Newsletter 23 – 1st March 2024
Dear Parents/ Guardians,
I hope you all had a nice week.
It is the 1st of March. Meteorological Spring has sprung although it seems that the weather doesn’t know it – frost and sleet and a temperature of 0 degrees today. What’s that all about? On the plus side there is a stretch in the evenings and the sight of golden daffodils and brightly coloured crocuses is a welcome sight.
Science Week 2024 We celebrated Science week at the school this week.
Jungle Dave – Our Senior Infants, 1st and 2nd classes really enjoyed the show Jungle Dave put on for them when he visited our school on Tuesday. They got to learn a lot of interesting facts about a menagerie of exotic animals including snakes, tarantulas and iguanas and even got to pet them first hand. It is an experience they will never forget.
Sow and Grow – Rooms 1,2,3 4 and 8 will have a Sow and Grow Workshop with Mums Rebecca, Tina, Ashley, Avril, Davinia, Shona, Sarah, Libby and Sheena today at the school. They will learn all about planting seeds and what plants need to grow. The boys and girls are looking forward to getting their hands dirty.
Class Reports
Report from Junior Infants – It is Spring, and we have been learning all about flowering plants. We looked at the dissolving effect warm water has when added to certain solids like skittles and were amazed how the colours all dispersed. We had great fun doing the dancing raisin science experiment and couldn’t believe our eyes when the raisins started floating to the top of the water. An object that normally sinks now floats. That’s Magic!!
Report from Senior Infants – For Science Week, we will be putting our gardening skills to great use when we plant seeds with some Mums from the school. We can’t wait to watch them grow. Our 3rd Class buddies are coming to visit us today to do four different science experiments with us. We are so excited. We will get to be real scientists for the day.
Report from 1st Class – 1st Class have been doing lots of different experiments this week. We have been learning all about dissolving and the ways things react in different liquids. We explored this by putting skittles in water and watching a rainbow appear. We also put gummy bears in water, in salt water and in vinegar to see what would happen to them. We’ve had lots of fun making predictions and seeing if they matched our results. We also hope to use some baking soda and vinegar to create a chemical reaction and blow up some balloons.
Report from 2nd Class – Detectives in the Making – Our two second classes tried their hands at analysing fingerprints. They used heavy pencil shading and Sellotape to make copies of their unique prints and then had fun analysing the patterns and loops of the prints. They even brought down samples of their prints for me to inspect.
Report from 3rd Class – We have been busy working as Scientists this week. We carried out four different experiments – the Skittles Experiment, the Mentos and Coke Experiment, the Floating Eggs Experiment and the Dancing Raisins Experiment. We made predictions and recorded our findings. We will be demonstrating and sharing our research with our buddies in Infants later today. We are excited to show them our experiments.
Report from 4th Class – We are learning all about the heart and are investigating the impact of exercise on our heart rates. To get a better understanding of capillary action, the process plants use to absorb water and grow, we used food colouring in water and paper towels to show how this happens. We also put leaves into the dyed water to show how they absorb water. We love Science.
Report from 5th Class – We have had great fun solving the Science Week Riddles. We are exploring electromagnetism and are conducting experiments with magnets, wires and batteries to explore this concept.
Report from 6th Class –
- Room 16 – We participated in the hour of code at school yesterday. The Hour of Code is a free introduction to computer science through fun activities and videos for learners of all skill levels. We learned about Computer Science, AI Technology and coding. We also got to make a video game in Microsoft Arcade Maker. It was great fun. Taking advantage of the snow today we are investigating how salt melts snow.
- Room 17 Our Question for Science Week is “Which of these activities causes your heart to beat the fastest? Jumping Jacks, Mountain Climbers, Lunges, Squats, High Knees, Press Ups or Sit Ups. We had to predict first and then carry out the experiment. Can you guess which of these physical activities caused the heart to beat fastest? Why not give it a go?
- Room 20 – We have been busy working on our Amazon Rainforest Forest Projects. David Attenborough would be very impressed. We will be presenting them next week.
Coding – Rooms 12, 14 and 16 each did a one-hour coding workshop with Reshma from Microsoft yesterday Thursday 29th February. We loved having a female role model who works in STEM working with us. The feedback on the workshop was really positive. In the words of five 5th class pupils who participated in the workshop “It was amazing. We learned how to make a film and even how to put music to it. We give it a ten out of ten”. Thank you to Ms. Heneghan for organising this training and for encouraging a scientific mindset and culture of critical thinking and problem solving at our school.
Science Week Riddles – The children have enjoyed trying to solve the Science Riddles I have been setting for them over the course of the week. Can you solve one of today’s riddles? I touch your face. I am in your words. I am a lack of space and am loved by birds. What am I?
Greystones Saint Patrick’s Day Parade – We are delighted to be invited once again to take part in the Greystones Saint Patrick Day’s Parade on Sunday 17th March. There will be a dedicated quiet zone along the route on the day. More details on this and the parade itself next week.
Gaeilge – Frásaí na Seachtaine # 21 – This week’s phrase is: “Ar aghaidh leat” – Off/On you go.
Birthday Greetings –– Celebrating birthdays at our school this week are Ethan Oman (12yrs), Elsie McConville (11yrs), Emily Carroll (12yrs), Mia Clere (12yrs), Elliot Melvin (12yrs), Guy (7yrs) and Sam Sheehan (12yrs. We hope you all have the happiest of birthdays. Enjoy your special day.
Let’s continue to make every school day count. School Attendance this week was 94.2%.
Sport
- Boys Gaelic Blitz – Fourteen boys from 5th and 6th represented St. Brigid’s at a Gaelic Blitz in Bray yesterday. While they didn’t win any of their matches, they really enjoyed their day out and can be so proud of how they all played. A big thank you to Ms. Murray and Ms. Horan who accompanied them on the day.
- 3rd Class Swimming – Week 6 –The reports from Shoreline are that the children are making excellent progress with their swimming lessons and that they seem to be really enjoying their sessions. The Staff at the pool have commented on how well behaved the boys and girls are. I am not a bit surprised – they are a great bunch. But it is still lovely to hear such positive feedback.
Upcoming Meetings
- Next BoM Meeting – Tuesday 5th March at 3pm in the Staff Room.
- Next PA Meeting – Monday 13th March at 8pm in the school hall.
Planned School Closures for Term 2
- Wednesday 13th March – Primary Maths Curriculum Inservice for teachers
- Monday 18th March – St. Patrick’s Day Public Holiday
- Friday 22nd March – Last day of Term 2
- Monday 8th April – School reopens for Term 3
Until next week. Fingers crossed the weather improves over the weekend although I know how much the children would love it to snow.
Le meas,
Máire Costello
Principal