Gaelscoil Chaladh an Treoigh

Senior Infants

In Senior Infants our aim is to have a child-centred curriculum which makes learning fun for each child.

Irish
The Irish scheme used in the school is called Séideán Sí. This scheme helps the child's communication skills in reading, writing and conversational Irish. Informal Irish conversation will take place throughout the day. Reading takes place in the forms of both shared reading and a formal Irish reader. Various writing activities will be given to each child through workbooks and activity sheets. We utilise the 'bosca speisialta' (special box), as well as gaelchártaí (Irish cards) to motivate the use of Irish throughout out the school day.

English
Oral language, reading and writing are the three key strands to the English curriculum. Most English lessons integrate all three strands. The phonics scheme used in the school is known as Jolly Phonics and the letters learned in Junior Infants are revised in Senior Infants. An understanding of phonics leads to an improved ability to read as it enables each child to understand the letter-sound relationships. Formal English reading begins in Senior Infants and therefore knowledge of these letter-sound relationships will enable the child to interpret the text more readily. We use the Sunny Street formal reading scheme and in Senior Infants we will cover the following books:
Happy Birthday Molly, Cheese & Thank you Stories, Tooth & Twinkle Stories and Ready, Steady, Go Stories
We also have a shared reading scheme whereby each child will be given a book from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme each night to read with their parents/guardians. This will also help in the child's fluency and confidence in reading.

Mathematics
The scheme used for the Mathematics curriculum is Mata Beo. There are five strands in the Senior Infants Mathematics curriculum and those are as follows:
Number – children will count, compare and order numbers from 1 to 10. They analyse numbers from 1 to 10 which involves combining numbers, partioning numbers and numeration.– Children learn about extending patterns & Space – the child looks at both 2-D and 3-D shapes and develops spatial awareness.– The child will cover length, time, capacity, money and weight under this strand.– The child will record data through simple graphs.
Throughout each strand of the Mathematics curriculum the child will be involved in maths activities whereby they will use concrete materials and they will be based on both real-life situations and discovery learning.

Music
Music plays a central role in the Senior Infant curriculum and is taught throughout a variety of subjects. The three areas that are covered in the music curriculum are:
Listening to,responding to and creating music.
It is through the music scheme The Right Note that much of these aspects are explored. In addition, a variety of other musical events occur throughout the school year to help each child's musical development, for example, visits from musicians & school concerts, as well as listening to the teacher play live music.

Visual Arts
In the visual arts curriculum there are five strands:
Paint & Colour,Fabric, Fibre, Construction and Looking at & Responding to Art

These strands are integrated with other subjects in the curriculum and also taught on their own, depending on the lesson. We aim to base the art lessons on the child’s life and experiences and also encourage each individual to experiment with various materials.

Drama
In teaching drama, we aim to encourage each child to explore their imagination in a safe environment. Drama is often integrated with other subjects such as English or Irish whereby, it may be based on a story previously read in class. During the drama lessons, we encourage each child to work both individually and in groups.

Social, Environmental and Scientific Education (S.E.S.E)
Social, Environmental and Scientific Education is made up of three subject areas, those are History, Geography and Science. S.E.S.E aims to contribute to each child’s understanding of the world in which we live.
History
A better sense of time and understanding is developed in the teaching of History. This is often done through story and in looking at the changes that have taken place in the child’s life over time.
Science
It is through the science curriculum that each child begins to develop a greater understanding of living things, energy & forces, materials and the environment. It is very much an activity based subject in which the children become actively involved in experiments.
Geography
The geography curriculum again reinforces the child’s awareness of the environment. In this curriculum they will cover both the human and natural environments by using geographical skills such as questioning, observing, predicting, investigating, and experimenting.

The subjects in the S.E.S.E curriculum are very much integrated and allow each child to become much more actively involved in their learning.

Social, Personal and Health Education (S.P.H.E.)
Social Personal and Health Education is taught throughout the year through a variety of programmes. Both the Be Safe and Bí Folláin programmes are taught throughout the year and the Relationships and Sexuality Programme is taught in February. These lessons enables the child to gain a better understanding of themselves and to develop and maintain healthy relationships with others. S.P.H.E is often taught through circle time in a safe, understanding environment.

Physical Education (P.E.)
The strands in the physical education programme are as follows:
Dance, outdoor & adventure activities, games, athletics, gymnastics and aquatics.
The children are taught these strands in a range of different environments, for example, the children participate in Irish dancing, every Friday, over a fifteen week period in the year. In addition, we do orienteering in the local park, water safety is taught in the classroom, while other physical education activities are taught outdoors.

Religion
We use the Beo go Deo programme in Senior Infants to teach religion to the children. In using this programme we discuss their own lives as well as the world around us. Throughout each lesson the central theme is God’s love for us. These lessons are taught through story, song and drama.

We are busy bees in Senior Infants!