Incorporating Gaeilge into Movement Breaks

Daily movement breaks became embedded in our class schedule last year. Each day at 10 o'clock we went out for a quick movement break. We had a simple routine each day and also added in a few playground games. As the weeks went by, it was clear that it benefited all the students and helped them to focus when we returned to the classroom. 

Usually, I do Gaeilge straight after the movement break. So we started to incorporate some of our Gaeilge lesson into the movement break. The students loved it as it was more time outside in the fresh air and they didn't even realise the amount of learning taking place!

Here are a few ideas of games and activities you could use during movement breaks.

Cén t-am é a mhac tíre?

The Irish equivalent of What time is it Mr Wolf? This became a daily one as the students really liked it and they could certainly count to 12 by the end of the year! 

A great one to teach time in a fun practical way.

Rith

I didn't have a name for this one. All students line up in centre of pitch. I called out a question linked to the vocabulary and phrases we were learning for the week. For example 'An maith leat a bheith ag.....'

Children then run to one side of pitch if they like it and to the other side if they don't. To get back to the centre of the pitch for the next question, they have to answer the question correctly; 'Is maith liom a bheith ag..../ní maith liom a bheith ag...' It offers an opportunity to repeat phrases a lot and also hear their peers forming the sentence.

If the vocabulary was new, I would bring out the flashcards as a visual prompt to those who needed it.

Cars 

I shared this idea on Instagram at the start of the year. A quick and easy way to revise phrases and use them multiple times during a movement break.

Deir Ó Grádaigh

Again this can be adapted to most topics you are teaching in Irish.  You can also use call and response to get the children using the language. 'Bígí ag rith.....Tá mé ag rith'.

I am going to continue incorporating Gaeilge outdoors this year as it led to lots of Gaeilge neamhfhoirmiúil in a fun context.  If you have any other ideas for using Irish in movement breaks, leave a comment below!

Gaeilge Mé Féin Sheets

I have used these differentiated worksheets in many different ways in the classroom. They are particularly useful if you work in a multi-grade setting or have a wide range of abilities in your class, as there are 5 of each worksheet included.

I really like using these to reinforce vocabulary for the theme of 'Mé Féin' and I have doubled it up to use them for their spellings also.  I usually make a 'Litriú Workbook' and the children add these pages to it each week.

Rather than just learn to spell individual words, I feel it is important that the children can use the word in context so the sheets allow the children to use the vocabulary in sentences.  It also connects all three strands of reading, writing and oral language.

I have used these in station teaching groups and again the children can use a sheet that suits their ability.  I have also used them as a form of assessment of learning.

Included in the bundle are:

-4 subthemes of 'Mé Féin' (aois, Mo Chorp, Mothúcháin and Mé Féin (gruaig/súile)
-5 differentiated worksheets in each (20 sheets in total)

Simply click on the image below if you would like to be redirected to the resource!

Focus on Fuaimeanna

This post focuses on the impact of explicitly teaching fuaimeanna in Gaeilge.

From my own experience, it is an area of Gaeilge that I take for granted especially in the senior end of the school, often presuming that the children understand . However, a couple of years ago when teaching 4th and 5th, I quickly realised that I needed to be more explicit in my teaching of fuaimeanna, just as I would in English.

The benefits were evident in the children's reading fluency and pronunciation. It also really aided their spellings both in written tasks and the weekly scrúdú.

In my class, I used display posters, which I referred to almost daily. I also used these cartaí during Gaeilge stations: matching the fuaim to the correct flashcard.

They are available in 3 different versions on my TPT store: the posters, the matching cards and a set which has both (cheaper as a combo!).  Click on any of the images below to be redirected to download.

  
Any other tips for teaching fuaimeanna in Irish? Add them in the comment box below!

Jenga Blocks in the Classroom

I purchased this set of Jenga blocks for only €4 in Tesco's last week.

I try to have a few games on each set, to get extra value for money! For example I have multiplication on one side of the blocks and a division set on the other.
Here are a few ways I like to use them in station teaching or as an early finisher activity.

