Fun in Fourth Class

Gráinne Mhaol is a legendary Irish pirate that lived in Ireland around the year 1500 . She sailed from island to island along the west coast with her fleet of ships. She raided as she went, building up a great hoard of wealth and earning her title as the Pirate Queen.  It was not common for women to be sailors at this time but Gráinne rebelled against this.  As the legend goes, Gráinne was told she could not sail because her beautiful long hair would catch in the ropes. This made her very angry, so she decided to cut off all her hair! Her father had no more excuses, so he had to let her on board. This is how she got her nickname ‘Gráinne Mhaol’; in Irish,  maol  means ‘bald’! She was also one of the last Irish leaders to defend against English rule in Ireland. Once, when she was on a trip to Dublin, she wanted to rest at Howth Castle. However, the lord would not open the gates to her. She became very angry, and kidnapped one of the lord’s sons. In return for h...

Fourth class were invited to bring their own tablet devices into the classroom to make electronic presentations of their S.T.E.A.M projects. If you want to know more about our S.T.E.A.M projects read the previous post on these. Fourth class were given some recommended apps and using these they made marvellous creations which they are really proud of. Here are some pictures of us using our tablet devices in school and below you will find some finished videos. Enjoy! Here is an example of our finished videos:

We enjoyed some delicious pancakes in school for Pancake Tuesday. We also learnt the meaning behind pancake Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Some of us have now decided what we will give up/take on for Lent. Have a great mid-term everybody!

 4th class started the new year learning all about different types of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. They learnt new words like 'hydropower' and 'geothermal'. They also read the story of William Kamkwamba; 'The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind'. This story is available on YouTube if anyone would like to look at it again. The class were then given a Lego rescue mission. They had to construct a wind-turbine that would rescue their mini lego figurine using only the power of wind. They were given materials that they could use in order to complete this mission, such as milk cartons, skewers, corks and Lego. Here is some pictures of the groups at work: Here is a video of our windmill harnessing our Lego figurine. We decided blowing the fan with our mouths worked better than using any other wind source such as a hair dryer.  Here is a picture of one of the finished wind-turbines: Her...

This week is Catholic Schools Week. This year's theme is 'a family of families'. As part of Catholic Schools Week we invited our grandparents into the classroom. We wrote acrostic poems for them, drew them, made a list of the things they have taught us, sang them a song and surveyed them on what their lives were like growing up. We also enjoyed showing them around our classroom and showing them our brilliant work. A huge thank you to the grandparents who were able to make it in! Here's some photographs, we had a lovely day:

Recently, fourth class read the story of 'The Dot' by Peter Reynolds. ***SPOILER ALERT*** This story is about a young girl, Vashti, who thinks she can't draw. Her teacher tells her to "make a mark and see where it takes you". Vashti does this, and soon the dot she has made on her page develops and develops and develops until Vashti has made many masterpieces that are showcased at her school art show! In fourth class we were shocked when teacher's only instruction to us for our art was to make a black dot on our page. After that we could do anything we liked! We made the solar system, flowers, numbers, people, abstract art, and much more. Have a look at some of our very own masterpieces.

We have really been enjoying visiting Clondalkin library each month. We have been taking out books and returning them at our next visit.