All those in 6th class who will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation later this month had their Ceremony of  Light in Portlaoise last week. It was celebrated  by Bishop Denis Nulty. At this ceremony, the “flame of faith” is handed on by the parents to the boys and girls as they begin to take responsibility for their own faith.  Before they headed off to Portlaoise they celebrated in advance  by having some pizza which was made by some of their classmates!

With China being to the forefront of worldwide news at the moment, many classes took the opportunity to learn a little about the country. Rang 2 used the I-pads to do some research and read books all about China. They then made group projects based on their research. After learning how to write their names in Chinese, they learned about pandas, painted them during Art class and finished off by doing  some report writing on them. Meanwhile, across the corridor in Rang 6, Chinese dragons appeared following a lot cooperation and teamwork!

1st class were busy making butter last week! We looked back to when people didn’t have electricity or electrical kitchen equipment. With great determination and hard work, we made butter by taking turns shaking the jar containing the cream. We then compared that method to the one where we used an electric hand mixer to whip the cream into butter. The results were not surprising – it was much quicker to make butter with the electric hand mixer! We came to the conclusion that electric tools like hand mixers are definitely very convenient and easy to use. Finally we got to taste our delicious homemade butter on some toast!

The children in 3rd class integrated Gaeilge, Technology, Visual Arts and more while  constructing their dioramas of seomraí sa teach. Their architectural and construction skills were put to the test as they made plans of their rooms, constructed them, made the furniture with recycled materials and pulled everything together for presentation. After they had completed their rooms, tháinig na páistí ó Rang a Sé isteach agus chuir siad ceisteanna ar na páistí ó Rang a Trí faoi na seomraí.

As the days get longer and we are all longing for Spring, all classes devoted some time to learning about St. Brigid and the traditions surrounding the feast. Rang 1 were very busy making St. Brigid’s crosses and they were very proud of their finished products.

Each year around 25,000 school children around Ireland go to battle in the Credit Union Schools Quiz which is now in its 29th year. On Friday 31st January we were very ably represented at the first stage of the quiz by our team from 6th class. Their general knowledge was well and truly tested and they had a great night!