During the month of April our school participated in the Daily Mile Challenge every day! The Daily Mile is a programme that gets children out of the classroom for 15 minutes every day to run or jog, at their own pace, with their classmates, making them fitter, healthier and more able to concentrate in the classroom. In Junior Infants the children completed 1 lap of the yard each day, while the Senior Infants completed 2 laps, and the First Classes completed as many as they could in the allotted time of 15 minutes. We enjoyed getting out in the fresh air between lessons, especially as the weather started to improve!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge in March we hosted the SVDP Seachtain na Gaeilge Céilí Dance! Ms Coughlan, SVDP's very own Irish Open and World Champion Irish Dancer, and qualified Irish Dance teacher, taught the students two simple céilí dances in the school hall. The children and other teachers learned 'An Damhsa Mór' and danced along to a song called 'St Patrick's Day' by The Speks. In big circles the children advanced, retired, did some rolaí polaí and a big luascadh (swing) with their partners at the end. The children and teachers also learned to dance to 'Shoe the Donkey' and had so much fun skipping around the hall with their partners! 

In February our Active Schools Committee Members led their class lines in some active movements and exercises as they lined up after yard. While the children waited for their teacher to return, the Active Schools Leader stood at the top of the line and demonstrated exercises for their class to copy for example, jumping jacks, toe touches, hopping, squats, etc. The children loved following the leader and the leaders loved the important role they had in helping their classmates to stay active and warm!

During the month of January we got involved in 'Drop Everything and Dance!'. At 11.40 am each day two of our Active Schools Committee Members walked along the corridors ringing the Active Schools Bell to remind all classes to drop everything and dance! Once the class heard the bell, everybody paused what they were doing and stood up to do a dance break. The teacher would play a guided dance video on the interactive whiteboard and the children would dance along. By the time the dance was over and everyone was sitting back down in their seats, everybody felt energised to continue concentrating for a little while longer before going out to yard at 12.10 pm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In December, in the week leading up to our Christmas break, we held our SVDP Santa Dash! On a crisp, frosty morning our children came out to the yard in their class levels (Junior Infants first, then Senior Infants and last but not least First Class) and ran laps of the yard to some festive music! Christmas songs played over our speaker system while we jogged and 'jingled' our way around the yard with sleigh bells and Santa hats! We had plenty of fun while getting some great exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During our 'Active Breaks Month' (Oct 8th - Nov 9th 2018) our students took part in various different 'Active Breaks' throughout the school day. An 'Active Break' meant that between lessons we did some kind of physical activity which could be a Dance Break, an Exercise Break or a Running Break. If a class did a Dance Break, that involved getting out of their chairs to do a guided dance with some energetic music, for example, using the Go Noodle website or Zumba videos on YouTube. An Exercise Break involved doing simple aerobic exercises such as jumping jacks, toe touches, air-boxing, etc. A Running Break would involve leaving the classroom for a few minutes to run a few laps around the yard. We had great fun tracking our progress on our Active Breaks chart in the classroom, ticking off our exercises every day and then totalling them at the end of the week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate Halloween on the 25th October we organised a fancy dress Halloween Hoops & Hops day out in the yard. Thankfully the weather stayed dry and the children had lots of fun getting active before the midterm break began. The boys and girls enjoyed hula-hooping and hopping from spot to spot trying different actions and movements. The children worked in teams for Pumpkin Throw, trying to get as many pumpkins into the cauldrons as they could. Happy Halloween everyone! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the week leading up to the Halloween break our students took part in some 'Halloween dancing'! We had so much fun exercising through dance as part of both PE and our classroom movement breaks between lessons. In the PE hall teachers gave the children the chance to dance like skeletons, ghosts, witches and other spooky creatures. In the classroom we danced along to some spooky songs, which was particularly fun on the Halloween dress-up day!