Science Week 2024

Last week was science week and we enjoyed a week full of predicting, observing, investigating, collecting data, presenting, drawing and labelling diagrams, etc. The children worked really hard during the week to prepare their experiments. Our 1st class worked on volcanoes during the week which eventually erupted on Friday. Videos of the children doing their experiments were also shared with the classes where others preferred to carry out their experiments with a live audience of their classmates on Friday. We also had a special visitor who donated some microscopes to the school. 6th class and 1st class got a lesson on identifying the parts of the microscope as well as using it. They then tutored their peers in other classes on how to use and identify the parts of a microphone. Our Junior Infants were busy all week learning about light, the colour spectrum and shadows. They experimented with making colours, watching how light travelled and making shadows!

The Solar System in 4th & 5th class

4th and 5th Class have been learning all about The Solar System this term. They have been working hard creating projects to showcase their knowledge about the planets.

Stop Motion with Create Schools

Today Ms Turner’s class were treated to a Stop Motion taster session with Peter. We had a fantastic day creating Lego Stop Motion videos. It was so interesting learning how to piece together different movements, a lot of thinking, patience and problem solving was needed. The children worked in groups using two characters, the Lego board and some blu tack. Take a look at some of their creations below…

The 3rd & 4th class Stop Motion production December 2022

4th & 5th STEM

4 th and 5 th class had great fun developing their STEM skills with the Egg Drop Challenge. They had to create something that would allow their egg to drop out of the top floor window without breaking. They were allowed to use balloons, plastic cups, cupcake cases, paper, glue, tape, elastic bands, cardboard, string and bags.

Before they tested their creations, they made predictions about each one. It was hugely successful with only 3 eggs out of 10 breaking!

Space in Junior Infants

The Junior Infants have blasted off into space for this month’s SESE topic!

We have a space station role-play area where the Junior astronauts can explore space, gather space rocks, learn how to fly a space ship and hopefully find some aliens! They have to be careful to complete their launch checklists before blasting off into the deep dark space, make sure they have their maps at hand, and keep observations of what they discover on each journey!

The classroom is a hive of activities where the children are making all sorts of space-themed creations from a variety of materials including malleable play and construction. We have lots of writing and drawing of space pictures, letters and postcards as well as lots of creative play in the moon landing small world tray and the moon sand tray!

We are a big fan of Jigsaws in Juniors too so this Space themed floor puzzle is a big hit with our current topic!

We have also made our own alien space ship drawings, which are on display outside our room, and I think you will all agree they are a very colourful sight!

Biodiversity day in Nuns Cross

Today we were visited by the lovely Mairead today who took us on a trail of the school grounds in search of minibeasts. We had great fun searching for minibeasts and we couldn’t believe our eyes with the variety of insects we discovered. Have a look below.

Spring Has Sprung!

The Junior Infants are learning all about spring this month!

We have had a flower shop added to our classroom to help use explore the new words we are learning and to reinforced our learning on plants and flowers. We also have opportunities to practice our writing by creating gift tags and are really enjoying playing with money!

We are exploring how plants grow and what they need to help them on their growing journey. One of our tuff trays is a planting station where we can explore the soil, the minibeasts that live in it and we are having a messy time filling and emptying pots to plant our seeds!

Because we have been learning about how plants grow and the different parts of a flower, we have planted our very own giant sunflowers and we can’t wait to watch them grow! We took great care planting them, and we even made a wish on our seeds before carefully sowing them in the soil. As our flowers grow, so too will our wishes!

We are a very creative bunch, and we love to make and do! In our creative tuff tray we are making flowers from egg cartons! Its great fun and we love upcycling too!

This is only week one of our new topic! We have a lot more to explore in our topic so be sure to check back here for more exciting updates!

Paper STEM challenge

2nd and 3rd class were given a scissors and a piece of A4 paper and they were challenged to make the page big enough so that they could fit their bodies through the middle of it. They tried lots of different strategies (some hbing to resist temptation of using glue or selotape) until it was solved. One child even managed to make one big enough so that all 2nd class boys could fit through it at once. This was using just one piece of A4 paper and a scissors!

