment. This has resulted in numerous ‘House Points’ being awarded for effort and acts of kindness in the classroom.

Our English lessons have focused on improving our handwriting skills and reflective learning, supporting the HPL 'Meta-Thinking' concept. We have also explored ‘recount’ writing and enjoyed reading Roald Dahl's fictional story, "The Enormous Crocodile".

In Mathematics, we focused on improving our ability to create number sentences, specifically centred on the numbers 11, 12 and 14. The children learned different ways to represent these numbers with the help of manipulatives, displaying their creativity by using Lego to construct the number 14. As part of our ‘Time’ topic, I-P became familiar with the days of the week, engaging in games and exercises that stimulate critical thinking.

The boys and girls have been working hard in their Gaeilge studies. We have explored ‘Mé Féin’ (Myself) and ‘An Scoil’ (School), incorporating songs and practising communicative phrases. We have also made connections between English and Irish to improve accuracy and confidence in spoken language; phonetic connections to English have been helpful in pronunciation. Maith sibh gach duine! (Well done, everyone!)

During Anti-Bullying Awareness Week, we reflected on bullying, and the class created beautiful posters to promote a caring school environment for every pupil. These posters were proudly displayed throughout the School.

We've been using Well-Being Diaries and learning belly breathing as part of our well-being program. We also had our Personal Development Day; this year, the theme was ‘Friendship’.

It provided an excellent opportunity for the children to enhance their social skills. We sang together, took part in cooperative activities involving a parachute, and worked together to create our own board games. In the art room, we created a ‘Friendship Wheel’; each pupil designed their own "slice of pizza" featuring their name and imagery representing qualities like thoughtfulness and generosity. Seeing each pupil contribute to the ‘Friendship Wheel’ was genuinely heart-warming.

Photos from the Classroom, Form I-P

Photos from Form I-P - Forest School ‘Sitting Spots’

Photos from Form I - Personal Development Day

The Harvest Concert - Junior & Senior Infants

Maths Week - Ms O’ Sullivan (Head of Maths)

A Fun-filled Week

During the past week, we celebrated Maths Week Ireland, a week filled with fun maths activities that were interactive and engaging. Pupils from Early Years to Form VI explored the practical applications of maths in our daily lives using their 'Maths Eyes’.

Exploring Maths

All classes enthusiastically undertook a unique educational experience as they delved into the natural surroundings of our school grounds through our Maths trails. These outdoor trails allowed pupils to apply their problem-solving, communication, reasoning, comprehension, and connection skills to practical, real-world scenarios. As they explored the Maths trails together, it was remarkable to witness the children not only improving their mathematical abilities but also developing their collaborative spirit and inquisitive nature.

Meta-Thinking Skills

Throughout the week, we placed a particular emphasis on cultivating our Meta-Thinking skills.

Each class actively participated in daily open-ended math puzzles designed to promote MetaThinking. Our Forms VI High-Performance Learning Leaders thoroughly enjoyed sharing their knowledge about Meta-Thinking while introducing the puzzles to our younger year groups.

The Early Years

In the Early Years Department, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' served as an inspiring theme to captivate the children's interest in number recognition and sequencing exercises. They also had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with 2-D shapes through a Halloween-themed cutting activity, followed by a 'Maths Eyes' shape hunt in the playground.

Form I Throughout the week, Form I immersed themselves in the story ‘Pezzettino’. As they delved into the narrative, the pupils explored the characters through a mathematical lens, discussing concepts such as counting, comparison and patterns. They focused on comparing character sizes by applying their understanding of numbers and number bonds. They also put their creativity to work by crafting their own distinctive “Pezzettino” characters.

Form II In Form II, the world of 2-D shapes and their properties came to life through the narrative 'Max's Math’. The pupils used their 'Maths Eyes' to engage in a shape hunt around the School, and using their knowledge of shape properties, they thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on activity of reconstructing 'Shapeville' by manipulating 2-D shapes using Jelly Tots and match sticks.

Maths Week - Ms O’ Sullivan (Head of Maths)

Form III

Exploring the narrative 'Seeing Symmetry', Form III was introduced to the topic of symmetry in our surroundings. Through careful observation, they identified symmetrical patterns in the environment and linked this awareness to creating their geometric masterpieces. Furthermore, their enthusiasm shone through as they designed vibrant maths-themed T-shirts to showcase their favourite numbers, shapes and mathematical operations.

Form IV

Form IV combined their Maths Week activities with their History topic, Ancient Greece. They enthusiastically tackled maths riddles, noggles and puzzles associated with the Spartan Army mobilisation. They learned about tessellations and had a chance to express their creativity by designing their own tessellations in translational and rotational styles.

Form V Form V centred their Maths Week around the theme of circles. They explored Pi, focusing on proving that the length of a circle's circumference is approximately three times its diameter. In addition, pupils calculated the circumference of circles using formulae. Form VI's competitive spirit emerged as they participated in a nationwide Mega Quiz. Additionally, the pupils enjoyed estimating the number of sweets in a jar, refining their selections by applying their knowledge of mathematical terms such as prime, composite, and multiple.

Form VI

In Form VI, pupils explored the world of the mathematician Fibonacci through the captivating narrative 'Fibonacci Blockhead’. They focused on understanding the Fibonacci sequence and recognising its patterns in the natural world. Building on this knowledge, we honed our artistic skills by creating artwork related to the Golden Ratio, using compasses for precision in our designs.

Congratulations to all the pupils, from Early Years to Form VI, for their active participation in Maths Week. Seeing such enthusiasm and engagement displayed throughout the School was wonderful. Well done!

A special congratulations goes to *** & *** from Form VI-C for winning the Maths Ireland, Maths Minds Quiz.

Over 100 Irish Schools took part in the live online event. The class can now look forward to receiving a prize in the post from Maths Ireland.

Maths Week - K2 - Guessing Game

Maths Week - Junior Infants

Maths Week - Senior Infants

Maths Week - Form IV-P - Tessellations

Maths Week - Form IV-P - Tessellations

Maths Week - Form IV-C - Spartan Army

Maths Week - Form V - Maths Trails

Maths Week - Form V - Maths Trails

Maths Week - Form V - Maths Trails

Maths Week - Form V - Pi in the Sky!

Senior Infants - Toasting Marshmallows

Senior Infants - Toasting Marshmallows

Form VI - Setting Descriptions

We visited the forest to imagine how the character Felix from our class novel 'Once' felt when he escaped the orphanage. We used these ideas to write our very own setting descriptions.