Senior 4
2017 - 2018
Welcome to Senior 4!
We are all FRIENDS working and learning together in a happy and caring atmosphere.
Erin, Ciaran, Tristan, Roksana, Leanne and Rachel are the students in our class.
Jane, Frances and Laura are the staff.
We are excited about all the learning and fun we are going to have together this year.
We are all FRIENDS working and learning together in a happy and caring atmosphere.
Erin, Ciaran, Tristan, Roksana, Leanne and Rachel are the students in our class.
Jane, Frances and Laura are the staff.
We are excited about all the learning and fun we are going to have together this year.
Planting and Cooking
Senior 4 are taking part in the Incredible Edibles Programme run by Agri-aware this year in conjunction with Horticulture and the short course Grow Cook Eat in the Junior Cycle Level 2 Programme. We recieved a box full of vegetables, herbs and fruit seeds to grow
We are currently cooking sweet and savoury dishes in cookery, so far we have made buns and sausage rolls, delicious!!!! The pupils have been excellent and so careful weighing out the ingredients and using an electric mixer.
Ring Ring!!!
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Art Gallery
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Enjoying the New Extension
Senior 4 had a lovely time in the new sensory garden, listening to a story called "Where There's a Bear There's Trouble" and then following on to the new gross motor room for some yoga as part of the Junior Cycle priority learning unit personal care.
Egg-cellent Easter is here!!!!
Senior 4 did really well following a showering programme as part of their Personal Care for the Junior Cycle Level 2. Each pupil received an Easter egg upon completion of the programme. The pupils also enjoyed drawing an Easter Bunny, creating Easter puppets using threading techniques and making Easter cards. We even celebrated a sweet 16 birthday party for a pupil. We had a very busy week! Enjoy the Easter break!
St. Patrick's Day Celebrations
Senior 4 enjoyed making lots of St. Patrick Day art, along with attending a ceili in the hall with local musicians. They also enjoyed using an irish instrument, the bodhran in music class with their music teacher Cormac. Please see videos underneath picture
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Jugging Session with Stephen
Senior 4 enjoyed a juggling session with the wonderful Stephen Mc Ginley from www.juggle.ie, they worked with a variety of equipment including scarfs, plates, sticks etc. It was so much fun! See pictures and videos below!
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Preparing for Work
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Cooking Up a Storm
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Mass in the Cathedral
Senior 4 went to mass on Ash Wednesday in the cathedral. The pupils were very well behaved, calm and peaceful. After mass the pupils went up to receive ashes (which do you know come from burnt palm tree leaves?!) on their foreheads. The pupils enjoyed the outing so much they are asking when we are going to the cathedral again???? :)
Birthday Boys
The new year brought not one, but two birthdays to Senior 4. We had two wonderful parties where we sang Happy Birthday and ate birthday cake. See photos below
Social Outings and Baboró
Senior 4 had a busy week out and about in the local community. They followed a list to buy some items for the classroom in Mr. Price, completing some of their Communication and Language learning outcomes. Afterwards they had a treat in the Menlo Park Hotel, where we saw the American, Irish and English flag. Senior 4 got to know their new teacher Jane by asking her some questions over some hot beverages.
Senior 4 also got to attend a show called uoo mee, weee! in the O' Donoghue Theatre in NUIG as part of the Wide Eyes Programme run by Baboró. The pupils throughly enjoyed the performance which was non-verbal and used mainly music and movement to tell the story. Hats off yet again to Baboró for a wonderfully organised and punctual show!
January Blues
Unfortunately Senior 4 bid a farewell to their teacher Seamus who was covering for Jane while she was on leave. He will be sorely missed by staff and pupils alike, we wish him all the best in his future teaching endeavours!
December 2017
December was a very busy month for Senior 4. We went to Barna Woods to collect moss, holly and greenery to make our Christmas wreaths. We visited Dangan Nurseries to get some other supplies. We got our hands dirty and experimented and then suceeded in making our own Christmas wreaths. They look so special and festive on our front doors!
December Outings
We went to the Galway Shopping Centre to get in the Christmas mood. We loved seeing the trees, lights and decorations all around. We went to McGaughs Garden Centre on the Headford Road where we looked at all the animals and all of the Christmas decorations and the beautiful trees.
