Our Families September 2022

The children made playdough representations of their families. We thought a lot about how members of our family support and care for us and how we can show our love to them.

Junior Classroom Treat June 2022

Junior Classroom Treat of Hot Chocolate and Biscuits on a Wet Morning

Boat Designing May 2022

In the junior room we developed our floating and sinking exploration by designing boats. We tried to make boats that would float and be waterproof. We had lots of success and lots of good ideas of how to modify the ones that weren't watertight and fell over.

Active School Week - Ballet & Yoga May 2022

We were delighted to welcome one of our parents, Jeanette Keane, on Friday of Active School Week. Jeanette taught the children some wonderful kicks and introduced them to the world of ballet and yoga. It was such an energetic session and everyone threw themselves fully into it. Many thanks to Jeanette for such fun.

Active School Week - Orienteering May 2022

The junior room went orienteering in the park, searching and enjoyed a game of tag with lots of space to run!

Butterflies March / April 2022

In the junior classroom, before Easter, we were introduced to our new pets- 5 baby caterpillars! Over a few days, we observed their growth in their little jar of special caterpillar food. It was astounding how much they grew so quickly! Ms Hendy then had to take them home for Easter and while school was closed, the caterpillars were very busy creating their beautifully cosy chrysalides and making an amazing transformation. On our return to school, only one butterfly was still in its chrysalis and the other 4 had burst out and were getting used to spreading their wings inside their specially designed butterfly garden. In school, we suddenly noticed that there were 5 butterflies instead of 4 and realised that the final butterfly had emerged! We released the stunning painted lady butterflies into the air and warm sunshine, off to find some lovely flowers in gardens around our school.

Engineers Week Project March 2022

In the junior room we used batteries and LED lights to make beautiful nightlights. The children did investigation with attaching the lights to the batteries in the correct way so that the energy could flow. We observed the difference between transparent and translucent where the light shines straight through the glass jar and then disperses when a tissue cover on the jar makes them translucent.

Shadow Puppets March 2022

We did lots of learning about light and shadows in the junior room and the children had lots of fun exploring shapes with their shadow puppets and telling stories together.

Junior Room Percussion Instruments March 2022

We have done lots of work in thinking about sound and investigating loud, soft, high and low sounds and how sound travels. We made our own percussion instruments that make sounds in different ways and the children made fantastic rhythms playing together as a banna ceoil for St. Patrick's Day!

Matisse Inspired Art January 2022

Children in the Junior Class created artwork inspired by the work of Matisse.

Odd Sock Day November 2021

We all wore odd socks one day during AntiBullying week in St.Laurence's N.S. This was to demonstrate how we're all different but all equal and our differences are to be celebrated.

Science Week 2021 November 2021

This Science Week in the junior classroom, we read the novel 'This Morning I Met a Whale' by Michael Morpurgo and understood the important message that the whale brought which was all about the need for humans to take care of our beautiful planet. We learned about the work of Marine biologists and watched a short video showing underwater life around Ireland's coast. We interacted with a presentation online in conjunction with the Epic Immigration museum where we went on a journey to space to discover what gravity is and what a pulsar star is. We learned about the work of astronauts and astro-physicists in scientifically studying space.

One of our own investigations was in figuring out how we could make the longest paper chain possible from an A4 sheet of paper. In groups, the children were left to examine their paper and see which ways they could cut and stick it in order to make the longest chain they could.

Look how long our paper chains were! Some groups put so much time and patience into creating and joining their links in the way in which they figured out would make the longest chains. We concluded that the groups who cut long, narrow strips which were stuck just at the ends, succeeded in making the longest chains. There was such great team work involved in this challenge! We also used a measuring tape to see how long each of the chains were and how much longer and shorter they were than each other. We joined them all together then so see how much of the perimeter of the green part of our playground we could cover collectively. It was impressively long!

The Construction Site - Science Week 2021

In the Junior room as part of Science Week and combining our learning of things to with The Construction Site which is our Aistear theme this month, the children worked on challenges using lego. They had to construct structures with particular purposes or considerations. Not all the challenges were met on the first attempt but this just left room for further thinking and reflection to see what needed to be altered or done differently the next time round.

Treehouses - Mixed Media Art November 2021

As part of 'The Construction Site' as our theme for November, in the junior room, we examined some of Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona. Taking inspiration from this, the children designed tree houses and made mixed media artworks.

See the images of the work in progress and the finished forest of tree houses displayed in our classroom.

Different Families Same Love October 2021

In the junior room we looked at posters of various families...some with children, some without, some with 1 parent, some with pets, some with no mum, some with 2 mums, some with step dads some with no parents. We made beautiful individual mobiles of our own families. We made these to celebrate how families can be made up of so many different combinations of people and yet, the love is just the same!

