Science

Science is taught as part of SESE (Social, Environmental and Scientific Education) and is integrated with geography and history. We enjoy doing experiments with the children and sometimes we participate in science workshops such as the “Discover Science” programme in the Discovery Park in Castlecomer.

It’s a Sunny Summer Term in the Junior Room!

Date posted: 23rd June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, GAA, Geography, Junior Classroom, Our Work on Display, Physical Education, School Outings, Science, Visual Arts |

We’ve had lots to keep us busy during the Summer Term in the Junior Room! We went on our school tour to Activate in Waterford.

Our butterflies each hatched from their chrysalis and we released them in the school grounds.

We learned all about the seaside and water. We discovered what it was like to work as a lighthouse keeper years ago, designed our own colourful lighthouses, learned information about sharks and drew sharks, finally we heard the story of The Children of Lir and drew our favourite part of the story.

Continuing on the theme of water we conducted experiments to see what items float and sink and recorded our results. We also made colourful jellyfish in art.

We enjoyed having our teddies in school for a Teddy Bears’ Picnic and eating ice cream as a treat too!

We continue to learn GAA each week and went on a mini beast hunt around our school grounds. We found a snail, butterflies, ants and woodlice!

In English Junior Infants were working hard learning Tricky Words, making them from Play Doh as well as identifying them on worksheets. Senior Infants wrote about their favourite memory from the year.

Wishing everyone a happy and relaxing Summer Break! See you at the end of August 🙂

Date posted: 23rd June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, GAA, Geography, Junior Classroom, Our Work on Display, Physical Education, School Outings, Science, Visual Arts |

Summer Activities in the Senior Room!

Date posted: 22nd June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, Geography, History, Irish, Our Work on Display, Physical Education, School Outings, Science, Senior Classroom, Sports, Visual Arts | Tagged , , , , , , |

The summer holidays are here! It has been a busy May and June in the Senior Room between the school tour, ice-cream in the sun, amazing projects and sports day. Have a look at a snippet of what we have been up to!

The children created some wonderful art pieces this term. Look at these colourful woven rainbows!

The children also created some stained glass butterflies to brighten up the classroom windows.

The boys and girls in 4th, 5th & 6th created some fantastic Crazy Hair Self-Portraits inspired by the artwork of Jackson Pollock. The children had great fun experimenting with the art technique of blow painting with straws to add the crazy hair to their portraits.

The children also worked with clay to create a decorative tile with their initial.

In History, the children learnt all about World War 2. They then created artwork to illustrate “The Blitz” which they had read and discussed.

In SESE with Mrs Joyce, the children learnt all about the causes and migrations of famine. The children also carried out a survey to identify the senior classrooms carbon footprint. The class also discussed and identified simple measures they can take to help reduce their carbon footprint in the future.

On Thursday, 25th May, we went on our school tour to “Activate” in Waterford. We had a great day filled with lots of fun and activity.

Then in English, we wrote all about our school tour.

We also explored Explanation Writing in English. The children wrote some fantastic explanations which were very informative to read!

In Maths, 4th class explored the topic of 3D shapes. They made a variety of different 3D shapes using lollipop sticks and blue-tack.

We also looked at symmetry in Maths and found real life examples of symmetry in the world around us. The children completed summer themed symmetrical drawings.

In Gaeilge, the children wrote some fantastic short stories based on the title ‘Buachaillí Dána’.

The children also researched, prepared and presented projects on a topic of their choice in the final term. A huge amount of effort went into each project and I want to say a big well done to everyone!

To mark and celebrate the end of primary school for the boys and girls of 6th class, we took a trip to The Discovery Park and enjoyed some 99’s in the sun! It was a well deserved treat!

It has been an absolute pleasure to teach 4th, 5th & 6th class the past 6 months. I wish everyone the best of luck next year, particularly the pupils of 6th class as the progress onto secondary school. I hope everyone enjoys a well deserved break over the summer!

Best Wishes, Miss Delaney.

Date posted: 22nd June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, Geography, History, Irish, Our Work on Display, Physical Education, School Outings, Science, Senior Classroom, Sports, Visual Arts | Tagged , , , , , , |

Summer Fun in the Middle Room!

Date posted: 21st June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, Middle Classroom, Our Work on Display, School Outings, Science, SPHE, Visual Arts |

The final term in Wandesforde National School has been a very busy one! The boys and girls in the middle room have been learning so much over the past few months! Have a look at what we have been up to!

In Science, we have been learning all about the lifecycle of the butterfly. We were very lucky to get caterpillars and watch them grow through the various stages to become butterflies!

We then released the butterflies into our school garden, for the lifecycle to begin all over again!

We wrote about the lifecycle of the butterfly, read stories about butterflies and designed our own butterflies also!

On Thursday, 25th May, we went on our school tour to “Activate” in Waterford. We had so much fun!