STEM shoes in 2nd and 3rd class

Yesterday 2nd and 3rd class faced the challenge of designing and making a pair of platforms for their shoes made from paper alone (and some selotape of course). To make this as fair of a test as possible, we began by limiting our efforts to just using 2 sheets of paper but we soon found that that would not be enough.

We discussed different 3-D shapes and which shapes are the strongest. We concluded that cylindrical rods were a strong shape to support someones weight with using paper alone. We also had a discussion about how our weights could effect the trial of our boots.

The predominant design was a cylindrical cog and we found that we needed to have these cogs placed closely together and taped strongly in place in order to work. If there was one weak cog in the boot, the whole lot came towering down when we tried to stand. Our work from day one resulted in no successes, but we are determined to continue working on this until we are succeed. This has by far been the most challenging project yet.

Exploring length in 5th class

This half term one of our favourite topics to explore in 5th class maths was length. We enjoyed using our skills of estimation before using a variety of materials to measure various lengths in our classroom and on the yard.

We found it a challenge when using our maths books to get our heads around the different concepts, and as the week progressed, once we had some hands on experience it got alot easier. Some important points we have learned the importance of are:

• When using a ruler or metre stick, in order to be accurate in our measurements, we need to remember to begin measuring the item at 0 and not at the beginning of the instrument.

• When using the trundle wheel, bumps and hollows challenge the accuracy of the instrument - at times hopping ahead and over measuring and at other times disconnecting from the surface and not measuring accurately.

Designing and making a chair for Teddy

Today 2nd and 3rd class were tasked with designing and making a chair for teddy. They were only permitted to use 10 sheets of paper, glue and selotape. Before we set into designing and making, we discussed the properties of chairs that make them chairs - we agreed that chairs have 4 legs and a seat and that when Teddy is sitting on the chairs he must have his feet off the floor.

We had a choice between two different teddies, a ladybird which was heavier but more compact and a teddy bear which was lighter but which had long legs and arms which would be more difficult to keep off the floor. We agreed that we would use the teddy bear. We gave ourselves 30 minutes to complete this challenge.

The children worked in groups with a minimum of one and a maximum of four and great team work was on display. Have a look at our test videos below:

As you can see, from our pictures and videos, we ran into some difficulty:

1. chair legs would split and move about unless we either selotaped them to the table or

2. stuck them to a full sheet of paper below or

3. joined them together using strips of paper

One of the groups explains their plan for this challenge. It was noted that the cylindrical chair legs were very popular among the groups. When we tested our chairs, we tested for 20 seconds to ensure the chair was sturdy enough to pass the test. Take a look at our resulting videos. Below the 2nd class boys were impressed with their creation which was able to hold a half-filled lunch box.

One of the groups also decided to use rectangular prisms for the legs, noting the strength and stability the square base provided.

Space STEM in 5th & 6th class

STEM in Senior Infants

Senior infants were given the STEM challenge to make a Play-doh boat that could float.

Firstly, we wondered if a ball of Play-doh would float. Therefore, we decided to test that out first. For this experiment, we needed a container of water and some Play-doh. We worked together in small groups and some of us predicted that a ball of Play-doh would sink while others predicted that it would float. We found that a ball of Play-doh that was gently placed into a container of water, sank straight away.
We thought that the ball of Play-doh sank because it was too heavy but we predicted that the Play-doh would float when it was shaped like at boat. Again we worked together in small groups and we found that it was best to spend a lot of time shaping our boats and making sure that there were no holes in them, otherwise they would sink! We also found that the Play-doh didn't work as well if it was left in the water for too long.
Some of our boats were successful and they could even hold some marbles! We enjoyed adding in marbles one by one, while practicing our counting skills, until the boats sank. One boat could even hold 13 marbles before it sank which we were all very excited about!

Melting Ice

Senior Infants observed ice melting. We noticed that the ice was melting very quickly at room temperature and when we placed it into our warm hands it melted at an even faster rate. We then talked about how the ice caps are melting in the Arctic and that even though polar bears can swim, they need to rest on the ice caps sometimes too. We played a game like musical chairs to help us understand. We all pretended that we were polar bears and when the music stopped we all stood on an 'ice cap' (piece of paper). By the end of the game, almost all of the ice had melted and there was only 1 polar bear left.

