Using the School Blog at Home

The class blog is an opportunity to share our school activities with the children’s families (in Ireland or around the world), and with other schools.  We hope you take the time to check in on the blogs during the year, and we encourage you to interact with the blog posts by leaving comments.

To help you learn how to leave comments, you can download this guide to use at home.

• Using the School Blog at Home

Celtic Art Projects

We made Ogham stones from red clay.  We shaped the clay into stone pillars and then used pencils and lollipop sticks to mark in the ogham letters, just like the ancient Celts used to.

Our Art at Home project was to design and build a model of a Celtic Crannóg.  A crannóg is a celtic house built on an island, using sticks, straw and mud.  We made a special effort to use natural materials, and the Celtic wattle and daub techniques, when building our models.

Here are some examples of our wonderful work:

Christmas Play

This year 3rd and 4th class put on a musical production of Joseph and his Coloured Coat. We spent over a month preparing costumes, props, rehearsing our lines and our stage movements and learning our songs. We put on a show for the other pupils in the school and another show for our parents and families. It was really hard work, but we had so much fun doing it.

Wicklow Schools' Athletics Competition

All of the members of the after-school athletics club participated in the Wicklow Schools Athletics Competition in May.  We went with 5th and 6th class, and four teachers - Ms Collins, Ms Breen, Ciara and Ms McHale.  It rained all day, and the whole place was covered in mud, but we had a fantastic time.

Learning About the Celts

We are currently working on some projects about the Ancient Irish Celts. 

We have been split into ten groups of three and each group has four topics to write about. 

Here are some useful websites to use to find some information.  Remember to try and use your own words when you are writing for your project. 

• http://celts.mrdonn.org/index.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celts/
• http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/celts.htm
• http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/More_Links/Childrens_History_Celts_Normans.html
• http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/pre_norman_history/iron_age.html
• http://www.knowth.com/celts.htm

I hope these links are helpful.  Good luck ladies

Great new multiplication game - Timestable Grid Game

Try out this multiplication grid game. Find the correct answer on the multiplication square. You can race against the clock to make it more challenging.

Science at Home - Design a Bird Feeder

Science at Home: Design and Make a Bird Feeder

Our At-Home Science project was to design and make a bird feeder to use in our garden.  The feeder must be made from recycled materials.  

Materials:

·        Use a selection of recycled materials.

·        Your materials must be water-proof so you can hang the bird-feeder in your garden.

·        Make sure you include a method to hang the feeder.

·        You can make simple feeders from cardboard milk cartons or plastic drinks bottles.

Making feeders work

Good feeders let birds feed in ways that match their natural way of feeding. Some birds use feeders often, others hardly ever use them.

The way in... (Feeder Design)

Design and make feeders which let birds reach the food in different ways.

Attracting different types of birds…

·        Some birds like to perch before they feed.  Will you have a perch on or near your feeder?

·        Some birds are very acrobatic and like to hang upside-down on feeders.  Will you hang things from your feeder to attract acrobats?

·        Some birds like a flat surface on which they can stand and peck at their food, and others like to perch on the side of the feeder.  Which type of bird will you make your feeder for?

Evaluating the feeders (Did they work?)

• Did the birds actually use your feeders?
• Do different birds like different designs?
• Is the feeder designed like their natural way of finding food?

Which birds used your feeders?

Here are the pictures of our finished feeders.  We are very proud of them:

Art at Home for January - Life in the Arctic

Our Theme for January is the Arctic and the Inuit Culture.  As part of this theme our new Art at Home project is to design a diorama which shows what life is like in the Arctic.

Be sure to do lots of research before you start building so you have a diorama that looks just like an Arctic scene.  You can use the resources on our Arctic and Inuit project blog to help you with your research.
http://www.arcticandinuit.blogspot.com/

Here is a useful site to help you with your project:
Website: How to build a diorama

You can visit the 3rd and 4th class page of the School Website to download a copy of the Project Outline and the Self-Assessment Rubric if you need it.
Click here to visit the school website.
Good luck to all of you!

Réamháisnéis na hAimsire

Fill in the weather for today.

Click on this link:

Réamháisnéis ha hAimsire, Eanair 2012

Effective Arguments

This term we're going to be learning about Exposition writing.  The purpose of this type of writing is to pursuade  your reader to agree with your point of view.

To do this you have to be very convincing:

• you have to be clear about your position
• you might need evidence to convince your reader
• you will have to use pursuasive language

Some people who can do this really well are ADVERTISERS

Have a look at this website about the media and advertising and see if you can learn some of their tricks.

Project for January

This is going to be a very busy month.  Here are some of the topics we will be learning about.

