When a class starts in Junior Infants they are given a name which stays with them all the way up from Junior Infants to 6th Class. This is the Swans page. Each year, news from the Swans will be added to what happened in the previous years they have been in the school. 

Below you will find work from 4th Class. Katie

Below you will find work from 3rd Class. Ronan

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Reem and RTE News2Day to film children from 3rd class talking about how they learn Irish. 

News2Day recorded children speaking and listening using recordable listening devices. They also filmed them using the “Is Féidir Linn” programme from the Gaelbhratach website.

‘Is Féidir Linn’ aims to make the language accessible for all parents and guardians, regardless of their own Irish language skills or experience, using phrases, stories and songs for children about the daily routines of family life. Click on the attached link to find out more. Is Féidir Linn

Reem, the RTE presenter asked the children questions about why it is important to learn Irish and what they enjoy about learning Irish. It was a fantastic experience. See 3rd class on News2Day in the video below along with a gallery of pictures taken on the day.

Ronan

3rd Class recently planted Onion bulbs and French Beans in the Swan plot in the Community Garden. Jane (Felix’s mom) and Margaret (Olivia’s mom) helped with the 1st planting. For the Onions, the children planted them in the cleaned up Swans plot, directly into the ground. They examined the bulbs to make sure the pointy stem was  sticking up and the hairy root end was pointing down.

The beans were a bit different as they planted them in small pots to get a head start. Again the bean was examined to see how a plant grows from them.

We used peat free compost to sow the beans, one bean in each pot. We covered the beans with a propagator lid to help them grow quickly. 

Within a couple of days, the onion bulbs and the beans were showing life, you can see their progress in our gallery below. Just before the June Bank Holiday, the children took home a bean in a pot and some of the beans were planted between the onions. In September we should have a good crop of onions and beans! Ronan

3rd Class have been eagerly taking part in Marine Week 2022 hosted by Green Schools. We joined in live Zoom Webinars everyday from Seal Rescue Ireland, Finn van den Aar author and Marine Biologist and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. Children were fascinated by all the information shared by these experts. We joined in the draw along sessions and even wrote our own Gaeilge Ocean stories. Ronan

Third Class has had a busy start to the year and we have been firmly focused on foxes.

We took advantage of the new doors and our outside classroom and began to learn all about foxes. We are lucky to have some urban foxes in our neighbourhood and one very naughty one who likes to dig up the compost bin outside our classroom door.

We needed a plan. We set up our FOXCAM and monitored the foxes in the school grounds at night. We captured some great footage of our foxy friends. This inspired us to use Talk4Writing to learn lots of facts about foxes. We performed our fox fact report for 2nd class. We then created our own reports based on our favourite animals. The final step was to make fox mosaics for Art. Well done to all of 3rd class for a busy and enjoyable start.  

Ronan

Evie, Olivia and Alba in 3^rd class started measuring one of the pumpkins in the community garden in September. They have measured the same pumpkin for five weeks. The first week they measured, the pumpkin was 50cm at its fattest part. Last week when they measured, the pumpkin was 60cm.  But it wasn’t all a steady increase! Evie said the project was quite interesting. She learned how to take measurements precisely. Alba said it was quite interesting to go out every week to measure, it might have gotten boring if they measured every day. Olivia thought it was fun because it was cool how it shrunk and then grew again. So on week 4, they discovered that the pumpkin had shrunk from 56 cm to 55cm. Upon researching why this might have happened, they discovered that the dry autumn was to blame. By watering the pumpkin every day from 8^th October to 15^th October, the next measurement showed 60cm. Pumpkins are 90% water so need a lot of water to drink. So if you ever grow pumpkins, the more water you give them, the bigger they will become. Thank you to Senior Infants for growing the pumpkins in Junior Infants and letting 3^rd class do some scientific research on them.

The girls got to decorate their pumpkin for Halloween.

Below you will find work from 2nd Class. Darren 

2nd class have been working hard to rid their raised bed of Bindweed and prepare the soil for transferring some Lettuce, Lobelia and Marigold plants.

Maija, Sam, Alba and Felix were keen to welcome our first chick as it hatched out. They saw the other eggs rolling and cracking as the little chicks inside decided to follow their big sibling and break through! 

2nd class brainstormed and designed some wonderful signs for our ‘No Mow’ area to illustrate some of the ideas behind the project. All bugs, birds and bats are welcome and each species contributes to the eco system we are supporting by allowing it to grow and flourish naturally. 

2nd class made some wonderful water lilies. It took us three weeks to put together.  Darren

Second Class have made me so proud with their hard word during our school learning at home.  You are all a great bunch of children! Take a bow, Second Class!  Darren

2nd Class were very much up to the Green School Challenge of creating some amazing Whale pictures. Well done you guys