Senior Infants
During the month of October senior infant children will be learning the story of 5 and 6 and be engaging in length activities!
Your child will learn to recognise the numbers up to 16 through our fun maths games. The children will continue to revise number formation up to 6.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
- Add, make, combine, altogether, in total, How can we make 5,6? Can you tell me all the ways to make 5 and 6. How many more do you need to make 5 and 6?
- Long, short, longer, shorter,wide, narrow, taller, shorter,
Practical activities at home –
Length activities can be a fun way to learn at home.
Find two toys and discuss long and short. Show how one toys is longer and the other is shorter.
Introduce the words narrow and wide. Find items around the house that are narrow and items that are wide.
Height: Order a group of soft toys by height.
Choose an everyday item such as a hairbrush, encourage your child to find objects around the house longer/shorter than the everyday item.
During the month of September senior infants will be learning about matching, sorting, classifying, pattern and number in their maths lessons.
Maths Language –
Colour, sort, match, which objects are the same?, which objects are not the same?, which items does/does not belong?, explain why these objects are the same/different? Which item does not belong in the set?, why doesn’t it belong?, count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number?, what number comes before/ after? What colour/ shape do you think comes next in the pattern?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home: Pattern
Design sequences for children to extend using household items eg cutlery, clothing, pasta, shapes.
Children can design their own sequences using toys and personal belongings.
Counting
How many buttons/pockets are there on the coat?
How many plates/cups/ spoons do we need to put on the table?
Matching
Separate the coloured/white items before using the washing machine.
Matching socks into pairs after the washing the laundry.
Classifying
Separate cutlery into correct categories.
Sorting items of personal clothing into correct categories eg socks, underwear, t-shirts.
During the month of June senior infant children will be learning about weight, capacity and length.
Revision of all other topics also
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning: long, short, tall, longer than, shorter than, longest, shortest, wide, wider, widest, narrow, narrower, narrowest, the same length, the same width, the same height, full, empty, holds more, holds less, holds the same amount, holds the most, holds the least, pour, fill, up to the top, enough, level, heavy, light, big, small, heavier, lighter, the same weight as, balance
Practical activities: Informal estimation/comparison involving weight at home e.g comparing the weight of household items such as containers, furniture and toys.
Keep a record of the child’s weight as they grow.
Length: Informal estimation/comparison involving length at home e.g household items or personal belongings (books, toys, shoes, spoons, forks, etc)
Use of household items as informal units of measurement, e.g clothes pegs, teaspoons, pasta.
Capacity: Informal estimation/comparison involving capacity at home. For example comparing the capacity of household containers, e.g jugs, jars, bottles, pots and buckets.
Use of household items as informal units of measurement, e.g eggcups, mugs and jugs.
During the month of May senior infant children will be learning about weight, capacity and length.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning: long, short, tall, longer than, shorter than, longest, shortest, wide, wider, widest, narrow, narrower, narrowest, the same length, the same width, the same height, full, empty, holds more, holds less, holds the same amount, holds the most, holds the least, pour, fill, up to the top, enough, level, heavy, light, big, small, heavier, lighter, the same weight as, balance
Practical activities: Informal estimation/comparison involving weight at home e.g comparing the weight of household items such as containers, furniture and toys.
Keep a record of the child’s weight as they grow.
Length: Informal estimation/comparison involving length at home e.g household items or personal belongings (books, toys, shoes, spoons, forks, etc)
Use of household items as informal units of measurement, e.g clothes pegs, teaspoons, pasta.
Capacity: Informal estimation/comparison involving capacity at home. For example comparing the capacity of household containers, e.g jugs, jars, bottles, pots and buckets.
Use of household items as informal units of measurement, e.g eggcups, mugs and jugs.
During the month of April senior infant children will be learning about capacity.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning: full, empty, holds more, holds less, holds the same amount, holds the most, holds the least, pour, fill, up to the top, enough, level, heavy, light, big, small, heavier, lighter, the same weight as,
Practical activities: The best way to explore capacity is by pouring and measuring water.
Capacity: Informal estimation/comparison involving capacity at home. For example comparing the capacity of household containers, e.g jugs, jars, bottles, pots and buckets. Which container holds the most/ which holds the less? Arrange them order starting with the most/ least etc. Encourage them to explain why they put them in that order.
