In Geography this month we turned our attention to the west coast of Ireland and learned about people living and working in a contrasting part of Ireland – Ballina, Co. Mayo. We saw a slideshow of the town and the famous River Moy and The Ridge Pool. Also Beleek Castle and woods. We read brochures ,tourist maps and studied a road map of the area. Here we are at work ……
We were very busy in Science this week and we made our own hovercrafts. We used balloons and old CD’s. Our crafts hovered on a cushion of air from the balloons. We were able to play air hockey on our tables with the crafts. The trick was to make the connection between the bottle top and the CD airtight. Some groups did not manage this and had to repair their craft. We used lots of sellotape ! The trick was to put it in the right place too ! We used water bottle valves to control the flow of air from the balloon. The craft hovered really well and they were good fun to make.
Third and fourth class were busy making St. Brigid’s crosses for all the pupils in the school. We got lots of help from Ann D, Ann C , Vera, Valerie and Colin who come to us every year to show us how to make the crosses. We started at 11 o’ clock and by 12 0′ clock we had 120 crosses made. This was enough for all the pupils, teachers and classrooms . We treated our helpers to a well earned cup of tea afterwards. Fr. Daly came to assembly on Friday and told us some stories associated with St. Brigid and then he blessed the crosses for us. Here we are at work …
Everyone at St. Finian’s were very proud of our pupils who took part in the Credit Union Quiz last Friday. The teams scooped many of the places (1st, 2nd and 3rd) in both the Junior and Senior Competitions. Both winners of the competitions were also St. Finians’ teams! These 2 teams will now go on to represent the parish in the Louth quiz in early March. Well done everyone!
On Grandparents day , 28th January, we had some special visitors to our classroom. Some of us shared our memories of special times with our grandparents and others asked questions about school in our grandparents time. We were amazed to learn that our grandparents never did Science, Art or Pe and seemed to have almost no special equipment in their classrooms. They seemed to learn a lot of Maths, English reading and writing, Irish and Religion or Cathecism. They were amazed to see all the maths equipment we had on our Maths Table. We finished up by singing Trúp, Trúp a Chaipillín for them. It was lovely to have such special visitors to our classroom. Here are some pictures and watch out for a special one of a grandad and grandson . In it,Grandad is holding an enamel mug with a picture of a nursery rhyme on it . This was Grandad’s mug when he was a child. It was thrown out and he only found it again last year when he was digging in his garden ! What a find ! Well done Grandad !
We had a fantastic day today when some grandparents’ came to visit. They came to our classrooms and answered our questions. We found out lots of information. The grandparents were invited to visit one classroom and we all had different topics to discuss. Junior and Senior Infants wanted to learn about the first day at school. First and Second Class wanted to learn about games that the grandparents played at school. Third and Fourth Class wanted to hear about equipment that grandparents used in school and Fifth and Sixth Class wanted to learn about school tours and extracurricular activities.
After the class visits the Sixth class pupils served tea and refreshments in the hall and the grandparents all had a little chat. Sixth class pupils made buns, cakes and apple tarts with some of the parents and grandparents yesterday! We would especially like to thank Ann Dunne for organising the ICA ladies to come in and work with the children. Our thanks also to Lorraine Boyle and Roisin Holmes for helping the children with the baking. Finally we would like to thank Barbara Keane and Catherine Woods for their help in serving the refreshments.
Some more grandparents will be in school on Thursday to help Third and Fourth class to make St. Brigid’s Crosses. We make one for every family in the school. Fr Daly will bless the crosses at our Friday Assembly.
Thank you to all the ICA ladies, parents and grandparents who made this a wonderful week.
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