Hello again from 3rd and 4th class!
We are so excited that the Christmas holidays are nearly upon us.
We would like to say a big congratulations to Tom and Holly in 4th class who were winners in this years’ Credit Union Art Competition. It was wonderful news to receive when we returned after the mid-term. Well done guys! Keep honing those artistic skills!
Here in 3rd and 4th,we have been working extremely hard over the last couple of months and we are ready for a well-deserved break. We have been so good in class recently that Mrs. Meade said she would have to make a special call to Santa Claus to update him on our excellent behaviour and hard work in school.
This term in literacy, we engaged in a series of Barrier Games to help extend our Oral Language skills. They were lots of fun and we worked incredibly well in our pods. We also focused on the comprehension strategy of ‘Visualisation’ and thoroughly enjoyed developing our skills by engaging with a story called ‘The Popcorn Book’. It was very relatable and the visualisations we created were brilliant. In fact, they were so good that Mrs. Meade rewarded us with a surprise Popcorn Party! We have been continuing to make a great effort with our joint-handwriting and Mrs. Meade is keeping a close eye on us to see who might be awarded a pen license in the New Year. We learned a lovely festive poem recently called ‘Christmas Tide’. The poem is four verses long and we can recite it off by heart, complete with actions that we made up to accompany the words. It’s pretty impressive! We also enjoyed reading and learning about Wilson Bentley, otherwise known as ‘The Snowflake Man’. His story inspired us to create glitter snowflakes in art and Mrs. Meade hung loads of snowflakes from the ceiling in our classroom.
In Numeracy, we focused mostly on the Shape & Space Strand this term. We completed plenty of learning and activities on 2D Shapes, Tessellating, Tangrams, Symmetry and Lines &Angles. We are also continuing to improve our Multiplication Tables. We have been learning them as part of homework as well as practising them daily in class. We love playing ‘Hit the Button’, Buzz, King/Queen of the Tables and Multiplication Wheels. The competition gets heated at times. Mrs. Meade is worried that we are getting so good we might start to beat her in the games soon.
In Gaeilge, we are constantly extending our vocabulary with the use of flashcards, pictures, stories, poems and our fantastic new interactive resources on Bua na Cainte. We have paid particular attention recently to learning and extending our Briathra. We have worked hard to compile our Clár Briathra and there has been huge improvement in our ability to speak and write as Gaeilge.
We spent a large portion of our time recently studying ‘The Vikings’ in History. We conducted an in-depth study in class and covered many areas of the lives of the Vikings. We linked our learning to our English, drama and artwork. We constructed fabulous 3D Viking Longships in art and drew amazing sketches of a typical Viking Warrior. Most notably, we completed projects on the theme of The Vikings and presented our projects to the class. Mrs. Meade allowed us to work individually, in pairs or in groups within our pods. We put in a lot of work and effort and our teacher was very impressed. Check out our photos below!
For Science Week 2020, we had fun conducting some experiments in class. We tried our hand at simulating an Erupting Volcano. It worked ok but Caoimhe tried her own version at home and it was much better. Caoimhe was good enough to bring in photos and a video of her experiment and we loved watching the results in class. Thank you Caoimhe! In class, we also replicated a ‘Hurricane in a Bowl’ and tried our hand at making home-made Harmonicas using lollipop sticks, elastic bands and plastic straws. Mrs. Meade went homewith a headache that day! 😊
In SPHE, we completed our StaySafe Programme, where we developed our knowledge and skills around friendships,bullying, online safety, good and bad secrets and dealing with strangers. The booklets were sent home for discussions at home with our parents. We also celebrated Kindness Week/Day, with everyone making extra efforts to use ‘Kind Hands, Kind Feet, Kind Words’. We enjoyed completing our ‘5 Days of Kindness’ Task and it was great to see the impact the activity had on the relationships within our classroom. We also saw the effects during PE when we were learning how to play Rounders. The teams were very supportive and encouraging and we had lots of nice things to say to each other, despite the competitive element.
Of course, for our Religious studies lately, we have been reminding ourselves about Advent and the Story of Christmas. We learned about the tradition of the Advent Calendar and how it began. We also discussed the Advent Wreath, learning what each of the four weeks of Advent represent. With 2020 being a very tough year for many, it was lovely for us to remind ourselves of the real meaning of Christmas. This year more than ever, we appreciate the importance of having loving families and friends in our lives.
We would like to give a special word of thanks to our wonderful SNA Linda who is in our classroom every morning. She is super helpful and so kind to us and we are very lucky to have her. Also, we are delighted to welcome Ms. Divine every Wednesday for team-teaching and we would like to thank her for all the work that she does supporting us with our learning in numeracy and literacy this term.
From all the boys and girls in 3rd and 4th class, we would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas.
Nollaig Shona Daoibh!
Bring on 2021! 😊
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