[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi John

You mention such a lot of features here that would promote inclusivity .I look forward to reading and researching  more into these features ,

Thank you

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi John

I would love to know more about the Google Jam board that you mentioned. I have no idea what that is so I’m off to investigate!

Thank you

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module  2

Write a forum post (150 words min) Include:

• Your topic and class level for 6 year olds
• One design choice you made
• How it supports clarity, sequence or consistency
• One adjustment you would make
• One possible link to reflection or SSE

Then, consider how Google Workspace and classroom could be used in School Self-Evaluation (SSE) at your school.

I am fairly new to this so I am sticking to the old reliable topic “The Life Cycle of a Butterfly” for my 6-year-old class.!!!!

I like this as at this age, children are naturally curious about nature, and butterflies are both familiar and visually engaging

Google slides seem like the most interesting format to make the lesson more interesting and to achieve my learning outcomes for the children

 

One key design choice I would make would be to use a large, illustrated, colourful chart with the four clear stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly.

Each stage is represented with a bright image and a short, simple sentence underneath.

This design would support clarity by making each stage visually distinct, so children can easily identify and remember the sequence. It would also support sequence because the chart is arranged in a circular flow, guiding the eye naturally from one stage to the next.

Finally, it ensures consistency by using the same style of illustration and font throughout, helping students focus on the content rather than adjusting to new formats.

I think this approach would keep the lesson engaging and memorable.

 

One adjustment I would love to make next time would be to include interactive elements, such as flaps or movable pieces, so children can physically move through the stages themselves. I will have to learn how to do this though!!!

 

A possible link to SSE would be in assessing how visual aids impact comprehension and retention. I could gather feedback from pupils through drawings or retelling activities to evaluate whether the visual sequence improved their understanding.

 

 

 

 

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Darragh

I am interested in learning more about Google Slides .I see what you had to say about them and I must learn more about them !

[Helen O Sullivan]

Being slightly older(!!!) and though I am new to all this I really want to see and learn what it is all about. I teach Senior Infants and just want to learn how it can help

So off I went on Google classroom and discovered Google Docs which I knew about but had never used.

With a more tuned in younger teacher (who jokes about my next move is into a Nursing Home …the scoundrel !!!!!!) we explored using a voice recorder app called Vocaroo of which the recording can be copied and pasted into a Google Doc page

He has just shown me …. he is a neighbour and a co-pilot on this course. how I can set up a Google Doc page, record the children reading or reading their Tricky Words (say in Sept), copy and paste the recording into a page for the children title Reading ……then maybe 2/3 months later repeat the same …… and hopefully for me, the child and the parent to see the progress he/she has made

It seems an email address can be set up for each individual child and so you can simply email this to the specific parent.

 

I think is absolutely fabulous. I intend using it and this fits in nicely to the Digital Assessment Framework

 

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Jonathan

I love the idea of a gallery walk .This is certainly something I will do as an exercise at the end of lessons.Its fun while being of enormous benefit for the children !

Thank you

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module 5

Describe how you would involve your pupils in an art, music drama or creative writing project based around your local natural or scientific heritage

 

We are lucky to have a beautiful Grove and river right across from the school. It was originally the site of the first people: The Deise people: to come to the town now called Bru na Ndeise or Bruff in Co Limerick. This grove has a rath called an Binn Liosin.This is a local natural beauty spot well loved by all. There were ring forts here. They were dwelling places and farmsteads which provided protection from predators for humans and farm animals.

There is so much scope here for the Arts to flourish.

First of all, we will have a great discussion about what we imagine the ring forts were like.

Then we compare what we imagined to pictures of ring forts.

We can discuss the wildlife, the flowers, the trees, the houses, their beds, the river the food the smells, the people, the clothes etc. etc.

<u>Drama</u> would be a natural starting point here. We could create a drama around the people living here /how they lived their daily lives/what did they eat /drink/wash /clean

How did they entertain themselves at night which will lead us on to music and dance

I have an infant class so with our instruments we can create the sounds of the forest and the river. Onto this we can create a dance around the camp fire.

We can introduce tension into the drama by creating a problem: a predator on the attack.

Lots of questioning about how we will defend ourselves/what will we use/who will defend/where will the children be?

Victory: After the people have won there will be a victory celebration with music /dance/food.

Creative writing with pictures and sentences should be a very interesting follow up

Art work will be very dramatic using all the strands;

Drawings of any scene

Paintings; Very vibrant colours will be used

Prints: of leaves and sticks we find in the grove

Construction: Research of fort houses and creating simple structures

Clay: representations of the houses

Fabric and fibre: Using wool strings create flowers and plants pictures

 

 

This is very interesting. I look forward to doing some research on Walton and Cockcroft and perhaps one day in your suggestions in the classroom.

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Edel

I would love to research and learn more about the canals and so you have inspired me to do this.

I look forward to reading about Athy, the river barrow and the Grand Canal and especially reading about the tone bridge and horse bridge

My Senior Infants would love to know about all this!!

Thank you

[Helen O Sullivan]

• Research engineering in your local area and describe how you would use a local building, structure or other engineering feature as inspiration for a classroom or outdoor design and make project

I teach in a lovely little town with 2 bridges still in use. They are hardly a quarter of a mile apart. It is very unique and they are of great pride in the town. They are right beside what we call The Grove which is the site of the first settlers in Bruff.