 Maths

• Multiplication and division tables (useful to leave a multiplication square at the station so they can check answers)
• Addition and Subtraction tables for younger classes
• Fractions: 1/4 of 20
• Percentages: 30% of 10
• Decimals: 0.1 of 20
• Number Sequences or patterns: 12, ____, 14 or 3,6,9, ____
• Rounding numbers to nearest 10, 100, 1000

Gaeilge

Write the root of the verbs on the blocks and the children can change the verb to one of the following:

• Aimsir Chaite
• Aimsir Láithreach
• Aimsir Fháistineach
• Question form/negative of verb

English

• Prefix/Suffix

Add a prefix/suffix to each block and the children have to give a word that contains the prefix or suffix

• Phonics 

Put letters and letter blends (e.g. th) on the blocks and the children have to say a word with that letter sound

• Conversation Starters (Oral Language)

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Ways to play

Remove one piece at a time and keep it of you get the answer correct. When the tower collapses, whoever has the most blocks is the winner.

OR

Place each piece on top after you answer the question. Use a whiteboard or paper to record correct answers.

Feel free to add other ideas for using Jenga blocks in the comments below.

Gaeilge Mé Féin Stations/Activities

In another post I have outlined how I approached and structured Gaeilge Station Teaching last year. 

Here are some ideas for doing stations based on the theme of Mé Féin.

Guess who/ Cé tusa?

I had a Guess Who lying around at home from years ago. It is a great way to get the children to use the language based around hair colour, eye colour etc. A little pre teaching of the questions beforehand is all that is needed or give them a laminated list for questions for the first few games to help them. Here are some ideas of questions:

• An bean/cailín í?
• An fear/buachaill é?
• An bhfuil gruaig ________ air/uirthi?
• An bhfuil súile _________ aige/aici?
• An bhfuil sé/sí ard?
• An bhfuil sé/sí íseal?
• An bhfuil sé/sí ramhar?
• An bhfuil sé/sí tanaí?

A lot of families probably have the game so you could ask children to bring it in. Otherwise team up and allow two children to work against two others. For the older students, you can make it trickier by making them miss a turn if they speak any English.

If you don't have the board game, print an A4 page with a photo of each child in the class on it. Use counters to mark off the children as they narrow it down.

Puppets/Puipéid

Last year, I printed out various images from Google, laminated them and stuck them on a lollipop stick. On the back I wrote a number for their age. The children then pretend to be the character and use sentences such as:
'Dia duit! ______ is ainm dom. Táim __________ bliana/mbliana d'aois. Tá gruaig ______ orm. Tá súile _____ agam.'

The children had great fun putting on different accents, especially when they had the opposite gender on their puppet. Alternatively, they can describe the puppet, to practice using air/ uirthi and aige/aici. 

Roleplay/Rólimirt 

Practicing the questions about themselves is very important, not only how to answer questions but also to be able to ask questions. There's a poster set of the questions as well as differentiated rólimirt worksheets available on my TPT store. Click the image below to be redirected.

                                

Mé Féin Bunting

This is a nice scríbhneoireacht activity to do in station teaching as it doesn't take too long and once the children know the language they should be able to do it almost independently. Again, I have differentiated versions available here. 

                                                    

Draw the person/ éist, tarraing agus aimsigh an duine

This could be a nice éisteacht lesson. Read a description of a person to the children (cailín/buachaill, cén sort gruaig, dath na súile,  possibly include éadaí, and a badge with their age).

The children have to draw what they hear in the description and choose who they think it is in the classroom. Maybe it could also be a member of staff!

ICT Games/Cluichí Ríomhaire

These games are from one of the few Gaeilge sites that is very good and has some lovely interactive games. It has some differences in the words as it uses the Northern Irish dialect but is still a great resource to use.

Here are two games that link nicely to Mé Féin. Click on the images to be redirected to the website.

       

       

You could also download the Anseo Corp App onto the computers which has 6 games to revise the body parts. The clickable image will redirect you to where you can download it.

