Looking after our teeth

It is tooth day today.  Have a look at this presentation for Junior and Senior infants http://www.dentalhealth.ie/download/pdf/toothday_2010_teachers_presentation_final_221110.pdf 

or other publications on http://www.dentalhealth.ie/publications/list/toothday/

Here's another great link.  This one is to the video story: Dr. Rabbit and the Legend of Tooth Kingdom http://www.colgate.com/app/BrightSmilesBrightFutures/US/EN/Kids/LegendVideoChapters/Chapter_01.cvspoChapters/Chapter_01.cvsp

Fun in the snow

Tuesday November 30th, 2010

It snowed a lot today.  We went outside for a little while to try and make a snowman.  We found that this was easiest to do when you roll the snow into balls.  We tried hard to make a snowman but we didn't really succeed too well.  We need more practice. 

Waterproof Umbrellas

Advent Wreaths

Using Number Lines

Straws under force

How much oxygen do burning matches use?

Acids and red cabbages

Dancing Raisins

Dick Whittington pantomime

Ugandan display

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Ms. Tierney invited us to the halla to see her class production of "A day in the life of a Ugandan child".  It was a wonderful production, complete with Ugandan costumes, masks, footballs made from banana skins and dolls made from wood.  We saw how Ugandan children often have to fetch water and firewood for cooking before they come to school, we saw pictures and heard sounds of some of the animals that are in Uganda, we heard the school children speak and sing songs in 2 languages, and we heard some Ugandan songs and saw an African dance.  Well done to Ms. Tierney's class.  We especially loved the last song, and we learned lots about living in Uganda.

Spinning Eggs and Hot Air

Teacher had some eggs with her at school today.  Some of them were raw, but some were cooked.  Teacher showed us how to tell which egg is raw and which is cooked.  When you spin a raw egg and then put your hand gently on it and ask it to stop, it won't stop, it just keeps on spinning.  This is because the inside of the raw egg is a liquid, and even though the shell stops spinning, the inside keeps on spinning (like a child in a car, without a seatbelt, will keep travelling forward when the car comes to a sudden stop).
With the cooked egg, when you spin it, put your hand gently on top and ask it to stop, it does.  This is because the inside of the egg is solid and stuck to the shell.  When the shell stops moving so does the inside of the egg (like a child with a seatbelt on will stop moving when the car stops moving too).

The next experiment we tried was to try and get a boiled egg into a bottle.  This is done by heating the air in the bottle (either by lighting a candle and dropping it in the bottle, or by putting the bottle into hot water).  Then we put a boiled egg on top.  The egg just sat there, until the air in the bottle cooled and got smaller (we helped this along by putting the bottle into cold water).  When the air in the bottle cooled down the boiled egg got sucked in.  The egg only went a little way into the bottle before getting stuck.  Then the pull on the egg was so strong that the white of the boiled egg split and we could see the yolk.  This all happened without any of us touching it at all.  Teacher hoped that the egg would go all the way into the bottle, but it didn't.  We think this is because the egg was too big.  We will try and do this experiment again when we have a smaller egg. 

Another interesting experiment we tried, is to see what happens to a glove on a bottle when the bottle is put in hot water.  When the glove wa put on the bottle it was very floppy.  When teacher put the bottle into a can of very hot water, the air in the bottle expanded and the glove inflated.  When the teacher took the bottle out of the hot water, the air cooled and the glove went floppy again.  It is very interesting to see what happens when air is heated and expands, or is cooled and constricts.

Visit to the Recycling Bins

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

We went for a short walk to see where the recycling bins are.  We found bins for clear glass, green glass, brown glass and old clothes beside the Kingfisher club near our school.  Teacher had 2 clear vinegar bottles.  We helped her recycle them in the correct bins.  When glass bottles are recycled they are made into new bottles.  This is much better for our planet than always making new ones.  We are going to try and recycle as many bottles as we can.

Shape and Number games

Space Display Open day

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Getting ready for our space display day

Phonic games

We played the Phonic Loop game today.  We each have 2 words on our cards, and we take turns in saying for example: "I have hat, who has man".  We time how long it takes us to finish the loop and use up all the cards.  It is quite an exciting game.

We also played with the phonic folder, making words out of letters.  Some of the words make sense, but others are just nonsense words.

Biongó bia

Bhí an-sport againn inniu ag imirt cluiche Biongó bia.

A friend for Inchy

Inchy our inchworm has been looking a little sad and lonely.  Teacher found a green caterpillar to keep him company.  We hope they will be friends as caterpillars, and later as butterflies or moths.

Is it waterproof?

Space Pictures

Space and the arts

Learning about 2D and 3D shapes

We are learning all about shapes.
We talked about 2D shapes: circle, square, rectangle and triangle. 
We talked about 3D shapes: cube, sphere, cuboid, triangular prism, cone, triangular pyramid, square pyramid, hexagonal prism, cylinder.

We used the boxes of shapes to talk about our shapes.  We counted sides and corners, talked about big and small, thick and thin, colours, whether a shape rolls or not, and what 2D shapes can be found in 3D shapes.

Volcanoes on Venus