• Life in the Arctic
• The Inuit People
• Weather and the Seasons
• Light

To help us with these projects we will need lots of information.  We will be taking a trip to Bray library to get some books that we can use in class and at home.  We will also be using the collection of books in the classroom reference library.

We will also be researching the topics on the Internet - looking for information, video clips, fun games and interesting facts.  

There will be a new Art at Home project for January.  You need to design and make an Arctic diorama.  Click here to learn: What is a diorama.

We will be collecting all we learn on a blog.  We have one blog for weather and a second blog for the Arctic and the Inuit.  On each blog you will find useful website links to get you started.  Click on these links to visit the blogs:

• http://www.philomenasweather.blogspot.com/
• http://www.arcticandinuit.blogspot.com/

Christmas Concert - Joseph and his Coloured Coat

During November and December we were very busy preparing our Christmas music, Joseph and his Coloured Coat. 
We had alot to do to get ready.  We had auditions where we had to sing and read some lines in front of the whole class.  Then Ms McHale gave us our parts and the hard work started.
We had to learn all our lines, learn how to move around and speak to other characters.  It was very important that we used our drama voices, and didn't turn our backs to the audience.  
We all had colourful costumes, and we spent time creating our props and designing the stage setting with help from Ms McHale and Ms Lewis.
We put on two shows.  One for the other classes in the school, and one for our parents.  The performance was excellent.  We did a great job and we are very proud of ourselves.  Here are some photos from our big show .

Junior Spider Awards

Our Birds of Bray project was shortlisted for the Junior Spider Website Awards.  The competition was in December, in The Helix, in DCU.

7 girls from fifth class went to represent the project, with Ms McHale, Ciara and Michelle.

Unfortunately they didn't win a prize, but they had a great day.

Here are some pictures from their day.

Award Winners in Washington

Ms McHale went to Washington, in November, to take part in the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum.  Our project, Birds of Bray, was representing Ireland.
Here are some photos from her trip:



We were delighted to hear that she came second in the world in the "Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom" category.  Well done Ms McHale.

Art at Home - Bird Feeders

As part of our Birds of Bray project, we designed bird feeders to use in our garden.

We were given an outline of our task, and we had to work at home, using recycled materials to build our bird feeders.  We got help from our families.

Here are our feeders.  We think they are super.

Multiplying and Dividing - Colourful Maths

In October we started learning our Multiplication and Division tables.

 
We are using cubes and squared paper to help us with our multiplication and division.  We use our cubes to create colourful multiplication and division stories. 

Here are some links to multiplication games we can use to help us practice our multiplication and division;

• Multiplication Games
• Division Games

Nature Day in Knocksink Wood

Nature Day in Knocksink Wood, in Enniskerry

 
First we got into our groups.  Each group got their equipment, like cameras, binoculars and notebooks.  When we were ready we got on the bus. 
When we arrived we climbed the long driveway.  At the top we waited for the staff to arrive.
Eventually they came and we went into the Education Centre.  It was full of stuffed animals, bones, games, feathers, models, insects and fossils.  We did lots of fun activities during the day.
First we went on a treasure hunt in groups.  We had to follow the arrows and find pictures of animals and their footprints.  When we got to the end we matched the pictures. Dave met us at the end of our treasure hunts.
Next we were broken into two groups.  Each group did different activities.  The activities were a bird watching challenge, a sound map, and making birds using natural materials.
After that we had our lunch. 
After lunch we did a bird call test with Hugh.  He played bird calls and we had to guess the bird. 
Finally, we were split into three groups.  Two adults went with each group.  We did:

• Smell bombs and perfumes
• Scavenger Hunts
• Interesting tiny thing hunt with magnifying glassses
• Bird watching

We had lots of fun.




At the end of the day we packed our bags and went down the long driveway to the bus.  Eventually we got back to school and went straight home. 
 We felt tired but happy.  We had a marvellous day in Knocksink Wood.

(A whole class recount)

Out and About in September

3rd and 4th class were learning all about birds in September.  We were working on the Birds of Bray project, started last year with 5th class.  You can see all the work we did on the Birds of Bray blog.  Click on this link;



To help us with our project we spent lots of time out and about in September, looking at the birds around the local area.

Visit to Bray Harbour and some research in Bray Library:

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A Birdwatching fieldtrip to the People's Park

 

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A Big Change for 3rd and 4th Class

This year 3rd and 4th class have been put together into a composite class.  There are 34 girls in the class: 20 from 3rd and 14 from 4th.  This is a big change for all the girls, and for their teacher Ms McHale.  We have just finished our first month.  It was tough going getting used to all the new pupils, all the new routines, and learning to work on our own and work together.  We've had a great start though, and we think we're going to have a great year.

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