5th & 6th Class
December News
Visit from Santa
By Harvey
On one of the last days of school, Santa came to the school in a police car and he stepped out and all the kids went crazy with joy. We all got to say hello and got sweets from him.
Ecumenical service
By Marnie
A few weeks ago the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes went to the Church of Assumption to attend and take part in an Ecumenical Service with St. MAry’s BNS and Our Lady of Mercy National School.
All the classes walked down to the church and when we arrived we were greeted by the priest, who made a speech about the importance of Christmas.Then we sang many songs together and 2 or 3 students from each school including Booterstown went up to the altar and did readings. After that we walked back to school. We all had a great time.
Art
By Ellen K
This month we have done some really cool art. At the start of the month we did some Christmas car art based on the song ‘Driving Home for Christmas’. We drew and coloured them in, Some people chose to paint them and it was a blast!
Later in the month we did Christmas tree decorations which were called salt dough decorations. We made them using 1 cup of flour and a half a cup of salt and we mixed them with water being added gradually. It turned into a dough! We then made them into shapes and there were lots of creative ideas. Then we put them in the oven to bake and afterwards,we painted them.
Buddy Time
By Elizabeth
This month we did some learning with our buddies. On the 19th December, we helped the Junior and Senior Infants with their Sonas annual. One day, we read to them and worked on our expression. We also did some counting with cubes.
Secret Santa
The children of 5th and 6th class were given a choice to engage in Secret Santa with their classmates. All participants were given the name of someone else in the class and asked to buy a Christmas present for them. We then exchanged gifts in the classroom and the children all really enjoyed it and everyone was delighted with their gifts.
Carol Service
On the 16th December, the whole school performed in the Carol Service. Our excellent music teacher Catherine helped the children prepare and accompanied them on the day.
The children of 5th and 6th perform Hallelujah and Last Christmas. We were all very proud of them and their fabulous performances. We also had students playing piano, lighting the candles on the Advent wreath and doing readings on the day.
November News
Brass Instruments
Adeleh Davis from the Stedfast Band came to visit our classroom on the 8th November to teach us about brass instruments. Adeleh played many familiar tunes on a variety of brass instruments including the trumpet and all the children were very interested in her music.
Eco Homes
By Elizabeth and Charlotte
For the past month the whole of 5th and 6th have been working on a project called Eco- Homes. Eco- Homes is a project where kids get rubbish they would have thrown away and they turn it into a fully eco-friendly house.
Eco-homes was a great learning experience for the kids in this classroom because it teaches them about teamwork and the environment. Over the past few weeks we have noticed some small changes around the classroom where people are being more eco-friendly, for example we make sure the lights and board are off when they are not needed.
We presented our projects on Friday the 25th of November and our classmates gave marks out of ten for presentation, creativity, construction and how environmentally friendly our homes were.
A team of judges was put together to tally up the scores each home had achieved and they found the average score of each house. Unbelievably, there was a tie and the winners were Danny D, Florrie and Tallis in 6th class and Marnie, Charlotte and Elizabeth in 5th class!
Visit to the Park
By Christopher
We first walked to Booterstown Park where we played at the playground. We really liked playing on the basket swing. Then we ate our lunches on the grass and went back into the playground to play some more. We had to be super good in October and earn lots of ticks to be able to go to the park! The walk back was exhausting after all our playing. We made it back to class and we had lots of fun playing games and doing some work.
Science Week
By Ava and Arabelle
Science week was lots of fun. A man named Gary came in to talk to us about forensic science and we had to solve a crime that happened a few years ago. We solved it and had a great time!
We made parachutes to test our aerodynamics skills. Arabelle and Ellen T’s parachute won this as they made the parachute that fell the slowest, meaning their playdough person had the safest landing.
We also learned how to be more eco-friendly in a Sustainable Energy workshop and we did some fun experiments. We had a great time this week and thank you to everyone who came in and helped us have a great time.
Forensic Science Workshop
By Tallis
As part of Science Week we took part in a Forensic Science workshop. In this workshop, we had lots of fun with a criminal case where someone stole a diamond and the students had to try and find the culprit. When we found the first clue it helped us to narrow down our suspects. We used pictures of the suspects to find out which one to arrest. We talked about
DNA and fingerprints and we learned that everyone has different fingerprints and only identical twins have the same DNA.
SEAI Workshop
By Oliver
We did a SEAI workshop. In the workshop a lady came and talked about sustainable energy.
She also did experiments. Her first experiment was putting a vitamin that dissolves into another empty vitamin container and then she poured water into it. She put the cap back on and after a few seconds the cap was fired up in the air which was super cool.
September: Settling into School
Fifth and Sixth class have been settling into school very well this September. We are especially excited to welcome a new student into our fifth class. We know she will be a great addition to the classroom.
Buddies
The fifth and sixth class students have been paired with the Junior and Senior Infants as their buddies. They were all very excited to meet their new buddies and help them settle into their first and second year in the school. The class are working hard to be good role models for their younger buddies and are really enjoying the time that they spend together.
Visit from Principal
We were lucky to get a visit from the principal of Blackrock Educate Together Secondary School, Donal Evoy, and hear a bit about their new school. We heard about the subjects offered and the many extra-curricular activities that the children can do in this school. The children all really enjoyed hearing about this school and were able to ask many questions about what secondary school will be like.
Physical Education
We have been getting yoga lessons with Elaine every Monday. The students are working on their balance and strength and are improving every week. In our P.E. classes, we are engaging in many aspects of the Games strand of Physical Education. We have played games such as basketball, Capture the Flag and rounders. We are also looking forward to starting Tag Rugby in October.
Other areas of the Curriculum
In History, we are learning about the Renaissance and the introduction of the first printing press. In Geography, we learned about an Eco-town in Co. Tipperary and have discussed how homes can be made more eco-friendly. In English, we read about a beach clean-up in Mumbai and we practised interviewing one another. In Music, the whole class have been singing beautifully in the choir and creating their own music with our wonderful Music teacher Catherine.
Art work
In Art, we have been learning about adding perspective in our drawings to make them look more realistic. This technique was made popular during the Renaissance. We also learned the difference between warm and cool colours and how to use them effectively in our art.
Some of the students decorated this tree during Golden Time and they were very proud of the result.