Term 2 News 2021
Ms. Nugent’s 3rd class
Our class has had a really busy term and have been working really hard. After Halloween we learned all about Ancient Egypt. We learned about Tutankhamun and his tomb. We learned all about the river Nile and why the Egyptians lived there. In art we made Egyptian masks and we painted pictures of camels in the desert. We used pastel chalk to make snow globes too. We painted snowmen and decorated them when the paint was dry. We coloured baubles and stockings to decorate our class for Christmas. We designed colourful windows and displayed them outside our classroom.
In maths we have been working on multiplication, division and fractions this term. We played some maths games and coloured a Christmas maths sheet. We have been writing letters in English and working on newspaper reports too. We have been doing lots of reading in class and answering questions based on the stories that we have read. In religion we made pictures of ourselves and our families. We have been learning about advent and we made advent candles, with lots of positive activities that we can do coming up to Christmas.
We have been doing a lot of work in Irish and have learned a lot about An Nollaig. We made Christmas bingo cards and played bingo as Gaeilge too. We played basketball and GAA for PE and learned a lot of new skills in each sport. We also did relay races and played a game called shark attack this term too. We played lots of games during the term like chess, stop the bus, snakes and ladders and word games. We have had a really good term and worked very hard. We’re really looking forward to Christmas and can’t wait for Santa. Merry Christmas everyone
Ms. Beaubien’s 3rd class
We have been learning all about Advent and we made an Advent calendar for our class. We all made a card and our teacher put a prize into each one. Some of the prizes are extra PE or other games. Every day we open one of the cards and get a treat. In PE we have been playing soccer and a game called World Cup. We have played lots of other fun games too.
We have been busy working on projects this term. We have been learning about Irish saints and scholars, such as St Patrick and the monks. We have been learning about objects like the Ardagh chalice and places like Skellig Michael. Everyone was given a different thing to learn about and work on in the topic. We all made round towers and two people made chalices. These are all on display in the cabinet outside our classroom.
We have been leaning a lot about trees this term too. We estimated the height and age of trees in the school garden. We also measured the girth of the tree too. The tallest tree was 18 metres and the oldest was 12 years old.
Ms. Murphy’s 3rd Class
We did lots of cool art this term. We made Christmas puddings, stockings, tiles, a huge Christmas tree, presents made from cardboard and a giant snowman too. We worked on the “Not the night before Christmas” reader’s theatre. It was so much fun. We did projects on Troy and made Trojan horses. We did lots of PE this term too. We played basketball, football and skipping. Our class also did lots of Christmas colouring, quizzes and we wrote Santa letters too. We had Golden time every Friday, because we worked so hard.
Ms. Kenny’s 4th Class
We have had a really good term and were so busy since Halloween. We watched a movie and had a massive amount of sweets over the past week. We also have an exciting guest named ‘Sparkles’ who arrived at the beginning of December. However, she was delayed a day due to Covid guidelines. She is an Elf and she will leave on December 22nd. We have been doing lots of Christmas art and activities. Our class is very excited for Christmas and our two weeks’ holiday. We made a Winter Wonderland and school is looking festive and Christmassy. We put our Christmas tree up and each student got a bobble to decorate the tree. We had a Christmas quiz which our Student Council hosted. Our class had lots of fun doing Christmas cracker jokes.
Ms. Heney’s 4th Class
In our class, we wrote Christmas stories. We had a competition where people wrote their stories and the best six won a selection box. We also made tiny Christmas hats from wool. They are so cute and tiny! We made paper snowflakes and made Christmas cards for our display. We also designed Christmas jumpers. Some of us brought in pyjamas and blankets on the 18th December to raise money for St Vincent de Paul.
For P.E. we are doing athletics. It is great fun. The beep test was the most challenging thing that we did so far. There were only three people who managed to complete it. Our class have been making big chains to decorate the classroom. One of the chains was 9 metres long. It was pretty amazing. We made some Christmas cards in school. The designs are really lovely but, our favourite was the pine needles design. The Winter Wonderland display was the biggest display my teacher ever saw. It has a Gingerbread House and a lots lots more.
Mr. Forde’s 4th Class
Our class made hot air balloons earlier this term. We really enjoyed making them. We are going to dig up our time capsules that we buried last year. Niamh is in the lead in our class currency reward system with 234 beans. Well done Niamh. We did a Christmas raffle in class last week and we made quiz boards too. We started written homework a few weeks ago and we are still busy with our class webpage. In art we decorated Christmas stockings and did some Picasso themed art too. In Irish we have been playing a new game called ” Is feidir linn”. We’ve had a great term, but we can’t wait for the Christmas holidays!
Ms. Lucas’ 4th Class
We have been very busy this term. In November we celebrated science week and did lots of experiments in class including looking at chemical reactions. We loved the volcanic lemons, skittle rainbows and cola explosions especially. In PE we did skipping during November. We had lots of skipping challenges and a skipathon. We are focused on circuit training twice a week this month and we are much fitter.
We completed projects on animals in November and presented them to the class. In December we researched Christmas traditions around the world and did a project on Christmas. We displayed our projects and had question and answer sessions in class.
We have created lots of lovely Christmas art in December to decorate the windows and our room. We made handprint Christmas trees, Grinches, Christmas jumper designs, Christmas bunting, CD decorations and Christmas cracker gifts with vouchers inside and packs of Christmas cards.
There were 2 competitions run in December. Méabh Daly won the poetry writing competition and Emily Loughman won best Christmas decoration made from recycled materials.
We had a kindness theme in class for December. We focused on being kind and thoughtful and doing random acts of kindness. We made an advent calendar where everyone was in charge of coming up with a nice thing to do each day such as Mindfulness, extra PE etc. We made a kindness tree where everyone made a wish and we made Christmas cards for a local nursing home.
