ÉADAÍ BUNDLE - HOW TO USE THE BEARS IN CLASS
One of the best resources I have used this year is my Irish bears. In the éadaí bundle, you will see below a range of resources and activities that will help the children revise all the new vocabulary and phrases. These resources are very hands-on, and the children were very engaged using these this year.
I have four sets of bears, mum, dad, brother and sister bear. Each bear has its own set of clothes. I use all four bears, but if you don't have the time to cut out all four, just cut out one of the bears for partner work. You can give one bear each or one between two.
Last year each of my students had a bear each. I put all the items in a plastic a5 pocket that I bought on Amazon. Each child was responsible for their bear. I also had a large tray where they would put items that fell on the ground during partner work. The next time they were using the bears and couldn't find an item, they would go to the tray to find their missing item.
Introduction to the Éadaí:
When I introduce any of my bundles, I start with the PowerPoint, and we go through all the different clothes each of the bears wear. For example, the first bear is the dad bear, and we go through all the clothing he is wearing. I go through his every day clothes and then I go through his winter clothes. We then take out the dad bear for partner work for the first set of clothes and then again for the winter clothes ( I have 13 dad bears, so I use one between two). The next day you could go through dad again and then do one of the activities below; for example, take out the sheet with the pdf for dad in all his clothes and go through this with the class and get them to describe it with their partner. Another activity could be to print out the black and white dad bear and call out different clothes for them to draw on the bear. There are lots of games and ideas below you can use to support the new vocabulary. I would spend two or three days on each bear and then introduce the next one and do some activities around this.
Here is an example of using the sister bear in partner work and getting them to dress the bears:
Here are some of the games and activities using the resources for this bundle:
1) You could get the children to take out their bears and call out instructions for them to dress the bear for example 'Cuir ort do chóta, bain díot do chóta etc.
2) You can get a little string and get the children to place the clothes on a clothesline, and they could describe the clothes they are adding. They could then do an activity where one partner takes one item of clothing off the line, and their partner has to guess what it was.
3) The children can design their own clothes using these black and white sheets.
4) There is four blank bears that you can use as a whole class activity. The teacher calls out certain clothes to draw on the bears. You can also direct them what to colour the clothes.
5) The class enjoy the game 'Roll agus Abair' as a whole class or in stations. The children roll the dice, and they have to say in Irish what the item is. They can use cubes or markers to cross off when they have got a word right. I have now included two versions, one with text and one without. The text can be helpful for differentiation if the children need that initial letter to help them remember the word. You can also use the non-text version for the older class to write down the words under the picture to challenge them or get the children to name what the item is when they land on it. It's an excellent game for revising vocabulary and engagement.
6) I have a sheet with all their bears in their clothes or a separate sheet with each bear in their clothes. You can describe one of the bears, and they have to circle the correct one as a whole class. They can also play a game of 'Cé mise?' with the larger sheet or smaller sheet below. It is an excellent activity to do each time you have gone through one of the bears on the PowerPoint. You can also play this game using the PowerPoint and showing the image of all the bears together. You can describe a bear, and they have to write down on their whiteboard the correct bear that matches that number.
7) You can use the small display cards to play a game of memory in stations or a game of snap. They love this game.
8) Playdough sheets - The children use playdough or markers on the wipeable sheets to dress their bears, again using Irish to describe what they are putting on them.
9) There is a game of interactive Grán rósta and Cluiche Kim from the PowerPoint below. I have other game ideas included in the Cluichí teanga Powerpoint - 16 activities included.
10) The éadaí summary sheet is a handy sheet to revise the vocabulary with the class and the phrases with the older classes.
As you can see, there are many resources included in this bundle and lots of opportunities to make it fun to learn this topic. This bundle is available on primaryteacherinfants.com in the Gaeilge section. https://primaryteacherinfants.com/collections/gaeilge