All classes were busy  during the last few school days before the Halloween mid term break.  Happy Halloween! Have a look!

6th Class got very creative during the the last few weeks by combining recycling with a Halloween theme. We gathered wine bottles, newspaper and  clay. With the addition of masking tape, paint and glue, we created witches, clowns, cats, aliens and lots of other weird and wonderful characters. Even though they took a few weeks to complete, we think they look great!

With Halloween fast approaching, First Class got out of their classroom and headed for the kitchen. They set out a bag of apples, melted some chocolate and shared out the sprinkles to make some delicious chocolate apples. All agreed that they were the nicest apples they had eaten for quite a while!

Junior and Senior Infants went on their annual field trip to the woods today. This year, decided to visit Carrigmeal woods in Dysart. We were met at the woods by Cara, Oisin and Sarah’s Grandad who explained about all the various types of trees in the woods. We spotted oak, rowan, beech and many more. We saw the birdboxes and the pheasant troughs and we gazed up at the trees while having our lunch. We finished off by planting a crab apple tree to mark visit and we sang Happy Birthday to Grandad Deegan on his special day!

There are colourful scenes around Ratheniska this week as the girls prepare to play in the Cumann na mBunscol Final in O’Moore Park,  Portlaoise. They will play Scoil Mhuire, Abbeyleix. We wish both teams all the best and look forward to a thrilling game.

We were very busy in 5th Class this week finding out how water expands when it is heated and contracts when it cools. We showed this by making our own thermometers.We filled  a bottle with cool water and a couple of drops of food dye. We moulded playdough around the top of the bottle so no air could escape. We stuck in a straw, filled a basin with boiling water and put the bottle into the basin.As the water in the bottle got hot, we saw it rise up through the straw and bubble out over the top! As time went on during the day, the water cooled down and as we predicted, it went back down the straw! It’s great being young scientists in Ratheniska!

We swopped our jumpers and cardigans for our favourite jersey for a day this week. This was in aid of the trip to Zambia which one of our former pupils, Shane, is undertaking with fellow classmates from St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise. When they get to Zambia, they will be visiting and helping out in local schools, hospitals and orphanages. All in Ratheniska agreed that it was well worth the 2 euro each to brighten up our uniforms for a day!

1st Class spent some time working on a Spider theme over the last few weeks. They examined real, live spiders under the microscope, created some lovely webs and spiders during Visual Arts Class and got their thoughts on paper when they wrote a report on the topic. They are now well prepared for any spiders they might meet as Halloween approaches!

Autumn  weather has arrived, the leaves are falling and Junior Infants set about planting some crocus bulbs. We enjoyed getting our hands dirty, filling our pots with compost, putting in the bulbs and finding a safe place for them outside to settle for the winter before they show their petals in Springtime.