.Ms. .O'Grady's ."Sparkling Bubbles"
.Welcome .to .our .Class .Blog.
Scroll down to see some snippets of what we've been doing in 4th and 5th Class!
November
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King
This month we are learning about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and their amazing achievements. Rosa Parks was a woman who fought for Civil Rights. We listened to an audio book and a song about Rosa's life. Did you know she was taken to prison for twenty-four hours? She was arrested because she sat in the white section of a bus! Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King organised the 'Montgomery Bus Boycott'. During the boycott 40,000 people refused to go on the local buses for 381 days. That's a lot of people! We don't even have 200 people in our school. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are two amazing heroes. We enjoyed every second learning about them. (By Ellie & Muireann)
Here is a picture of our Rosa Parks Fact Files. They are hiding inside the buses.
Inspired by Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" Speech, we discussed our own hopes and dreams for the future. We then created an "I have a dream" piece of art. Click here to listen to his speech.
Science Week
This week in school it was Science Week. We did lots of fun activities. Ms. O'Grady had Science Experiment Stations organised for us and we carried out a different science experiment each day in our pods. We even watched some 'Virtual Science Shows'.
Please click here to watch a video of our Science Week Experiments
On Tuesday, Ms. O'Grady did a trick for us. She got a puppet called Síofra, a match box and a shoe box. She lifted up the box with one finger and it balanced but when Síofra was there it fell over. To see the trick please watch our 'Science Week' video above. Dr. Matt from the Virtual Show showed us how to do the trick. Can you guess how we did it? (By Dea)
To finish off a fantastic week of science we had a 'Science Week' Kahoot quiz and we made a mess on the basketball court before we went home by putting mentos in Diet Coke. The Coke Exploded!!
Station 1: Fruity Sweets Colour Mixing
We placed Skittles around the outside of a plate. We then poured some warm water onto the plate. We discussed how the shells of the coloured sweets are made from sugar. When sugar is put in warm water, it dissolves. As the colours meet, they mix, creating different colours.
Station 2: Dancing Raisins
We had two cups of water. One contained still water and the other contained fizzy water. We added raisins to both cups. In the still water cup, the raisins sank because the raisins were denser than the water. In the fizzy water cup, the raisins were again denser than the water. However, the bubbles got trapped in the grooves of the raisins, helping them to float back to the surface. When the bubbles popped, the raisins sank back down.
Station 3: Paper Towel Colour Mixing
Using water with food colouring and paper towels we discovered that water moves up the paper towel because the paper is absorbent. It sucks up water. The colour travels with the water making the paper change from white to red, blue or orange. The colours then mixed when they joined together.
Station 4: Fizzy Colours
We made a chemical reaction by mixing the acid (vinegar) and the alkali (bicarbonate of soda). We added food colouring to the vinegar to help us to see the reaction. This station was a little bit smelly! 
Station 4: Firework in a Glass
We filled a tall glass with warm water. In another glass we mixed some oil with food colouring. We then poured the oil and food colouring mixture into the warm water and waited for our fireworks show!
We found out that oil and water don’t mix. Also, oil is less dense than water and therefore, it floated on top of the water. The food colouring we used was water based and it did not mix with the oil, instead it sank through the oil into the water below. Since the addition of the colouring makes the food colouring heavier than the water, it sank to the bottom leaving trails. These trails resembled fireworks.
Station 5: Fun with Density
In cups we measured out the same volume of golden syrup, oil, honey, water, washing up liquid and milk. We added food colouring to our water and milk to make our experiment more colourful. We poured in the honey, golden syrup and washing up liquid into a tall glass. Next, we poured in the water and milk. Finally, we added the oil. We ended up with a rainbow glass!
We discovered that each of the liquids had a different mass, this makes them have different densities. Therefore, one can sit on top of the other – the more dense a liquid is the heavier it is.
Kahoot!
In our pods we took part in a 'Science Week' Kahoot Quiz. The Purple Pod won! The Green Pod came 2nd and the Orange Pod came 3rd.
Virtual Science Shows
The Science Foundation of Ireland hosted some 'Virtual Science Shows' this week. We really enjoyed watching them. Our favourite show was 'Surprising Science with Dr. Matt Pritchard'. We even picked up some magic tricks from Dr. Matt! Watch our Video above to see us trying his 'Shoe Box' trick.
On Wednesday we watched 'The Forensic Science Show with the Junior Einsteins Science Club'. The forensic scientist explained how detectives catch criminals by looking for fingerprints, footprints, saliva, teeth marks, fibre and even hair. They send this evidence to the lab so it can be inspected. (By Nathanael)
Science Experiment Stations ~ Monday
Science Experiment Stations ~ Tuesday
Science Experiment Stations ~ Wednesday
Science Experiment Stations ~ Thursday
Science Experiment Stations ~ Friday
Fundamental Movement Skills
Our new 'Fundamental Movement Skill' for November is 'Skipping'. We are busy learning how to skip.
This week we practised the skill of 'Skipping' by playing 'Skip and Tip'. We also played a game of 'Baseline'.
Last week we revised our F.M.S. of 'Dodging' and our G.A.A. skill, 'Hand Passing'. We practiced dodging and hand passing by playing 'Olympic Handball' with Lloyd.
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October
Happy Halloween from a very SPOOKY 4th and 5th Class! We had a very exciting last day before Halloween.
Well Done to Danny (4th Class) and Ellie (5th Class) who were the winners of our 'Fancy Dress Competition'.
Puking Pumpkins!
