5th & 6th Class
December News
We have done a lot of festive art this month. Lily taught an art lesson this month. We all learned how to make Christmas wreaths with paper plates, tissue paper and pom poms.These turned out great! Then we did chalk drawings of snowmen, made mini wooly hats and made stained glass nativity scenes. Every art lesson, we listened to some Christmas tunes which got us in the festive spirit!
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, extra dojo points, no homework, Christmas musical statues and even getting to spin the wheel. There was great excitement each morning to find out our treat for the day.
We were busy all month practicing for our carol services. In our school carol service, we sang 'Mary did you know' and 'Let it Snow'. 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. We also went to the Ecumenical service with some other schools. We all really enjoyed singing Christmas hymns!
Some curriculum highlights:
In science we have been learning about robotics. We watched videos of really cool robots including the Tesla Robot. We also started using Scratch to make stories and games through digital coding.
In English we have been busy writing stories. We wrote a magical doorway story inspired by 'Narnia' and a play inspired by 'A Christmas Carol'. In drama we performed our plays in our groups with scripts. We had a great time.
We finished both yoga and Spanish this month. We have really enjoyed our classes and will miss them next term. To celebrate our last Spanish class we got hot chocolate and churros from Pilar - what a treat!!
To finish off our very busy month, the student council organised a movie day. They made popcorn for us all to eat while watching 'Nativity'. Thank you student council!
Happy Christmas, I hope you all have a lovely break!
November News
This month we started yoga classes. It has been great to relax and unwind every Wednesday afternoon. We are enjoying practicing new yoga poses and stretches.
Science week was also great fun! We spoke about the science of water and investigated the surface tension and adhesion of water. Using a dropper, we took turns to add a drop of water onto a coin. Overtime, the water built up around the coin like a dome and eventually the surface tension broke. We also learned about capillary action and carried out an experiment where water travelled from one container to another. Finally, we did a magic milk experiment where washing up liquid, milk and food colouring mixed to create a rainbow - it was really cool! We also did a STEM lego workshop where we followed detailed instructions to make lego bulldozers.
In maths we have been busy finishing up the topic of long division and learning all about fractions. It has been fun using hands-on materials like fraction tiles to visualise our learning. We have also enjoyed learning through group work and board games. Sixth class used chocolates to explore the topic of ratio which was very fun. We all had a chocolate afterwards as a reward!
In Irish we have begun learning all about An Aimsir Chaite (The Past Tense). We are spending lots of time learning the rules for all the verbs. We played board games to conjugate different verbs in the past tense. We are getting the hang of them by playing lots of group quizzes and games.
In RE we have been discussing words in worship and life's big questions. We've also discussed the concept of need vs want. After reading the story 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens, we spoke about how God wants us to use our money. We each shared what we would like to do with our money when we are older to help people in need. This included donating to charity and volunteering.
In History, we learned all about the Celts and festivals in the past. We read Halloween accounts online written by school children in the 1930s. This was very interesting, they had pretty weird Halloween traditions back then. We then compared 1930 traditions to Halloween in 2024.
In art we made clay owls which took a lot of time, we used a variety of items to make sure our sculptures had lots of different textures. We also made 3d autumn trees which look really cool.
October News
We have been up to lots of fun this October.
We started our new class novel 'Benny and Omar' by Eoin Colfer. It has a very interesting storyline about a boy from Ireland moving all the way to Tunisia in North Africa! We love the humour in the book and are enjoying comparing characters, acting out predictions and reading aloud as a class.
We finished our Cycle Right course this month and it has been absolutely fantastic. In our last session we got to go out and practice our skills on the roads. Our confidence in cycling has grown so much. A huge achievement for us all!
We started Spanish lessons as part of the 'Say Yes to Languages' programme. We have been so lucky to have Pilar (Tristáns mum) teaching us Spanish on Tuesday mornings. It has been so fun to learn a new language through lots of games.
We have been enjoying getting into the spooky season of Halloween. For art we painted haunted houses and made 3D origami pumpkins and paper lanterns.
In geography and science, we have been learning about Boglands and the country Greece. We learned all about different bogs, bog jumping and even bog bodies! We did a research project about the flora and fauna found in Ireland's bogs and learned about how bogs preserve bodies that are over 2000 years old! We carried out an experiment to find out what is the best material to absorb liquid and we learned about the process of capillary action. We also enjoyed learning about Greece. We watched videos about Greece's contributions to the modern world which was fascinating - we wouldn't have laws if it wasn't for the ancient Greeks! We also discussed famous architecture in Greece and made tin foil prints of the Parthenon in Athens.
In history, we have been learning all about the Renaissance through project work. Each group was allocated a person who is considered a 'Star of the Renaissance'. We researched on the ipads making sure we answered all our questions that were on our project rubric. Our projects turned out fantastic - we presented them to the class and we all learned so much from one another.
This month we celebrated maths week. We did lots of fun activities. We learned about the Mayan number system, made our own number system and tried the Japanese method of long multiplication by drawing lines. We integrated maths with art and created abstract line drawings with different angles. We enjoyed doing a maths trail with our infant buddies too. Safe to say, we had a lot of fun!
We had our class assembly where we spoke about the Creation Story in the bible. Our assembly focused on looking after our planet that God has created. We highlighted the importance of being sustainable and climate aware.
To finish off the month, the student council treated us to a Halloween Trivia quiz in the hall. We had a blast and enjoyed snacking on popcorn while answering questions. A big thanks to the student council for all their hard work. A well deserved break for all, have a lovely midterm everybody!
September News
A very big welcome back to everyone! Things have been busy in 5th and 6th class and it feels like we've never been away! Here's a few things we've been up to in September:
We got paired with our infant buddies. At buddy time, we get to do an art activity together and we look forward to it every week! We are making sure to look after our buddies at yard time too and be great role models for them.
In SESE, we have been learning all about looking after the environment. We learned about renewable and non renewable energy and created our own inventions using renewable energy. We also made our own eco homes out of recyclable materials in groups. This was super fun and our ideas were so creative. We spoke about the importance of recycling and composting and carried out an experiment to see which materials decay the quickest in soil. It is interesting to record our findings.
In art we drew one point perspective drawings of our names. This was tricky as you had to be very precise with your ruler. We also looked at the work of Andy Goldsworthy who creates art in nature and we got the chance to create our own art out of sticks, leaves and rocks in the garden. We also printed using leaves to create beautiful paintings of autumnal wreaths.
In English, we have learned all about famous inventors. We used ipads to research an inventor of our choice. We got lots of information online and then wrote about our inventor. We did two drafts of our writing to ensure it was the best standard. They all turned out great! We all learned a lot from each other like the inventor of marshmallows, Roblox and even homework!
We started our Cycle Safety course this month too. Our first session was learning about theory in relation to cycling and the importance of helmets. We then went outside on our bikes and practiced indicating left and right at turns and stopping quickly. We are really enjoying ourselves and it is great to spend our Wednesdays outdoors!
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 their speeches and it was great to hear new ideas. The student council representatives for 5th and 6th class are Matthew, Kiva, Isabella, Emily and Tristán. Congratulations everybody!
Finally, to celebrate completing our first month back to school we went to see the play 'Grace' by Jody O'Neill in the Pavillion Theatre. We had a great time!
