5th & 6th Class

March & April News

March & April News


In the classroom: 

In SESE, we explored the topic of transport.

In history, we finished learning about the Foundation of the Irish state and read and listened to eye witness accounts of the 1916 Rising. We also looked at the topic of transport and compared modes of transport from the past to the present day. 

In geography, we compared public transport networks in different countries and researched the plan for the new metro in Dublin.

In science, we learned about how canal locks work and investigated levers using rulers and rubbers. 


In art we created shamrock celtic knots for St Patrick's Day and made tinfoil art for Easter. 


In English we finished our class novel 'Why the Whales Came' by Michael Morpurgo. 


Other events: 

We had our class assembly where we explored the value of peace and the importance of working together. We acted out the story of the two mules and the bible story of Nabal and Abigail. .  


We went to Leinster house with senator Barry ward. This was a fantastic experience. We got a tour around Leinster house which included seeing the Dáil and Seanad in session. After our tour, we were brought to the cafe where we all got goody bags of chocolate and crisps. What a treat! 


We celebrated World Book Day and Seachtain na Gaeilge. For World Book Day we all dressed up, played games, created our own book bunting and had a book tasting. For Seachtain na Gaeilge, we used as much irish as we could to get raffle tickets, played Gaeilge games, learned irish dancing and had a ceolchoirm where we performed 'The Cup Song' as Gaeilge.  


Finally, this month we sent off our boardgames for the Trócaire Gamechangers competition. We put an incredible amount of work and effort into these games and we are extremely proud of them. Each game is based on a global justice issue and are designed to teach people about the issue through playing the game and answering question cards. We are looking forward to hearing back from Trócaire after Easter. 


Happy Easter, hope you have a lovely break!


    January News

We began the month with a class visit to the Ombudsman for Children's office in town. This was fantastic! We learned all about children's rights and got to explore the office which was designed by children. The office had a sensory room, cinema room and even a beanbag room! To finish off our exciting day we went to Eddie Rockets it was a great treat! 


In Gaeilge we have been enjoying using our 'Nath na Seachtaine' and building up our vocabulary. We have also been learning all about caitheamh aimsire and the irregular verbs. 


In English we wrote letters to the Board of Management, local TD's, Norma Foley and the parents of our school to inform them of our disappointment with regard to the STEM grant. Ms Walker applied for this grant for our school and spent a long time on the application but it turned out that the schools who applied were chosen at random. We hope to get responses to our letters.


In religion we have been exploring music and signs and symbols in the bible. We also have been looking at different types of crosses around the world which has been very interesting. We made our own colorful crosses full of things that make up our identities. 


In art we looked at optical illusions and  created our own optical illusion paper weaving. We also made underwater sea rocks out of clay which look fantastic.


In science, we learned all about photosynthesis. We carried out an experiment where we planted cress seeds. One of our pots was placed in the cupboard, one was placed by the window and one was placed by the window with water. After observing them for a while, the only plant which grew was the plant that had both water and sunlight. We also had the chance to do two science workshops this month where we did lots of experiments. We learned all about ocean acidification, the pH scale, Newton's cradle and renewable energy. 


To finish off our month we celebrated with nurture week. We did lots of lovely activities like drink hot chocolate, east toast and do junk art. It was so lovely to chill out and chat together. 


December News

Here's what we got up to in December.


We have done a lot of festive art this month including some chalk drawings of multi-coloured Christmas lights, a pointillism inspired winter scene and paper snowflakes. Every art lesson we made sure to listen to some Christmas tunes which got us in the festive spirit. We also did Christmas snowmen handprints with our buddies, these turned out great!


We also did a class secret santa. We exchanged gifts in a circle and at the end we all revealed who we had. Everyone was delighted with their presents. 


We had a class advent calendar this month where each day we were given a reward. Some rewards included 10 minutes extra yard, dojo points, Christmas musical statues, Christmas karaoke and even making our own popcorn! There was great excitement each morning to find out our treat for the day. 


We were busy all month practicing for our carol services. The first carol service was on Wednesday 20th where each class had the opportunity to sing two songs. We sang 'Don oíche úd i mBeithil' and 'Underneath the Tree'. We put on an amazing performance and we were very proud of ourselves. We couldn't have done it without our fantastic music teacher Catherine. Then, on Thursday 21st,  we hosted the Ecumenical service with some other schools. Some of the sixth class pupils did readings and lit the candles on the Advent wreath. We all enjoyed singing Christmas hymns. It was a lovely day. 


Happy Christmas Everyone, I hope you have a lovely break!



November News

We have had a very busy month this November!


At the beginning of the month a few of the 6th class pupils had the opportunity to go to Christchurch Cathedral for a diocesan service. They had lots of fun singing hymns (while waving glow sticks) and seeing other schools. They also had the opportunity of going to the museum in Christchurch where they tried on lots of old outfits from history. 


We have also started Gymnastics this month which has been fantastic. We are having so much fun practicing handstands, tumbles, crawls and cartwheels. Each week we are gaining more confidence in ourselves and most importantly having lots of fun! 


Science week was a blast too! We were lucky enough to do a science workshop where we saw super cool experiments that explored things like static electricity, chemical reactions and forces. We also did lots of experiments in class like making a lava lamp. This month in science, we had the task of making a wind turbine out of recyclable materials. We were all put into groups and had to make a plan. We had certain criteria we had to adhere to e.g. our wind turbine had to be at least 30cm tall and stand and rotate freely. After lots of planning and deliberating, we worked together to bring our creations to life! When we were finished, we used a hairdryer to test if they rotated. Only one group got their wind turbine to spin!


