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Category Archives: Fifth Class
Athletics – Cumann na mBunscol Áth Cliath – UCD
Congratulations to all of the athletes that represented us so well at the Cumann na mBunscol Áth Cliath athletics competition today at UCD. This is the yearly event that usually happens in Santry but it was moved this year because of upgrade works. We were very well represented by a group of 24 children from 5th and 6th classes which was made up of runners and subs. It was a very hot day and the children could have easily been overcome by the heat but they stayed calm and saved all of their energy for their races. We won medals in the individual sprints (80m) and the long distance race (600m). Our Under 12 Boys Team also won medals in the 4 x 100m Relay and 3 of our relay teams made the finals of their categories. We are very proud of all of the children who attended today and we think they had a very enjoyable day out! Thanks also to all of the staff who supported us along the way and who chaperoned today.
Behind the Scenes in 5th class
5th class have been learning all about Film Making! We have created story boards, written scripts and made costumes for our Live-Action-Film. This week, we chose our locations and started filming.
We have learnt how much work goes into making films and how important team work is! Here are some behind the scene shots….
Maya Masks in 5th Class – Alison
In 5th class we have been learning about The Maya civilization. We have learnt loads of interesting facts about them. The Mayas made impressive masks to wear during battle, during celebrations and as a decoration. Special masks were even made for the dead, to protect them on their journey to the afterlife! We designed our own masks and are now making them with Paper Mache. We are very excited to see how they will turn out!
5th Class in the outdoor classroom
Fifth Class have been so delighted to use our outdoor classroom over the past few weeks. Here we are using it as our debating teams prepare for their formal debates!
Photography Nature Walk
In Fifth Class, we went for a Scavenger Hunt Nature Walk. We took photos of different things we found along the way, and then we came back to the classroom to share our nature photography. Have a look at some of the beautiful, well framed shots we took!
The Writing Workshop
Since October, the children in Graham and Muireann’s fifth class have been engaging in the Writing Workshop once or twice a week. This is a time where the children can write about any topics of interest to them, and can practice their creative writing (narrative, poetry, diary entries) at their own speed. There are Five Stages of the Writing Workshop.
Prewriting is when you are thinking about and planning your piece of writing.
Drafting is the first time you write it.
Editing is when you read over it again and correct your mistakes.
Revision is when the teacher corrects it for you, and finally, when all that is done, the children move on to publish their final work into a book!
Salt Dough Maps of Ireland!
Muireann and Graham’s fifth class were learning all about the counties, rivers and lakes of Ireland! We integrated our Geography work into our Art and we created topographic maps of Ireland using salt dough. We moulded the mountain ranges, and painted them using the colours of a physical map : Green for low lands, yellow for higher land, brown for the tops of mountain ranges. We then added in a few rivers and lakes. We included the Shannon, Lough Neagh and the Three Sisters (The Barrow, The Nore and The Suir!)
Art, Nature and Trees with 5th Class
In Fifth Class we were looking at native and non native trees in our school environment. We went on tree identification walks and we used leaves, twigs, grass to make some nature art!
Whole School Singing At Home!
While we can’t be together, let’s sing together! Follow the link to join in with our whole school singing assembly at home:
http://tiny.cc/WholeSchoolSingingBETNS
10 familiar songs from our whole school singing assemblies are waiting. We would love to see your videos of you and your family joining in with some of our school songs. If you have a favourite Ballinteer Educate Together song that you would like to hear, please send us your requests : )
Write-A-Book Project
4th, 5th and 6th Classes have created their own books, as part of the Write-A-Book Project, organised by Blackrock Education Centre. This annual event celebrates the talented writers in our school and gives the children the opportunity to experience the writing of children in other primary schools in Dublin. It is a fantastically inspiring event and all children have thoroughly enjoyed the process and have learned a great deal along the way!
100th Day of School Celebration – 6th February
rpt
On the 6th February the children will come to school for the 100th day of the school year since we started back on 29th August.
There will be lots of fun, number-related activities taking place throughout the day to mark the occasion: 100th Day activity stations and relays, number games, 100th Day art activities and poetry and lots more! Our senior classes will be looking at some more challenging work around number systems and code breaking.
Children are invited to come to school on the day in a 100th Day T-shirt of their own design. This could be decorated with 100 buttons, stickers, smiley faces – the more creative the better!
