Réidh don Dreolín!

Bhí rang a cúig agus a rang sé ag obair go dian an tseachtain seo agus iad ag cleachtadh damhsa an Dreolín. Bhí an-spraoi agus fuinneamh sa seomra ranga agus na daltaí ag foghlaim an damhsa agus ag obair le chéile mar fhoireann.

Is traidisiún álainn Éireannach é damhsa an Dreolín, agus bhí na páistí ar bís é a chleachtadh. Anois, tá siad réidh a gcuid scileanna a thaispeáint daoibh!

Féach ar an bhfíseán thíos. ↓ 🕺🐦

 

Future Engineers in the Making! 🚀

Our 5th and 6th class pupils recently took part in the JEDI Programme, an exciting engineering initiative facilitated by University College Dublin (UCD) — and what a fantastic experience it was!

Throughout the programme, the children discovered what it takes to become an engineer. They explored the importance of spatial awareness, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork, and quickly realised that engineering is all about thinking differently and finding innovative solutions.

The pupils then put their new skills into action with a fun design challenge. Working in groups, each team was given a set of criteria to design their very own teabox. From brainstorming ideas to building their prototypes, the classroom was buzzing with creativity, collaboration, and determination. It was wonderful to see the pupils sharing ideas, testing solutions, and supporting one another as they worked towards their final designs.

A very special thank you to Áine Hughes, a biomedical engineer, who visited the class to give expert feedback to each group. She also gave the pupils a fascinating insight into the world of biomedical engineering, explaining how engineers design technologies that help doctors and improve patient care. The pupils were captivated and asked some fantastic questions!

Well done to all the pupils for their enthusiasm, creativity, and teamwork throughout the project. We may well have some future engineers in our midst!

Take a look at the photos below to see our young engineers hard at work! 📸

 

😎😎The month of February-Junior Room😎😎

This month we read some lovely stories- ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Smartest Giant in Town’ and ‘Spring is Here.’  We also learned the nursery rhymes-‘Old McDonald’s had a Farm’ and ‘There were Ten in the Bed’ and the poem ‘February Promises.’

In Gaeilge, the children worked on the topic of An Aimsir and began Eadaí.  They also learned the poem ‘Sneachta.’

In SESE we worked on Saint Bridget, the snail, France, designing and making towers, Walt Disney and the homes of people in different countries.

The children made beautiful Valentine’s art, pancakes and spring flowers. To celebrate Pancake Tuesday we all had some yummy pancakes with our favourite topping😋

This month we concentrated on Money in Maths.  The boys and girls loved playing shops and taking turns being the shopkeepers and the customers.

We are continuing to work on the Fit4Class programme and are really enjoying the lessons.

We were delighted to have a member of the Coding Ireland team visit our school and delivered an engaging STEM workshop on Scratch Jnr. The children learned how to use ScratchJr to create their own characters, animate them, and bring their ideas to life through coding.  A fantastic fun and engaging session.

Ryan O’Donoghue visited our classroom and the boys and girls were lucky enough to get a photograph with him.

This month the children learned the song ‘Killeagh’.’  Below is a little video showing their fabulous voices👏

STEM Workshop Success in 5th and 6th Class

Our 5th and 6th Class pupils recently took part in an exciting and engaging STEM workshop where they explored the world of Micro:bits and coding. It was a fantastic hands-on learning experience that sparked creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork.

During the workshop, the children learned how to write and design their own code using Micro:bits. They explored how coding instructions control actions and experimented with different commands to see how small changes could produce different results. Once they were happy with their programs, they inserted their coded Micro:bit chips into mini-cars and the real fun began!

The classroom was filled with excitement as the mini-cars moved according to the pupils’ own designs. Some cars sped forward, others turned or stopped based on the code the children had carefully created. It was wonderful to see their sense of achievement as their ideas came to life.

This workshop links perfectly with the new curriculum, promoting creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and digital literacy.

Well done to all the boys and girls for their enthusiasm and fantastic effort. We may have some future engineers and programmers in the making!

