We would like to wish everyone in our school community a very happy and safe Christmas and we look forward to meeting up again on January 6th 2022.

Over the past few weeks we have been creating and producing our own Christmas products. We also worked on our company name, logo and price list. We learned the importance of a USP(unique selling point) and the benefits of great teamwork. We showcased all of our hard work in our Christmas Market in school today where other classes came to visit our stalls. There was a great atmosphere and festive cheer all around.

 

Rang 3 got to grips with the Strand of Fabric and Fibre as they created sock snowmen using plain and patterned socks, felt and buttons. They discussed what they could use to give them the best shape and found rice to be a good option! We think they turned out really well!

Instead off the traditional gingerbread men that we usually make at Christmas, Junior Infants decided to make gingerbread shaped pizzas today! We had great fun cutting out our shapes, spreading the sauce, adding some toppings and finally, of course, eating them!

Rang and Rang 6 took outdoor learning to a new level today as they went on a winter field trip to Carrigmeal Woods. It was quite a different place than what it was in the Summer when they last visited it as a group. The bare trees, the carpet of leaves on the ground and the wonderful stillness of winter made it extra special. It is such a lovely amenity to have on our doorstep!

In the run up to the festive season, Senior Infants have been enjoying some Christmas activities during the past week. They decorated melting snowmen, and drank some delicious hot chocolate while they beavered away!

3rd Class were exploring the Bronze Age recently. To get to grips with the topic, they examined artefacts such as flint, a spearhead, an axehead and copper ore. They recorded their findings about each artefact and enjoyed handling such interesting historical objects.

As part of their Christmas programme, the staff in Portlaoise Library decided to hold a virtual storytime with children in the local schools. Senior Infants were delighted to take up the offer and joined Karen and some of the other librarians as they settled down for a festive storytime session. They thoroughly enjoyed the stories and the singing, but the story of Pig the Elf was  their firm favourite. Thank you to Karen and the staff of Portlaoise library for this wonderful opportunity.

With the Christmas season fast approaching, this week has seen a flurry of activity as all classes dusted down the decorations and began to get into the festive spirit. A word of thanks to Patrick Miller from Miller’s Hardware in Portlaoise who supplied us with three beautiful trees. Ewan and his friends in Rang 1 were very eager to check out the quality of the decorations on the trees, while in Junior Infants, the more tinsel, the merrier!!

We applaud Oisin from Rang 4 who came 2nd in the 8-11 age category of the Fire Awareness Coding Challenge run by CoderDojo Ireland recently. This was run in conjunction with Dublin Fire Brigade. The prize was a Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit.

Mr O’Mahony presented the prize to a very proud  Oisín who couldn’t wait to get home to set up his computer and get going on his next project.

Comhghairdeas, Oisín!