1.1 Living Things: Our Aquarium (Sixth Class).
In Autumn we had our first visit from Sea Explorers. We took responsibility of a fish tank with a starfish, a blenny, a hermit crab and a sea anemone. Our guest speaker explained to the class how to feed the creatures , clean the tank , check the filters and monitor the temperature of the water. We really enjoyed the Powerpoint visuals and asked lots of questions!
The class logged details in their copies and each child took turns to feed the creatures and clean the tank.
After six weeks Sea Explorers returned to the class to retrieve our precious aquarium and congratulate pupils with certificates . Please see 1.5 below
The class logged details in their copies and each child took turns to feed the creatures and clean the tank.
After six weeks Sea Explorers returned to the class to retrieve our precious aquarium and congratulate pupils with certificates . Please see 1.5 below
1.1+ Habitat Exploration on the Beach.
What an amazing day of exploration our Second class had in Ballyheigue beach. The spring tide was out at about 11am so we had plenty of time to dig deep in the rock pools looking for blenny and goby fish. Of course, we really wanted to see the velvet swimming crab. They were elusive. But we loved the common crabs and the shrimp. We returned all our living creatures to their original rock pools. Then we made our way up through the upper shore and enjoyed categorizing and naming all the different seaweeds eg bladderwrack, thong, dillisc, sea lettuce. The anemones were stunning. The sun shone brightly (heatwave!!). So Ms Gillian and Mary knew that a game of rounders and an ice-cream from the ice-cream van was the perfect finish to the day! The seashore never fails to thrill ....what a fantastic habitat. Parents drove us there in cars. Ms Mary usually manages this special SESE day every year, especially if the tides and weather collaborate!
School Yard investigation- Junior Infants explored our school surroundings. Spring is here and so we ventured out to learn about some signs of Spring. Using a Spring Checklist that was provided in our SESE workbook, we discovered that our school environment is full of the signs of Spring.
1.2 Energy and Forces.
5th Class took a closer look at Forces dealing with Gravity in particular. We carried out a simple experiment using two objects of similar size but different weights to see which one would hit the ground first. It became clear after the first few groupings that the heavier object fell quicker. We kept a tally chart after each group to ensure that we had a clear picture at the end.
1.2+ Friction Experiment
5th Class pupils carried out an experiment using paper and materials of various textures. The pupils had to rub the various mateials quickly with their index fingers. They had to investigate which material built up the most friction (heat) the quickest. It was clear that the more textured material (hessian & sugar paper) created more friction and heat than the smooth white paper.
1.3 Materials.
The students of 4th class investigated how light travels in straight lines by testing various objects to see whether they were opaque, translucent or transparent. They used torches to test various items and then listed their results into the 3 categories on their record sheets. They had lots of fun and enjoyed learning where shadows come from. This lesson also helped them understand where night & day come from!
1.3+ More Investigation of Materials.
1.3 Materials
Matterials & change - mixing materials. Hallowe'en the children in 4th class were very interested to explore and to finesse their very own witch's potion! This involved mixing lots of different household materials to create their very own bubbling witch's potion. First they discussed what they thought would happen when the items were mixed & recorded their ideas. Then they mixed up the vinegar, washing liquid, baking soda etc and to their great excitement the whole lot fizzed up and bubbled over. All the more exciting when in Hallowe'en fancy dress!
1.4 Environmental Awareness and Care.
Our Murmuration.
Living things: Starlings. The children of 4th class were mesmerised by videos of starling murmurations (large flocks) which make the most amazing shapes at dusk. Murmurations can have several thousand starlings and the children carried out an investigation to see how come starlings never collide, and if we could move in a similar way without colliding. They set up a space on the astroturf to carry out their investigation and in teams they carried out various investigations to see just how hard it would be to be part of a murmuration. Afterwards they shared their ideas on how exactly so many birds can move at once without collisions - a really engaging lesson.
Life in the school yard: 4th class explored the life & habitats of our school yard in the September sunshine. The children worked in pairs using a 'window' which they placed in various locations around the school yard and then worked together to record the life they saw inside. They were amazed to see such an abundance of life that they had never taken notice of right under their noses! From lots of bugs & worms to seeds and eaves our yard was teeming with life.
1.4 + 100%Organic Vinaigrette from our School Garden.
Four Thieves Vinegar....
A little history behind the magic concoction!!
It began in France in the 1600’s when the plague was raging through the country. It is said that 4 infamous thieves began looting the houses of people that had been misfortunate enough to die of the plague. They made a vinegar mixture similar to our creation above and doused themselves from head to toe in it and it kept them healthy and free from contracting the dreaded plague. It seems that the herbs when mixed with apple cider vinegar create a strong antibacterial disinfectant and insect repellent.
Eventually the thieves were caught and were given the chance to be given full pardon for their crimes in exchange for the answer to their continued health.
