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Author Archives: Ciara Donnellan
Different Families, Same Love
3rd Class have been learning about how families can be different but all share the same love.
We learnt about the LGBTQIA+ Community, identified our special words called pronouns and we had so much fun writing, performing in and creating this video. Please watch and enjoy! #differentfamiliessamelove
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cSmfCX69JvqAJT7SFMeWE0vq0_I6ZteM/view?usp=sharing
Rapálaithe i Rang a 3!
Watch our video of 3rd Class rapping about all the interesting things they saw before something scary saw them!
A special message from Irish Sportspeople
To help celebrate Sports Week, some Irish athletes and sportspeople sent in special messages to all the children…
Orienteering in 3rd Class
We are doing orienteering and outdoor adventure in PE at the moment and we are loving it!
We have been drawing maps using a birds eye view and have used these maps to record where certain objects and puzzles are located in the hall. We are also using this vantage point to draw and paint flower in art this week.
3rd Class Gardeners
3rd Class have been having great fun using our green fingers recently. We have sowed sunflower seeds, garden peas, lettuce, onions and radishes. The seeds and peas were very easy to plant and we will be keeping an eye on them as they grow over the next while. We are very excited to see how big our sunflowers get and how tasty our vegetables will be! Looking forward to having an entire salad grown by us before the summer!
We have just planted our radishes and are excited to see how they will turn out 
Before and After… Look how much our sunflowers have grown!
3rd Class Sculptors
Having learnt all about 3D shapes in maths, 3rd Class brought this knowledge into their artwork this week.
Using a menu of our likes, dislikes, personalities and backgrounds, this helped us choose which colours and shapes our sculptures would include.
We loved this 3D project and really like how unique all of the sculptures ended up looking!
Amazing Architects
We read a story about famous architect, Zaha Hadid, recently and were blown away by her building designs. As we looked at images of her curved and gravity-defying architecture, we were inspired to design and construct our own versions using recyclable materials. We worked collaboratively in our pods to create these interesting pieces, borrowing and expanding on Hadid’s ideas of form.
Stone Age Weapons and Tools
3rd Class have been learning all about the Stone Age the last few weeks and today we designed and made our own Stone Age tools and weapons!
First, we made blueprint design plans of our desired weapons and tools. Then we collected our materials of sticks, stones and leaves on a nature walk before attaching them using only string (We thought this was a cleaner and easier method than using animals skin or organs like they did in the Stone Age!) and no sticky tape or glue.
Our homes are going to look like museums with our super Stone Age display weapon and tools!
Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
Comhghairdeas do na Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine nua seo! Bhí na daltaí seo ag déanamh an-iarracht leis a gcuid Gaeilge agus fuair siad teastais álainne. Tá súil againn go mbeadh siad go léir an-bhródúil astu.
Le Seachtain na Gaeilge ag teacht go luath, is dócha go mbeidh na páistí seo ag spreagadh an Ghaeilge lena gcomhpháirtithe.
Pop-Art Artists
Before the Mid-Term break, 4th class studied the works of Post-Pop Art artist, Burton Morris. We loved the bright colours he uses and how the images seem to pop out of the page at you. A characteristic common to many of Morris’ pieces is the black spikes around the edges of his paintings.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we created impressive collage heart posters, in the style of Burton Morris’ iconic ‘I Love You’ collection. Individually, they looked lovely but altogether they were super striking!
Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
Comhghairdeas do na Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine! Bhí na páistí seo ag déanamh an-iarracht leis a gcuid Gaeilge an seachtain seo agus fuair siad teastais álainne. Tá súil againn go mbeadh siad go léir an-bhródúil astu.
Lá Fhéile Vailintín faoi mhaise daoibh go léir!
Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine
Comhghairdeas ollmhór do na Gaeilgeoirí na Seachtaine! Bhí na páistí seo ag déanamh an-iarracht leis a gcuid Gaeilge an seachtain seo agus fuair siad teastais álainne. Tá súil againn go mbeadh siad go léir an-bhródúil astu.