Making Playdough Pizzas October 2021

Osmosis October 2021

We had fun discovering what the big new word 'osmosis' involved. We put jellies into water and they swelled so much over night as they took in the water they were surrounded by. We did experiments with eggs too and used vinegar to dissolve the shell and then tested to see if putting them in water and sugared water would have any effect. It was fun!

Role Play September 2021

Fun role play in the playground being chefs, waiters and customers in pizzerias! Lots of really great oral language development.

Making Pizzerias September 2021

We're very busy in the Junior Room this month learning about the activities that go on in a Pizzeria! Look at these carefully considered designs for pizza restaurants!

Sign Language June 2021

The children learned the song "What the World Needs Now" in sign language and made these posters to illustrate the lyrics.

Junior Class Art Exhibition of Paintings Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe May 2021

The Junior Classroom flower paintings for our Creative Schools Art Exhibition

Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Paintings May 2021

The Junior Classroom children creating their close up flower paintings for our Creative Schools Art Exhibition

Junior Room Stick Sculptures in the Park March 2021

Next Stage Theatre School March 2021

Our Zoom dance class with Evelyn.

Positive & Negative Space in Artwork March 2021

This week in the Junior Room we used print techniques to work with poisitive and negative space in our artwork. The results were so colourful and beautiful!

Reading Together March 2021

In the past, we partnered with children from the Senior Room for Buddy Reading sessions but with Covid 19 restrictions, we read to each other just in our room now. The children love to take turns in their groups. Sometimes, they read the words and sometimes they read the pictures but always, they share wonderful stories!

Book in a Box March 2021

The children in the Junior Classroom have been busy making their very own Book in a Box.

Creative Schools Workshop December 2020

The Junior Classroom had a wonderful Make and Create workshop with artist, Fiona Harrington. They used their imaginations and all sorts of lovely materials to create beautiful unique artworks. This was part of Creative Schools. We really enjoyed it!

Art in the Junior Classroom November 2020

We have been doing drawings in the Junior Classroom. We used chalk pastels to make colourful autumn scenes. We also drew and painted imaginative animals!

Science Week 2020 November 2020

In the Junior Classroom, we had such fun for Science Week 2020. We did lots of experiments using food dye which meant some very colourful results!

We learned about how rain clouds become saturated with water vapour leading to rain, using shaving foam clouds floating in a jar of water. We made it rain blue food dye! Lots of us liked this experiment best this week.

We also learned about absorption and osmosis, watching the coloured water gradually being soaked up by kitchen paper.

We had fun with colours by squirting food dye into trays of milk and watching the colours move when soap was added. The soap and milk really wanted to get together due to their shared fat molecules so they pushed the dye out of the way. it was so much fun to watch.

We also made fizzy colours by squirting coloured vinegar onto a base of bicarbonate of soda.

We asked lots of questions during the week in order to learn about the world around us and now we know why dogs pant!

We hope you enjoy the pictures of our fun experiments.

Camouflaged Elephants

We had the most fun Art Class in the Junior Room this week. We discovered all about camouflage and made the most wonderful artwork. Click below and see how we did it.....

Easter Egg Hunt

All the children had loads of fun searching the school for their paper Easter eggs. Some of the pupils even solved riddles to help them find their hiding spots! Their reward for finding their egg was a delicious chocolate egg! Many thanks to the Parents’ Association for providing both the paper and chocolate eggs. Do you recognise any chick or bunny below????

Beanstalks

The pupils in the junior room planted broad beans and designed beautiful castles in the clouds for the beans to grow towards. Hopefully with lots of care from their owners, the bean stalks will reach the castles in no time!

Egg Creatures

The junior classroom made tiny creatures to go inside their eggs..we had birds, monsters and all sorts!

Na Muca Beaga

We had great fun this month learning the story of Na Muca Beaga. We told the story with stick puppets and also used masks to make a little film version of the story re-told by us as Gaeilge. See our little snippets here!

Those were the days...

We examined some wonderful objects that people used to use in the past but we no longer use. It’s amazing what people can find in their houses! Some of the children brought in an old bike lamp, an old telephone and an old phone and MP3 player.

The senior room pupils helped the junior room pupils to use the 'I can animate' app on the tablets. Using the rockets and backgrounds that the juniors made themselves, they created fabulous animations.

Our Planets.... in song

We learnt this wonderful song which teaches us about all the planets in the solar system... Do have a listen....

Teddy Bears in SPACE.....

We had a teddy bears' picnic in space! We learned so much about space and the planets throughout January. We made space passports and also helmets to protect us on our journey. We saw the planets and the sun when we went to space and it was wonderful because we knew so much about them!

Lift off................. We've landed.....

Junior Room Bake-off.....

The Junior Room had a wonderful baking afternoon on Thursday, 18th October. They prepared delicious biscuits for baking. Having been baked overnight, they were returned to the school the next morning for decorating. Not too sure how many biscuits made it home for tasting, but I am sure if you didn't happen to try one you would agree they were absolutely delicious!

Step 2 - add the eggs and stir.... hard work....