Bingo/Biongó

The children love Biongó. This is a set for the body parts (click on image to download resource). For the older children I make it more challenging by giving them two cards to mark. You can also make it more challenging for the child calling out the words by getting them to put it into a sentence e.g. Ghortaigh mé mo chos.

                                                   

Gaeilge Station Teaching (how it works in my room)

Last year, we decided to try team teaching and station teaching for Gaeilge. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical as to how it would work especially at the independent stations but the benefits were more than I ever expected. These are just a few of the advantages I found:

-development of Oral Language skills,  it gave the children a chance to USE the Gaeilge they already knew in a small group setting
-confidence boosting
-alternative from book (although I did base some stations on tasks similar to the book rather than totally reinventing the wheel!)
-amount of Gaeilge covered (I would never have covered the amount of material in one whole class lesson as I did at the stations)
-FUN for the children and teachers
-opportunity to work with small groups at their pace

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STRUCTURE

• 1 session per week on a Thursday  (as children had opportunity to learn some of the language)
• 4 stations
• 10 minutes per station (manageable and they didn't get bored as time was short)
• 2 teachers (this year I will be doing it by myself but it is great if you have another teacher)

Click on the image below to download free station labels.

Content of Stations

This varied each week but I always linked the content to the theme we were covering. Here are some of the stations I alternated between:

• Labhairt (at least one station every week)

This station changed every week. A few of the activities we did were:

rólimirt, 

board games,  

poster discussion,  

dánta,

nuacht,

conversation flashcards

PE

• Scríbhneoireacht

Some weeks children would practice their litriú for their scrúdú on Friday, write about a picture, put verbs into sentences etc. I usually used the whiteboards at this station so time wasn't wasted ruling copies.

I also worked on sentence structure with the children at this station. Even the older classes find it challenging to follow the correct structure of an Irish sentence. We used lots of flashcards and worked on forming sentences together.

• Gramadach

I found it a really effective way to teach some grammar points and reinforce grammar already taught such as tenses and prepositions.

                                                       

• Éisteacht (usually alternate weeks)

Either using the éisteacht activities from the class book or reading instructions myself, I did éist agus tarrraing, éist agaus scríobh

• Léitheoireacht

I often used texts from the book for this station as I didn't want to bombard my class with more and more texts-the book contains a large amount already. 

• ICT (usually alternate weeks)

This was a great independent station, unfortunately there aren't many high quality Gaeilge websites. Check out http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/snas_ar_sceal/ which has some great interactive games.

Resources

Our school did invest a lot in resources for the Gaeilge Station teaching. Here are some of the resources the school purchased.  Click on each image to be redirected to the website.

                  

Find other Gaeilge ideas here:

Mé Féin Stations/Activities

End of Year Activities...keeping them busy!!

It's almost that time of year again when most of the curriculum is covered and the feeling of holidays is in the air! It can be a long last month though to keep the children occupied and on task.

I have put together a few activities that might be useful for those last few weeks of the year.

1. Maths Murder Mystery

This is a nice group activity that also recaps on many maths strands from the year. the children figure out the Maths clues to eliminate suspects of the crime. If they follow the steps correctly they should be able to identify the killer! You can download them from Primary Resources by clicking here.

2. Display Ideas

It is always nice to ask the children what they really enjoyed during the year and what stood out for them. Here are a few ways to record their year in your class.

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This is a freebie from my Teachers Pay Teachers store that you can download here. There is also another sheet with it entitled 'My star moments this year'.

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3. Writing Activities (Irish)

I have used this with the senior classes to summarise their highlights from the school year. It is a useful way to recap on tenses and sentence structure. It can be used with younger classes too by using the differentiated worksheet.

Click here to download the resource.

4. Writing Activities (English)

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Last year, we used these task cards in the last few weeks of school. I pulled out a name and they chose a number and were assigned that task card. We did short writing sessions (10-15 mins) and they read each others work after wards. They really enjoyed reading each others memories. Click on the picture above to download them.