Interest therefore is particularly high as they are well use to crossing over both bridges. We could go on our own trip over both. Discuss both and see how alike they are.

I would allow them to take photos on their iPad.

Back in the classroom we could draw the bridges on their whiteboard. Then we would compare them to the iPad photos. A fun idea would be to allow them to take photos of their drawings on the IPad and then compare them to their IPad photo

I would show some of these on the interactive white board.

By now they have a good understanding and much oral language on the structure of the bridges and the uniqueness of the bridges being so close to one another.

Then we could after all this go on to make our own double bridge with blocks or Lego during Aistear /Science. We would discuss how to hold the arches/the strength at various points needed.  They could insert various objects like strong little boxes /sticks to strengthen the pressure points

They could test the strength of the bridges by running toy cars over the bridges.

The river underneath could be recreated using blue paint on paper.

They would have such fun while using all the vocabulary of engineering

Cross curricular links in great use for

 

Literacy: writing sentences about what they are doing

Gaeilge: Using the word droichead

Maths: estimating how many blocks we need

 

Art; drawings recreating the bridges

History: Learning the history of the double bridges

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Sharon

I love the idea of running a seasonal biodiversity project

across the school .Nesting  birds such as starlings and sparrows would provide a very interesting real live stimulus for this .I will  certainly be  following your  example with this .

[Helen O Sullivan]

Module 3 Birr Outline how you would use some of the course resources to conduct a seasonal biodiversity project to run throughout the school year. What resources and recording sheets would you need? How often would you bring learning outdoors? How would you integrate other subject areas?

Following on from our map making activity I would use this as groundwork for this lesson. That was an outdoor learning experience and a great introduction to the beautiful plants and wildlife we have in our beautiful Grove which is right across the road from the school. It’s a rich heritage at the school doorstep.

The Recording app is a great idea and it will give the children an accurate picture of what they have discovered. Other resources I would use would be the plant identification app. Both would help children identify the amazing biodiversity on their doorstep.

I know the Grove inside out at this stage so I would have a picture grid of some of the plants they will see and they can tick them off as they come across them. We would then true and write the name of the plants and trees they see. This would link nicely into literacy and writing.

Data recording is how I would link this with maths by using block charts to record how many of each plant they saw. This would be after much Oral language discussion and having built their own block charts as such using hands on blocks.

I love using Irish with the children and we could talk about some of the trees using third Irish names and using terms like ag dul are sirloin as we are heading off on our walk

Art work of course is what would really crown the cross curricular activity. Painting, creating their own mini grove on cardboard, even reproducing clay models and painting the clay wold be a really fun activity.

I love going outside with the children. We have school wellies which the children bring in and I have a supply from past years to make it an all year around learning experience for the children. I would go out at the very least once a week.

 

 

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Lisa

I love the idea of using Google maps.,,, as  you said for pointing out local landmarks such as the local church and school. The interactive nature of this would be very exciting for them. This would make the lesson much more enjoyable for the children

[Helen O Sullivan]

For younger classes, describe how you would plan and conduct a lesson on map making and explain how you might incorporate some online tools such as Google maps or Geohiveo

This sort of activity is exactly what the Infants would love. It is such a practical and hands on learning activity .We have a Grove across the road from the school. It is the site of the first settlers in the town in ancient times. The children love going over there to wander around the trees and the exotic plants growing there. The river walk is very peaceful. We would go over and talk about where everything is. We would walk around and take note and discuss where all some trees and plants are in relation to the river On return to class we would map this as a collective on the whiteboard.

We could also use our IPad to take photos to make the activity more interesting

, I would mention a bird’s eye view aspect of the map but only as a vocabulary word as I feel they might this concept difficult to understand.When we have this done the children can attempt to draw this map themselves on their whiteboards. This will allow them to have trial and error built into the learning process.Finally, I would talk about Google maps. By now they have a good understanding of basic mapping and what to look for in a map  I would bring up the Grove on Google maps and I am certain they will know what they need to look for, compare it to their maps, talk about the photos/videos they have on their iPad and be confident that they have a good understanding of basic mapping

[Helen O Sullivan]

Hi Louise

I agree with the above re the the Env Awareness & Care being one of the strands that was not as popular. I think things are changing now due to of the very obvious climate change narrative that is currently ongoing. This is absolutely essential. You have many excellent ideas which I hope to put into my everyday teaching in the classroom.

Thank you

[Helen O Sullivan]

I read the Liston paper on STEM as best as I could as I quickly came to realise that STEM is not what I thought it to be that it was a full focus on Maths ,Science and Engineering but rather a way of thinking and  not just a  a full focus of different subjects  .It also calls upon us to be more aware from more socially informed lens .This is very much the way in which we want the environment to be for the next generation .The earth doesn’t belong to us and we must pass it on in good shape to the next generation .

In the classroom it would mean for me to impress upon my little Senior Infants that if for example we are doing work on building shapes with blocks that this cannot alone be applied across the STEM subjects but that I can bring in a social awareness and environmentally friendliness into it that I may not have thought of doing before,

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