March 22nd, 2020

Hi Parents/Guardians and Children! Happy Mother's Day! We hope you continue to keep safe and well during this difficult time. A reminder that the children's books are available to collect at the school from 11.00 am to 6.00 pm tomorrow, Monday (23/03/2020). Please do not bring the children when collecting the books and observe social distancing. Teachers will also assign some work and there will be more information about this with the books. This work is to act as a guide and not intended to create any extra pressure or stress on families. Do what you can. 

If you are looking for extra ideas for apps or websites the website http://www.coolappsforschools.com/ is an excellent one which divides apps/websites based on age and subject area. It is run by a member of the PDST (Professional Development Service For Teachers) Digital Strategies team. It also has a brilliant Facebook Page. 

Dublin Zoo have also just started a lovely activity series where they release an activity workbook, each weekday, on an animal in the zoo. It may be nice for the children to check in each day to see what the animal is! See https://www.dublinzoo.ie/news/dublinzoofun/?fbclid=IwAR1km6YluvQzcptTRF5sOd_J0I8IuVo9tWgjgeeK1t5k3htakhjyjG6gVac.

On the website here, we will post some ideas in relation to arts and crafts, wellness, games and exercise over the coming days/weeks. These are all very important at this time.

Here is a list of possible art and craft ideas which require very little materials, little to no screen time (apart from looking up ideas) and most can be modified for all age groups.
Children can read this list themselves or ask a sibling/parent to read it for them:

• Create a dolls house/village/shop using cardboard boxes.
• Create a colour by number worksheet to test the concentration of another family member!
• Create your own cartoon. You will need to create a background/backdrop, characters (or use characters you already have e.g. Lego people, barbie etc.), write a script and give parts to different people in the family. Record it, edit it and then watch it or send it to a friend/cousin/neighbour to watch.
• Design a calendar. Decide on a theme (e.g. animals, flowers, sports etc.) Paper calendars usually have a picture in landscape position above the month, which is separated into days in little rectangles below. Look up ideas online or ask an adult if you are unsure of the layout.
• Illustrate a cartoon for each day to show what you did at home during this time. Younger children can just draw the pictures, older children can add speech bubbles and captions. You can use it to share your experiences with the class when you get back or maybe it will be published in a hundred years time and become a part of history! :) 
• Alternatively you could simply illustrate and write about each day, like a journal or memoir. Don't forget to add a date. It will be very interesting to read back on in the future.
• Design your own cookbook with your favourite recipes. You could include the favourite recipes of your family members too. Maybe call a family member or granny or granddad and ask them about their favourite recipe! Illustrate with beautiful pictures. (Don't forget to try making them too!)
• Ask someone in your family or someone on skype or video call to sit still and draw a portrait of them (Don't take too long! :)).
• Draw the plans for your dream home.
• Sketch the plans for a new toy that hasn't been created yet or an improvement on a toy or device you already have. Make a model of it with recyclable materials if possible.
• Use old clothes (always ask first!!) to make something new. e.g. updating an old t-shirt or customising new silly socks.
• Design a piece of clothing or an outfit using recyclable materials (see Junk Kouture images for inspiration).
• Design a board game! It could be simple like an updated version of snakes and ladders or something new. Create the rules and then play it as a family.
• Choose one object in the house and sketch it in detail e.g. a fruit bowl, your favourite room, your favourite picture, the view from a certain window.
• Design a card and give it to someone in the house if they need cheering up. :)
• Draw your favourite memory from school this year.
• Design your ideal jersey.
• Create a crest for your family (like a crest on a jersey).

We hope you get to try some of these and get hours of fun! Mind yourselves and we will see you soon.