Dear Parents/Guardians,                                                         21 Apr 10

Just a few reminders about some ‘good practice’ in the mornings:

a)      Try to use the drop down zone as drop down only (this is the area directly along the kerb facing the front door).

b)      Remember that your child’s teacher starts work with the children at 9:10am.  For infants this could be integration into social play time, which is very important for them.  From 1^st class up, this could be homework correction, or listening to reading.

While we welcome all parents to the classroom in the mornings, it is important to remember that it is not the appropriate time to engage the teacher in a conversation regarding your child’s progress.  If you need to speak to your child’s teacher, please make an appointment with them for a proper discussion.

Catherine

The HSE will be visiting the school this week.  Junior Infants are scheduled to have their MMR booster and 4 in 1 Vaccinations on Thursday & Friday.  Also, Senior Infants are due to have their Vision & Hearing tests on Thursday.  All consent forms must be returned to your child’s teacher or to the school office ASAP.  If you did not receive a form please inform the school office.  If possible could your child please wear a tracksuit on the day of their vaccination.

The school will be closing at 1:30pm this Friday 16 April for a staff meeting.

Catherine

The Activities

Open for all age groups:

• Irish Dancing with Suzanne Cox, Special Needs Assistant GET and her mother Deirdre Cox. Thursdays 13:50(jnr. and snr. infants) and 14:50(1st class and up)
• French with Bonjour Les Enfants. Bonjour Les Enfants is a language tuition company specializing in teaching French to children. Tuesdays 13:50(jnr. and snr. infants) and 14:50(1st class and up)

Senior Infants and up:

• GAA skills with Conor Bourke, Teacher GET. Tuesdays 14:50- 15:50 p.m.

1st Class and up:

• Spanish with Edel Bermingham, Teacher GET. Wednesdays 14.50 – 15.50pm
• Soccer with Emmet Hickey, Teacher  GET.  Monday or Thursday or both (depending on uptake) 14.50pm.

Over 50 students and their parents turned up in the Greystones park and ride at 11:15.  The PA handed out T-shirts in purple, red, blue, yellow and orange to the kids.  Once all the kids lined up in their color coded groups at the number 18 starting point they practiced the shake hands song. The day turned out warmer than expected and all the children and chaperones enjoyed walking down church road waving to the assembled crowds lining the street.  The kids stopped a few times to sing the shake hands song then continued down the street waving their flower and bird batons.

The kids sang their song one final time at the review stand and shook hands with anyone they could find including some of the judges at the review stand.  The parade finished up at the end of Church road where parent’s picked up their kids.

Special thanks to all the parents who helped make this day so much fun and to the PA committee who organized it.  We will add more photos as we get them so check back soon or email:  webadmin@greystoneset.ie if you would like to submit video or photos.

Playing in the Virtual World – Our kids’ safety online.

Many parents may be struggling to understand the internet and the many ways that children can be online today. While there is much to be positive about on the benefits of the internet, our children are still children. We need to educate them about safe usage of the internet and we need to be vigilant on what they are doing online.

The fact that you are reading this shows that you can get yourself online, but you may know of parents who can’t even get that far. You can learn to assist them or encourage them to take the first steps to understand the internet.

In the coming weeks the Parents Association will have an Internet Safety for Kids – Parents Guide at the school, so keep an eye out for details.

The session is aimed at parents, not the children, since your vigilance and understanding is key to them having a safe experience online.

In the meantime here is an important site to assist you in understanding what kids do online and how you can assist them if anything goes wrong.

http://www.internetsafety.ie/website/ois/oisweb.nsf/page/safety-guideparents-en

All participants in the St.Patrick’s Day Parade will assemble at the”South Beach Car Park” (Park and Ride) on Mill road at 11.15 am. They will all then move together as a group to the allocated 18th position on the Mill Road. The theme includes different coloured T-shirts to represent the different colors of the rainbow.  These T-shirts have been purchased by the PA and will be distributed to all the children.  They will be big enough to be worn over jackets.  The children should wear clothes suitable for the weather and comfortable shoes.  In preparation for the parade, the children will be making various objects from recycled materials next week, starting Monday the 6th of March.

Anna Rosenfelder is a professional puppeteer whose son Till is in junior infants. She will be working with the younger children to create magical birds, grasshoppers and butterflies for the children to hold in the parade.  Sarah Kernaghan who runs our after school club will be working with the older students to make flowers from recycled milk jugs and buttons.

We would like to ask parents to contribute multicolored buttons, empty milk cartons with the lids on, straws and colored plastic bags(the flimsy variety) to be used in the creation of the artwork. All donations can be sent in with your children and given to the class teacher.