Use of household items as informal units of measurement, e.g eggcups, mugs and jugs.
During the month of March senior infant children will be learning about spatial awareness. We are also revising the number stories completed so far 5,6,7,8,9,10.
We have also started maths stations in senior infants. These will take place four times a week.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning
Above, below, beside, under, over, on, in front of, behind, beside, near , near, close, between, on the right, on the left Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning coins, money, amount, how much?, the same amount, more, less, most, least, bigger, smaller, shinier
Maths activities:
Fill a box of assorted objects and ask the child to place them in various positions throughout the kitchen, sitting room etc. Ask the children to explain what they have done in each case. For example you give the instruction “Put the book on top of the shelf. Put the apple beside it. Now place a pencil between the book and the apple.” Then encourage them to say (”I put the book on top of the shelf. Then I put the apple beside it and I put the pencil between them”) You can repeat this activity lots of times.
Ask the children to follow oral instructions. For example “walk to the kitchen table. Where are you now? (“I am standing beside/ in front of the kitchen table”)
Put you school bag under/on top of the table. What did you do? (“I put my school bag under/ on top of the table’)
Encourage your child to set the table, placing the utensils and cutlery in the correct place/ tidying toys and other belongings.
Coins – (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c and 20c)
Maths activities- Encourage the child to help with shopping activities- looking at the prices, which item costs the most/least.
Simple practical shopping activities eg choosing personal items to buy, estimating the correct amount of money/coins, playing shop (the children only add up coins to 10c)
Encouraging the child to show you 1c, 2c, 5, and 10c. Asking them to show you 8c,7c, 6c etc. Plenty of practise with real money.
Senior Infants
During the month of February senior infant children will be learning about time and the number 9.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning
Today is, tomorrow will be, yesterday was, before, after, early, late, sooner, later, morning, afternoon, night, seasons, weekdays, months, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, count forwards, backwards, how many altogether, what is the missing number? What number comes before? What number comes after? First, second, third, last
Maths activities:
Sequencing everyday activities
First: I get up
Second: I get washed
Third: I get dressed
- Focus on the days of the week.
- Organise the daily/ weekly schedule of activities eg
- We go swimming on…
- We go dancing class on…
- We go football training on…
Then move on to
- We get up at __o’ clock.
- We go to school at ___o’ clock.
- We go swimming at ___ o’clock.
Number 9 activities
9 people will eat a meal:
- There are 7 plates on the table. How many more do we need?
- There are 6 cups on the table. How many more do we need?
- How many knives and forks do we need?
-Counting forwards, backwards
-Simple number stories
-Counting objects around the house
Senior Infants
During the month of January Senior Infant children will be learning about number and 3D shapes in their maths lessons.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
Shape, sides, corners, face, straight, curved, long, short, angle, cube, cuboid, sphere, cylinder, count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number?, what comes before, what comes after?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home:
- Game: Guess the Shape: Place different shapes in a bag, encourage the child to put their hand in the bag and describe the shape they have. For example it has 4 sides, 4 corners and it can’t roll. Someone can then try and guess the right shape.
Identifying 2D and 3D shapes around the house.
- Problem Solving:
Ask the children questions about the number line. Show me number 3,5,7,9 etc. Go to number 2 jump 3 spaces. What number are you on? Go to number 5 jump 2 spcaes. What number are you on? What number comes before 6? what number comes after 7? What number comes inbetween 5 and 7?
7, 8,9 people will eat a meal
There are 4 plates on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 2 cups on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 3 knives on the table. How many more do we need?
Senior Infants
During the month of December senior infant children will be learning about the number stories 6,7,8.
Maths Language
Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
Count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number, what number comes before, what number comes after, how many more do you need to make (6,7,8) jump three steps what number are you on? What two numbers make 6, 7,8?
Number story of 6 ( the number stories of 7 and 8 follow this pattern)
6 + 0 = 6
5 + 1 = 6
4 + 2 = 6
3 + 3 = 6
2 + 4 = 6
1 + 5 = 6
0 + 6 = 6
- Number Stories
Benny has 3 sweets and his friend has 4.How many sweets have they got altogether?
Max ate 2 cakes and his mum ate 4 cakes. How many did they eat altogether?
Pat got 2 books, 2 trains and a skateboard for his birthday. How many presents did he get altogether?