We then wrote about our fun day in English…

In English, we read the story of “The Willow Pattern” and painted our own version of the pattern on paper plates…

In Science, we also explored magnetism, looking at various items to predict and record if they were magnetic or if magnets worked through them…

In SPHE, we designed flowers with our strengths and also discussed sun safety, especially with all this lovely, warm weather that we are having at the moment…

We learned about warm and cool colours in Visual Arts and created lizards in the grass using either warm or cool colours…

Next year’s first class visited us on 1st June and we all made “Jellyfish” …

We made cards for our Dads for Father’s Day. We love our Dads to the moon and back!

We really enjoyed the ice-creams on sports’ day to cool us down!

Ms. Cahill did lovely guided drawing with the children. Look at these delicious ice-creams…

Well done to you all 1st, 2nd and 3rd class on all your hard work over the past few months! I hope you all have a well earned rest over the Summer!

Date posted: 21st June 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, English, Middle Classroom, Our Work on Display, School Outings, Science, SPHE, Visual Arts |

Space Adventures in the Junior Room!

Date posted: 22nd May 2023 | Category Blog, English, History, Junior Classroom, Mathematics, Our Work on Display, Science, Visual Arts |

Over the last few weeks the pupils in Junior & Senior Infants learned all about the topic of Space! First we played at the Space Station in Aistear.

Playing with a rocket in Small World
Exploring moon rocks at the Space Station

Creating space related things in Junk Art

Playing with Moon Sand

In Art we made Spaceships with aliens in them!

In SESE we learned about all the things we see in the sky at night, the journey of the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong and what happens during the day and also at night.

Senior Infants have been learning to spell lots of new words with “Magic e” at the end.

In Maths Senior Infants were also learning to tell the time and played games on this topic as well as figuring out the difference between numbers.

Finally we had a very special delivery to our classroom of caterpillars! As it is the time of year for butterflies to emerge we learned all about their life cycle, created colourful butterflies in art and we are watching our caterpillars carefully and seeing them grow bigger every day.

Date posted: 22nd May 2023 | Category Blog, English, History, Junior Classroom, Mathematics, Our Work on Display, Science, Visual Arts |

A Busy Spring in the Senior Room!

Date posted: 25th April 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, Easter, English, Geography, Irish, Local Visits, Our Work on Display, Religious Education, Science, Senior Classroom, Visual Arts |

During spring, the Senior Classroom have been busy with many seasonal and school activities. Have a look at some of the photos of what we have been up to!

In Art, the children engaged in some still life drawing of Snowdrops using oil pastels. The class also explored the art technique of shading using chalk pastels to produce a still life image of a fruit bowl.

From the 13th -16th of March, the school ran wellness week to promote wellness across a variety of areas such as heathy eating, exercise, expressing our individuality, taking time to do actives we enjoy and appreciating nature. The children enjoyed a range of things across the week such as no homework, fruit kebabs & smoothies, a nature walk in the discovery park, extra play time at lunch and a non-uniform day.   

We also celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and drew some cartoon Leprechauns.

The children also wrote some creative St. Patrick’s Day short stories using the prompts ‘I’m lucky because…’, ‘At the end of the rainbow I found…’ and ‘If I found a pot of gold, I would…’.

To mark Mother’s Day, we made some fabulous paper flower bouquets for the important female figures in our lives.

In March, we explored the genre of report writing in English. The children researched and wrote some fantastic reports about the things they are interested in.

Persuasive writing was also taught in English during Spring. The children wrote some very interesting and persuasive arguments about topics they are passionate about.

In Gaeilge, we learnt the Seanfhocail ‘Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam’. We spoke about the Irish language, its importance and how it can be promoted.

In SESE, Mrs. Joyce explored some fantastic topics with the senior room.

The children spent two weeks learning all about soil, soil profiles, characteristics of different soil types and what ideal soil conditions are for growth. We did two experiments, one looking at the drainage of different soils the children brought in and another to separate the soil into its constituent parts. We found some soils had much better drainage than others. We also saw a lot more grit and gravel in some samples over others. We certainly know why the Farming Forecast on Sundays gives us all that information on soil temperatures and soil saturation!

The senior room also learned all about how the movement of electrons in a circuit creates electricity. They built their own circuits and tried to create an electrical circuit using potatoes. Unfortunately the potatoes were not up to the job!

The children learnt all about France. Each pupil was assigned an area to explore and research in more detail. They presented their information in the form of a mini-project.

In Art, we learnt about famous artist and their work. The children then picked a famous painting and reimaged it as a modern piece of art.  

Finally, in RE we learnt all about the Easter story and in English we wrote some acrostic poems.

Check out our Funky Easter Bunnies. Look how great they look!

Date posted: 25th April 2023 | Category Blog, Class Work, Easter, English, Geography, Irish, Local Visits, Our Work on Display, Religious Education, Science, Senior Classroom, Visual Arts |