Here is another free set to download (click on picture to download):

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Please feel free to comment or link other ideas below :)

Finding time for Mindfulness....

It has always been an area I have found interesting to try out in the classroom but for many reasons (probably excuses really) I have never actually implemented it as part of our routine in the classroom. From being too busy with such a varied curriculum to having a split class it isn't easy to find that extra 5 minutes a day. In fact, it can be hard to even find 5 minutes in the week! However this year, I am going to try to incorporate mindfulness into our daily routine particularly as it will be well suited to my students this year.

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Last year, our school had a copy of the following CD and many teachers loved it and felt it had a real calming effect on the children.

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Even better it is now available as Gaeilge aswell. That is where I hope to start this year! If budgets are limited there are a huge amount of mindfulness resources on the internet that you can also use. (The Mindfulness Matters resources are also cheaper if you chose to download them rather than purchase a hard copy.)

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If you know of any other resources that have been tried and tested leave a comment below to help get us started.

All things Irish.... (September Thematic Planning)

Each month I choose a theme to teach the children. I find that it really helps me with time management, learning becomes more meaningful and connected for the children and it gives you time to explore a topic in depth.

For September, I usually choose a theme relating to Ireland. This year is fits in even better as the Rugby World Cup is on!

I have uploaded an outline of my thematic planning for free here is you want to download it. 

Here is a brief outline of ways to integrate 'All Things Irish' (or choose another suitable heading) for your class.

English

• Study an Irish poet (e.g. The Lake Isle of Inisfree by W.B. Yeats)
• Read an excerpt from 'Under the Hawthorn Tree' by Marita Conlon McKenna (It has excerpts in the Wonderland series if anyone uses these text books)
• Write a set of interview questions for an Irish author/sportsperson

Gaeilge

• Mé Féin
• learn words to Amhrán na bhFiann
• Caitheamh Aimsire (a perfect time to do more about All-Ireland Final & Rugby World Cup)

History

• Irish Myths & Legends (Poolbeg has some lovely versions available here)

• History of the GAA (Download a useful booklet here)
• History of your locality

Geography

• Learn about Irish counties, rivers, lakes & mountains (Ask About Ireland Website)
• Learn about your locality

Science

• Learn about my Skeleton

Music

• Learn Amhrán na bhFiann
• Learn tin whistle notes to Amhrán na bhFiann
• Learn Ireland's Call

Drama

Depending on the SESE you do, it could be linked to

• Irish myths & Legends
• GAA match commentary

Art

• Draw your impression of the Lake Isle of Inisfree using pastels
• Self Portrait (could use Picasso as stimulus although not Irish!)
• Design a Class or County Jersey (Download the template here)
• Make a clay model of an Irish landmark/symbol (e.g. Dublin Spire)
• Create a wall frieze of an Irish Legend 

PE

Now would be a great time to introduce the children to Touch Rugby or develop their hurling/Gaelic Football skills

Project Work

• Research an Irish County
• All Ireland Final Project Work
• Research an inspirational Irish player (hurling/football/rugby etc.)
• World Cup Project by A Crucial Week

Feel free to comment more ideas below!

Gaeilge Display Board (Year Round Resources)

Gaeilge is one of my favourite subjects to teach but one of the biggest challenges I find is having interesting and appealing resources to inspire the children. As a result, I generally make a lot of my own Gaeilge resources for my classroom.

Below I have listed some resources that I keep on my Gaeilge display board all year round. I then supplement it fortnightly with relevant flashcards & vocabulary for each Gaeilge theme.

1. Na Míonna

2. Laethanta na Seachtaine

3. Ceisteanna by A Crucial Week
These are very useful when doing comprehension questions as the picture cues help to remind the children of the type of question.

4. Seanfhocail
In our school, the children learn one seanfhocal per week. We sometimes integrate Gaeilge with Art at the end of the week to create illustrations for each seanfhocal.


5. 10 Téamaí headings
These posters can be used on your Gaeilge display board for each of the 10 Gaeilge themes you are teaching.