Welcome to Ms.Longe’s class!
Take a look at what we got up to this year.
April
April came and went as quick as a flash. We were thrilled to be back together
with our friends once again after the Easter holidays. We shared our stories of
time away with friends and family outside of school.
For active week we learned and played even more new games outside. In Literacy
we read about competitions from all around the world. Using this as our
inspiration, we got our creative juices flowing in groups and designed
competitions of our own from Ireland. We designed and wrote these out in our
English copy. We then shared them with the class during Talk About time. We
also individually researched some countries we read about in our reader and
shared our individual learning with the class.
As Gaeilge, we were learning faoi Chláír Théílifíse. D’úsáid na paistí na
heiseamláirí agus an stór focal atá ar eolas chun ceisteanna a chur agus freagraí
a fháil ó na chairde. In Art, we learnt about Pintilism and its features. We
learnt how to paint using this technique, using the Carlow countryside as an
inspiration.
March
During March we’ve been very busy learning and having great fun in school. We had an incredible visit from Deer Park Exotics who brought many wonderful animals for us to see and learn about. We learnt all about owls, chinchillas, scorpions, snakes and even hedgehogs. Some of the animals we were allowed to pet, but hearing all about their life cycles
was very interesting.
We celebrated our national holiday through holding Lá Glas day. We wore green to school and had a céilí. We also sang some songs as Gaeilge. It was so much fun.
In Maths we learnt about Capacity and used measuring jugs and cups to estimate and measure capacity of various containers.
In Science we learnt about the Water Cycle and even created our own water cycle using a bowl and ice. We were able to see evaporation,
condensation and precipitation first hand. We also observed how water is cleaned and collected.
In art we completed our entries for the KCLR art competition and we took part in an art workshop with Nadia from Wexford education centre too creating fabulous Easter cards.
Just before we completed our second term in school, the Easter bunny came to school and left us delicious chocolate treats.
We cannot believe that we have come to the end of our second term but cannot wait to see what our final term in First Class brings.
February
February kicked off with celebrating St. Brigid and her contribution to the Irish people. In honour of her, for art we learnt how to weave using wool. We read about the story of her life and how she used her cloak to secure land to build her Churches and Convents in Ireland. Our creations have been on display alongside this story of this wonderful woman.
We welcomed out Grandparents to our school and classroom, for Grandparents Day, where we chatted with them about their time in school. We also shared our learning with them too. It was so much fun.
We enjoyed a fabulous workshop to mark St Valentine’s day with Nadia from Wexford Education Centre. We created Valentine cards with the cartoon character Snoopy on them.
We also had pancakes for Pancake Tuesday, marking the end of ordinary time and the day before Lent starts. We learnt all the different names for Pancake Tuesday too.
The following day was Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, we went to the church and got ashes on our forehead. We wrote down our Lenten promises and these are in the class to help remind us of our promise to God.
In Science we researched an Irish woodland animal and together in our teams we created projects which we shared with the class. Sharing our learning was novel and fun.
In SPHE, we chatted about feelings and explored different words we can use to express our feelings. And we discussed how we can use words to help others feel good.
In Geography we researched and learnt all about Mexico and created wonderful Dia del los Muertos masks. We found out lots of interesting facts. For example, did you know that colour T.V. was created by a Mexican Gentleman?
January
We all returned back to school on January 5th and we shared our Christmas stories of adventures and time spent with family during the Christmas holidays and all the wonderful gifts Santa brought us. However, despite all the fun we had during the holidays, it was great to be back in school and among our class friends once again.
In history, we learnt all about the Chinese New Year and how the Chinese people mark this very special time of year. We created dragons in art lessons which take pride of place in the New year parades in China.
We have been lucky enough to have Eric back with us once
more and we are continuing to work on and improve our GAA skills. We are also moving our bodies in gymnastics and learning ways to travel and improve our balance.
As the weather in January became quite cold, we used this weather context to explore how the ice on our roads is managed and how we make our footpaths and roads safe. So using our scientific skills and using ice cubes, we observed how the ice cubes interacted with salt, sugar and if it was simply left by itself. We learnt that salt will cause ice to melt and that this is the best substance to place on footpaths and roads to help ice melt.
We have started Talk Abouts in class and we were able to share stories about our favourite toys and books with our class mates. We are writing narrative stories in English and exploring the characteristics of this writing genre. Picking well known fairytales, we’ve explored adjectives and how they are used to create interesting narrative stories and engaging characters in stories. We have used these to write our very own narrative stories.
In irish, bhíomar ag deánamh staidear ar an téama Sa bhaile agus An scoil. Bhíomar ag usáíd eiseamláirí mar shampla Cá bhfuil an ___, Tá ___ faoin ___ agus Níl ___ is faoin ___.
Next month, we are really looking forward to learn how to weave in art to tie in with St Brigid and her infamous cloak. We are also very excited to welcome our grandparents to our school on the 1st of February.
December
December was a busy month for us as we practised every day in class and at home for our Christmas concert. This took place on Wednesday 14th December in the Church and it was a wonderful success. We also performed our songs and our Tin whistle piece in front of the entire school at the Christmas assembly too.
