Aistear is a structured play programme where children develop skills and strategies for observing, questioning, investigating, understanding, negotiating, and problem-solving. They come to see themselves as explorers and thinkers. They also learn and make sense of the world around them and develop key mathematical skills and concepts in doing so.
Aistear has been implemented by several teachers in our school for several years
In partnership with the class teacher, the children learn to:
Recognise patterns and make connections between new learning and what they know
Demonstrate their ability to reason, negotiate and think logically
Use their creativity and imagination to think of new ways to solve problems
Come to understand concepts such as matching, comparing, ordering, sorting, size, weight, height, length, capacity and money in an enjoyable and meaningful way
Develop a sense of time, shape, space and place
Use letters, numbers, signs, colours, shapes and pictures to give and record information
Build awareness of the variety of symbols (pictures, letters, numbers and words) used to communicate
Develop higher order thinking skills such as problem-solving, predicting, analysing, questioning and justifying.
Aistear – The Zoo
Aistear – the Farm