In history we enjoyed learning about Bloody Sunday. We also learnt lots about the US Presidential election.
We are looking forward to our holidays.
Ms. Murphy’s 5th Class
PE
We have been very busy in PE over the last few weeks. Every Tuesday coaches from Blessington GAA come in to do GAA with us. We play games and practices skills such as hand passing, solos and kicking. It is great fun and we really enjoy it! We also got a chance to do Tag Rugby and Olympic Handball. Our skills are really improving and we enjoy playing matches. We are looking forward to our next PE activity!
Christmas in Room 6
We have done lots of Christmas art over the last few weeks. Our Christmas display is all about penguins! We also made Bobble Hat decorations to hang on our tree. In SESE we learned about Christmas around the world. We designed our own Gheansaí Nollag too! We wrote some Christmas poems and we read a poem called ‘Santa did you get my tweet?’. Some people on our class also got to help decorate the wooden Christmas tree and holly wreath that are now hanging up in school.
Ms. Dineen’s 5th Class
Ms Dineen’s class have been really busy this term. We’ve even been working hard at home with activities like walks, soccer, GAA and visits to the Skate Park.
In November, we did lots of Athletics, circuits and played games like Ship to shore, Fought corner’s and Fire in the forests. We all had great fun doing PE in November. In December we did ultimate Frisbee where we had to throw a Frisbee whilst staying still. We were lucky Ms Hogan organised GAA for 5th and 6th class, thank you Ms Hogan. We all really liked playing GAA and Ultimate Frisbee.
For the month of December, we have been working on projects. We got to choose the country we wanted to work on for our project. We chose from headlines, famous people, food, places to visit, religions, geography, the history of the flag or famous buildings. We have started presenting our projects in class and are enjoying this.
We had five birthdays between November and December in class. In November Adam Dwan, Hamish Church, Luke Deniffe and Lucy Flynn all had birthdays. In December it was Amy Seery’s birthday too.
Thank you for reading Ms Dineen’s Christmas newsletter. We hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas.
Ms. Feely’s 5th Class
Art
We have been really busy this term and have done lots of art. We made Christmas decoration from recycled materials. We also made Christmas stockings, jumpers, Rudolph, elves and snow-capped mountains. In English we wrote Christmas poems and stories too.
PE
We’ve worked hard at PE this term. We played rugby, GAA and basketball. We have also been doing lots of exercises in the line as part of our Active school programme. We are all trying to keep fit.
Award winners
Hanna Jurkowska won the recycled Christmas decoration competition in our class. Amra Memishi won a biodiversity competition and Keira McNevin won the Credit union art competition. Well done to all the girls.
Ms. Nugent’s 6th Class
Climate Action Week:
At the beginning of November, it was Climate Action Week. We learned about how greenhouse gases are keeping the heat from going back around the sun. We also learned how the burning of fossil fuels are creating the greenhouse gases.
Homework:
Around the start of November Google Classroom was set up. Each child received an email address and a code for that address. The teachers set homework for every night, until the children could bring some books home with them.
Weather:
In the middle of November our class learned about weather disasters including tsunamis, hurricanes, and tornadoes. It was very interesting.
Confirmation Preparation:
We started our preparation for our Confirmation at the end of November, when Deacon Gerry Malone came in to talk to us. He showed us the website “blessingtonpariahes.com”. every Wednesday we join an online Zoom prayer service with other members of the parish, some of the children in our class do some of the readings.
PE:
Over the last few months, we have done Olympic Handball and tag rugby. We have also had some GAA coaches come into the school.
Christmas:
We have had lots of fun decorating our classroom for Christmas. We have made decorations from clay and designed our own Christmas jumpers. We also made a giant Christmas tree from paper chains for our display board.
We look forward to next term and we wish everyone a very Happy, Peaceful and Safe Christmas.
By: Oisín Gilmartin & Julia McDonald
Ms. McGrath’s 6th Class
This term we have been learning about World War II. We made WWII silhouettes in art. We also read the Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, which is set during the war. We have been doing projects on World War II on Google slides. We also did lots of Christmas art and made a Christmas display. Everyone in the class helped out, and it was overseen by Tara Carey and Alfie Stone. We are creating our own Christmas limericks as well. Last Friday, we all got comfy watching The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas movie with some hot chocolate and a few sweets. We’re really looking forward to the Christmas holidays
Ms. Heraghty’s 6th Class
GAA
Our class have been doing Gaelic football with coaches from our club and transition year students. The drills and mini games have been great fun and hopefully more people from our class will want to join the club now! We’ve really enjoyed it and would like to say a big thank you to the coaches.
Projects
This term we have submitted projects online using Google Classroom. We tried out different ways of presenting such as PowerPoint and Google Slides. We also videoed ourselves doing Science experiments and posted to our class.
We researched World War 2, Storms & Weather Disasters and People at Work – Jobs in Blessington in the past and the present. We used the 1911 census to look at different jobs in our area in the past. We noticed that the tram from Blessington to Dublin employed a lot of people in our area.
PE
In November our class did Orienteering. We worked in pairs/groups to find clues and try and beat each other by solving clues faster than the others!
For the month of December, we have been doing Athletics stations. We set up javelin, 6 second sprint, speed bounce, sergeant jump and standing long jump. We move from station to station and most people found the speed bounce station the toughest!
Other News
Our class have been playing chess for the last few weeks and it has been really enjoyable.
We have a new pupil in our class named Malachi and we hope he enjoys being part of our class.
By Lucy Walsh and Anna Lindsay
