Fourth Class 2014 – 2015

On Friday 29th May, we went on our School Tour to Tralee Bay Wetlands and Crag Caves. When we arrived at The Tralee Bay Wetlands, we met our guide David and he brought us into the centre. We watched a video about the wetland and we investigate microscopic plants and animals using microscopes before heading to the bird watching tower. We climbed the ninety steps to the top of the 20 metre tall tower. The view from the top was wonderful. We could see all over Tralee Bay and Tralee town. We saw the windmill in Blennerville.

Next we went pond-dipping. We each received a net. It was exciting looking for the creatures in the pond. We found a stickleback fish, a boatman, a water beetle, water lice and lots of tadpoles. We were the first group to visit the centre who had no one slip into the water. Afterwards we saw voles that were caught in a live animal trap. We were allowed to hold the vole in our hands if we wanted to.

After Lunch we went looking for frogs. First we had to cross a long bridge. We got off the bridge and went into the reeds and bull rushes. We found two small beautiful frogs hiding in the grass and even a lost phone! Afterwards we went orienteering around the centre. We had great fun running around trying to locate the stampers.

Next we played some team games; where we had to race to fill a bucket with water using half pipes and we also had multi-walker races. To end our day in the wetlands we went pedalo boating and had great fun on the lake and pedalling through the water fountains. We all got drenched but we were happy!

Then Crag Caves was our next stop. The cave was amazing, there was lots of stalagmites and stalactites to see in the cave. We did some shopping in the gift shops both in Tralee Bay Wetlands and Crag Caves. Everybody thought that it was the best school tour ever. A Big Thank you to Denise, Sheila and Sinéad for joining us on the day. It was amazing fun and all slept very well that night, to say the least.

Here is a video of our Tour

The school embraced Friendship Week with great enthusiasm.  The focus was on the importance of friendship in our lives. These were some of the activities which we did in our class:

• English:We read the story of the Rainbow People & Something Else which explored the importance of caring for others. We composed acrostic poems on Friends and created Friendship Recipes.
• Friendship Lessons:We talked about ways they could be helpful and respect others. We also played friendship games, such as Friendship Bingo.
• Secret Pal Week: We picked a name of someone in the class and did something nice for them during the week.
• Collaborative Games: We played games that promoted co-operation and working together e.g. the Human Knot, I’m Your Friend.
• Friendship Chain: We created a paper chain of all our friends.
• Friendship Posters:We worked during the week on a Friendship Poster.
• Friendship Tree (Random Act of Kindness):Every random act of kindness received was written on a friendship token and displayed on our Friendship Tree. Needless to say, space on our tree was at a premium by the end of the week as acts of kindness were being given and received at an exponential rate!

Our Friendship Bingo

Our Collaborative Friendship Poster

Our Collaborative Games

Our Friendship Displays

During our Health Promoting Week, we learned all about healthy habits in relation to diet and exercises. We explored the Food & Exercise Pyramids. We began every morning with our exercises in the classroom (Bizzy Break!) and did extra PE and games during the week. We also launched our WOW (Walk On Wednesday) day on the Wednesday and walked from the carpark opposite the hotel to the school. Two new visitors joined us on our way up; Saint Patrick and a Leprechaun. In science we examined the amount of sugar in food item and were shocked by how much sugar was in the different foods. We displayed in on our Sugar Wall. Our rugby and golf lessons and our céilí also offered great fun and exercise. We thoroughly enjoyed our Health Promoting Week

Our Bizzy Break Exercises

Our Céilí

Golf & Rugby Activities

Rounders

Our WOW Day

Our Sugar Wall

Fourth and Fifth class recently explored the history of schooling in Ireland from early times to the twentieth century. We really enjoyed learning about all the different types of schools and seeing how different they were to our school today. We looked at education throughout different time periods;

• Pre-Christian and Christian Times
• Early Irish Monastic Schools
• Hedge School – 17^th & 18^th Century
• National Schools in the 19th Century

We explored in detail School 100 Years Ago. Here is a summary of all we learned, through examining photographs, memoirs, artifacts, roll-books and school reports:

Life in Irish Schools was very different 100 years ago. There were no computers, CD players, gel pens or markers. Many schools were small; often they had only one room. There was no running water and the heat came from a fireplace behind the teacher’s desk. Taking care of the schoolhouse was everyone’s job. Families took turns sending wood to the school for heating. Windows were usually high so that the children could not see out and be distracted!

Children sat at long desks with inkwells in them. They wrote with pens that had sharp nibs that they dipped into the inkbottles in the inkwells. In some schools you were not allowed to write with your left hand! Most of the work was done with chalk on a slate, as books and copies were very expensive.

Discipline in the national schools was very strict. Children who misbehaved or did not learn their lessons were hit with a cane. Some teachers had a “Dunce’s Corner”. Any child who missed a question had to stand there. The children learned reading, writing, and arithmetic when they weren’t needed to work in the fields or at home. 

 Our Class Artifacts

Here we are writing using nibs and ink

Here we are painting using quills and coloured ink

In preparation for St. Brigid’s day the pupils of 4th & 5th class made St Brigid’s crosses last Friday. They learnt about the life of St Brigid through stories and poems about St. Brigid.  We even made some St. Brigid’s Crosses!  The annual tradition of making the crosses is lovely for both the pupils and their families who are delighted to receive a new cross into their homes on time for St. Brigid’s day.

We hope that everyone’s home will be blessed and that everyone will have a happy, safe year.