Santa's Fairy tale Christmas!

On Friday 6th December, all of Scoil Aonghusa Junior went to The Helix to see a panto, 'Santa's Fairy Tale Christmas'. We all really enjoyed it and got involved singing songs and dancing. 

fun friends

We have just completed the Fun Friends programme in our class. Fun friends helps children to develop resilience by teaching them  effective strategies to cope with, problem solve and manage all kinds of emotional distress, including worry, stress, change and anxiety.  
​FRIENDS is an acronym for the skills taught throughout the programme:
 Feelings.
 Remember to Relax. Have quiet time.
 I can do it! I can try (Inner helpful thoughts)
 Explore Solutions and Coping Step Plans.
 Now reward yourself! You’ve done your best!
 Don’t forget to practice.
 Smile! Stay calm, Stay Strong and talk to your support networks!

​The Scientific Dilemmas of Dippy the Dinosaur

As part of Science Week, Ms Reilly arranged for 2nd Class to visit Lucan Library where Scientific Sue was presenting 'The Scientific Dilemmas of Dippy the Dinosaur'. We learned about how Paleontologists discover fossils of prehistoric proportions and then use them to unravel the puzzles surrounding the lives of dinosaurs. We learned about some of the dilemmas of the diplodocus. How did they digest the huge amount of plant food required to feed their humongous bodies? Why are so many fossilised sauropods unearthed headless?! What is so special about their tails? These are some of the questions that were answered.

Rainforests

We have been learning all about rainforests. We learned about the different animals that live there and we classified them. We learned about their habitats. We made rainforest habitats using different materials. We made rainforest animals using clay. As part of Science week we discussed the importance of rainforests and how cutting them down effects our climate. We made 'Save the Rainforest' posters. After doing our research, we wrote reports about rainforest animals. We have really enjoyed learning all about rainforests. 

Animal magic!

On Thursday, we had very special visitors in Scoil Aonghusa Junior! Rosie and her animals came to visit us!. We were all very excited. We met a wonderful barn owl, a lovely chinchilla, a delightful meerkat, two beautiful snakes and two bearded dragons. Rosis also brought along a baby hare that she rescued. Rosie told us many interesting facts about the animals. She told us the barn owl is the most threatened species of owl in Ireland. We learned that chinchillas come from South America and that they live in the Andes. We found out that the bearded dragons come from Australia. We had a very interesting fun afternoon!

Clay animals

We have been learning all about the rainforest and the animals that live there. We used clay to make a rainforest animal of our choice. Then we painted them. Here we are busy at work!

Science week

The theme for Science Week was climate change. We talked about the causes and the effects of climate change to our planet. To demonstrate effects of climate change we made Earth toast. The children painted the earth on a piece of bread and watched how global warming (i.e. toasting) makes it dryer and browner than it used to be.  Just like it’s doing to our planet. Then we discussed what we could do about conserving energy to help reduce global warming. We talked about recycling, reducing our waste and reusing. We also talked about walking or cycling instead of driving. Take a look at our Earth Toast below.

Happy halloween!

We all enjoyed our Halloween party. We had fun playing traditional games such as bobbing for apples. We enjoyed dancing to spooky Halloween songs. It was a great day!

Fizzing apples!

We made fizzing apples! First we cut out apple templates. Then we painted them with a bicarbonate of soda solution. Next we painted them with a citric acid solution. Then we watched them fizz! There was a chemical reaction between the bicarbonate of soda and the citric acid,

report writing research

We have been learning all about the rainforest and the animals that live there. We chose an animal to research as we will write a report about this animal. We worked together to research using ipads and books. 

Halloween art

We made funny faced pumpkins. We drew a pumpkin and cut it out. Then we painted them. After that we used card to make the faces. Have a look at our funny faced pumpkins below. We also made Halloween silhouettes. We painted paper plates. We chose cats, witches or bats for our silhouettes. Then we cut them out and painted them. Finally we stuck them on our paper plates. Take a look at our silhouettes.  

Maths week

During Maths Week, we had a fun going on a maths trail. We had questions to answer and we explored outside to find the answers. We estimated, counted and found shapes in the environment. In the classroom, we played games and solved puzzles. We used lots of maths vocabulary. We worked on using appropriate strategies for solving problems. It was a fantastic week of learning. 

IPads

We like to use Ipads to support our Literacy learning. 

september star line winners!!

Road safety assembly!

Our class worked really hard learning a short play to demonstrate the importance of road safety. Then they sang The Safe Cross Code. 

Leaf art

We went outside to gather fallen leaves. Then we used the leaves to create animals. Here we are making our leaf animals.