🎒⭐ January in the Junior Room ⭐🎒

January was  another fast and busy month. In English, we worked on the following stories: ‘Guess How Much I Love You, Chinese New Year, The Tiger Who Came to Dinner and Giraffes Can’t Dance .’ We also worked on three new Nursery Rhymes-‘One Elephant Went Out to Play, Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat and Three Blind Mice.’  The children worked very well on Explanation Writing and we learned the poem ‘ Little January.’

In Maths, the children continued to work on time and began working on Place Value.

In Gaeilge, we worked on the theme of Caitheamh Aimsire.  We learned lots of new vocabulary and began working on the dán ‘Sneachta.’

In Art, then children completed personal calendars, gratitude cups and the class worked collaboratively to complete a fabulous piece of Art based on Saint Brigid as well as making crosses.

In History we learned about The Olympic Games and Famous Irish Olympians.  In Science, the children learnt about the benefits of exercise and The Life Cycle of the Butterfly and in Geography we learned about various sports and completed a treasure hunt.

In PE, the children are working on the FIT4CLASS programme-an initiative by Athletics Ireland. It promotes physical activity through non-competitive games, focusing on fundamental skills like balance, coordination, and agility.

Also, we are working on the Croke Park Challenge Active Schools”-the involves the children taking part in an active break each day.  We are really enjoying the challenge.

Catholic School’s Week took place this month and the children took part in various activities to celebrate this and we also enjoyed a lovely Well-Being afternoon.

 

🎵🎷BLAST Creativity and Arts in Education Residency🎵🎷

The BLAST Residency programme is a creative learning experience for primary schools, designed to inspire pupils through hands-on, collaborative activities delivered by professional practitioners.

We had the absolute pleasure of working with Mary Curran to complete our project which began in early December.

We are very thankful to Mary for sharing her knowledge and expertise with us.  We really enjoyed working on the project and have gained much knowledge.  Below is a snapshot of the three wonderful days.

 

 

Upcoming Events for the next month

The following are happening over the next couple of weeks:

16th of January- Catholic Schools Mass in the Sacred Heart Church in Belmullet at 7;30pm. All welcome

19th January- 13th of February, all classes will take part in Croke Park Movement Breaks in the classroom and outside for those four weeks as part of Welling and Be Active activities.

26th January- Catholic School Week takes place in all schools for this week.

2nd February- St. Brigid’s Day- School Closed

4th February- Staff Training for New Primary Curriculum – School Closed

12th of February- Circus

18th of February- Coding Ireland will visit our school. The children will engage in an hour long workshop to upskill their knowledge in STEM activities. The Junior Room will work on Scratch, the middle room designs Arcade Games and the senior room engage in micro computers activities. We look forward to those interesting workshops.

19th/20th February- Midterm

🎅🎄December in the Junior Room🎅🎄

What a busy and exciting month in our classroom.  We have been learning all about Advent and the birth of the baby Jesus.  We had a special visitor to our classroom-‘Frosty the Elf.’  Frosty has been moving around the room and getting into all sorts of mischief

Also, the boys and girls have been working very hard learning all the lovely songs for our Carol Service.  Well done to everyone, it was a fantastic evening and we all thoroughly enjoyed the open day on Friday.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and best wishes for 2026

Múinteoir Lisa

🎺🎺The BLAST Programme 🎼🎼

On December 01st, we began the BLAST programme in our school.  BLAST is a Creative Youth, Department of Education led initiative.  We were thrilled to welcome Mary Curran to our school  to facilitate the programme and greatly appreciated her sharing her musical talents and performing for us.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and learned a great deal about the different instruments.  We look forward to working with Mary again in January.

⭐⭐November in the Junior Room⭐⭐

Below is a snap shot of some of the activities completed in the month of November.

In English, we worked on the following stories: ‘The Gruffalo’s Child, William’s Winter Wish, Little Bear’s Special Wish and The Day the Crayons Quit.’ We also worked on four new Nursery Rhymes-‘Five Little Ducks, Alice the Camel, Five Little Monkeys and Old Mother Hubbard.’  We have continued to work on Recount writing and the children are continuing to develop their handwriting skills.  We also learned a lovely poem called ‘November.’

In Maths, the children worked on number formation and learning rhymes to help us form each number correctly.  We also worked on odd and even number and addition as well as beginning time.