We had a school Christmas card competition. We were asked to design our own Christmas card and one person from each class was chosen to be the winner. Fiadh was the winner from First Class and she won a selection box.
We had a Christmas jumper Day on December 16th where we all wore in our Christmas jumpers to school. It was fun to see everyone in their Christmas clothes. The class had a Hot Chocolate Party on the same day as we wore our Christmas jumpers to school. We brought in our favourite mug from home and we got to enjoy some delicious hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolates too.
In Science we learned about seeds and examined some fruits and the various types of seed they have. In Maths we were busy exploring and learning about 3D shapes and how to describe them correctly.
As it is Advent, which is a very special time of the year, we created our very own Jesse tree and discussed what each symbol means on the tree. We also saw the candles on the Advent wreath being lit at the school assemblies too. Mrs Gallagher explained to us what each candle represented.
We had some tests to do in class to see how well we are progressing and we all did a super job. We have been working very hard and are looking forward to Santa Claus paying us a visit and having some special time to spend with our family and friends over the holidays.
November
First class commenced G.A.A. this month with Eric. He comes to school each Friday and we have great fun learning new skills that we can use when we are playing Gaelic Football, Hurling or Camogie. We completed our ten weeks Swimming too and we received some certificates to mark this milestone. We had great fun each Tuesday learning different swimming strokes and most importantly becoming more confident in the water.
In Science we have learned all about teeth and how we can take care of them. In our teams in class we carried out an experiment on how foods affect our teeth. We used eggs to do this experiment and placing them in coke, vinegar and water overnight we predicted the affects these liquids would have on the egg shells. The coke showed us the effects of sugar on our teeth and the vinegar showed us the effects of acid on our teeth. Then we compared out predictions to the results the experiment yielded. We were shocked at the results. We learned a very important lesson- sugar and acid are not our teeth’s friends. Using our ‘coke egg’ we tried to brush it clean with just a tooth brush and some water… we had no luck! Then we placed some toothpaste on the brush and brushed it. And we saw just how great tooth paste is at getting our teeth clean. And we now saw with our own eyes just how important it is to eat healthy foods.
In irish, bhíomar ag déanamh staidéar ar siopadóireacht. Bhíomar ag déanamh Dramaíocht bunaithe ar ag siopadóireacht, ag ceannach cotaí, hataí sml. I mbeirteanna nó grúpaí bhíomar ag cur ceisteanna ar a chéíle faoi rudaí atá uathu I siopa. Bhí an – spóirt againn.
In Mathematics we have learned about Money and figuring out how much change we need to get from a shopkeeper. We have started out preparation for the Christmas concert which we are looking forward to performing next month in front of all our friends and family in the Church.
October
In October we had a class election to choose the student who would represent First class on the Students’ Council. Those who were interested in being on the Students’ Council made a short presentation as to why they should be elected by the class. After everyone had their turn to present, we all voted in class and Ivy was elected to represent our class on the Council. Congratulations Ivy!
During the month we really enjoyed Math week. Every morning we solved a puzzle or solved a word problem in class. The correct answers were collected and put into a draw from which we had two winners- Uku and Alex. We also enjoyed a Zoom meeting with Sally Lunt whose book Cuthbert Sees Doubles talks about doubling numbers. We had great fun using all our Maths facts and learning more too!
In our English we have been writing reports about animals and learning to recite funny poems about orangutans too! We read about astronauts in space and how they spend their time in a space station. We enjoyed this story so much that we wanted to know more about the solar system and the planets.
In Science we explored and experimented with balloons, straws and wool to see how rockets are launched from Earth into outer space. We predicted
what may happen before we experimented and then carried out our investigations in groups.
For the last day in school before the Halloween break, all our class dressed up in fantastic costumes and went for a walk to Huntington Castle. We enjoyed a wonderful class party and also made some delicious chocolate rice crispy buns which we made ourselves in the kitchen. After watching a lovely Halloween movie, we made our way home to enjoy the Halloween break.
We cannot wait to see our friends in November and share our stories about the holiday adventures.
September
It was great to be back once again with all our friends after a super summer holiday break. We kicked off our first days in First class by taking part in lots of fun and educational games in class. Each morning in class when we arrive into class, we have a short time to play chess, draughts and make jigsaws while we chat to our friends. For P.E. this month, we started our swimming lessons and these take place each Tuesday in Carlow town which we travel to by bus. We get to learn about water safety and also improve our swim strokes and develop our water confidence.
In Science, we have been examining the signs of Autumn drawing in around us. We went on a nature walk and found that everywhere we looked we saw conkers, acorns, beech tree seeds, blackberries and beautifully autumnally coloured leaves ready to fall from the trees in the school yard. We learnt about animals that hibernate and how their bodies change to allow this to happen.
As gaeilge, bhíomar ag deanamh staidear ar An Zú agus Ar scoil. Chanamar ár n- amhráín gaeilge agus d’aithríseamar ár dánta gaeilge. D’imríomar cluichí mar shampla Bingó chun foclóir nua a fhoghlaim.
We used 2-D shapes to create a wonderful collage in Art as we have learnt all about them in Maths. It been a busy month where we have learnt lots and we are looking forward to what October holds for us.
