Call for missing shirt and trousers!

Could you please check that your son has the correct rosette, communion trousers and shirt at home? A bag of communion clothes with a pair of size 2 'Westwind' black shoes was left behind from the class photos and another child's bag taken instead. The problem lies in the fact that a lot of the boys were using the same cloth bag that they had gotten from South Dublin County Council! So, if you can't find your son's communion shoes, chances are you have the wrong rosette, shirt and trousers too. Please let me know!

The charity has been decided!

After a lot of discussion and voting, we have decided that The Laura Lynn Hospice will be our chosen communion charity. A few of the boys' mums ran in the mini marathon for this charity and as a result, the boys felt strongly that it was a deserving cause.

Some boys have already started bringing in their donations but if we could put a major push on everyone else to also donate, that would be great as we would love to be able to give the money to the charity next week.

Kindest regards,
Ms. Fannin and Ms. McDonagh

school tour

Hi there,

School tour is Tuesday the 16th June!! Apologies for confusion!!

Ms. Fannin and Ms. McDonagh

Communion charity

 

A couple of weeks ago, a note was sent home about the children sharing a small portion of their communion money with those who are in need.

 

A decision will be made tomorrow regarding the chosen charity. It will be a 'majority rules' decision and will be discussed and decided upon by the boys themselves. Some of the suggestions made by the boys so far have been for; Goal, Cancer Research and Saplings.

 

Chatting to your son about a charity that is close to your hearts at home may help him to verbalise his preference in tomorrow's discussion.

 

Thank you to all the boys who have already brought in their donations!!

Donations

Just a quick note to say thank you so much for your generous donations for 'Strictly Ballyroan'. Mr. Furlong and I have been overwhelmed by the amount of donations from 2nd class.

Thanks also for the encouraging notes and comments that have been coming our way over the past couple of weeks. It goes a little way to calming the nerves!!

 

Here's hoping we win and get a week off homework!!!!!

Experiments - Air Power

We had great fun today learning about air and doing some really fun experiments! We saw the power trapped air has to move things.

Communion Live Stream

We are very busy preparing for our First Holy Communion. We are also very excited and looking forward to Saturday. Please see notes that have been sent home today about our Communion, photographer etc.

This is a link to Ballyroan Parish website where there is a live video stream. Some boys have mentioned that some family relations are unable to come on the day so this might be of use to them if they want to tune in!
See you all Saturday!

http://www.ballyroanparish.ie/ballyroan-parish-live-video-link/

What does the fox say?!

Hoodwinked

Well done to all the boys who were in the play 'Hoodwinked', especially to the boys from 2nd clas; Taha, Aidan, Daniel P, Amr, Marco, Daniel G, Odhran and Pearse! We really enjoyed it!

Larry the Lamb comes to visit!

Connor’s dad brought in a lamb to our class. He came into us the day after our Confession. We saw two lambs that night too! The lamb’s name was Larry. He visited Ms. Rooney’s class first and then he came to our class. He is a cheviot. He tried to run out of the classroom! He was born on the Saturday after St. Patrick’s Day at 4am. Two other lambs; Patrick and Patricia were born on St. Patrick’s Day. By: Seán and Connor.

length games

We are learning about LENGTH!!

After much discussion, length trails and work in our books, we now know how important it is to use  standard units for measuring objects. These are centimetres (cm) and metres (m).

Why would it not really work if we said, "The distance from the classroom to the office is 30 steps."

http://www.turtlediary.com/grade-2-games/math-games/length-measurement.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/maths/measures/use_of_measure/activity/
http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/geometry/measurement.html
http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/meas.cgi?A1=s&A2=1&A3=0
http://www.rulergame.net/metric_ruler_game.html

The boys should feel a little more comfortable about solving and completing practical tasks and problems involving length now. The games above should help too!!

communion scrapbooks

The Communion scrapbooks are looking great and we will be asking you to cover them soon!!

