On Friday, we had an enjoyable day after our Halloween party the night before. We deserved a break after all the hard work we've put in this term! We followed a brilliant step-by-step drawing tutorial to create a cartoon Frankenstein picture that can decorate our houses for Halloween. Everyone put a lot of work into colouring and decorating their freaky Frankensteins, as you can see above and below (some of them were not quite complete so the finishing touches had to be added at home). Why not have a look at this website for more great Halloween drawing tutorials that might keep you busy on a rainy day during the mid-term break?
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While learning about space for our class project, some children expressed an interest in finding out more about stars and constellations. We found out that stars are huge balls of gas. The sun is our closest star and light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach earth. However, there are many stars that are much bigger than the sun. We discussed the fact that stars are easier to see on a dark, clear night in an unpolluted area. Often stars cannot be seen at all in cities and towns. Most constellations can be seen with the naked eye, but they can be seen even better if you have a telescope. The Ancient Greeks invented pictures and patterns to help them recognise the stars - some of them need a little more imagination to see than others! These are called constellations. Many of the constellations give their names to the star signs of the zodiac. We looked up our own star signs online. We also watched a video about the constellations which you can find here, and Ms. Kirby showed us the Night Sky app on her phone, which you can download on your Apple or Android tablet or smartphone. It helps you to recognise the constellations (as well as planets, satellites and more!) when you point it at the sky at night. One of our aims for the lessons was to know the names of three constellations, and how better to remember them than to create them...with marshmallows! We used mini marshmallows (each one representing a star) and cocktail sticks to create the constellation of our choice, using the information and pictures from this site to help us. Of course, we also got to eat some of the marshmallows - yummy! Maybe next time it's a dark clear night, you might spot some of these constellations in the sky...
On Thursday October 23rd, the Intel Mini Scientist Competition was held in the school. Fourth, fifth and sixth classes participated. After about six weeks of experimenting, writing, researching, building and creating, we were very excited to present our projects to the judges from Intel in Shannon, as well as parents, friends and children. There were twelve amazing projects in fourth class this year: The Exploding Volcano, by Aoibhínn and Róisín Should First Aid be Taught in Schools?, by Hannah H Electric Circuit Lighthouse, by Ronan, Morgan, Jack and Darragh R Cleaning Dirty Water, by Ben, Joseph and Patrick Electromagnet, by Laura C and Amy The Barrage in Clarecastle, by Éabha and Emma Is Your Lightbulb Efficient if it Gives Off Heat?, by Isabella The Kaleidoscope, by Ciarán, Darragh H, Brendan and Ross The Mushy Egg, by Darren, Aidan and Adam Foam Rocket, by Laura B, Phoenix, Millie and Ella Which Body Would You Choose?, by Caoilainn and Hannah D Glowing Water, by Anna, Amara, Caoimhe and Aoife Before lunch, we set up our classroom with posters and booklets to show the visitors all our hard work. The judges came to see every project, asked us questions about it and we demonstrated how it worked. Everyone did a great job of presenting their projects confidently and explaining the scientific meaning behind it. After a long and patient wait, Mr. Curran came into the classroom and informed us that the judges had made their decision. We were so nervous! All of the children, parents and teachers went outside to the yard to hear the verdict. The Intel judges praised the excellent standard of projects and explained that they had a very difficult job. They mentioned some projects which really impressed them from each class, including the Barrage, Kaleidoscope and First Aid projects from fourth. Finally, it was time to announce the winners. In second place was the impressive 'Coin Launderette' project from fifth class, well done! The overall winners were... Éabha and Emma from our class with their project 'The Barrage in Clarecastle'! Well done girls! We are all so proud of you.
Emma and Éabha both received a cool science goody bag and will go on to represent Knockanaean N.S. in the regional finals in December. Congratulations! Scríobh rang a ceathair scéalta faoi Oíche Shamhna le déanaí. Bhaineamar úsáid as balla focal Oíche Shamhna a thug múinteoir dúinn. Féach ar samplaí den ár scríbhneoireacht thíos...
On Wednesday October 21st, a football blitz was held in Éire Óg for third and fourth class pupils. We travelled to the pitch on a bus, kitted out in our gear and boots and ready to play! The day was a bit rainy, but thankfully there were only a few showers while we were there. All of the children were divided into mixed teams with eight a side. We each got to play two matches. We practised hand-passing, kicking, soloing and scoring skills. It was a great day!
In keeping with our recent space theme, we constructed space rockets in art this week. We brought in kitchen rolls and toilet rolls which formed the body of our rockets. We made the top by creating a cone shape from card, and the fins were also made using a triangle of card which slotted into the cylindrical centre. After building the rockets, we painted them using bright colours and added decoration. Now they're ready for their outer space mission! What do you think?
