Fifth Class - ​Mr. Davis
​Welcome!

We, the boys and girls of 5th class, would like to welcome you to our busy classroom. By having a look at our class page you can keep up to date with exciting lessons, activities and educational trips as well as the essential stuff like learning but most importantly having fun.
We hope you get a much fun out of browsing the page as we get enjoyment from experiencing it in person every day!

Student Council Election Week

November marks the start of a historic new beginning in St. Mary's National School with the formation of our very first Student Council. The Student Council will have representatives from 1st to 6th Classes with the voice of the pupil and Council led school change being at the top of their agenda. This week children in the classes are working had on electioneering, with speeches being written and delivered before polling day on Friday. We are very excited about this new venture in the school and look forward to making great progress through active citizenship!

Glasnevin Cemetery and the Botanical Gardens

To finish off what proved a hectic first half term, the boys and girls from 5th and 6th class took an educational trip to Glasnevin Cemetery on Thursday 25th of October.
​Having completed excellent classroom based inquiries with our student teacher Ms. Jay, the children were well prepared to hear all about the history of the Cemetery. In addition to this, our guide on the day put a leaning toward the events surrounding the 1916 Rising and subsequent War of Independence. The children were enthralled as they listened to recount stories of events 100 years ago, from the rising to prominence of Padraig Pearse after a grave side oration during the funeral of the Fenian O'Donovan Rossa to Countess Markievicz's leadership in St. Stephen's Green and the RCSI. The reaction of British forces and their subsequent treatment of the brave, idealistic people of Ireland who signed the Proclamation was also examined. No visit to the Cemetery would be complete without a visit to the grave of Michael Collins and the tower of The Liberator of Ireland Daniel O'Connell.

With the Botanical Gardens sharing a boundary wall with the Cemetery, we took the opportunity to explore some features of the most famous garden in Ireland during our trip across the Liffey. The children had a fantastic time exploring the Garden and all it has to offer!

Dodgeball during Storm Ali

With Storm Ali hitting the country hard and winds of over 100km/h recorded at Dublin Airport,  the Ploughing Championships weren't the only events to be disrupted! Our weekly schedule for Physical Education also took a hit on Wednesday 19th of September. Usually we take part in Gaelic Football lessons but with the weather being as bad as it was, we took to the Community Centre in the afternoon to try our hand at Dodgeball. Some very competitive games took place and we really got the blood pumping!

Safe Harbour by Marita Conlon-McKenna

The girls and boys of 5th class have started their first novel of the year, called Safe Harbour by the brilliant Irish author Marita Conlon-McKenna. The story begins in London during World War Two, when bombing by German forces was a nightly occurrence. We get to know the main characters, Sohpie and Hugh, very quickly as their lives are affected by evacuation to Ireland and their Grandfather.  The children don’t know much about their Grandad, except that his letters used to upset their Dad greatly. Before the first storm of the year, we took the opportunity to enjoy our novels in the school garden.

Airfield Education Day - Friday 7th September

Following a hectic start to the school year, the class got the chance to ease off the workload and spend the day in a different kind of classroom. The class departed the school at 8.50 to walk to Airfield Estate, where they spent the day receiving talks from experts on different aspects of life on Airfield Farm. The class listened carefully, asked excellent questions relating to how pigs, sheep, cows, goats and chickens live what they produce.We even got the chance to pet them and taste Jersey cow's milk from the farm. 
A big part of our trip was a talk from Team Hope, who do vital educational work with developing countries. Check out our gallery for more details and to get a flavour of our experiences. Airfield is a 20 minute walk away from the school and it is something we would highly recommend you to visit!

​National Children's Choir 2019
This year all the boys and girls from 5th and 6th class will participate in the National Children's Choir - a school-based choral experience for primary school children.  Affiliated pupils from 5th or 6th classes in Irish Primary Schools learn a common repertoire of songs. The programme is selected and prepared by three Musical Directors, Órla Gillan, Anne Purcell and Mairéad Déiseach.

The children learn the repertoire in their own schools, taught by their own teachers, and join with other local schools three times a year to rehearse these songs with one of the Assistant Musical Directors. Each child will participate in a local concert next March, and a percentage of these children will perform in the National Concert Hall, Dublin under the baton of the musical directors.

Every song and accompanying lyrics can be found on the school website in the “St. Mary’s Music School” section to enable the children to practice at home.