We recognise that for many of our families, children may be facing additional challenges through this period of school closure. Our SEN team have therefore devised the following Padlet to support our families and learners, specifically in SEN – but could be applied to all learners in our school. To visit the Padlet, please click here.
The Padlet include ideas, information, advice and practical support on the following areas:
· Literacy Resources
· Numeracy Resources
· Speech and Language
· Fine and Gross Motor Skills
· Sensory
· Wellbeing
· EAL
· Social Skills
· Regulation Resources
· PEC’s, Visual Schedule and Visual Aids
· Fun Activities
· Supports for Parents
We had a very special visitor to Room 12 recently – a lovely little Jack Russell dog called Holly!
The children were so excited to meet her. Holly was very friendly, calm, and extremely well behaved. She happily sat with the children while they took turns giving her some treats, which she enjoyed very much.
It was a wonderful show-and-tell experience for everyone.
Third Class Room 12 had great fun creating our own volcano models with Ms. McDonald. Using recycled newspaper, masking tape, and a plastic bottle, we carefully built the shape of our volcanoes before painting and decorating them. Once the models were complete, we carried out an exciting science experiment to make the volcanoes erupt. The room was filled with excitement as we watched our creations bubble and overflow!
Once upon a time, on Thursday 5th March, we celebrated World Book Day in St. Mary’s with lots of fun activities taking place in classrooms all across our school.
From character maps to hotseating, from book reviews to bookmarks, everyone was invested in the day, with many children and teachers donning costumes of their favourite book characters.
One of the most popular activities is our buddy reading. Our older senior classes link up with the junior rooms, and the older children either read to the younger children or aid them with their reading.
It’s great to see the bond between the age groups and a lovely event to mark the day.
On Febraury 16th, 6 teams from St. Mary’s NS travelled to the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown in Dublin to take part in the Regional Primary School’s Volleyball Championships.
Schools from Cavan, Meath, Louth and Dublin all competed in a great day’s competition with our boys and girls showing great determination, respect and passion. Congratulations to all on a great day with great fun.
Special congratulations to our mixed team, who won out their section and now have qualified for the National Championships in Limerick in late March.
Éist leis an ceol atá muid ag baint taitneamh as sa chlós. Tá físeán agus focail anseo freisin chun a bheith ag canadh as ord sa bhaile!
Have a listen to some of the music we’ve been enjoying on the yard. You can find lyrics and videos to help you sing and dance along at home too!
Spotify Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2COy9ZzkPtpNMtD7nblseK
Songs List
https://songsinirish.com/artist/tg-lurgan/
You Tube Channel
On Tuesday 18th November, 6th Class pupils hosted our annual Science Fair in the school hall. The pupils had worked very hard to research, experiment with and produce their projects in the week before the fair. Projects themes varied from electrical circuits. chemical reactions, physical reactions, propuslion, magnetism, friction and density.
Every pupil from Junior Infants to 5th Class visited the Fair throughout the day, and it’s fair to say they were blown away by the projects on show. Great credit must go to our 6th Class pupils, as they varied their explanations for each class level and made it very enjoyable.
It was a fantastic display of scientific knowledge and well done to all.
Well, what a week it was! There was so much exploration, play, investigations and fun going on in St. Mary’s this week. From Science experiments to maths problems to STEM challenges to coding, the pupils of our school were put to the test so many times, and excelled in exciting and ingenius ways.
One of the big talking points and sources of interest, was our whole-school STEM challenge, The Egg Drop Challenge. Every class were given a small list of supplies and an egg. Their challenge: To find a way using only those supplies to protect their egg from a 6 metre or 20 foot drop. Ideas were aplenty and it all came down to a big drop event on Friday afternoon, when each class submitted one design to withstand the drop. Our pupils were hugely successful, with 12 classes beating the drop and their egg remaining intact. Unfortunately, 7 designs left their eggs scrambled! But what a fun challenge.
It ended in the hall but started in each classroom, with brainstorming, group ideas, experimenting and finally deciding collectively on a class design submission. Here are some pictures of Room 13’s process – which, I’m sure they’d like to add, was successful in protecting their egg.
As well as all the fun in school, our 6th class were also treated to a hugely entertaining and educational science show in Virginia Library. Mark Langtry, or Mark the Science Guy, from RTE and Explorium Ireland, gave our pupils a wonderful presentation on the effects we have on our climate. It was hugely entertaining. Our pupils showed off great knowledge and inquisitiveness throughout and came back to school beaming.
Our 6th classes have started their cycling course with instructors from CycleRight.
All students, no matter their ability, will learn the rules of the road and how to cycle safely. We have some beginners, who already are cycling after lesson 1. And of course, more experienced riders will improve their skills and knowledge.
By week 6 of the lessons, all our cyclists will take to the road to test out their skills and road rules awareness. What a wonderful opportunity and a great skill to learn in our P.E. lessons this term.
