News from the term
Ms. Nugent’s 3rd class
Ms. Nugent’s 3rd class have been up to a lot this term. First of all we had science week. Some people did experiments to demonstrate to the class and others were chosen to show their experiments to the whole school. We did project work on Egypt and the Egyptians. Our class made mini pyramids and other ancient Egyptian artefacts. A wildlife expert called Paddy Madden came into the school and taught us all about dinosaurs and birds. We learned so much from him. We have also been doing Christmas art and made some beautiful snowmen. We have also been doing music with a song writer called Gráinne this term and we have worked on our own songs.
Ms. Murphy’s 3rd class
Ms. Murphy’s class has been very busy this month learning about Advent and making an Advent Wreath. In maths they have been very busy learning their tables and are already on to their multiplication and division of 11 times tables and learning how to do division.Our student Council members Maria and Benjamin have hosted the school radio show we picked ‘Feed the World, The Harry Potter Theme tune and Rockin around the Christmas tree as our songs.’
They did projects on the World Cup and each got a country to research. It was good fun.They have a very naughty and mischievous elf called Ralph, he took teachers’ markers so she could not give us homework, he hid our Irish spelling book so we couldn’t have our test and he took one of the treat bags and hid it.
Ms. Byrne’s 3rd class
Ms. Byrne’s 3rd class have been busy learning their Christmas songs and poems for their upcoming performance. They have also had great fun doing lots of Christmas Art. The class has been learning all about the World Cup in Qatar. Each child did a project on a country that qualified for the competition. They finished their projects this week and had great fun learning from each other.
The class also did badminton with Ms. Hogan. It was great fun.
Ms. Steedman’s 4th Class
Ms Steedman’s class have had a blast
Learning how to knit
They’ve had lots of glitches
losing their stitches
And have loved getting fit in PE
They enjoyed seacláid the
On a cold Thursday morning
The snow, it came without any WARNING!!!
They are singing the FROG SONG – and keep getting BUM BUM wrong!
Louise’s creations
are turning into beautiful decorations
They are using marshmallows to make very high towers
They were a disaster!!!!!
but the green table were the masters
Ms Wheatley’s 4th Class
Ms Wheatley’s class have also learned about space this term. They watched the
launch of the new rocket Artemis as it set off for the moon. They made their own space rockets with recyclable material and drew the solar system. They saw Mr Forde’s class’ fantastic rocket experiments and enjoyed doing their own experiments too. The class went down to the library and had a demo of a 3D printing machine during Science week.For Anti Bullying week they looked at a PowerPoint on bullying and it sparked lots of discussion in the class. They have written their own Christmas play and auditioned for different parts and are very excited to perform it for everyone soon!
P.S The Elf on the shelf has landed early, his name is Daithí and he only understands Irish
Ms. Murphy’s 5th Class
Ms. Murphy’s 5th class have enjoyed doing things such as swimming and our Christmas play! Their Christmas play is called ‘Behind the Nativity’ and it’s taking a fun behind the scenes version of the Christmas play starring the director, Mary, Joseph, an innkeeper and his wife and lots more characters. The class have also worked in pairs to do projects on European Countries such as Italy, Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands. This gave them a great opportunity to work as a team. They have used acrylic paint on their Christmas decorations that are on display on the recyclable Christmas tree.
Ms. Morris’ 5th class
This term Ms. Morris’ 5th class have been very lucky to start swimming in the pop-up pool.Everyone has really enjoyed our swimming lessons. We had so much fun completing all the activities for Anti-Bullying Week and Science Week. We liked completing our Reports on “The Leaning Tower of Pisa” and “The Water Cycle.” We are enjoying learning all our lines, songs and dance moves for
our Christmas Play “Lights, Camel, Action.” We can’t wait to perform it for our parents.Now on the topic of fun, we had a great time painting our Reindeer Artwork for Christmas. “Eventhough Rudolph knew he was a little different, he let his light shine regardless of what others said.”We hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Ms. Kenny’s class has enjoyed lots of art this term. On the 11 th of November they attended a workshop with Fighting Words in Blessington Library and wrote a book called ‘The Adventures of Cedar and Stefan’, which is about two adventurers, a wolf and a guinea pig. Their books were published and they each got a copy to add their endings and illustrations. They have really enjoyed swimming lessons and are taking part in an interclass PE tournament – basketball, handball, unihoc…etc
The class did a webinar with the museum of modern literature and talked about their favourite words and characters. They wrote a story about a day in the life of their character too.
Mr. Forde’s 6th Class
Mr. Forde’s class visited the library during Science Week and discovered new things about 3D Printing. KatyMay, Méabh, Lillian & Daniela demonstrated science projects to 5th & 6th class students. They have learned about air pressure, Oobleck, electric circuits and used this knowledge to make electronic quizboards about the 1916 Rising.
Each child brings in artefacts on Thursdays. Jack brought in a hot water bottle, made of glass, it belonged to his great granny and it was 150 years old. It was very interesting.
On Thursdays they go swimming and they have been enjoying it so far. They had a competition to pick out the 4 best Christmas drawings with the 4 winners painting their designs on the classroom windows.
They took a trip to St. Mary’s Church and they looked at the graveyard and the belfry. They have been learning about WWII and the plane crash on Blackhill. They cooked a leg of lamb in the field using a 500-year-old method used in the Stone Age. The children brought in wood, stones and moss. A hole was dug and then filled with stones before a fire was lit on top.
A few weeks ago they watched videos about anti-bullying, they wore odd socks to show that it is ok to be different and to respect differences between us and others.
Miss Gilligan’s 6th Class
Miss Gilligan’s 6th class has been busy this term. They participated in The Crocus Project with Holocaust Education Ireland and planted crocuses in three big star shapes, which Tony made for them. The stars can be seen between the flag poles at the front of the school and will hopefully bloom in the Spring.
They have been working hard in class on using rich, quality, descriptive language and response essays to their teacher’s favourite thing in the world, poetry! The children are becoming really skillful at studying themes and patterns in poems. They have also been singing a Fairy-tale of New York mash-up with lyrics as Gaeilge and in English. They also put up their Christmas tree and played in the snow last week. It all helps the lovely atmosphere in their classroom. They are delighted to have three Blessington GAA all-stars, Abby, Evan and Seanán as well as Milana, a n international silver medallist in rhythmic gymnastics in their class. Safe to say, Miss Gilligan is beaming with pride in all of their hard work and achievements this term!