Hi boys and girls!
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and Santy came!
Saturday is New Year's Day and is the start of 2011.
Enjoy the rest of your holidays and see you in the new year!

Christmas Walk

On Tuesday, we went for a walk on Gallligan's lane.

It looked very different than our autumn walk!

It was very cold, but we wrapped up nice and warm!

The lane and the trees were beautiful in the snow.

We took lots of photos.

When we got back to class we were really cold, so Siobhan made us hot chocolate with marshmallows!

Christmas Art

The boys and girls in 2nd class were very busy making Christmas crafts.

Pomanders from oranges and cloves will give a lovely Christmas smell at home when they are hung up.

Each group made a pinata snowman from papier mache, and we raffled it to see who got to keep it.

They get to hang it up and hit it until it smashes!

There are lots of lovely treats inside for the lucky winner.

Saint Vincent de Paul

Boys and girls, I hope you all remember that the selection boxes and goodies for hampers have to be in tomorrow.
Christmas is a very special time for families, so lets give at this special time!

Snow Day!

Hi boys and girls, I hope you are all enjoying your snow day! If you make a snowman, why don't you take a photo and bring it in next week?
Have a look at the website we talked about on Wednesday and Thursday, about recognising and looking after the birds in winter.
If you can, leave out some breadcrumbs or chopped apple for garden birds to eat!
Birdwatch Ireland

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a story that was turned into a ballet by Russian composer Tchaikovsky.
It is always popular at Christmas, and we might recognise alot of the music even if we don't know the story.
We will be listening to, watching and doing lots of activities about the Nutcracker this winter.
Here is a website that tells the story!
Nutcracker story 

Stargazing!

Having found out lots of information about the planets,  we are going to look at the stars for a while.
Teacher will have a  raffle of glow-in-the-dark stars on Friday!
Ask your parents or grandparents if they can show you The Plough (or The Big Dipper) constellation in the sky. Use this link to learn more about stars!

Don't stay up too late!

stars at night

Planets

We are learning about the planets in our solar system.

There used to be 9 planets, but scientists decided that Pluto was too small to be counted.

Now it is classified as a dwarf planet.

See can you name all the others; remember the sentence

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets!

Did you know that the Evening Star is actually Mercury?

A group star tomorrow for any pupil who has learned a little about the Hubble Space telescope!
Check out the website we looked at today for information.
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

Happy Hallowe'en

All the children dressed up on our last day.
We had ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, cats, cowboys and lots more!
The children were asked to bring in € 1 which will be sent to UNICEF Ireland.
Have a look at their website to find out more about where your money is going.
http://www.unicef.ie/GetInvolved/Do-you-want-to-be-a-record-breaker-35-43.aspx

 

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Pumpkin winner

Congratulations to Ava, who won the most imaginative pumpkin design.

Doesn't it look great?

Nature Walk

On Friday, 2nd class went for an autumn nature walk on Galligan's lane.

We gathered lots of different coloured leaves, rosehips, conkers, beech nuts and berries.

To grow a horse chestnut tree, first put the conker in water.

If it sinks it is viable: that means it will grow. If it floats, it won't. 

Check this website about the game of conkers. You will need a grown-up to help you.

Be careful!

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html

Pumpkin design

2nd class are having a design competition.

The most interesting and imaginative pumpkin will be used on our class pumpkin and the winner gets to bring it home!
The plan will have to be practical as well, teacher needs to be able to cut it out!

Monday 11th Oct

On Monday, we went to hear the storyteller in the library. He told us lots of stories that we really enjoyed. We are writing and illustrating the stories now in class.
We also saw the 2 horse chestnut trees outside the library. We gathered some conkers too!
Evan took photos of the braille signs and we all ran our fingers along them to feel them.

Cake sale

Results of our cake sale!
We are delighted to say that 2nd class made €226  in our cake sale last week!
This will be given to charity to help the flood victims in Pakistan.

Thanks to everyone who helped by baking, buying and eating our treats!

Visit to the library

We have been invited to Cavan library on Monday to listen to a storyteller.
While we are there we will look for the braille signs they have, because we are learning about Louis Braille and how he invented a way for blind people to read and write.
Check out this website to see how you can change words into braille!
http://www.afb.org/braillebug/

                                

                                

Gymnastics

Today was our last class of gymnastics with Craig. Look at some of the exercises he taught us!

Storyteller

We had a visit from Len the storyteller today. He told us stories about Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the strongest man in Ireland. We heard about his talking crow too!

Pakistan

 We  know about the floods in Pakistan.
We want to help the people there so we are collecting small change and filling a can.
Every class is having a cake sale too, so we can get yummy treats and help Pakistan!

On Friday 1st Oct it is our turn to hold the cake sale!