In our pods we cleaned out and carved a pumpkin (with some help from Ms. O'Grady). We then went outside and made some 'Puking Pumpkins' by mixing baking soda, vinegar, washing up liquid and food colouring.
Toilet Roll Mummies
Some of our pupils got turned into Mummies today!! We used some toilet roll to wrap each other up as Mummies. We had one little problem as the toilet paper kept ripping but in the end it all worked out! Which one is your favourite?
Bone Bridge STEM Challenge
Using lollipop sticks, pegs, cotton buds and pipe cleaners we tried to make some 'Bone Bridges'. Look at our amazing creations!
Movie Time
In the afternoon we watched 'The Addams Family' while enjoying some treats.
Halloween Art
We have been doing some very 'SPOOKY' art for the month of October.
The dog ate my HOMEWORK!!!
We have all heard the excuse that 'The dog ate my homework'. This week, a dog DID eat someone's Mental Maths Homework! Meet Boisterous Boots! He brought great giggles to our class bubble this week! 
October Birthdays
Happy 11th Birthday Hannah and Happy 10th Birthday Georgia! 
Friendship Week
Friendship week in our school is always a real treat!!!!
First of all we had a poster competition. Congratulations to Ms. Abbie Nacey (5th Class) and Ms. Dea Kehoe Dos Santos (4th Class) who were the winners from our class. Please click here to watch a video of all the 'FANTASTIC' posters that were created by our class. Speaking of art we also created this beautiful 'Friendship Hand Art'.
"Side by side or miles apart friends are forever close to your heart".
We talked about the traits of a good friend e.g. a good friend is generous, respectful and honest. We also coloured some wonderful Friendship Mindfulness sheets. We then had a walking debate to discuss what is important in friendship.
We finished Friendship week by having a zoom assembly. We were really excited to see all of the other classes. Each class had a 'Friendship' party piece. We sang 'You've Got a Friend In Me' and we recited the poem 'Friendship has no Borders'
We were all very kind this week and we are really looking forward to our next 'Friendship Week'!
By Ellie and Laura
Fundamental Movement Skills
We are all so excited that Lloyd is back to practice our 'Fundamental Movement' skills with us. This month we are practicing the Fundamental Movement Skills of 'Running' and 'Dodging'. Here we are playing 'Baseline' and 'Flush the Toilet'.
National Tree Day
National Tree Day was on the 1st of October. We have been busy learning about different kinds of trees and how they change during the year. We then went outside to find out what types of trees are planted around our school. We received a tree sapling for 'Tree Day'. We are looking forward to watching our tree grow during the year.
We also created these 'Falling Leaves' portraits.
Stretch & Grow
We are all wide awake every Thursday morning after our super work out with Nicola from 'Stretch & Grow'.
Ms. O'Grady and Ms. Rose even join in with us!
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September
We have had a very busy first month back in school. Here a glimpse of what we got up to.
September Birthdays
Happy 10th Birthday Séamas!
Art
In September we focused on different art techniques.
We experimented with water colour techniques and different types of lines to create the Landscape and Leaf art below. Click here to read about the process we followed.
It's hard to see in this photo but we also used different types of lines and shapes to make our colourful backgrounds for these 'Funky Portraits'. Can you figure out who's who?
Maths
In 4th Class we have been busy exploring 'Lines and Angles'. We went on a Maths Trail around the school to find different types of lines and angles.
We also practiced telling the time and we learned about the different types of clocks and units of time.
S.E.S.E. - Schools in the Past
We learned so much about Schools - "Schools: Behind the Scenes", "Schools in the Past" and "School Founders".
We explored the roles of all of the different people who work in our school and we discussed the different services we use every day in school. Can you guess how many people are needed to run our schools and can you name all of the different services used in our schools? We also drew maps of our classroom and created symbols to illustrate the different items and services in our classroom.
We talked about how our classrooms are very different in comparison to classrooms in the past. We looked at some artefacts from schools in the past. We discovered some of the first school founders in Ireland. Nano Nagle set up a primary school for girls in Cork. It was called the Presentation Sisters. Edmund Rice was inspired by Nano. He set up a school in Mount Sion, Waterford for boys. There are still some schools in his memory today. They are C.B.S. and Edmund Rice schools. Did you know the first non-religious school was founded in 1978. It was called the "Dalkey School Project National School". These non-religious schools are now known as "Educate Together National Schools".
By Muireann & Abbie
Yoga
Every Thursday Tina visited our classroom for Chair Yoga.
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First Week Back to School
The pupils in 4th and 5th Class are so excited to be back in school and what a super first week they have all had!
We've been busy washing hands, sanitising, catching up with each other, having fun and learning.
Back to School Activities
Look at the fabulous 'All About Me' and 'Mé Féin' bunting activities that we completed.
Here we are playing a 'Back to School' Board Game which helped us to get to know each other even better!! 
Romero Britto Inspired Initials
Have a look at our AMAZING 'Initial Art' inspired by the work of Romero Britto.
The History of Germs and the Importance of Hand Washing
We reminded each other about the importance of washing our hands and we explored the history of 'Germs'. Ignaz Semmelweis was the famous scientist who discovered germs. When he discovered Germs nobody believed him! Other scientists and doctors laughed at him. He even published a book about Germs but people still didn't believe him. Finally, in 1864, 20 years after his death Louis Pasteur confirmed the Germ theory. Semmelweis is now known as the 'Father of Germs'. A stamp was released in Germany as a recognition of his discoveries.
Check back soon for some more updates!
Ms. O'Grady, Ms. Rose and all the boys and girls from 4th and 5th Class.
