Third Class Pop-Up Charity Shop
€56.50 was raised by Third Class recently. Their idea of a pop-up shop to raise charity funds for our annual Christmas fund-raiser proved very popular with all the pupils. This was the first time that a group of such young pupils brought an initiative like this to the staff for consideration – how charitable and enterprising of you all. Well done to all!
Reading Buddies Programme – Senior & Middle Room
We’ve been running a Reading Buddies programme since mid November. We’re all enjoying listening to our partners read for us. The Senior Room have proved themselves as ábhair oidí (student teachers) too! You should see their excellent lesson plans and lesson reviews for the Reading Buddies Programme.
RSA – Safety Officer – Talk to each class
Sarah from the RSA gave a very informative talk to each class about how to stay safe on our roads. Middle and Senior classes then wrote up the main points learned during Sarah’s informative talk.
- Always be seen. Wear a hi-vis vest when walking, day and night.
- Always wear your seatbelt. And wear it properly – across your shoulder and NOT under your arm.
- If walking, walk on the right-hand side of the road. Always walk towards on-coming traffic.
- If cycling, cycle on the left-hand side of the road, the same as the traffic.
- Your bike should have lights and working dynamo.
Our First Big Day Out – Botanic Gardens September 2015
We’ve kept up our tradition of the ‘Big Day Out’ in September. Last year we stayed close to home at Dalgan Park but this year we went ‘exotic’! Ben’s dad made it possible for all of us to go along to the spectacular Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. Thank you Paddy!
We had a great day in the gorgeous autumn sunshine. We saw and learned about lots of exotic and unusual plants… coffee, banana, the gigantic redwood tree, bamboo, sugar-cane, etc… And we had fun in the cactus house! Mrs Bockett was looking tired and worn out and was invited to sit down by the boys of Rang a 6… on the Mother-in-Law’s seat! (See below!)
We loved all the very unusual sculptures that were on exhibition too! We love our Big Days Out!
A Local Beekeeper Shares his Knowledge of bees……..
We recently had a visit from local bee-keeper John Mc Keown. John explained the difference between all species of bees we have in our gardens and told us all about their purpose. There are not many beekeepers in our area and John produces his own honey with the help of the wonderful bees. There are 3 types of bee in the hive: the workers, drones and the queen.
There were many very clever questions asked about the bees …. “How are they got into the hive?!” (Sen. Infant) As you can see from the pictures there is a special suit used when beekeeping and a smoker to tame the bees which makes them tired so they go into the hive.
Also asked was the difference between a bee and a wasp – some knew a bee will die when he stings and a wasp won’t and of course wasps don’t make honey!
The bees play a very important part in nature too as they are very busy visiting all your gardens collecting loads of pollen to bring back to the hive and make yummy honey with. Did you know that the flavour of honey depends on what plants or flowers the bees collect pollen from?
We all learned lots of very valuable information and most importantly and sadly, we learned that there are very few if any wild bees left. Most of the bees in Ireland are kept by bee-keepers and they have to be treated for varroa mites as they are carriers of a virus that is particularly damaging to the bees. We all then got a turn to look at real bees busy at work in a demonstration hive that John brought in. Some of us listened to hear the busy bees at work. We then all worked like busy bees for the rest of the day!
The Senior Room wrote letters to John thanking him for his visit.
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