The children have been busy working hard over the past few months and here’s a post to showcase some of their fine efforts. It really is a case of what you put in you get out with this group and each and every one of them made fantastic singers, dancers, actors and actresses during the month of December for their Christmas play. The commitment of the pupils to learn their lines for the songs and for those with lines for their parts all paid off in the end- a real team effort! 

Speaking of team effort, the children in 5th class are being coached by FAI soccer coaches every week to enhance and to develop the skills of soccer. In December we had the pleasure of the G.A.A coaches from Donaghmore Ashbourne to show us the importance of practicing and improving the basic skills of Gaelic football. How lucky are we to have such an array of coaches come in and encourage the children to play sport and with hard work and practice who knows where you might end up

one day! 

In the classroom, the children have been focusing on reading all about Tom Crean and his journey to Antarctica. The children have responded to the scenes of some of the chapters by drawing the Endurance ship. The drawings really encapsulate the journey Tom Crean and his crew of sailors endured- rocky, wild seas and extremely dangerous weather conditions! 

In art, the children created magnificent chalk pastel Southern Lights also known as the Aurora Australis which can be seen at night especially during the winter months when the lights are most prominent! We looked at videos and discussed how dramatic and colourful the lights are- and here’s the science bit- they are created when electrically charged particles from solar winds enter the Earth’s atmosphere and interact with gases in the atmosphere. The children replicated the colours by blending the chalk pastels from the snowy, icy Antarctic landscape. 

This week, the children made creative coil pots made from clay. We observed different types of coil pots on the Interactive White Board and the children did the hard part! They did a great job. Next week, we will paint our coil pots. Have a look at our gallery of art work from the month of December too- this bunch are very creative- from advent wreaths, to Christmas carolers and more.  

In Gaeilge, we did a lot of work on talking about where we live and what kinds of homes we live in. This week our focus was on what kind of school St. Declan’s is- the facilities it has, where it is situated and what class we’re in. The children’s reading and conversation work in Irish is really improving. Cleactadh a dhéanann máistreacht! (Practice makes perfect!) Our Gaeilgeoir na Míosa will be hard to pick. All pupils have been giving their best efforts when it comes to speaking a little Gaeilge neamhfhoirmiúil gach lá! 

Finally, we had a speaker come in to talk with 5th class on the topic of Cyber-Bullying. It was a real eye opener to learn that the internet can take control of our personal lives as well as our personal information. We must always be careful of our own privacy online like we are in the real world was the core message of the talk. When people bully or say mean or nasty things to us can feel very alarming- especially online- but we learned we can take control by remembering three key steps- Stop, Block and Tell. The children made informative posters to help spread awareness and these are displayed on our SPHE board in the hall. 

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Ms. McHugh