All of our ingredients were picked from our school garden and any selection of them can be used to make a variation of this delicious mixture at home.
We included the following:
Haws
Calendula
Borage
Pineapple Sage
Garlic
Parsley
We then added 1 litre of apple cider vinegar and allowed the mixture to fuse together for a month, shaking it everyday.
We tasted it afterwards and while some children found the taste a little strong we all agreed that it was pretty delicious. Ms Gillian and Ms Gemma used it regularly as a salad dressing...yum! 😋
A little history behind the magic concoction!!
It began in France in the 1600’s when the plague was raging through the country. It is said that 4 infamous thieves began looting the houses of people that had been misfortunate enough to die of the plague. They made a vinegar mixture similar to our creation above and doused themselves from head to toe in it and it kept them healthy and free from contracting the dreaded plague. It seems that the herbs when mixed with apple cider vinegar create a strong antibacterial disinfectant and insect repellent.
Eventually the thieves were caught and were given the chance to be given full pardon for their crimes in exchange for the answer to their continued health.
All of our ingredients were picked from our school garden and any selection of them can be used to make a variation of this delicious mixture at home.
We included the following:
Haws
Calendula
Borage
Pineapple Sage
Garlic
Parsley
We then added 1 litre of apple cider vinegar and allowed the mixture to fuse together for a month, shaking it everyday.
We tasted it afterwards and while some children found the taste a little strong we all agreed that it was pretty delicious. Ms Gillian and Ms Gemma used it regularly as a salad dressing...yum! 😋
The feedback from parents and children involved in our Summer Project bounty garden: This is a seasonal overview April 18 to October 18
One family watered and tended to our wee garden per week during the summer hols (that's 8 families in all!!). Courgettes, sunflowers, sage, onions, leeks, lemon balm, strawberries, parsley, beans.It was a hot summer, but everything thrived and we enjoyed watching all our hard work bear fruit! A bumper harvest......take a look at......... !
One family watered and tended to our wee garden per week during the summer hols (that's 8 families in all!!). Courgettes, sunflowers, sage, onions, leeks, lemon balm, strawberries, parsley, beans.It was a hot summer, but everything thrived and we enjoyed watching all our hard work bear fruit! A bumper harvest......take a look at......... !
.......Our Garden :)
1.5 Participated in Science Event run by other Organisations and welcomed Seascape Marine Biologists to our shores.......I mean, school!
Seascape helped us understand further the need to change direction and reduce, if not banish plastic.They visited our school during an 8 week module Sept/Oct '18)! We were challenged to assess just how much we have become dependent on our plastic wrappings, our plastic cups and bottles, our clingfilm etc in our daily living/lunch boxes. This year our pupils looked up to their older siblings in secondary schools and learned what 'Save our Planet' is all about for the next generation. Our Parents Association ( March 2019) has asked our school to formally ban plastic cups, plastic tablecloths etc which are normally used at Community/ Religious events in our hall ......The BoM/ P. Assoc/ Student Council will collaborate and revisit our healthy eating/living policy next September, so that we can stop using clingfilm and plastic in our lunches. We all acknowledge that this is a huge issue which is gathering local/national and global momentum, thanks to social media, research and evidence all around us. Our Green Committee strives every month to report back on the contents of school bins (which we have monitored and reduced during the last two years). We have more to do and we intend to do it.
1.6 Discovery Primary Science Visit to Ocean World Dingle.
Fourth Class thoroughly enjoyed a visit to Ocean World in Dingle. The children saw a variety of fish species including rays and star fish and had the opportunity to touch and hold some sea creatures in the touch pool. The expression on the children's faces says it all. A picture really does paint a thousand words. Children were fascinated by the otters and were just in time to see them being fed. The penguins were a great source of amusement as we watched on in wonder and awe at how playfully they interacted with each other.
1.7 Fourth Class wins a local science competition.
June 2018, We entered and won a Science competition ran by Astellas Pharmaceutical in Killorglin. Children were asked to come up with a clever name for a Science Professor. As part of the prize we got to visit Astellas! The children put on lab coats and glasses , received a tour of the plant and met some very clever and funny scientists. They told us all about the important work they do in microbiology and provided us with some fairly shocking statistics about how many germs are on a lap top, a remote control and a mobile phone to name but a few. They even let us carry out some really cool experiments! We really enjoyed the 'hands on'! Thank you so much, Astellas, for a great day!
1.8 Used STEM in projects to communicate on Environmental Sustainability.
Please see Step 4 Maths , specifically 4.3, to see samples of surveys on biodiversity and excel graphs which pupils used to demonstrate our progress/learning.
1.9 Participation in Science Week. Nov '18.
Please see Step 5 'Show and Tell' for evidence of individual pupils presenting (solo!) and sharing their favourite experiments with a partnered class. This was great for their confidence, personally.....and they had to be able to answer questions from the 'audience'.