The Aistear theme for the month of November is the garda station! The children really loved this theme and really engaged with the stations very well. Stations included:

• Role Play – children re-enacted scenes from a typical garda station environment using their imaginations and got into role as the Gardaí in the garda station, head officers, criminals, victims, burglars etc. Resources used were illuminous jackets, Garda jacket, Garda hats, hand-cuffs, walkie-talkies, notebook, pens, toys, trucks, police cars, police helicopters etc. The children absolutely LOVED it as you can tell from the photos below and wanted to ‘visit the Garda Station’ everyday!! We actually ended up getting a retired guard from the local area to come in and speak to the children too and they were able to ask him questions!!
• Construction/Small World – the children were given the opportunity to play with garda related toys such garda car, handcuffs, walkie-talkies, helicopters, garda trucks, toy guns hats and jackets! This was yet another very popular station amongst the children in Senior Infants.
• Playdough – the children created and moulded different garda station related shapes using cutters and play dough mats. Examples included handcuffs, pepper spray, garda crests and guns!
• Writing – The children designed sample ‘Wanted Person’ posters for this station. They gave their wanted person a name, an age and provided details of their crime. The children loved naming their criminals using their friends’ names and making up crimes which they committed! The words on the Aistear Garda Station display really helped the children with their spelling for this also.
• Drawing – The children were allowed to use their imagination to draw whatever garda related image they wanted to draw. They were given a blank A4 page to complete this station and they just loved it! They just had to be reminded to remain on the topic of the garda station and not to get side-tracked!
• Cutting & Sticking –The children were given an A4 page with a print out of a garda car, fingerprint, magnifying glass and a set of handcuffs which they had to cut out and stick onto black sugar paper. The children loved this new station this month and were delighted to bring the creations home with them!

 

Once Aistear was over each day, similarly to last month, the children were then allowed to report about what they did and what they created in their stations using the hand held microphone. The children love using the microphone to tell everyone what they have done! Also a big THANK YOU to all the parents who sent in the Garda Station resources for the children to use for the month of November! Once again, it goes without saying that this wouldn’t have been such a successful theme only for the toys & books & resources sent in! Have a look at the great photos of the children having a wonderful time at the Garda Station!