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Wild Patch
Pay attention
Be astonished
Tell about it.
Mary Oliver
As part of our school’s work around Earth Day a small group of students in fourth class asked Orlaith and Jim if it would be possible to leave a patch of the front lawn to grow wild.
We had noticed back in April that some lovely wildflowers like cowslips and field speedwell were emerging. We hoped that more species of plants would emerge and that we could encourage pollinators and biodiversity into our wild patch!
You will see the wild patch behind the sign at the entrance to the school. Look closely at the growth which now includes
Clover (seamar bhán)
Daisies (nóiníní)
Dandelions (caisearbhán)
Ribwort plantain (slánlus)
Speedwell (lus cré garraí)
The website http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/index.php is a brilliant source of information for identifying wild flowers growing in our area.
You can also become a citizen scientist by logging your identified plants with Biodiversity Ireland at https://records.biodiversityireland.ie/.
Sinéad
Collaborative Learning in First Class
We are enjoying learning together in First Class. Every day we work in small groups to improve our literacy skills. We rotate through four different literacy activities. Nick helps us with our writing skills and Ann and Sinéad work with us to develop reading and comprehension skills. We have learned plenty of new information and skills from reading very interesting books and from writing in different genres.
In maths we love to use materials and play games to help us learn. We work as a team and help each other to complete mathematical challenges!
In our Irish lessons we have become fantastic at having conversations and singing songs ‘as Gaeilge’. Some children have even started to write little books as Gaeilge. Bainaigí úsáid as bhur gcúpla focail sa bhaile leis an gcomhrá thíos!
Dia duit…….Dia is Muire duit.
Conas atá tú?………Tá mé go maith.
Cén rang ina bhfuil tú?…….. Tá mé i Rang a hAon
Cén aois thú?………Tá mé sé bliana/seacht mbliana d’aois.
Autumn Nature Walk
It was a beautiful bright autumn day this morning and First class enjoyed an autumn walk in the grounds of the school.
We have lots of keen observers in our class and we were able to identify many of the plants, insects and trees in the grounds including the horse chestnut tree, rose hips, blackberries, ivy and willow. We also noticed the changing colours of the autumn leaves and we look forward to seeing how the leaves and trees change over the coming weeks.
When we returned to the classroom we made leaf and bark rubbings and drew fantastic pictures, with great detail showing what we had seen on our walk.
Froggy Friday in Rang a hAon
Today we had lots of fun in First Class. In the morning we were so excited to observe the frogspawn Zach brought in to school. We have been learning about frogs and it was very interesting to see real frogspawn. We read a book about the life cycle of a frog. During Art we made our own frogs from clay. We can’t wait to paint them next week!
We had a wonderful week last week for Seachtain na Gaeilge. We danced and sang songs and used our Irish whenever we could. We can say lots of words and phrases in Irish and enjoyed playing games like Deir Ó Grádaigh and Bróga Draíochta.
Lastly, we are very proud of our art work. We learned about Brazilian artist Romero Britto. He uses lots of geometric shapes and bright colours in his work. Our beautiful pictures were inspired by his work.
Lots of Learning in Rang a hAon
First Class have settled back into school life very quickly since the holidays and have been engaged in many interesting learning activities.
In Ethical Education we explored the concept of making a difference; by listening to and discussing ‘The Starfish Story’. We thought about what we could do to make a difference in our world, no matter how small. We came up with some really worthwhile ideas such as recycling, giving to charity, taking care of friends when they are hurt and taking responsibility at home by cleaning up.
We have been exploring the theme ‘Space’. Look at some of the beautiful art work from our classes. We drew planets and coloured them with oil pastels. We painted the background and with watery paint. The wax resists the paint as wax and water don’t mix. We think they look out of this world!
We also had a lovely visit from Fiona and her dog Jake. They came from Dogs Trust to teach us how to be safe around dogs. We learned about how to approach a dog when parents and the owner give us permission.
