Home Uncategorized ‘The Construction Site’ in Senior Infants

‘The Construction Site’ in Senior Infants

This January in Senior Infants a ‘Construction site’ has been set up. It is proving to be a big hit with both the boys and the girls. In it there is also a small architect’s office where the children get into role and design a building. Then the builders get to work building it. There is a foreman there too to oversee the work. Other roles include the Fire Safety Officer and the Health and Safety Officer. These roles are taken very seriously and the children walk around the construction site with clip boards and checklists. If they deem the area unsafe for any reason they have the power to close it down! The children are thoroughly enjoying their time in ‘The Construction site’. They are learning lots of new vocabulary through the play, through books we have been reading and also through the themed Word-Wall in the classroom.

There is also a building site set up in the Sand Play with it’s own diggers and machinery. In the Play-dough group the children have taken it upon themselves to discuss and make ‘building site’ themed creations. Sometimes cakes and cupcakes are made here and taken to the builders for their break!

On Friday 17/01/14 we were fortunate to have Maeve, a student architect come in and talk to the children about the work of an architect. She had some of her own 3d designs with her and we learned all about insulation, foundations and the scale of designs. It was very interesting and the children loved showing her their own designs and singing the ‘Excavator song’ for her!

On Monday 3rd February Kelvin the Builder came in to speak to Senior Infants about his work. The children absolutely loved it and had lots of interesting questions to ask. He brought in a core bit and we were fascinated to learn that part of it is made from diamonds! (This particularly interested the girls!) In groups the children came up to touch it. The main attraction however was the laser level. Some of the class were able to hold the movable sensor, which can detect the laser beam and gives a signal when the sensor is in line with the beam. This was even more fun than our ordinary spirit level! Kelvin’s visit was a great way for the children to learn even more about building and bring this new knowledge back into the Construction site in the classroom.

We have been doing a lot of work on ‘The Three Little Pigs’ story lately. It links well with the ‘Building’ theme as it covers materials and homes. We have been learning the story ‘as Gaeilge’, we have been acting in a play based on it in Drama, In Science we went on a ‘materials hunt’ outdoors, we made lovely pigs in Art and in Geography we have been discussing types of homes. As a class we made a bar graph of the types of homes we have in Senior Infants so this linked well with Maths.

There are a few new pictures uploaded to show the most recent events.