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Physical Activity
New Playground
We are thrilled with the new playground equipment in Scoil Mhuire Junior. It is a great way to keep the children active during breaktimes and is also being used for movement breaks throughout the day and even before and after school! The equipment has been a wonderful addition to our school grounds and the children are getting endless enjoyment out of using it.
Playground Activities
Break-time is an essential time for the children and a great opportunity to get active. We have lots of ways of encouraging the children to be active on the yard. Some love to run and play and others love to get stuck in with yard equipment and exercises. The children are provided with a range of equipment such as skipping ropes, hula hoops, balls, egg-n-spoons, beanbags, ‘catch-a-cups’ and more….
The highlight of the week is playground dance on a Friday when the children in all of the yards have a chance to freestyle to their favourite tunes!
School Walkway
This year we launched our new school walkway. It is used in a variety of ways throughout the school such as for movement breaks, active lessons, nature walks, pair-share activities and PE lessons. It is a wonderful new addition to the school that the children love. We look forward to officially launching the walkway in June as part of our Active Week.
The walkway even has a section where we can stop to do some exercises! Have a look at Room 15 in action here!
Running Track and Running Initiative
The running track has become a part of daily life in Scoil Mhuire Junior. It is used for movement breaks for all classes. The children love to down tools and get out for a run to clear the head!
We have also used the running track to complete 2 running challenges this year. The first challenge was for the whole school to collectively run 50km, the equivalent distance of running to Dublin Zoo. We called this ‘Run to the Zoo’ and were thrilled with the support we received from Dublin Zoo. We smashed the target and have since started the second challenge. This time we are running to The Giant’s Causeway. This means we need to run a total of 3760 laps, which is equal to 312km.
There has been lots of teaching and learning opportunities around this challenge both in terms of maths and also learning about the destination. It has also helped the children to improve their fitness levels while developing a love of running. To make it extra exciting, the class which runs the most laps each week is presented with ‘The Golden Boot’. This has proven to be a real incentive! Our pupils on the Active Committee take charge of counting the laps run each week as well as presenting the Golden Boot.
Active Breaks and Active Learning
In Scoil Mhuire Junior we find lots of ways to be active during the day. We love movement breaks and use a variety of activities such as dancing, ‘GoNoodle’, running breaks, classroom exercises, cosmic yoga, walking and active games. We also love active lessons and find lots of creative ways to get the children moving while they learn!
Have a look at this maths lesson and this phonics lesson which were taught through movement.
Here are some of our Junior Infants enjoying a classroom movement break.
And some of our classes out for a run on the SCMJ running track.
And finally look at this video of the WHOLE SCHOOL dancing together at assembly!
We share lots of our daily activities on Twitter so please have a look to see more!
