Big School News: Junior Infants

“At last” we hear you cry!

Yes the big school have taken a moment from their seriously busy days to tell you all about what they’ve been getting up to, and the first class to share their news is Junior Infants.

Before we update you on all their new projects, we’d like to say that the Junior Infants students are all doing fantastic work in the big school. While we have had a few new faces join in this year, most of the group are old friends from the “little school”. We are proud to say that all evidence points to the fact that they have made the transition to the world of the big children with ease and it feels like they were always “big kids”. So a huge Well Done to them. 🙂

At Hedley Park we are very lucky to be one of the few pre and primary Montessori schools in the city center so our young students can continue their Montessori experience from nursery and preschool right through to sixth class. The national curriculum works hand in hand with the Montessori curriculum all the way, developing the child’s curiosity and intelligence alongside emotional and social awareness. The small classes and friendly staff give the school a ‘home away from home’ feel from which the children in our care thrive.

As you have read in the preschool posts, Culture and Geography play a large part in the Montessori school syllabus. Each year the children learn about the seven continents, but the depth of knowledge and detail the child discovers grows deeper with each encounter, while still unifying all they have learned thus far.

In Junior Infants they have begun their continental journey with Australia.

Our Kangaroos in the Outback Sunset

Similar to the preschool, learning through music, art and food are cornerstones, however the big kids in Junior Infants also work on great handwriting and stencilling relating to Australia.  Thanks to Catriona they have lovely Kangaroo, Kookaburra & Koala stencils. This is doubly lucky as they are also doing the K sound!

K for Kangaroo

In P.E on Fridays they are learning how to move like the animals in Australia, and its no surprise that everyone loves to hop like the kangaroo! So expect some boingy junior infants hopping around the park on a sunny afternoon.

My Australia Book

Other items parents will find coming home soon are the wonderful Australia books Katie made for the class  full of colouring pages relating to Australia. Apart from being great fun to work on in class, these books help develop concentration, precision and colour work all the while strengthening those hand muscles for great handwriting.

The final Art piece the Junior Infants wanted to show everyone, and rightly so, is their fantastic Aboriginal themed art. Kookaburras, Kangaroos, Platypuses and more are all beautifully decorated below.

Aboriginal Art Wall

All the lovely art, handwriting, movement and song aside, I’m told that the highlight thus far was unsurprisingly the food! Junior Infants have tried all the jewels of aussie cuisine from Vegemite to TimTams, they even made Australia Cookies.

Katie kindly shared the recipe with you, so now even if you don’t have a junior infant of your own to show you how, you can make these yummy australian cookies anyway. Download it here -> Butter cut biscuits

The children all wanted to share something else with:

Junior Infants Top Tips for Cooking!

1. Wash your hands with soap and water before starting your kitchen preparations. Continually wash hands as needed – after cracking an egg.
2. Re-read the recipe several times.
3. Make sure you have all of the necessary ingredients. Put them out on the counter.
4. Get out all of the equipment like pans and measuring cups and talk about how to use them safely.
5. Follow the recipe exactly.
6. Use oven mittens or pot holders when taking food in and out of the oven.

They promise me that if you follow these rules you will get extra scrummy results every time! 🙂

So here is a photo of their handiwork!

Australia Cookies

The shape is unmistakable but I have been told that the icing came out a bit runny. 🙂 Yellow was to represent the desert and bushland and the green for the woodland and rainforest. Next time our chefs say they will use rollout icing. Still I’m assured they were hands down the best tasting australias ever!

Here they are hard at work decorating their own biscuits.

Hard at Work.........

............bet they will be yum!

After all that cookie making, rolling, cutting and icing I can only imagine there was lots of contented smiles as they enjoyed the best bit…. eating!

Congratulations Junior Infants, we are very proud of you all.

Come back soon for news from Senior Infants and First to Sixth Class.

From all the staff and pupils of “the big school“