AN exciting new booklet ‘A Bank of Classroom Activities based on Four Traditional Tales for Teachers of Junior Classes in the Primary School’ was launched in the Castle Hotel, Macroom on Thursday October 2nd.  

The booklet was created by six Macroom-based teachers in a group called Macroom Arts Circle and comprised Fiona Angland, Teresa Downy, Helen Hallissey, Mary McCarthy, Marie-Thérèse O’Callaghan and Sinéad Twomey. 

The booklet is comprised of 160 classroom activities for teachers of junior infants to second class. These include ideas for the teaching of literacy, music, visual arts, social and environmental education, drama as well as excellent recommendations for classroom management and mindfulness in the classroom. The six teachers have spent a number of months creating this classroom resource. They adopted the Meitheal approach to organising the booklet. Meitheal can be traced to the notion of the rural co-op where farmers relied on one another in a system of collective agriculture. This collective of teachers, Macroom Arts Circle, has been in existence since 2010. The teachers have worked collectively to write a number of articles based on favourite stories. 

The four tales are The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Gingerbread Boy and The Ugly Duckling. The editor of the booklet was Dr Helen Hallissey. The illustrator was Mary McCarthy. The booklet was launched by Dr Linda Dennehy, Director of West Cork Education Centre and has been posted to all primary West Cork Education Centres. 

A PDF of the booklet will be available on the West Cork Education Centre in the next month or so.