In Gaeilge, we worked on the theme of Bia.  We learned lots of new phrases and the dán ‘Is Maith Liom.’

The children created beautiful pieces of art and began working on some Christmas pieces such as the nativity scene as well as creating our class Advent Calendar.

In History we learned about Mozart and the Legend of the Giant’s Causeway.  In Science, the children worked on the theme of sound and in Geography we studied musical instruments from around the world and the zoo.

The children are working very well on learning the songs for out Carol Service and we are looking for ward to a busy and exciting December.

Anti-Bullying Week: 10th–14th November

From the 10th to the 14th of November, our school marked Anti-Bullying Week, a special time dedicated to promoting kindness, respect, and inclusion throughout our school community.

A huge well done to the entire Wellbeing Committee, who did an outstanding job visiting each class to speak about anti-bullying. Their enthusiasm, confidence, and commitment helped spread the  important message that bullying is not tolerated. The Wellbeing Committee also organised an anti-bullying poster competition for the Middle and Senior Room.

A special congratulations to our overall prize winners:

  • Cara and Lily from the Middle Room

  • Clodagh and Róna from the Senior Room

Their posters stood out for their creativity, effort, and for the powerful messages they shared.

Thank you to everyone for your hard work and positivity throughout the week. Below is a sample of some of the wonderful anti-bullying posters created during the week. Each of these posters is a reminder of the importance of kindness and inclusion.

Science week in the Senior Room

What an exciting Science Week it has been for our 5th and 6th Class! The senior room has been buzzing with curiosity, discovery, and hands-on learning from start to finish.

We kicked things off by joining a fantastic Curious Minds webinar. The pupils learned all about how scientists ask questions, investigate problems, and use creativity to understand the world around us. There were plenty of “Wow!” moments as we explored new ideas together.

Later in the week, things got even more exciting as the class visited Our Lady’s Secondary School for a real laboratory experience. The pupils put on proper laboratory coats and safety goggles before completing a range of experiments. They investigated chemical reactions, tested materials, and worked just like real scientists. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they tried new equipment and worked carefully through each step of the experiments.

The photos show just how engaged and enthusiastic everyone was. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make Science Week so memorable. Well done to all our young scientists in the senior room! 🔬✨

Halloween in the Senior Room

We hope everyone is having a fantastic mid-term break! Here are some snaps from our Halloween Dress-Up Day in the Senior Room. Everyone looked amazing! Huge well done to everyone for their brilliant efforts and creativity.

A big shout-out to Caolan, Holly, Ray, and James for winning the Figure Me Out Maths Competition — great job! 🧮✨

Have a spooky, fun-filled Halloween! 🎃💀

⭐⭐October in the Junior Room⭐⭐

It was another fast and busy month in our room.  All the boys and girls worked really well and we had lot of fun along the way.  Below is a snapshot from October.

In Literacy, we worked on the following stories: ‘Handa’s Surprise,’ ‘Rosie’s Walk,’ ‘The Gruffalo’ and ‘Room on the Broom.’  The children also learned the following Nursery Rhymes this month- ‘1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive,’ ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep,’ ‘Two Little Dickey Birds’ and ‘This Little Piggy went to Market’ as well as the poem ‘Happy Halloween.’  We are continuing to revise our letter sounds and tricky words and all the boys and girls are working really well on their handwriting skills.

In Gaeilge, we worked on the themes ‘An Scoil’ agus ‘Oíche Shamhna’ as well as our dán Oíche Shamhna.

This month the children worked on both 3D and 2D shapes.  We all really enjoyed Maths Week and using our Maths eyes to see that Maths can be seen all around us.

The children worked on the theme of Autumn in SESE, working on lessons about the bat in science, the story of the Little Red Hen and examining Halloween traditions in History and in Geography the children learned about the work the farmer does in Autumn and about Firefighters.

In PE, we began working on the strand of Athletics and are continuing to further develop our GAA skills.  We focused on Myself and My Family in SPHE. The children also made fantastic pieces of art based on Autumn and Halloween.

We all had great fun dressing up for Halloween and taking part in fun activities.

I hope you all have a wonderful midterm

Múinteoir Lisa