One day this month our classroom turned into a courtroom and we got to experience a mock trial. Senator Barry Ward, who is also a barrister, gave us an unforgettable experience of participating in a real life court case. We were given a sample case in which somebody was accused of stealing a box of chocolates from the local newsagents. We all had big roles to play, some of us were witnesses and solicitors on the prosecution/defence team, others were the court registrar, exhibits garda and the jury. Before each witness shared their statement, they had to make an oath to the class to state that they were telling the truth. It was very serious and most of us couldn't keep a straight face when the witnesses were questioned by the real life barristers. In the end, the jury came to the decision that the defendant was not guilty. We then got to eat the stolen box of chocolates and try on the barristers gown. What an experience!


In history we have been learning about World War 2. It has been really interesting to watch videos and read newspapers from that time to see what life was like back then. We learned about propaganda posters and even made our own posters to persuade people to fight in the war. Oliver brought in an actual bullet shell from World War 2 and a rock from the rubble of Warsaw during the war. It was fascinating to have real life artefacts in our classroom. 

October News

Geography and Science Projects

In school we have been doing projects. It has been really fun. Four groups had different topics: rocks, the earth's layers, earthquakes, and volcanoes. We have been doing them for around 2 - 3 weeks and everyone has enjoyed it and we hope to do more fun activities like this.  

By Eva

 Climate Action Workshop

A few weeks ago we learned about climate change and what we can do to help our world. I think we all really enjoyed it. It was fun especially the coding thing called Microbit. We got to make our own cool game. The only problem was it was very complicated, but it was still very fun. We got to do a quiz at the end, that was really fun aswell. 

 By Tristán


Art 

In October in 5th and 6th we did lots of fun art such as land art where we made art out of leaves, rocks, twigs, branches and flowers. We also recreated the painting 'The Scream' which was one of the most detailed paintings we have ever done. We also did African tribe paintings which were paintings that African tribes would have had on the walls of their huts. 

 By Ben

World Cup

As most of you know, Ireland made it to the quarter finals in the rugby world cup. So here are some things we did in school for it. We learned how to do the haka in Irish. It was really fun. We made big data posters in groups of the matches we won and the best players. Then we all sung ‘Ireland’s call’. We had great fun.

By Elizabeth

Maths Week

Before we started classwork, we always did maths riddles which made our brains work hard. Also, we had buddy time, we normally do art but because it was maths week, we did a maths trail with our buddies. For PE we did a long multiplication relay and it was really fun. For drama, we had to make up a drama about if we woke up one morning and all numbers were gone. This made us think as we wouldn’t have time, maths, money or speed limits, none of that!

By Tilda


Pollinator Workshop

This month we did a pollinator workshop. We saw dead wasps and bees and we learned the difference between wasps and bees. At the end we did a nature walk out in our garden. We saw different types of trees and flowers. We learned a lot of stuff and we did a scavenger’s hunt. It was a great experience.

By Lauren


We finished the month off with a fantastic Halloween disco organised by the student council. We all had great fun dancing, eating treats and playing games. Happy midterm and well done to everyone on their hard work this term!

September News

Fifth and Sixth class have had an exciting start to the new year. We are very lucky to welcome a few new faces to our class including our new teacher Ms Webster.

The first three days of school were very exciting. We played lots of ‘getting to know you’ games and came up with a list of rules for our classroom. While learning about one another, we created split self-portraits where we drew our face on one side and drew other things that make up our identities on the other side. These portraits turned out fantastic and I can already tell our class is full of artists!


Buddies

As Fifth and Sixth class are the oldest classes of the school, they have lots of responsibility. The Fifth and Sixth class students have been paired with a Junior or Senior infant buddy. Once the students found out the name of their buddy, they made sure to introduce themselves to one another so that they were a friendly, familiar face to the Junior and Senior infants. Every second Thursday we have ‘Buddy Time’ where the Fifth and Sixth class students work with their buddy to do an activity. The students are not only being great role models for the younger students, but most importantly, they are having lots of fun together!

Curriculum

In Geography, we have been learning about different types of animals, their features and their habitats. We were lucky enough to use the iPads to research an animal of our choice in pairs and complete a fact file to present to the class. In Science, we have also been learning about animals. We learned about animals that used to live in Ireland but are now extinct. We also explored the Natural History Museum of Ireland via a 3D virtual tour online. This was very enjoyable, and it made us realise the importance of museums.

In art, we took inspiration from Picasso and did continuous line drawings. For these drawings, you do not lift your pencil off the page and try to create a drawing using one continuous line. This was definitely harder than it looks but the drawings turned out to be very effective. We also made abstract paper collages inspired by Matisse’s cut-outs. Each collage was so different and colourful. 


Student council

Some of the Fifth and Sixth class students decided to run for student council this year. Each of them prepared a speech and shared their visions for the school. The students put in so much effort into these speeches and it was great to hear new ideas of things we could achieve this year as a school. After the students delivered their speeches, it was voting time! The GP room was set up as a polling station and each student went in to vote. Then the votes were counted and the results were shared on the same day. Our Fifth and Sixth class members of the student council this year are Tilda, Archie, Lily, Ellen, and Inés. Congratulations everyone!