Dear parents,
This week has been designated as STEM week in our school, where the focus is
on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Developing skills in these areas
is a very important part of your daughters’ education. In keeping with this, we
have suggested a range of hands-on activities that integrate these subject
areas and are suitable for Senior Infants. (As always, please do not feel under
pressure to cover everything. Pick and choose what is manageable for your
home situation.)
Included in this document, please find the following:
➢ PE / movement breaks
➢ Maths challenges; including a ‘Maths Eyes’ photo challenge.
➢ Science challenges; including a ‘bridge building’ and ‘marble run’ challenge.
*We would also like the girls to write a piece and draw a picture of their
favourite STEM activity from the week. Each teacher will choose a ‘STEM Star
of the Week’ based on the feedback they receive from their students.
As always, we recommend the lessons on RTE’s School Hub programme at 11.
If you would like to contact us directly, we would be happy to hear from you.
Best regards,
A.Chandler, M. MacNamara & L. Walsh
R 15 &16
Covering the week June 2 -5.
Note: The following can be used to use up some of your child’s excess energy. It can also be used to re-focus or settle your child if used as a ‘movement break’ during schoolwork, similarly to when the children are in school. On-line Resources: ➢ Cosmicyoga on www.youtube.com has many fun
yoga/mindfulness activities. (Your child will be familiar with these from school.)
➢ Joe Wicks is delivering a fun P.E. class for schoolchildren. They are available on his youtube channel and can be viewed live at 9a.m. or you can access the recording at your convenience.
➢ Gonoodle and JustDance have fun dance activities
Welcome to STEM Week for
SENIOR INFANTS
Activity 1: ‘Maths Eyes’
Use your ‘Maths Eyes’ to answer the questions on the picture below.
1. How many cupcakes can you see?
2. If you ate half the cupcakes how many would you eat?
3. How many of each flavour cupcake do you see?
4. What 3-D shapes do you see?
5. If I started making the cupcakes at 1 o’clock and they were ready an hour later, what
time would they be ready at?
** Don’t forget to send your teacher your ‘Maths Eyes’ picture.
MATHS ACTIVITIES:
Activity 2:
Listen to Eric Carle reading the Hungry Caterpillar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYmvxP0AJI
Activity 3:
Activity 4:
Activity 5:
Your challenge is to make a bridge strong enough AND
wide enough to hold a plastic cup.
You must use materials from either option A or B as follows:
OPTION A: Straws, string and tape. OPTION B: Marshmallows and pretzel sticks.
Some tips:
There are lots of different kinds of bridges. Have a look at pictures of real bridges on-line.
Some designs may suit your materials better as you want it to be strong not necessarily
pretty. Do your research first and then come up with a plan. Remember you may need to
try this quite a few times to get it to work. For example, if it doesn’t stand up for you, you
will need to think about how you can make it stronger.
Here are a few ideas for your bridge structure, but really anything goes!
**Once your building project is complete, don’t forget to send your teacher a
picture of your bridge with the plastic cup on it.
Construct a marble run using empty toilet roll holders, craft sticks or any other materials
that you think would work. Be as imaginative and creative as you like! Here are some
examples to get you started:
** Don’t forget to send your teacher your completed designs.