The 100th Day Celebration is part of our School Improvement Plan for Numeracy; Problem Solving. This plan was implemented last year and can be found here:
March for Climate Change
A few weeks ago we received an email from 6th class at Donabate Portrane Educate Together inviting us to join them in a March for Climate Change. We began to look into the issue of climate change and discovered that Ireland ranked the worst in the EU for performance on climate change – we were shocked! We researched the many ways we can make small, sustainable changes that can have a positive impact when trying to protect our planet and reduce our carbon footprint – buying fruit and veg without plastic packaging, walking or cycling to school and sharing lifts with friends to live close by, charging electronics only when they need to be charged and plugging them out once they are fully charged, using sources of energy such as solar and hydro power being some examples. Although every little helps and we will now make an effort to be mindful of our carbon footprint, we need the government to prioritise climate action and implement initiatives and incentives to ensure these steps are taken nationwide. Engaging in this research inspired the children to join the March for Climate Change and use their voice to inspire climate action in Ireland.
The march took place on February 13 in front of the Dáil. The children made fantastic signs to bring to the protest. From the moment we left the school grounds the children did an amazing job of raising awareness. Duncan Stewart attended the protest and spoke to the children about the significance of their participation. Eamon Ryan, Catherine Martin, Senator Grace O’Sullivan and Ciarán Cuffe all of the Green Party were also there and expressed how impressed they were with the children and the importance of youth activism. We were so very proud of the children.
Wellness Week
We really enjoyed taking part in Wellness Week this week in 5th class. We kicked it off with a breakfast morning on Monday which was great fun. We chatted about our weekends while eating a healthy breakfast together – with one or two nice treats! We had some really great talks throughout the week – Claire spoke to us about essential oils and positive affirmations, Geraldine and Liz did mindfulness sessions with us and we had yoga with Jen. The children tried to do one thing (non screen related) for wellness after school too and there were some lovely experiences including baking, running, head massages and horse riding.
Junior Einsteins in 5th Class
5th class had a visit from a Junior Einsteins scientist following Science Week. We enjoyed taking part in lots of cool experiments including electrocuting Electra the Barbie, making slime, shooting smoke rings and lighting light bulbs using our hands and a plasma ball!
5th Class Ancient Greece STEM Challenge
Throughout the month of October 5th class were learning all about Ancient Greece. As part of this they took part in a STEM challenge, the aim of which was to design and create either an Ancient Greek chariot or an Ancient Greek catapult. The children worked really hard designing and choosing the best materials. We put their finished products to the test to see which catapult could launch something the furthest and which chariot could actually travel along a flat surface. We had great fun!
A visit from 4th class
Today Aongus and his 4th class came to visit us. They had made crosswords about Ancient Greece and the 5th class students really enjoyed trying to complete them – they were tricky!
Our trip to the W.B. Yeats Exhibition
Written by 5th class
On Tuesday we went to the W.B. Yeats Exhibition at The National Library of Ireland. We took the LUAS from Dundrum to Dawson Street.
When we arrived we were met by our tour guide Maeve. She told us a lot about W.B. Yeats and his family, for example we knew he had a brother called Jack but we learned that he also had two sisters called Susan and Elizabeth, or Lily and Lolly as they were better known. When he was in school he wasn’t very good at spelling and yet he became the first Irish man to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. We saw a trophy he won at school. He and his sister had a secret code language and we saw a letter he wrote using this secret code. He was part of a group interested in the occult called the Golden Dawn. In his last poem he wrote about where he wanted to be buried, Under Ben Bulben, although there are questions about whether it is really his body buried there. We saw a lock of his hair, it was a tradition to keep a lock of hair to remember someone. We also saw his spectacles. We saw his original handwritten poems.
After the exhibition we had our lunch and we got to visit the Reading Room in the National Library. We thought it was amazing, the ceiling was so high and so colourful. 
Physical Features of Ireland Projects
5th Class are off to a great start this year. They have worked har
d over the past number of weeks learning about the mountains, rivers and lakes of Ireland. They worked in pairs to create and present projects on a physical feature of Ireland, taking a trip to Dundrum Library and using books and iPads to gather interesting information and pictures to include in their projects. I was one proud teacher!