Sailéad Torthaí Úra
We have been learning about food (bia) in Irish recently and instead of simply reading a recipe (oideas) on how to make fresh fruit salad (sailéad Torthaí úra), what better way to learn our new words (ár bhfocail nua) but following the recipe and making our own fruit salad! We worked together to wash (nigh), cut (gearr) and mix (measc) apples (úlla), bananas (bananaí), pears (piorraí), oranges (oráistí) and grapes (caora finiúna). Béile blasta a bhí ann!
Gender Stereotyping in Costumes
Instead of learning about the history of Hallowe’en this year, 4th Class decided to look at costumes and some problems which can be seen from costume companies and shops.
We began by taking a look at a variety of costumes online and noted any stereotypes, bias and assumptions from the costumes made for girls versus the costumes made for boys.
We noticed that nearly all the costumes the girls were dressed in were ‘sweet’ or ‘cute’ brightly coloured clothes which often included skirts or dresses. In contrast, most of the costumes for boys were ‘scary’ or ‘strong’, had dark colours and only offered trousers.
We were also shocked that all of the boys were standing in powerful or tough stances whilst many of the girls appeared to have their arms firmly stuck to their hips or their necks strangely tilted to the side!
We also looked at Cultural Appropriation and how it can make us feel when people think our culture is their costume.
We had a lengthy discussion and walking debate on the possible effects this harmful marketing could have on children and how they act or view themselves.
We then came up with ways in which we could help stop the effects of stereotyping in costumes and clothes and make sure that dressing up is fun, empowering and respectful for everyone!
First Class Bakers
Last month, First Class were learning all about weight so what better way to test out our knowledge and skills than baking cupcakes?!
In groups, we weighed out the butter and sugar, before mixing it together in the mixing bowl. Next we carefully cracked the eggs into the bowl, making sure no shell went in to the mixture (imagine crunching on eggshell in your cupcake! Ew!). When we had mixed the eggs with the butter and sugar, we weighed the self-raising flour were and gently mixed it in to the batter.
This helped our buns to rise and be lovely and fluffy when they were cooked.
We then placed the mixture into bun cases on a baking tray, before putting them into the oven for 20 minutes. When they turned golden-brown, we took them out and got to make yummy icing to decorate our buns. The best bit was definitely getting to taste our iced buns. They were absolutely delicious!
First Class picked up the pieces and built a Lego house!
This week First Class were describing how houses and homes can be different, before drawing and labeling pictures of our own homes.
In our table groups, we then had to work together to build houses out of Lego. We were given a brief of what our houses must include (a door, windows, 2 storeys and a roof). At first, this seemed like a very challenging task but the amazing architects, brilliant builders, perfect problem-solvers and enthusiastic engineers of First Class powered through and every single group successfully completed the brief.
Ciara’s 1st Class are beginning to see a pattern…
Last week, we were exploring and experimenting with pattern in maths, art, music and almost every other subject you can think of! We realised we are surrounded by different patterns so our pattern-making skills were Level: Expert! We made patterns in a variety of ways, including Lego, buttons, shapes, colours and cubes. We even created a grid of 28 different patterns on paper using oil pastels. We then painted each pattern grid with watercolours but the clever oil pastel was able to resist the paint, resulting in these fabulous masterpieces.
Shape Hunters in First Class
We have been learning about 2D Shapes recently and decided to see how many shapes we could find in our own classroom. Did you know we are surrounded by all kinds of shapes everywhere we go?
Our bin has a circle at the top.
The 100 Square is a giant square itself.
Our Worry Monster has an oval-shaped tummy.
Our paint pots and glue sticks have circle faces too.
First Class got spooky!
For World Book Day, we dressed up as our favourite characters and creatures.
Most of Hogwarts came to our school on this day, as well as other witches and wizards, football players, doctors, ghosts and even Horrid Henry! It was an eventful day trying to do maths and read stories with dinosaurs, princesses, zombies, pirates, Alice in Wonderland, ghostbusters and Lego ninjas sitting in our classroom!
Amazing Mappers
You have heard of Google Maps but now get ready for First Class Maps!
We became cartographers last week when we made maps of our classroom. We had to imagine we were spiders crawling along the ceiling and looking down at the desks. Standing on our chairs and looking directly down at our tables helped us imagine how the other objects in the classroom would look from a Bird’s eye view.
