In Scoil Mhuire, we recognise how important play is for our young pupils’ early learning and development. We implement Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework, in Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st Class.
Our Aistear work:
- Supports our pupils’ wellbeing
- Helps them with developing their sense of identity and sense of belonging
- Promotes their communication skills and helps them to express themselves creatively and imaginatively
- Helps them to build exploring and thinking skills, and to develop positive attitudes to learning.
Through play, our pupils explore different learning themes each month, for example home, school, the doctor’s surgery, the restaurant, the building site, the farm, and others.
During regular Aistear sessions, which last for 40 to 50 minutes, the pupils rotate between the different stations each day. Our Aistear stations include:
- Role play
- Small world
- Arts & crafts
- Construction
- Water
- Play dough
- Puzzles
In each of these settings, they use a wide range of high quality play equipment and resources as they partake in fun, shared and real-life activities.
The implementation of each Aistear theme is carefully planned for by our team of teachers, resulting in very positive learning outcomes for our pupils’ language, literacy and numeracy skills
