What a busy few months it’s been in room 3! As part of Maths Week 2017, the children used lollipop sticks to show all they know about lines and angles. In pairs, the children made up a variety of angles – reflex, obtuse, acute, right angles- all displayed on bright, coloured paper. By the end of the week, we were using protractors to measure angles, while first using the skills of estimation before we measured angles- honing in on our prior knowledge of angles already discussed earlier that week! It took a while to get used to using the protractor and reading angles, but the mathematicians in 5th class were gaining confidence in no time! 

In art, the children can put their hands to anything! In early September, the children drew half self-portraits and drew stick graffiti to write their names vertically on the page. With the autumn leaves changing, our autumn theme inspired art involved the children using oil pastels to create warm and cool colours. 5th class also enjoyed making prints using styrofoam- inspired by the artist Andy Warhol. For Halloween, the children made the ugliest, scariest, some almost terrifying monster heads! We first discussed and looked at the work of Pablo Picasso who was the inspiration of our artwork- taking into account the half portrait effects used by Picasso in his own artwork- the children created works of art.

As part of our cúpla focail and our Gaeilge lessons, the children work hard each week to make an effort of becoming Gaeilgeoir na Seachtaine- a special certificate of achievement to reward the children for making a special effort to use Gaeilge i rith an lae! In September, the children focused on speaking about Mé Féin (myself), talking about where they come from, what age they are and how many siblings they have. In October, we learned phrases based on ordering food in a restaurant through role play in drama. The children enjoyed acting out roles such as being the customer and the waiter/waitress. In our writing as Gaeilge, the children wrote about what they did  on Halloween night using words and phrases from the story ‘Oíche Shamhna’ (Halloween night) while also using their knowledge of verbs in the aimsir chaite (past tense).

In September, the children explored procedural writing which is the type of writing seen in recipes and instructions. In History, we travelled way back in time to find out about the Maya civilisation in Mexico. We learned about their past-times, the way they communicated with one another, the types of buildings they built and the food they eat. As part of our genre of writing, we focused on creating Mayan recipes using the foods they eat, such as maize, wheat, avacado, squash, cassava (flour) and sunflower seeds. The Mayans had a wholesome, healthy diet so we decided to create lots of interesting recipes. Everything from butternut squash soup to healthy salads- the children created some a-maize-ing recipes!!!

In October, the children learnt about the Normans and affects the Normans had on Irish soil. We even found out aspects of Norman life that still exist today in Ireland and locally too! The children formed groups to make projects from what they discovered about Norman life. Groups focused on aspects of Norman life such as the castles they built, the Feudal system, the High Kings, the food they eat and the clothes they wore!

The children also put their pens to good use to explore Recount writing in English. We read recounts on famous people such as Anne Frank and learned that historians who write about events in the past would be an example of recount writing. The children learned about Leonardo Da Vinci and his story is also an example of recount writing. We then wrote about someone famous in the past, and the children also got an opportunity to recount on an extreme weather incident such as Storm Ophelia which hit our shores in mid October. 

On our return to school after the midterm break, 5th class were lucky enough to go and see Dave Rudden, a talented author, in the Soltice theatre in Navan. The children thoroughly enjoyed his workshop while also being inspired by what he had to say about writing. His message was clear- anyone can write! He advised young writers to keep on writing, and that practice makes perfect. After the workshop, we got to stop by at Balrath woods for a nature trail. The children enjoyed going on the swing, climbing ropes and taking in the fresh air of Balrath. 

That’s all for now but plenty more to come from this talented 5th class….

Ms. McHugh