7 people will eat a meal
There are 4 plates on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 2 cups on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 3 knives on the table. How many more do we need?
Simple number sums – make sure the children can identify the biggest number
4+3=
3+5=
2+3=
During the month of November Senior Infant children will be learning addition in their maths lessons.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
One, two, three, four, five ,six, how many? How many altogether? How many more do you need to make six/five/four/three?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home:
- When the children are doing addition at home. Please encourage them to put the big number in their head and the small number on their hand. Then count on. Get the children to count various objects around the house for example spoons, plates, cups etc. How many cups and plates are there altogether? Call out some number stories to them. Ben has two sweets, Tom has three how many have they got altogether?
- Problem Solving: 6 people will eat a meal
There are four plates on the table. How many more do we need?
There are two cups on the table. How many more do we need?
There are three knives on the table. How many more do we need?
During the month of October senior infants will be learning about matching, sorting/classifying, pattern and number in their maths lessons.
Maths Language –
Colour, sort, match, which objects are the same, which objects are not the same, which items does/does not belong?, explain why these objects are the same/different? Which item does not belong in the set, why doesn’t it belong, count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number, what number comes before/ after? What colour/ shape do you think comes next in the pattern?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home: Pattern
Design sequences for children to extend using household items eg cutlery, clothing, pasta, shapes.
Children can design their own sequences using toys and personal belongings.
Counting
How many buttons/pockets are there on the coat?
How many plates/cups/ spoons do we need to put on the table?
Matching
Separate the coloured/white items before using the washing machine.
Matching socks into pairs after the washing the laundry.
Classifying
Separate cutlery into correct categories.
Sorting items of personal clothing into correct categories eg socks, underwear, t-shirts.
Senior Infants
During the month of September senior infants will be learning about matching, sorting, classifying, pattern and number in their maths lessons.
Maths Language –
Colour, sort, match, which objects are the same?, which objects are not the same?, which items does/does not belong?, explain why these objects are the same/different? Which item does not belong in the set?, why doesn’t it belong?, count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number?, what number comes before/ after? What colour/ shape do you think comes next in the pattern?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home: Pattern
Design sequences for children to extend using household items eg cutlery, clothing, pasta, shapes.
Children can design their own sequences using toys and personal belongings.
Counting
How many buttons/pockets are there on the coat?
How many plates/cups/ spoons do we need to put on the table?
Matching
Separate the coloured/white items before using the washing machine.
Matching socks into pairs after the washing the laundry.
Classifying
Separate cutlery into correct categories.
Sorting items of personal clothing into correct categories eg socks, underwear, t-shirts.
Senior Infants
During the month of May senior infant children will be learning about money.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning coins, money, amount, how much?, the same amount, more, less, most, least, bigger, smaller, shinier
Coins – (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c and 20c)
Maths activities- Encourage the child to help with shopping activities- looking at the prices, which item costs the most/least.
Simple practical shopping activities eg choosing personal items to buy, estimating the correct amount of money/coins, playing shop (the children only add up coins to 10c)
Encouraging the child to show you 1c, 2c, 5, and 10c. Asking them to show you 8c,7c, 6c etc. Plenty of practise with real money.
During the month of April senior infant children will be learning about time and the number 10.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning
Today is, tomorrow will be, yesterday was, before, after, early, late, sooner, later, morning, afternoon, night, seasons, weekdays, months, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, count forwards, backwards, how many altogether, what is the missing number? What number comes before? What number comes after?
Maths activities:
- Focus on the days of the week.
- Organise the daily/ weekly schedule of activities eg
- We go swimming on…
- We go dancing class on…
- We go football training on…
Then move on to
- We get up at __o’ clock.
- We go to school at ___o’ clock.
- We go swimming at ___ o’clock.
Number 10 activities
10 people will eat a meal:
- There are 7 plates on the table. How many more do we need?
- There are 6 cups on the table. How many more do we need?
- How many knives and forks do we need?
-Counting forwards, backwards
-Simple number stories
-Counting objects around the house
During the month of March senior infant children will be learning about spatial awareness. We are also be revising the number stories completed so far.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning
Above, below, beside, under, over, on, in front of, behind, beside, near , near, close, between, on the right, on the left
Maths activities:
Fill a box of assorted objects and ask the child to place them in various positions throughout the kitchen, sitting room etc. Ask the children to explain what they have done in each case. For example you give the instruction “Put the book on top of the shelf. Put the apple beside it. Now place a pencil between the book and the apple.” Then encourage them to say (”I put the book on top of the shelf. Then I put the apple beside it and I put the pencil between them”) You can repeat this activity lots of times.