Chanamar amhrán 'An bhfaca tú mo Sheamaisín?' le déanaí. Amhrán traidisiúnta is ea é. Bhaineamar an-spórt as é a chanadh sa rang! Is féidir leat éisteacht leis an t-amhrán anseo ar YouTube. Féach ar na liricí thíos: An bhfaca tú mo Shéamaisín, Mo mhaicín óg, mo bhuachaillín, An bhfaca tú mo Shéamaisín, Is é ag dul síos an bóthar? Níl bróg ná stoca ar a dhá choisín, A dhá choisín, a dhá choisín, Níl bróg ná stoca ar a dhá choisín, Níl hata air ná cóta. Ag dul ar scoil tá Séamaisín, Mo mhaicín óg, mo bhuachaillín, Ag dul ar scoil tá Séamaisín, Is a leabhairín buí ina phóca. Ar a dhroim tá máilín beag, Tá máilín beag, tá máilín beag, Ar a dhroim tá máilín beag, Is a lóinín ann is dócha! An bhfaca tú mo Shéamaisín, Mo mhaicín óg, mo bhuachaillín, An bhfaca tú mo Shéamaisín, Is é ag dul síos an bóthar? An important part of our Space project is that we are deciding what we would like to learn about, instead of having this decided for us already! Having had lots of discussions and watching some videos, we all devised a question that we would like to find out the answer to. Have a look at some of our interesting questions below... We have now also made our groups for the projects. These are the topics we are going to investigate:
Life on Other Planets The Mission to Mars Daily Life in Space International Space Station The Sun The Milky Way, Our Galaxy The Solar System The History of Space Travel Famous Astronauts We will be presenting our projects to the class in a couple of weeks! Already, people are having some amazing ideas about presenting the projects, from models to diaries. Recently, we have been learning about Italy in Geography and Ancient Rome in History. We read about the boot-shaped country and the islands that are close to its coast, such as Sicily and Sardinia. Some of us had been on holidays to various places in Italy, including Sorrento, Venice, Bari, Sardinia and Rome. Ms. Kirby showed us her holiday photos from Italy! We found these places on the map. We learned about the delicious Italian food and drink, and created Italian menus featuring pasta, pizza, bruschetta, lasagne, cappuccino and gelato - yum! We explored some of the things Italy is famous for, such as fashion, cars, architecture and art. We also learned about the Ancient Roman Empire. We read the story of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. We found out about the powerful Roman army with its clever tactics and well-trained soldiers. Did you know that a century of soldiers in Roman times only meant 80 men? We compared the life of rich Romans living in villas to poorer citizens crammed into apartment blocks. We also read about Roman entertainment, from the bloody gladiator battles in the Colosseum to the relaxing public baths. Having learned about Roman mosaic art, we decided to create some mosaics of our own. We drew pictures that were representative of Italy and used 'tiles' of coloured card to fill them in. There were some amazing results, from pizza to Roman soldiers and shields, gelato and many more. What do you think? Ms. Kirby is currently conducting a research project with fourth class to see how effective a project based approach is in the classroom. After doing a survey on the interests of the pupils in the class, it was decided that the first project we would investigate was 'Space'. What a cool topic! There is just so much to learn and discover.
We have now started the project, and today we watched some amazing videos from astronaut Chris Hadfield which were fascinating and gave us a unique insight into life in space. Have a look here for lots more of Hadfield's videos and experiences! We also came up with some ideas of what we would like to find out while doing this project. This is just a selection of the MANY questions we generated: - How could you eat your dinner in Space? - How long does it take to get into Space? - What would life in Space be like? - How would you play Lego or board games in Space? - How did the astronauts prepare for the first trip to the moon? - What will happen if the sun burns out? - Could life exist on other planets? - What is the life cycle of a star? - How did the solar system start? - What is the 'one-way ticket to Mars' mission all about? - Could there be more than nine planets? - Are there any famous Irish astronauts? - What is the Milky Way and how was it created? - How was the International Space Station built? Are there any more you can think of? What would you like to know about Space? Is there anything you have at home that could help us with our projects? Or maybe you know a Space or astronomy expert? Get talking and thinking about it!! P.S. These are some websites that might be useful for your research... Kids Astronomy Mr. Nussbaum's Space Site Planets for Kids NASA Solar System for Kids |
Ms. Kirby's 4th ClassWelcome to our blog! Have a look and see some of the things we get up to, using the categories below to help you navigate different subjects. Categories
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