Could you please ensure that the family piece and the interview have been completed (this can only be done at home). There should also be photos to accompany the Family, Baptism and Interview pages.

Your son will keep this scrapbook forever so you will not lose your photos! Some of the boys are scanning in their photos and sticking the scanned images into their scrapbook - this might be a good idea for you too?!

The scrapbooks will be on display in the hall on the day of the communion.

3D shape construction

There's no better way to demonstrate the relationship between 2D and 3D shapes!! Pearse was very good at constructing his shapes.

Our Rainforest Projects

Well done to everybody in both classes for the great work you all put into your Rainforest Projects. All the boys presented their projects to the class and had lots of information to share. We were so impressed with them all! Patrick and Marco wrote a little about the presentation of the projects today. So click in to see some photos and read what the boys wrote!

We were a finalist at the Green Carnival!

On Monday,  Matthew  and Taha  went  to  Mr.Tizzy Tops  Carnival  in The Big Picture in Tallaght.  They represented our class. Well done boys! And thank you to the parents who accompanied you! They have written a piece about their day. Have a look . . . 

3D shapes!

We are learning about 3D shapes and the relationship that they have between the 2D shapes that make them up.

The boys have been discussing the use of 3D shapes in the environment and should now be able to describe, compare and name 3D shapes.

The 3D shapes that they know include the cube, cuboid, cylinder, sphere and cone.

Here are some games that they might like to use to reinforce what they're learning in school.

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/shape.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths/shape_space/3d_shapes/play/

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/shapes_shoot.htm

Rainforest Animal Project

We are learning about the rainforest! The animals are fascinating that live there!

 

After a little preliminary research on the tablets today, the boys are now faced with the task of completing a project at home.

 

This project is much like the Nocturnal Animals project and will focus the boys on one particular rainforest animal. They have been given the names of their particular animal which is in their diary.

 

The project is due either this Friday or Monday (the boys have a choice) and should include information on the animal in question's habitat, diet, size and characteristics.

 

The boys can take paper and materials from school if they wish.

 

Looking forward to seeing the projects!!

Great News! We are finalists!

You will see below in a previous post that we took part in Mr. Tizzy Top's Carnival with Margaret from Garbo Productions. We enjoyed a drama workshop and also made our own carnival games in preparation for the workshop. Each class made a game from recycled materials and we are finalists.
13 finalists will launch Eco Week in April and the 2 overall winning classes will be announced on the day.
We are delighted all our hard work paid off and we are very proud of our carnival games - 'The Fox Game' and 'Gobble Ball'. Please see the previous post as we are looking for parents to let us know if you are available to accompany our class representatives in April. Have a look at our two games  .

. .

Ms. McDonagh's Class Pizza Making!

We went to Milanos last month! We had a great time and were chefs for the day. Have a look at the photos from our day out and we wrote about our day too! Enjoy!

Parents needed please!!

Great news!! Both second classes have been chosen as finalists in the S.D.C.C. 'Mr.Tizzy Top Carnival Game' competition. Our Mr. Fox game and Gobble Ball really impressed the judges in the County Council.

Two children from each class have been asked to represent our games on Monday, April 20th in Tallaght from 9.30 am-12 pm. They will have to explain and demonstrate the games to the South County Mayor!

We are looking for parents to let us know if they are available that day as the children must be accompanied by a parent or teacher.

Please write in homework journals next week if you are willing and available to bring your child to the venue on the day and we will pick names out of a hat!!

Well done to the boys again!

BINGO!

Easter Bingo is on tomorrow!! Please remember your €2.

Good luck everybody!

Short story competition results are in!!!

Congratulations to Dylan and Tiaan who won the short story competition!! Read below to see how much work they put into their entries!!!

Keep up the great writing everybody!!!

subtraction

 

We are learning about subtraction at the moment and are working hard to get our heads around the idea of 'regrouping' or 'borrowing'...

We regroup or borrow in subtraction when the number we are subtracting in the units column is greater than the number of units above it. We say, "If there's more on the floor, then GO NEXT DOOR!"

