Mr o'dwyer's
5th & 6th class
Building bridges
Today, the boys and girls of 5th and 6th class took on a unique engineering challenge: working in groups of four, they were given 10 sheets of newspaper and a roll of Sellotape and tasked with building a bridge strong enough to hold up a copy of their Irish book, 'Abair Liom', for 5 seconds unsupported.
Several teams managed the challenge, with the winning team supporting an amazing 12 copies of the book!
Several teams managed the challenge, with the winning team supporting an amazing 12 copies of the book!
Science: understanding plant growth
The pupils in 5th and 6th Class conducted an experiment to explore the ideal conditions for plant growth using cress seeds. We grew our seeds on cotton wool in ziplock bags.
The variables they changed were light, heat and water.
We found that these three conditions are required for healthy plant growth.
The variables they changed were light, heat and water.
We found that these three conditions are required for healthy plant growth.
Science: understanding mould growth
Over the course of a week, the pupils of 5th and 6th Class conducted an experiment to identify the conditions required for fungus (mould) growth. A fair test was used and four test conditions were set up. The samples were left alone for five days and the results were observed. The conditions were as follows:
A: Moist and warm (radiator)
B: Moist and cold (fridge)
C: Dry and light (window sill)
D: Dry and dark (cupboard)
The pupils concluded that damp, warm conditions are ideal for mould growth.
A: Moist and warm (radiator)
B: Moist and cold (fridge)
C: Dry and light (window sill)
D: Dry and dark (cupboard)
The pupils concluded that damp, warm conditions are ideal for mould growth.
Geography: Energy projects
Green-Schools workshop: Growing plants
ESB Science Blast 2019
On Wednesday, 6th March the pupils of 5th & 6th Class visited the ESB Science Blast at the RDS. For the full photo gallery, check out our school's STEM Showcase webpage at this link.
Prepartion for ESB Science Blast
Messages of love on Valentine's Day
Safer Internet Day
Grandparents' Day
Optical illusion art
Maths in action: Active Schools survey
Making slime
The Great Egg Drop!
6th Class girls act as Quizmasters!
Electricity in 5th and 6th Class
On Friday, the boys and girls of 5th & 6th Class explored electricity by creating simple circuits. The pupils experimented using switches, lights, speakers and motors.
Learning about Saint Brigid with Sr Anna
This week the pupils of 5th and 6th Class learned about the story of Saint Brigid with Sr. Anna, who also demonstrated how to make a St. Brigid's Cross.
On Friday, the class created over 30 crosses with rushes kindly donated by the Lambert family. These crosses were then treated with a light layer of clear varnish. The crosses will be distributed to parishioners by Sr. Anna for St. Brigid's Day. Next week we look forward to celebrating Catholic School Week 2019 and Grandparents' Day.
On Friday, the class created over 30 crosses with rushes kindly donated by the Lambert family. These crosses were then treated with a light layer of clear varnish. The crosses will be distributed to parishioners by Sr. Anna for St. Brigid's Day. Next week we look forward to celebrating Catholic School Week 2019 and Grandparents' Day.
Smarties Maths: Exploring data in 5th & 6th!
The boys and girls had great fun today revising their learning in data using Smarties! First, they created a frequency table by doing a tally of each different colour in their mini Smarties box. Next, they each drew a bar chart of their individual findings. A number of pupils also expressed these data using pie charts. Finally, the pupils devoured their sweets as a reward for their hard work!
Junior Entrepreneur Programme: Dragons' Visit!
Friday, January 11th marked an exciting milestone for the pupils in 5th and 6th Class as they continued their participation in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP).
Over the past few weeks, the pupils have been working in groups to develop different project ideas which the whole class could pursue. Our imaginative pupils' innovative ideas ranged from bespoke wooden gifts to a movie night to a nature-themed board game and more!
On Friday, each group had to present and explain their idea to a panel of Dragons: our school principal Mrs. Cleary, class teacher Mr. O'Dwyer and our visiting Dragon Catherine Behan. Each group had to discuss the potential of their idea and how the whole class would be involved in its development.
After much discussion, the Dragons congratulated the class on their work before making a recommendation to the class. Following a very close vote, the pupils themselves decided to pursue the idea presented by Team 5: lockets and keyrings. The presentation was delivered by Laura and Caolinn, with previous contributions made by their teammates Ethan and Alex who were absent.
The class now looks forward to developing this exciting business idea in the weeks ahead!
Over the past few weeks, the pupils have been working in groups to develop different project ideas which the whole class could pursue. Our imaginative pupils' innovative ideas ranged from bespoke wooden gifts to a movie night to a nature-themed board game and more!
On Friday, each group had to present and explain their idea to a panel of Dragons: our school principal Mrs. Cleary, class teacher Mr. O'Dwyer and our visiting Dragon Catherine Behan. Each group had to discuss the potential of their idea and how the whole class would be involved in its development.
After much discussion, the Dragons congratulated the class on their work before making a recommendation to the class. Following a very close vote, the pupils themselves decided to pursue the idea presented by Team 5: lockets and keyrings. The presentation was delivered by Laura and Caolinn, with previous contributions made by their teammates Ethan and Alex who were absent.
The class now looks forward to developing this exciting business idea in the weeks ahead!
Last week of December
Lego WeDo 2.0 build and code
Ballyroan Library Art Competition win!