Christmas Cooking
We were busy making delicious food in our cookery lessons this December. We are really improving at cutting, peeling and working safely in the kitchen. We made Christmas cookies and mince pies and then we decided that we needed something savoury so everybody really loved our tasty potato wedges! We had a treat and we ate them with mayonnaise and tomato ketchup.
Lovely Christmas Dinner!
November 2017
Preparing for Work
This month we have been discussing the different jobs that people do. As part of the Junior Cycle level two we visited Cafe Link restaurant on Sandy Road. We discussed the possible jobs that we may be interested in and helped out in the restaurant.
Gymnastics
We have PE every Tuesday with our PE teacher Karen. In November we started practicing gymnastics. We are learning about different ways to move using different parts of our bodies and using the space appropriately. We had so much fun with the mats!
Christmas Markets
It's only November but we had a sneak peek at the Christmas Markets in Eyre Square. The atmosphere was so amazing and now we are ready for December and to get really ready for Christmas!
Christmas Art Competition
We love art in Senior 4 and this month we entered some Christmas Art Competitions. We hope to win a prize but we had so much fun anyway!
September 2017
Cookery
We have been busy in cookery this September. We learned how to prepare a delicious meal of scrambled eggs and toast. It was so tasty!
In another lesson we made scones with fresh blackberries, the smell coming from the oven as they were cooking was mouth-watering! Senior 4 are excellent at working as part of a team in the kitchen.
In another lesson we made scones with fresh blackberries, the smell coming from the oven as they were cooking was mouth-watering! Senior 4 are excellent at working as part of a team in the kitchen.
Music
Every week we have a music lesson with Cormac. We get to try out different instruments and play along to the music. Cormac finishes the lesson with some relaxing music and we can really appreciate the music from the comfort of our lovely beanbags! This is a really special time of the week for Senior 4!
P.E.
We have PE with Karen every week. These lessons are really active and fun. We are learning to listen carefully and follow instructions.
Woodwork
Our weekly woodwork lesson with Dieter helps us learn about using different tools and about safety in general. We are learning lots of new skills.
Bus Outings
Every week, we get to go out on a bus trip. So far this September, we have been shopping in ALDI, blackberry picking near the beach at Blackrock, walking the prom in Salthill and visiting Dangan nurseries to buy plants to grow as part of our Horticulture work in St. Joseph's.
Birthday Celebrations!
This September we had a cake, lit some candles and sang 'Happy Birthday' to celebrate a special person's birthday in our class!
Horticulture
As part of the Junior Cycle Level 2, we are learning some important information about gardening. We used a range of gardening tools and equipment this week as we planted vegetables suitable for growing in winter. We sowed cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, onions and kale. They will be ready in approximately 60 days. Watch this space! We had great fun planting and we are really looking forward to the harvest feast!
October 2017
This month senior 4 presented an assembly all about friendship and new beginnings. We said a poem with actions and sang a song called 'Together Again' as we danced and played some musical instruments. We love drama and we did some role-play about the story of The Little Red Hen in class, it was so much fun!
Shopping
We are learning about money and we go shopping to buy the things we need for our cookery lessons. We have been making lists of the things we need, collecting the shopping trolley or basket, looking for the items on the shelves and finally taking the items out of the trolley for scanning. We are learning how to pay for our shopping and to wait for our change and the receipt. There are a lot of things to remember but we are getting more confident every day!
Art & Craft
We really enjoy being creative. This month we have been experimenting with using clay. We made coil pots which we varnished and took home. We also made imaginative monsters out of clay. We love using paint and getting messy!
Cooking & Baking
This month was a busy one in the kitchen. We baked chocolate chip cookies and Rice Krispie and marshmallow buns for a Halloween party. We also followed a recipie and made delicious healthy vegetable soup. We were very careful peeling, chopping and washing the vegetables. We enjoyed the soup with toast and butter.
Bus Outings
This October we visited Galway Autism Partnership (GAP) which is a beautiful centre with lots of fun activities and equipment that we all got the opportunity to use and enjoy. On another day we went to Cafe Link Restaurant in Shantalla. We talked with the staff, ordered some food and drinks from the menu and had a lovely, relaxing and fun Cafe experience. We love exploring the local community.
Halloween in Senior 4
We had a Spooktacular time preparing for Halloween! We all got dressed up in our favourite costumes, made lots of art and craft things to do with Halloween and had a party to celebrate, dance and scare our friends!!!
Birthday Celebrations
We had a birthday to celebrate in our class in October. Lots of cake and lots of fun!