In the Irish Primary Curriculum, the children in 2nd class are expected to be able to "subtract numbers without and with renaming within 99." They are also expected to be able to conduct "written calculations after plenty of practical and mental calculations."

The links to the games below may help reinforce what we are learning about in class.

Links to subtraction games
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fruitshoot/fruitshoot_subtraction.htm
http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/subtraction-games.html
http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/subtraction-regrouping.html
http://www.softschools.com/math/subtraction/3_digit_subtraction/3_digit_subtraction_with_regrouping/
http://www.softschools.com/math/subtraction/2_digit_subtraction/2_digit_subtraction_with_regrouping/

Juanita Browne visits the library!

We had a tremendously busy week this week! On Wednesday Ms.Fannin's class went to the library to listen to author Juanita Browne talk about her published books. She has written many books but wanted to talk to us specifically about her book about Irish mammals. This was perfect timing because we have just finished our class novel, 'Fantastic Mr.Fox' and as we all know, foxes are Irish mammals!

short story competition

As part of World Book Week, we are writing a short story for a school competition! This will be the main part of the homework over the next few days and can be on any topic, in any genre and based on any time period! It is due on Friday.

The boys have been doing a lot of free writing in class, getting used to forming sentences and learning how to start and end a tale. All of this writing practice will come in handy for the competition.

We are beginning to talk about showing and not telling in writing. For example, good writers don't just tell us it is cold, they show us how cold it is by describing the frost on the ground and the way that you can see your breath on the air etc...

We will be doing little writing workshops during the week which may also help with their story writing.

Have fun!

Trip to Milanos!!

On Wednesday the 25th February, we were going to Milanos. I woke up in excitement, happy as ever. We went to school and did our Mental Maths. Then, in 10 minutes we went to Milanos. I went in the principal's car! There were 2 front seats, 3 backs seats and 2 special very back seats. When we finally made it, we teamed up together to go to inside with Linda and Ms.Fannin. We got escorted upstairs and we got to meet the manager. He let us meet the chef too. Then he asked us to wash our hands and gave us an apron and a hat. They all had numbers, I was number 5. We went to the biggest table. The chef, Lolo poured flour to put the dough on it and then some on the top. Then we started to push the sides down. We pushed the middle down and it got longer. Wen it was long enough we started to pour the flour on the bottom of it. Then we used a rolling pin to flatten the pizza. We then got a spoon to mix the tomato sauce. We got cheese to put on the pizza. As we were waiting for our takeaway pizzas, he asked us questions about things he had told us earlier. Then we got out pizzas and a leaflet and we got to keep the hats. What a jolly day!! - Robert Kevitt.

Garbo productions comes to visit!

We had so much fun on Friday when Garbo Productions came to visit us! Before Margaret came in, we had to make carnival games out of recycled materials. We then used these to help poor Mr.Tizzy Top save the Moppets Carnival from Wizard DarkWad! We learned that litter picking is part of being a good citizen!!

Floating and Sinking

As part of our learning about Columbus, we investigated floating and sinking. We were all given a ball of modelling clay and asked to build a boat that would hold marble 'passengers' for a voyage!

Everybody made their boats and then we experimented to see which boats sank (like Columbus' ship the Santa Maria)and which boats floated. We sorted them into two groups.

The successful boats then had to compete with one another to see which of them would stay afloat the longest with marble 'passengers' aboard!

Daniel won the boat modelling competition in Ms. Fannin's class, well done Daniel!! Also, thank you Odhran for being cameraman on the day!

Shane won the boat modelling competition in Ms. McDonagh's class, well done Shane! We all tried again and had some more success!

Valentine's Day Art

More Volcanic Eruptions

This is what happened when we mixed baking powder and vinegar! Have a look!

Time

We will be working on time soon. We will put links to any nice games to work on time at home here. We will be revising 'o'clock' and 'half past' and working on 'quarter past' and 'quarter to'. Best way of course is to have a look at the clock at home and keep practising reading the time!