We were delighted to learn that a pupil from our class won the Ballyroan Library art competition as part of the Children's Book Festival. The theme was: 'Be Bold, Read a Book!' The winner received a voucher for Easons and the school received a hamper of books.
Final week at Cheeverstown
Today was our third and final week at Cheeverstown. As it was also the day before our midterm break, we were all in our Halloween costumes!
Exploring chance with counters
Children's Book Festival at Ballyroan Library
Today we visited Ballyroan Library to attend an event organised as part of Children's Book Festival. We had a talk from new children's author Sinéad O'Hart, the writer of 'The Eye of the North'. She told us about the process of writing a story and getting it published. The pupils were also given an opportunity to write their own adventure about sled dogs!
Show Racism the Red Card
Our FAI coach, JJ, came to class today to provide a very interesting talk on an initiative called 'Show Racism the Red Card'.
Maths Week: Maths Trail with the Infant class
Nature space
Science: Potato Power!
We conducted two experiments using potatoes.
1: We explored the role of a potato's skin in keeping its moisture. We observed the change in a peeled potato versus an unpeeled potato over several hours. The peeled potato dried out.
2: We cut a potato in half and hollowed out both halves with a spoon. Salt was added to one half but not the other. We observed that the salt drew out the water from the potato's cells. The other potato (our control condition) remained unchanged.
1: We explored the role of a potato's skin in keeping its moisture. We observed the change in a peeled potato versus an unpeeled potato over several hours. The peeled potato dried out.
2: We cut a potato in half and hollowed out both halves with a spoon. Salt was added to one half but not the other. We observed that the salt drew out the water from the potato's cells. The other potato (our control condition) remained unchanged.
Edmondstown NS on news2day
In Fifth and Sixth Class we love to watch RTÉ's children's news programme, news2day, each day. We even featured on it last year when our fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society made the news! This term, one of our class's answers to the Question of the Week was read aloud on air!
Volunteering at Cheeverstown
Nature trail with Junior and Senior Infants
Lego WeDo 2.0 STEM projects
Over the past week, pupils in Fifth and Sixth Class have been working together in their table groups to create challenging Lego models. These projects link with our STEM learning and pupils get to programme their creations using a 'smart brick', motors, a laptop and Bluetooth technology. In the photo above, the pupils created a rescue helicopter with a movable winch to rescue a cute panda!
100 word stories
'Graham's Glasses' by Gemma
There was once a tiny, spotty blue monster called Graham. Graham's eyesight was failing. He rushed to the opticians as fast as he could. When he arrived, he was seen right away. "You have got to help me!" exclaimed Graham in a panic. "What's the problem?" asked the lady. "My eyesight is fading, everything is blurry!" Graham started to panic. The lady relied, "I would love to help you but I'm not an optician. I'm a waitress, you've walked into a restaurant." "Oops!" said Graham, feeling very embarrassed. Graham blushed and hurried out to find the right place. The End.
'Summer' by Leo
For summer I went to Portugal. I flew into Faro and then we got a taxi to Portimao and we stayed next to Oasis Parque. Every day we would go to the pool with our friends and stay there for a long time. Some nights there would be band nights and fish and chip nights. The day we arrived it was my Mam's birthday and we had a barbeque and a pool party that night. It was really fun and our friends were all there as well. It was a really, really fun holiday and I really did not want to go.
There was once a tiny, spotty blue monster called Graham. Graham's eyesight was failing. He rushed to the opticians as fast as he could. When he arrived, he was seen right away. "You have got to help me!" exclaimed Graham in a panic. "What's the problem?" asked the lady. "My eyesight is fading, everything is blurry!" Graham started to panic. The lady relied, "I would love to help you but I'm not an optician. I'm a waitress, you've walked into a restaurant." "Oops!" said Graham, feeling very embarrassed. Graham blushed and hurried out to find the right place. The End.
'Summer' by Leo
For summer I went to Portugal. I flew into Faro and then we got a taxi to Portimao and we stayed next to Oasis Parque. Every day we would go to the pool with our friends and stay there for a long time. Some nights there would be band nights and fish and chip nights. The day we arrived it was my Mam's birthday and we had a barbeque and a pool party that night. It was really fun and our friends were all there as well. It was a really, really fun holiday and I really did not want to go.
National Children's Choir rehearsals commence
Rehearsals began this week for the National Children's Choir, a remarkable programme which sees thousands of pupils across the country learning a rich, enjoyable repertoire of songs. In preparation for Space Week 2018 in October, the first song the children began this week was David Bowie's iconic 'Starman'.
Sport in Fifth and Sixth Class
As the first full week of Term 1 came to an end, pupils in Fifth and Sixth Class enjoyed their first Gaelic football training session of the year with our school's new coach, Larry from Ballyboden Wanderers. We look forward to applying the skills taught by Larry not just in Gaelic games but in other sports as part of our PE curriculum this year.
The class has also undertaken the Daily Mile challenge. This initiative allows pupils 15 minutes each day to run, jog or walk. The aim is to increase physical fitness as well as to improve concentration and well-being among pupils in the class. Well done to everyone for an excellent start today!
The class has also undertaken the Daily Mile challenge. This initiative allows pupils 15 minutes each day to run, jog or walk. The aim is to increase physical fitness as well as to improve concentration and well-being among pupils in the class. Well done to everyone for an excellent start today!
