Welcome to Ms. Byrne’s class!
We have 25 wonderful students in our classroom this year, both First and Second Class. We are so looking forward to a wonderful academic year ahead and cannot wait for all the exciting learning experiences and fun we will have. We will keep you all updated on what we get up to along the way.
June
June has been full of fun, laughter and making memories as we wrapped up our wonderful year in 1st and 2nd Class. We started the month with a session with Róisín from ‘An Your Rothar’. We loved the relay races, obstacle courses and games she played with us. We were also very busy completing our entries for the Tullow Show Art and Handwriting competitions. In Music, we learned how to play The Wheels on the Bus on the tin whistle. We finished up our basketball lessons with Jim, where we played lots of fun games to develop our teamwork skills. We had a basketball league during the final week of school, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Another major highlight was Active Schools Week. We began the week with rounders and tennis before taking part in Boxercise, rugby and sessions with Carlow Sports Partnership. It is safe to say that we loved every single activity! Our school tour to Castlecomer Discovery Park was another unforgettable day. We became bug detectives as we explored the stream, took part in a scavenger hunt, built forts, tackled the low ropes course and even enjoyed some trampolining. There were smiles from start to finish! During June, everyone also completed a home project on a topic of their choice and presented it to the class. We were so impressed by the effort, creativity and confidence shown by all of the children. Topics included Lionel Messi, Mo Salah, the Eiffel Tower, George Washington, Michael Jackson, Oreo biscuits, turtles and the Mona Lisa. One of the most exciting days of the month came when Alex brought her two ducklings into school. After successfully hatching them at home in an incubator over 28 days, she kindly shared them with the class. We loved holding the ducklings and watching them splash around in the little pond we made for them. We also enjoyed making rainbows during our Science lessons and cheering on our classmates during the basketball league.
To finish off an already fun-filled month and a great school year, we had a huge water fight, followed by a well-deserved ice cream from the ice cream van! Well done everyone on a great year, I will really miss teaching you all!
May
May has been an exciting month in our classroom, filled with learning, celebration and fun activities.
A very special occasion this month was the celebration of First Holy Communion for the boys and girls in 2nd Class on the 16th of May. The children prepared exceptionally well for the ceremony and each child played an important role on the day, including readings, bringing forward the gifts and leading the Prayers of the Faithful. It was a beautiful celebration and a special day for all involved.
On the 8th of May, our school held a bake sale. The children thoroughly enjoyed visiting the 5th and 6th Class classroom to choose a treat from the sale. It was a great success!
As part of Bike Week 2026, we brought our bikes and scooters to school on the 12th of May. The children took part in some relays on the basketball court and had great fun practising their skills. We welcomed Garda Noel to our school too, who explained the importance of being safe on our bikes and how to take proper care of our bikes. We also completed our rugby sessions with Ezrah this month. We are delighted to have recently started GAA lessons with Mark, as well as basketball sessions with Jim.
Our theme for the month is Air and Holidays. In History, we learned fascinating facts about the world’s first hot air balloon, while in Geography we explored Dublin Airport and its importance as a transport hub. We have also been continuing our Stay Safe programme, learning valuable lessons about personal safety, trusted adults and the importance of telling.
The children were treated to a surprise ice cream on the 15th of May, to celebrate the end of Bike Week.
April
April has been a short but very enjoyable month in 1st and 2nd class. We returned to school eagerly awaiting the hatching of our chicks in the incubator. They have finally arrived and we are enjoying feeding them and minding them. We also completed lovely procedural writing in English on ‘How to Hatch Chicks’ and our handwriting was fantastic! We have been very busy tending to our potatoes and flowers that we planted before Easter. They are all coming along nicely! We are also sowing lettuce this week.
In PE this month, we are looking at the Games strand and working on ‘Striking with an Implement’. We learned how to play rounders and we were lucky enough to have Ms. Moloney come to do a rounders session with us. We have also started rugby with coach Ezrah.
This month, our theme was Shops and Shopping. We explored it in a variety of engaging ways. We learned about Moore Street in History, discussed the importance of responsible shopping in Science, and created our own maps of the shopping centre in Geography. Using recycled materials, we are designing our own Moore Street market stalls in Art. We also explored the topic of “Ag Siopadóireacht” as Gaeilge.
2nd Class are now very busy preparing for their First Holy Communion next month which we are very excited for!
March
We have had lots of events to keep us busy in 1st and 2nd Class this month. March started off with one of our favourite days of the year – World Book Day. We had some brilliant characters in our class, with very creative costumes.
2nd Class made their First Confession on the 10th March. They prepared some beautiful art work and songs, and performed a play about the story of Zacchaeus.
We also participated in the An Post Writing Competition this month. We discussed how we could make our community a better place and wrote letters with all of our brilliant ideas. We thought of ideas on how we could be more ‘Sustainable, Inclusive and Caring’. Everyone wrote a letter with their lovely cursive handwriting and they all look very impressive.
We also enjoyed Lá Glas this month. We all dressed in green and we sang ‘Ireland’s Call’, performed the ‘Haka’ as Gaeilge and we shared some of our Irish sentences about Lá Fhéile Phádraig.
It is hard to believe it is almost time for the Easter holidays. Before we finish up for our holidays, we are looking forward to sowing potatoes and some other vegetables. We will also have an Easter Egg hunt to celebrate all the great work this term.
February
February was another fun and busy month in 1st and 2nd Class.
