It’s that time of year, many classes are in the middle of nativity plays and Christmas Art.
December also marks the end of Term 1! Junior Infants are well settled into school life at this stage. In December for the first two weeks, depending on your own school of course, you should try to continue with a normal timetable if possible. December is also a time for revision and in Senior Infants some assessment before Term 2 begins in January.
If you want to identify your ability groups for Senior Infants, some assessments like the Dolch Word List from NEPS and Phonics Assessment might be useful. Ideally these tests should be carried out in the first two weeks of December while the children are somewhat more settled.
Of course you can always do Jolly Phonics Checklists on Junior Infants too based on the sounds you have covered to date.
I like the Post Office theme for Infants at this time of year, while they enjoy the topic you can also link with the story the Jolly Christmas Postman and link to Christmas Activities too.
There are lots of Christmas Activities suitable for Infants and you will find many interactive games and stories online.
To avoid giving out Christmas Cards every day I always have a postbox, even if I’m not doing the Post Office in Aistear. Children post their cards if they have them and on the very last day I take the role of the postman and give them all out. This can also avoid some children getting left out with cards.
We are very fortunate to have a friendly postman that comes to our school and every Christmas he likes to pop into the infants classroom, sometimes he even has a special delivery of a letter from the North Pole. While my class may often prepare some questions, the postman also shares his tales of his trips to the North Pole to deliver their Santa letters. The children love it and it really creates a magical atmosphere in the days before the holidays.
I wish everyone the best of luck with their Nativity Plays.
A.M.
Aistear Múinteoir 