Ask the children to follow oral instructions. For example “walk to the kitchen table. Where are you now? (“I am standing beside/ in front of the kitchen table”)
Put you school bag under/on top of the table. What did you do? (“I put my school bag under/ on top of the table’)
Encourage your child to set the table, placing the utensils and cutlery in the correct place/ tidying toys and other belongings.
During the month of February senior infant children will be learning about data. We are also doing the number stories of 8 and 9.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, how many..? how many altogether? More than, less than, the same as, equal, how many more? How many less?, most, least
Maths activities:
Here is a simple pictogram of the mode of transport that people take to work. This could easily be done at home with colours, food, favourite pets etc. Then encourage the children to talk about the pictogram for example you could ask them how many people use the car? How many people use the car and the bus? What is the least used mode of transport? How many more people use cars than bikes etc
This can be adapted to whatever topic the child has chosen to look at.
Problem solving:
9 people will eat a meal:
There are 7 plates on the table how many more do we need?
There are 6 cups on the table how many more do we need?
There are 3 bottles of water and two bottles of fizzy drinks how many are there altogether?
How many knives and forks do we need?
During the month of January senior infant children are learning about counting on the number line and the story of number seven.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
Count forwards, count backwards, what is the missing number, what number comes before, what number comes after, how many more do you need to make seven, jump three steps what number are you on?
- Number Stories
Benny has 3 sweets and his friend has 4.How many sweets have they got altogether?
Max ate 2 cakes and his mum ate 4 cakes. How many did they eat altogether?
Pat got 2 books, 2 trains and a skateboard for his birthday. How many presents did he get altogether?
7 people will eat a meal
There are 4 plates on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 2 cups on the table. How many more do we need?
There are 3 knives on the table. How many more do we need?
Simple number sums
4+3=
3+5=
2+3=
During the month of December 2nd class children will be learning about time in their maths lessons.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
Clock, time, hours, minutes, digital, o’clock, half past, quarter past, quarter to, next, before/after, late/early, later/earlier, long/short hand
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home:
- Games:
–Make a clock, call out a time (analogue and digital), the children must display that time on their clock. The children should already know o’clock and half past so there will be a big focus on a quarter past and a quarter to.
–Time check; while getting ready for bed, going to school, eating breakfast etc. call time check and the children must tell you the time
Challenge: time journeys in the car, what time did we leave at? How long did it take? What time did we arrive? What time will we get home at if we leave at ____?
- Problem Solving:
-The train leaves Dublin at 4.45, it takes the train 30 minutes to reach Drogheda, what time will the train arrive at?
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During the month of November Senior Infant children will be learning addition in their maths lessons.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning:
One, two, three, four, five ,six, how many? How many altogether? How many more do you need to make six/five/four/three?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home:
- When the children are doing addition at home. Please encourage them to put the big number in their head and the small number on their hand. Then count on. Get the children to count various objects around the house for example spoons, plates, cups etc. How many cups and plates are there altogether? Call out some number stories to them. Ben has two sweets, Tom has three how many have they got altogether?
- Problem Solving: 6 people will eat a meal
There are four plates on the table. How many more do we need?
There are two cups on the table. How many more do we need?
There are three knives on the table. How many more do we need?
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During the month of October Senior Infant children will be learning about pattern and counting up to 6 in their maths lessons.
Maths Language – Here is the vocabulary that the children will be learning: pattern, shape, colour, what comes next? Continue with the same shape, colour, size to complete the pattern, how many? Count forwards, count backwards, how many altogether, what is the missing number? What number comes before/after?
Practical games and activities – Here are some games to play at home:
- Game: Encourage your child to find some objects around the house (crayons, blocks, cereal, pasta etc) get them to make a pattern out of the objects. Encourage them to make a pattern for you to finish. You can also make a pattern for them to continue on.
- Problem Solving: Ask your child to close their eyes and listen while 1-6 objects are dropped into a tin box. The child counts the drops and then opens their eyes.
Parents can then question the child for example how many drops did you hear? How many objects would be in the tin if I dropped in another one/ or removed one?