5^th and 6^th Class in September 2017

Back to school and what a busy month we had.  To start with it was a fishy tale.  We have put a tropical aquarium in our classroom with Angel Fish, Ancistrus, Cardinal Tetras, Rummy Nose Tetras and Black Mollies.  The fish are native to warmer waters than the Irish Sea so the aquarium heater is set at 25 degrees Celsius.

Our Aquarium

We learnt about how water is filtered to make it clear.  Filtration can happen naturally or, in the case of our tank, it is man-made.  We made our own filters in plastic bottles experimenting with fine stones, sand, filter wool and sponges.  The filters removed particles from the water fairly well, but we all agreed with a bit more work, our designs could be further improved

Making a filter

 If that wasn’t fishy enough, we then worked in teams on our 1^st projects of the year: Creatures which live in the Water.  We all choose different topics including Seahorses, Sharks, Turtles, Coral Reefs and Weird Fish.  The winning project was one of the Seahorse projects, closely followed by Weird Fish.

.

The winning project - all about seahorses

A close second - super work!

We went on three wonderful trails: two history trails of Rathdrum with Mrs Lawson.  We learnt all about the past of the town and how it was; the centre of the flannel industry, a major tourist destination for visitors coming on the train not to mention having a large garrison. We learnt about the Brunel Bridge, the importance of the Mill, the 1798 Rebellion and the impact of the Great Famine.

We also went on a Maths trail.  Parents very kindly came along to make this lovely afternoon possible.  We had to match photos, price meat in the butcher, find the cost of a stamp to Peru and many more activities.

Selfies at key locations were part of the trail.

In Art we made amazing harvest breads. They are made out of dough (a bit like pizza dough) but with more salt and then glazed with eggs.  We used 30 egg yolks to glaze our breads!  They looked wonderful and smelled delicious when they came out of the oven. ….we didn’t eat them.  The breads were used to decorate the church in Laragh for the Harvest Festival Service.

Step 1 - Make a base

Step 2 Start to add the pieces

Step 3 - Mouse in place, nearly there!

The egg glaze is essential 

5 stunning harvest breads were made by the teams to send to Laragh for Harvest Festival.

  

As well as all of this we were delighted to take part in the leaving ceremonies for both Mrs Finnan and Mrs Lawson.  5^th and 6^th class miss both teachers greatly.  We also wish them great happiness for their futures.  We performed the poem ‘Macavity’ by T.S. Eliot for Mrs Lawson  and wrote a song for her too.