Congratulations to Dara. Her story Pro – D was published in the Primary Planet Magazine. This is the second time that Dara has had a story published. A career as an author beckons.
Category Archives: Literacy
Summer Stars Reading Adventure
The Summer Stars Reading Adventure for children will once again run in all library branches during the summer from 15th June to the end of August.
Summer Stars is an exciting reading-based programme which is available free of charge to children. They will be delighted to welcome children and their families to join in and we will encourage them to continue reading and using their local library during the summer months.
Each child is invited to register for the adventure at Dunmanway Library and will get a Summer Stars Reading Card to record and track their own progress. A library reward stamp will be added to their reading card at the library after each book read. At the end of the adventure, all children who participate are invited to attend an awards event at which they will be presented with their own Summer Stars certificate.
Children and families will also have access to fun reading activities on the Summer Starswebsite www.summerstars.ie . This site has lots of online activities as well as a range of animated ebooks. You will find a children’s books discussion board and interviews with well-known people about their favourite books. There are also helpful tips for reading and recommended titles by age group for children to read. The books can then be borrowed from your local library and it’s all free.
Events for children will also be held in the library during the summer.
Further information is available from Dunmanway Library on 023 8855411 or on https://www.librariesireland.ie/services/right-to-read/summer-stars
WeDo 2.0 robotics and coding
The children in the middle room have been busy exploring their LEGO WeDO 2.0 robotics and coding kits.
Combining colorful LEGO building elements, easy-to-use hardware, and an intuitive drag-and-drop coding language LEGO WeDo 2.0 continuously engages children through playful learning activities to think critically and solve complex problems, regardless of their learning level. WeDo 2.0 helps children learn the essential STEM and 21st century skills needed to become the innovative minds of tomorrow… while having fun!
There’s a lot of learning theory that says that experiential learning is very beneficial to children as it gives them concrete experiences to connect with the more abstract, theoretical STEM concepts. Making attempts that don’t work—and figuring out why they didn’t—is a crucial part of the learning process.When children are learning through testing and troubleshooting, they’re developing a sense of confidence that it’s OK if it doesn’t work the first time.
World Book Day
We were delighted to celebrateWorld Book Day today.
Children in senior classes presented their favourite book to the class.
Over the last 20 years World Book Day has become firmly established as Ireland’s biggest annual event promoting the enjoyment of books and reading. The main aim is to encourage children to explore the pleasure of books and reading by providing them with an opportunity to have a book of their own.
Each child has been given a voucher to the value of €1.50 to encourage the purchase of a book.
The World Book Day Book Tokens are valid until Sunday 31st of March.
WeDo 2.0
We have put together a short video to show some of the wonderful projects we have created using WeDo 2.0.
Published Authors
Congratulations to Daniel, Dara, Gráinne and James. Their Christmas stories were published in The Southern Star this weekend.
The Gruffalo
Doesn’t he know,
There’s no such thing as a gruffalo?
But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black,
He has purple prickles all over his back.
“Oh help! Oh no!
It’s a gruffalo!
The children in the junior room really enjoyed the wonderful The Gruffalo story.
The Story of Chocolate
The children in Miss C. Daly’s room have been reading about the history of chocolate. As Togher N.S. has a “hands on – minds on” philosophy the children had to explore all the qualities of chocolate – honestly!
Summer Stars Reading Adventure
The Summer Stars Reading Adventure in Dunmanway Library draws to a close this week. Just short of 240 children took part in the fun reading programme which encouraged them to read over the summer holidays. Children collected stamps along the way for each book they read and each card can be returned to the library now (by Friday 7th) to be in with a chance to win a prize. There will be a special presentation day on Saturday 8th September where children will be presented with a certificate for taking part
Tara Julia Haubach – Illustrator
Today the children in the Junior Room were delighted to welcome Tara Julia Haubach to their classroom. Tara is an illustrator of children’s books.
Tara showed the children the original drawings and paintings from her first book “Gerard the Ferret” and from her latest book “The Cat Who Couldn’t Count” written by local teacher Sharon Hosford.
The children really enjoyed Tara’s beautiful artwork and were fascinated to hear how she comes up with ideas for her illustrations. Tara read from “The Cat Who Couldn’t Count” for the children who then had the opportunity to create an illustration for their favourite part of the story.
Before she left Tara very kindly autographed a copy of “The Cat Who Couldn’t Count”for the school library.