Saturday 25 October 2008

Witches Walk

Friday, 24th October, 2008 The weather was windy, but dry and sunny (weren't we lucky). Witches, vampires, princesses, ghosts and many other assorted people arrived at school to take part in our annual "Witches Walk". It was a thoroughly enjoyable walk, and we made lots of money for the school and for charity. (Total to be announced when all the money is in). Well done to all the children, parents and teachers for the huge effort involved in getting everyone dressed up, and for the money raised.Back at the school we had time to take photos of all the fabulous costumes. Look at the witches and wizards, vampires, pumpkin, princesses, cat, dark vador and skeletons from Room 5.

We had a small Halloween party in the class. Thanks to all the children for bringing treats to share, and especially to Jordan who made some fabulous decorated pumpkin mandarins.


Wednesday 22 October 2008

Bottle Bank

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 We have been talking about recycling. Today we visited the bottle bank to see if we could figure out what goes in each recycling bin. At school we try to reduce litter by bringing reusable bottles and lunch boxes, by taking our lunch rubbish home and by not littering. We reduce the amount of water we use by pushing the green button on the toilets, and by switching taps off after us.

The Magical Glass

Magical Glass
Tuesday, 21st October, 2008
We got a cup. It was full of air. We put some tissue at the bottom of the cup. Now there was tissue and air in the cup.

We then plunged the cup (upside down) in a basin of water. We had to guess does the tissue get wet or stay dry. We felt the tissue. It was dry each time. Why?
When we put the cup into the water, no water can get in because of the air that is in there already. With no air in the cup, the tissue always stays dry. We all felt the tissue to be sure.

Bug Spray

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
In Room 5 we made a spray. We got a cup of cold water and two straws. When we put one straw into the water the water comes up part way in the straw.
If we take the other straw and blow across the top of the straw in the water, the air in the straw in the cup gets pushed out, followed by the water which squirts out after it.
All sprays work in the same way.

Monday 20 October 2008

Halloween Art

Monday, 20th October, 2008
In Room 5 we have been very busy getting ready for Halloween. We have been reading spooky stories from Ballybane library, have been dancing like skeletons, have been doing Halloween music and drama and of course we have been doing lots of Halloween art. Do you like our witches and skeletons,and our pumpkins and Halloween prints?

Friday 17 October 2008

Tissue Goal

Friday, October 17th, 2008
Another investigation using air: Is it possible to blow a ball made from tissue into a goal made from an empty shampoo bottle?
This is what happened when we tried: We had a ball of tissue sitting in the mouth of a bottle. When we blew the tissue, it flew out of the bottle instead of being pushed in. Why? When we blow at the tissue, most of the air goes around the tissue, hits the back of the bottle, and comes back out again (after bouncing off the back of the bottle). This pushes the tissue out of, rather than into the bottle. We can make the tissue ball go into the bottle, by blowing right at it using a straw.

Hot air and a floating ball

Friday, October 17th, 2008
Today we tried an interesting investigation using hot air (from a hair dryer). We tried holding a table tennis ball over a hair dryer. The rising hot air keeps the ball floating in the air, with the help of gravity so the ball doesn't fly out of the air stream. This experiment doesn't work with a heavy bouncy ball because this is too heavy for the air to lift, or with a light foam ball since this ball is too light to stay in the warm air flow so it gets knocked over very quickly.

St. Brigit's Garden

Friday, 17th October, 2008
Today Senior Infants Rooms 5 and 7 went on tour to St. Brigit's garden. The weather was nice and we had a wonderful day.
When we got to the garden we split up into two groups. Our class was shown around the garden by a very nice guide called Will. Will told us all about sunflowers, sunflower seeds and the woodland animals that eat the seeds -robins, squirrels and field mice.
Next we went through a willow walk, past the sandpit and into a crannóg. We talked about what shape the crannóg is, and what it would have been like to have lived there with no window, no electricity, no toilets and maybe having to share our home with our animals.
After being inside a little while, we went outside to search for nuts and other autumn treasures. We found lots of hazel nuts, lovely coloured leaves, mushrooms, and even a huge slug!
We went inside another crannóg and made a lovely autumn collage with the treasures we had found, then played a great woodland creature game with a parachute and some balls (which we pretended were nuts).
After being outside so long we each had a quick turn on the basket swings and then went inside for our lunch.
After lunch we went searching for minibeasts in the pond. We used nets to fish for the minibeasts and used magnifying glasses and keys to identify what we found.
We finished up our tour by using musical instruments to summon the Autumn Queen (who looked a bit like Ms. Gordon from Room 7). The queen led a parade to her throne where she sat and admired her loyal subjects!!! Our tour was great fun and we learned lots. We can't wait to go back there again.

Number games for Senior Infants

In our class we are playing lots of number games. We play games that use a die like the Spotty Dog game, the Ladybird game and snakes and ladders. We also play a "more than" card game and a fish bingo game (that uses fish instead of a die). We play these games during Maths Activity time. We learn lots about numbers when we play these games.

Monday 13 October 2008

Halloween Maths

Today we had a long chat about things we think about when we talk of Halloween. We each had to choose the Halloween thing we like best. We made a chart of our favourite Halloween things, and we talked about which group had the most/least/how many more or less did each group had. Our chart looks great.

Halloween Drama

It is nearly Halloween. We have been talking about witches, bats, skeletons, pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, bairín breac, and lots more. We are having fun with Halloween art, and today we had some Halloween drama, where we did frozen pictures and the other children in the class had to guess what we were doing. Can you see the witches making a spell, the ghosts scaring people, spiders spinning a web, children carving out a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern, and skeletons disco dancing at a party.

Scarecrow dance

Friday, October 10th 2008We have been talking a lot about scarecrows. Today we did a scarecrow dance. The scarecrows could hear lots of birds and tried to scare them away but they could only move in the breeze. We had nice scarecrow music. It was fun.

Thursday 9 October 2008

Visit from a Chef

Thursday, October 9th, 2008
One of the girls in our class has a mum with a very interesting job. She is a chef in a hotel. She came to our class today to tell us all about being a chef. She made and brought with her a rose made from an apple. It looked and smelled wonderful. First of all Hau told us all about keeping our hands clean, when and how we should wash our hands, and how dangerous it is to touch food with dirty hands….that is how we can pick up germs. Next she showed us how to make a lovely strawberry meringue dessert. You need meringues, cream, and chopped up strawberries and grapes. We all tried too (after we washed our hands of course)!