1st & 2nd Class 18/19

Halloween Trip To Mount Falcon

Congratulations to Grace Porter in First Class who won a class trip to Mount Falcon!
Grace entered a Halloween spooky picture competition and we had a fabulous day out. We went to see the vegetable garden in Mount Falcon and enjoyed some of their produce. The snowy owl, falcon and barn owl had lots of visitors in their homes. Harry Potter, Hermione and Hedwig had a catch up! After that we went into the hotel for treats and face painting. Here are some pictures of our day. Thanks Grace!

Ralph the Reindeer

On the 17th of December, parents, families and friends came to see our Christmas play 'Ralph the Reindeer'. We put a lot of work and effort into our play and our songs. We hope you all enjoyed it.

Christmas Party

Valentine's Day Art 14th February 2019

We used marbling inks in cold and warm colours to create our lovely artwork.

Shrove Tuesday 05th March 2019

Pancake Tuesday is also known as Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. We are preparing for Lent and talking about our Lenten promises. Although we found out we can't give up school for Lent! Most of us chose Nutella on our pancakes, yum!

Engineers Week 02-08th March 2019

Bricks 4 Kids came into our school on Thursday for Engineers week. We learned about renewable energy and sources of energy: solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectric energy and fossil fuels. We followed the instructions and made our own windmills. When we connected the motor, the windmill spun. We really enjoyed Bricks 4 Kids.

Seachtain na Gaeilge 01-17th March 2019

Our History Walk through Crossmolina

Throughout the month of March we have been learning all about our local town. In history, we talked about all of the things that have changed in the town since we were small: the library was painted; new houses were built on Ballina Road; the Chinese moved to a new location. We were curious to see what might have changed since our grandparents were young. We brought some old photographs and went on a walk through the town, stopping where each photograph was taken and finding what has changed or stayed the same. We found an old courthouse and a well in the middle of the town. Most of us preferred the old bridge though!

GAA Skills

We are learning GAA skills every Thursday with Michael Fitzmorris and a group of Transition Year students. We are improving our soloing, passing and turn taking.

Minibeast hunt

We are so lucky to have a large open area on our school grounds. We found frogs, butterflies, bees, woodlice and spiders. We lifted a rock to see what lived underneath, but we placed it back carefully so not to disturb the habitat.

Easter egg hunt

On the last day of school before the Easter holidays we had an Easter egg hunt. We collected 76 eggs in the yard! They were delicious!

The Life Cycle of the Butterfly

1st and 2nd class have been busy caring for 9 caterpillars in our classroom! The caterpillars have now formed their chrysalises and are undergoing their metamorphosis! They have shed their exoskeletons 5 times and grown so much before creating their cocoons. We have learned so much about their life cycle from watching them that we invited every class for a presentation. Junior Infants even made life cycle art projects after our talk! We can't wait for our caterpillars to emerge as beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. Did you know that they have to pump their wings for an hour to harden and shape them? We will keep you updated as they grow.

Look at how small the caterpillars were when they first arrived.

They quickly grew as they ate their food.

We knew they were ready to make their cocoons when they started to hang from the top.

The chrysalises are forming from the bottom up!

We moved them to their new home.

WE HAVE BUTTERFLIES!

On Monday morning when we came in, there were 8 painted lady butterflies in the butterfly garden. There was one cocoon that hadn't opened yet so we tried to pay close attention to see it, but the butterfly snuck out without us noticing.
The red liquid is called meconium, this is involved in the process of metamorphosis. We couldn't see any colour on the butterflies when they first emerged but as they kept pumping haemolymph into their wings to harden and shape them, their beautiful colour could be seen. We fed them oranges and a sugar mix and we are releasing them on Thursday, if we can get a dry spell! It has to be 12 degrees to release them. We are excited to see how they will fly in their new habitat.