STEM in 2nd and 3rd Class

Today 2nd and 3rd class were given the challenge to build a bridge that could not only support the weight of a toy car, but would also allow the car to pass over from one side of the bridge to the other. The children all received the same materials to build their bridges; mini marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti.

In their groups, they children formulated a plan of how they would build their bridge. Some groups drew out their plans while others discussed. The children then began the building process.

The building process incorporated lots of mathematical exploration. The spaghetti needed to be broken by some of the groups to specific lengths, while other groups used their knowledge of fractions to split their spaghetti into halves and quarters. Some groups focused on the importance of shape in their building. One group started with many triangles as well as pyramids as they felt that they would be the strongest shape, while others went with squares, cubes and cuboids.

As the process went on, the groups were able to compare the effectiveness of the shapes and ideas they used. Some groups felt the need to edit their plan as the initial plan did not work in practice.

Once they had finished building the bridges, the groups tested the car’s ability to drive over the bridge. The car fit on the bridges as the groups had measured this carefully, but the movement of the car did cause additional challenges, but the groups found ways around these. One group had run out of time to finish the top of their bridge, so they built a tightrope walker that could move across the tightrope bridge they had built in the time.

The children were delighted to have the opportunity to show and explain their creations to the junior infants as part of our STEM showcase. 

Sustainable Energy

2nd and 3rd class have been learning about sustainable energy. With all the concerns about possible energy shortages in the news, we decided to look at some different power option that exist. We focused on wind turbines.

We learned a little bit about wind turbines and discussed the positives and negatives about them. We then explored how they work. We also had the opportunity to see photos of the inside of a wind turbine and were able to see how the wind power can be turned into electricity and stored. We then created our own windmills to allow us to see the wind power in motion.

Sock Bubbles

The children in 4th and 5th class had lots of bubbly fun this week blowing bubbles! But not just any old bubbles, sock bubbles!

The looked at how bubbles are formed using general liquid soap and water. The liquid soap spreads out with the water and helps the water to form a structure. Then their teacher introduced socks and asked the children to predict what they thought would happen if they tried to blow a bubble through the sock. Most children predicted that the bubbles would pop when they contacted the fabric so they decided to put it to the test!

Each child attached a sock to the end of a plastic bottle and soaked it in the liquid soap and water solution. When the children blew into the sock, lots and lots of small bubbles were created.

We discovered that the bubbles were each created between the tiny holes in the fabric of the sock and they all stuck together making a much stronger structure than a single bubble. We were able to challenge each other to see who could make the longest sock bubble and had loads of fun!

Paper Cup Challenge in Junior Infants

The junior infants were given a special task to end science week and put their creative engineering skills to the test.

In small groups the children were given a pile of paper cups and lolly pop sticks and asked to build the tallest tower they could with just the two materials. It took a while for the children to start thinking creatively but once they got going there was no stopping them!

Celery Experiment

In 1st class the children are exploring the process of plants absorbing water through their stems.

We have placed a stick of celery in a glass of water with some food colouring to see if we can observe what happens as the plant drinks the water.

We have had lots of interesting predictions so far:

1. Most children have predicted that the stem will change colour.

2. Some children think the leaves will.

3. Some think they will just die.

4. One child predicts that the celery will absorb the clean water and eliminate the food colouring somehow!

We will have to watch this space and see who, if anyone, is right!

Egg Drop Challenge

1st group were working on a tricky task this week. The class were given the task to try to design something which would protect an egg and prevent it from breaking when dropped from a height. Most groups predicted that this was an impossible challenge and that the eggs were all sure to break when dropped from a height.

The class was split into groups that had to work collaboratively to design something to protect their eggs. Each group had paper, straws, elastic bands, sellotape and glue. and they were allowed to choose whatever they wanted from the recyclables too.

To make sure it was a fair test, all the eggs would be dropped from 2 stories up. We had very impressive designs and the children considered lots of variables such as using light materials so the egg would fall gently and one group even took aerodynamics into account as they tried to design a parachute type design to slow the eggs fall.

We were thrilled to see that our predictions were totally accurate as we had a 50% success rate with 50% of the eggs not breaking!