Another great game!

Click here for a Time game!

Clock Works

Primary Games- Time

This game is more difficult. If you know how to read all the different times you could try this one. It is challenging!
Bang on Time

Pen pals

Exciting News!! We are going to be pen pals with the 2nd class girls in Scoil Naomh Pádraig! Over the next few months we will be practising our letter writing skills and enjoying the experience of 'receiving mail' in school!

The boys have penned a first draft of their letters today in school but will need them to be tidied up and added to at home. Perhaps their second drafts could be written on nice writing paper and put into an envelope? Or maybe the boys would like to decorate their letter and make it as presentable and colourful as possible?! There is no need to affix a stamp as they will be hand-delivered by the teachers to ensure safe delivery!!

And, Ms. McDonagh's class have written their first draft today. We will be doing our final draft at home on Thursday. You can get your envelopes ready!

Experiment - Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption

What an exciting experiment we did today! Have a look at the photos to see what we did! We have to draw a labelled diagram of what we did and what happened tonight for homework. These photos will help!

Click to view them as a slideshow!

Interview for the scrapbook

The latest piece for the Communion scrapbook is an interview to be conducted with someone who has made their First Holy Communion.

Because today is Grandparents' Day, we suggested that the boys do this interview with Granny or Grandad!

The second page should have a photo or drawing of this person on their communion day.

Happy Grandparents' Day!!

Bottle top appeal

Hi there,

A couple of 5th class boys came into our room today to tell us about a lady who badly needs a wheelchair and can't afford to buy one.

They are endeavouring to collect as many bottle caps as they can so that they can exchange them for money in a recycling centre. They are appealing to us to bring them into school over the next few weeks.

Please take them off milk cartons, water bottles, orange juice bottles etc...and bring them into school!

Let's support our 5th class boys and this lady who they want to help.

Kindest regards,
2nd class.

Comprehension strategy - Prediction

A strategy is a plan. When footballers are playing a match they have a strategy in place, they have a plan of action. Good readers have a plan when they read as well.

One of the strategies we have been learning about this is predicting. Predicting is when we think about what might happen next in a story. We use the title, pictures, our prior knowledge and the information the author gives us as clues to make a good guess about what the story might be about or what might happen next. We can make predictions before reading, during our reading and after reading.

If we make predictions about the story we want to find out what is going to happen and check if our predictions were right. We know that our predictions will not always be right and that is okay.

This is our hand signal that we are going to use in school when we have a prediction to make. We can use it at home too when we are reading. We make the letter P with our hands.

Stay Safe lessons

The Stay Safe lessons for 2nd class expand and develop the personal safety concepts and skills taught at previous levels. The children learn how to differentiate between 'Yes' and 'No' feelings, acknowledge who their helpers are, learn how to deal with strangers and understand what good and bad secrets are.

 

When a Stay Safe lesson has been covered in class, we will be sending home the related worksheet to be completed and signed at home. These sheets will always be accompanied by a note, explaining what we did and how the topic could be explored further at home.

 

Please find below a link to the Stay Safe Parents' Guide .

 

http://www.staysafe.ie/PDFs/Parents/Stay%20Safe-Parents%20Guide.pdf

 

 

SWST spelling groups

We are lucky to be able to welcome Ms. Flanagan to our spelling team! Ms. Flanagan will be working with a group of boys on Mondays which will help to ease the high numbers in one of the spelling groups. This will help everyone to learn their spellings and strategies in an even more organised way. Thanks Ms. Flanagan!

Library books

It has come to our attention that some of the boys' library books are overdue. Please remember that sometimes, we don't get to the library due to inclement weather or busy timetables. We ask that the library cards are in the school bags for easy access at school and at home.
As mentioned at the meeting at the start of the school year, you can swap and renew books as required. Unfortunately, we can't keep up to date with what books have been brought back by each individual boy.

Keep up the good reading!!