If you are happy for your child to participate, or if you as parent or guardian would like to volunteer as a chaperone , please email the P.A. : parade@greystonesetpa.org

We expect the children to spend about two and a half hours participating on the day, probably between 11.30am and 2pm on the 17th of March.  Please contact the PA if you have any questions.   We are always delighted to have more parental input.

Lion Dance to Celebrate Chinese New Year

The courtyard was surrounded by children, parents and teachers from both Greystones Educate Together and Gaelscoil Na Clocha Liatha as well as local councillors Derek Mitchell, George Jones and current mayor of Greystones, Chris Maloney.  The Lion Dance was performed by two kung-fu athletes as the head and tail of the “Lion” respectively, and three musicians with drums, gong and cymbals. The children were delighted with the traditional dance which lasted about 15 minutes in which the Lion pranced around, rose to its and rose to its hind legs.  Towards the end of the performance the lion mimicked eating a head of cabbage and spitting it out which is a traditional sign of luck.  Evan Furlong prepared traditional Chinese New Year’s snacks of fried rice cakes and mandarin oranges for the spectators and tea was served upstairs in the parent’s room.

The New Year celebration continues on the 16^th and 17^th.  Catherine and Naomi’s classes will each perform versions of “The Willow Pattern”, a love story from China. Connor and Edel’s Junior Infant classes will perform the “Beijing Dance”, a gentle little dance performed to the music of a well-known song about Beijing.

The children have been learning about the art, culture and history of China over the past month.  They have created several displays inspired by China which can be seen in the hallways and the Wicklow room.  The Taiwanese Embassy has generously loaned the school a small exhibition of Chinese artefacts which can be viewed in the library.

History of The Lion Dance
The legend says “Nian” was a fierce monster that especially liked kidnapping children. He terrorized villages year after year. Finally, one year, a lion defeated and chased the monster away. Nian vowed to return next year. This time the villagers did not have a lion to protect themselves. So, they solved the problem by creating a costume likeness of a lion and two villagers used it to scare Nian away. This is the reason the lion dance is performed every Chinese New Year.

Legend also says that loud noises from the drum, other instruments, and firecrackers helped scare Nian away. Red is worn during the New Year celebration because it was also believed that Nian was afraid of the colour red. The word “Nian,” thought the yearly ceremony, has become the Chinese word for year.

Another origin of the lion dance is that an emperor of the Tang Dynasty had a dream in which a strange creature saved his life. When he woke, he described his dream. His advisors said the creature he described resembled the lion, a creature from the West. The emperor commissioned the lion dance in honour of the creature that saved his life.

We recently talked to artist Paul Flynn who worked on the project and told us a bit more about it:

“The Greystones Art Group recently held an art competition for primary schools in the Greystones area, which included Greystones Educate Together. The theme of the Art competition was ‘My Wicklow’. During the course of the competition the school principal Catherine asked the Greystones Art Group if we could do something for the children with a room that was available in the school, under the same theme ‘My Wicklow’. I was asked to call by and find out what sort of things reminded the children most about Wicklow and what they would like to see in the room. The pupils talked about some of the many places that they have been to in Wicklow. The suggestions were Powerscourt Waterfall and gardens, Glendalough, the Sugarloaf, Greystones beach, the sea, trees, forests, sheep, cows, and an area for everyone to make a contribution to the room.”

A proposal was put together which the school approved. The solution was a large mural with a seating area where the children could display animals created by themselves, just like a mini cow parade and a small beach area representing Greystones beach. It was decided to use all of the suggestions as a composite image in the mural and use the pond and the two winged horses in Powerscourt gardens as a focal point. The floor of the room, being blue, was ideal for representing the sea.

“While we were still painting the mural, Catherine brought the children into the room to have a look at us working and all we could hear were gasps of amazement from the children as they entered the room. This made it all worthwhile putting all the effort in. The project took five days to complete from the blank wall to the finished installation. The children were given patterns of sheep and cows to colour and come up with their own unique design. This way the children could create something to add to the installation.”

The mural was created using acrylic paints and covers 19.5 square metres of wall space. 12 square metres of green Baize were used to create the grassy/seating area and 150kgs of play sand were used to create the beach area. The artists were Paul Flynn, a professional artist from Bray who is President of the Greystones Art Group, Marie Loftus who is the Secretary of the Greystones Art Group and Sinead Loftus, her daughter, who was on work experience for her transition year, who also made a great contribution.

The application process for a school bus for children in the Charlesland, Kilcoole and Delgany area is moving along and the inspector is expected to give his recommendation shortly. There should be more news in the coming weeks.