As we started into February, we celebrated St. Brigid’s Day. We learned about St. Brigid and we each made a cross using pipe-cleaners.
We also put the finishing touches on our Space projects and we presented our projects to the class. The children put in a great effort and each group had interesting facts to share with the class. As we concluded our Space projects, we completed a science experiment – we created a rocket and launched it. Our experiment was a success, and our rocket launched high in the sky because of a chemical reaction with vinegar and baking powder. There was great excitement!
We also had a visit from our local vet, Charlotte. The children had prepared lots of questions for her. It was very interesting to hear about some of her calls to farms during Spring time, especially as we have been exploring the theme of Animals and New Life in February.
Also, this month we finished the Gymnastics strand in PE. We loved the various balancing games and making sequences and routines combining all the rolls and balances we have been practicing. We completed some lovely Art work this month too, for St. Brigid’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Of course, one of the highlights of the month was Pancake Tuesday. We all had a few pancakes and it brought great excitement to the class.
2nd Class are now very busy preparing for their First Penance. We are looking forward to a fun-filled and busy month ahead!
January
We have got off to a very busy start this January. We all came back to school enthusiastic after our Christmas holidays. We have started exploring the Gymnastics strand in PE and we are all loving this. We are particularly focusing on balancing this year and we have started creating our own routines with the various rolls and balances we have been practicing. We also have been exploring Space in SESE. The children have started their group projects on this and there is fantastic work going on.
In Religion, we have learned about Zacchaeus and St. Brigid. We also celebrated Catholic Schools Week. We were delighted to welcome our grandparents to the classroom too. We created picture frames for them and made candle light holders using clay. We performed some Irish songs and poems and showed them around our classroom.
In Irish we have been learning about ‘Ag Cabhrú sa Bhaile’. We have learned new verbs and formed excellent sentences that we are so proud of. We have also learned ‘Deja Vu’ on the ukulele. We are also singing ‘We Sing a Song to Brigid’ and we have learned a rap in Irish called ‘Sa Cófra Donn’.
We now look forward to all the learning and fun that will come in February!
December
December got off to a great start as we performed our play ‘Santa’s on Strike’ for the school, our grandparents and our parents. We did a super job. This was followed by a well deserved hot chocolate party. We also went to mass this month and learned all about Advent, The Annunciation and King Herod. We have been doing some interesting experiments on Science this month. We learned about evaporation, condensation and precipitation and we created the Water Cycle in a bag. We also learned about the importance of filtering water and made our own water filters. We even made crystals using water and salt. We learned all about ‘Oíche Nollaig’ and created some wonderful sentences using our new vocabulary and shared them with each other. In English, we did some excellent writing about our story book ‘Snow Day’. We have also created some beautiful Christmas Art. We are now so excited for our Santa Walk to Huntington Castle.
November
In November, we came back to school and hit the ground running. We started preparing for our Christmas Show ‘Santa’s on Strike’. We worked hard to learn all of our lines and songs but had great fun at rehearsals too! In Irish, we learned about ‘An Storim’ and ‘Gloine Bhriste’. We did some role play and lots of pair work to practice our new phrases. In Religion, we remembered all our loved ones in Heaven and we learned about St. Vincent de Paul. We created robins in Art too, to remember those who have passed away. In SESE, we learned about the River Shannon and the Salmon of Knowledge. We have worked so hard this month and we are now looking forward to all the fun activities in preparation for Christmas.
October
October was another busy and fun month for us in 1st and 2nd class. We have been learning all about Oíche Shamhna in Irish and we learned a lovely poem called ‘Ag Súil le hOíche Shamhna’. We also wrote a story together in Irish using all of our new vocabulary. We celebrated ‘Maths Week’ in our classroom by doing daily maths challenges and going on a Maths Hunt outside. We also did a Maths Mystery Quiz with 5th and 6th class. In SESE, we learned about Hallowe’en in the past. We learned about some of the games that used to be played at Hallowe’en and we got to play these games, such as ‘Bobbing Apples’ and ‘Grape in the Flour’. We also made slime and enjoyed a Hallowe’en themed sensory hunt. In SPHE, we read ‘Snow White the Star Striker’ and we enjoyed role play and creating freeze frames based on this story. In Art, we made pumpkins from clay, we created ‘Spooky Skulls’ and we did some painting for Hallowe’en!
Finally, we got dressed up in our Hallowe’en costumes for our school dress up day on the last day of term and walked to Huntington Castle for our annual Witch Walk.
September
September has been a fun-filled month for us in 1st and 2nd Class. We have all settled back into school very well. We are very lucky to have GAA every Thursday with Kevin and we have also started Ukulele with Paul every Wednesday. This is great fun. We have also started our swimming lessons in Graiguecullen Swimming Pool every Tuesday. This is a new adventure for 1st Class and they are doing so well with their lessons. We have completed lots of lovely art lessons this month, including painting hot air balloons and autumn leaves. We have learned ‘Hot Cross Buns’ on the tin whistle and we did some role play in Irish about a ‘Timpiste’ and about our story book ‘Grandad’s Island’. We have also learned all about the history of the GAA and we did a very interesting Science experiment about the effects of sugar on our teeth. Well done to Hannah, Alex and Sinéad who collected prizes for their handwriting at the Tullow Show Schools Competition Prize Night this month too. Have a look at some pictures from September in 1st and 2nd Class.
