November
The children returned to school on November 1st after enjoying a nice Mid-Term Break with their families. We all enjoyed hearing about their Halloween activities and fun.
November has been a very busy month in the classroom. We participated in Science Week, learned about life in 19th century Ireland and The Great Famine. The children undertook a research project on the Great Famine/ An Gorta Mór. We also planted daffodils, showed gratitude to the people in our lives and continued with our Daily Mile for our fitness and well being.
Art – Clay
In art, we were reintroduced to the medium of clay and the children produced some excellent clay pots. They have all painted them in wonderfully colourful festive colours and will be bringing them home for Christmas.
Gratitude
In S.P.H.E, we talked about the importance of showing gratitude to the people we love, respect and care for in our lives. The children wrote very thoughtful letters of gratitude and created a wall display of thank you flowers.
Project Work in history – The Great Famine/ An Gorta Mór
During November, the children learned about life in 19th century Ireland and in particular about the Great Famine and its impact on the people of Ireland. The children found this topic fascinating and undertook with gusto their project assignments.
We discussed the failure of the potato crop, the attitude of the landlords, the living conditions of tenant farmers and their families, workhouses, coffin ships and the lasting legacy of the famine. The children produced some wonderful illustrations to accompany their projects.
We also have been showing kindness to our classmates in random acts during November. Aisling displayed lovely manners and kindness to her friends on the yard and received our Classroom Kindness Certificate as a result. Well done Aisling!
Spring planting
During November we also got the opportunity to use our green fingers. The children all planted some daffodils bulbs. We will be looking forward to a dazzling display of golden brightness in the Spring.
Science
Our topic this month was sound. We discovered lots of information about sound. We listened to the various sounds around us, both natural and manufactured, We discovered that sound is a form of energy and travels in sound waves. We also discovered that some materials are better than others at absorbing sound.
During Science Week, the children were assigned a homework task to invent and design an apparatus that would be useful in our modern world.
Well done to Zoe who invented a futuristic litter picker that would be very useful in our efforts to tackle climate change and pollution.
Well done to the children in 3rd and 4th.
Another incredibly productive month in learning, creativity, fun and friendships.
Ms Shannon and Ms. Donnelly
