Term 2 2016/2017

In the Classrooms...

Here in St. Mary's we are busy taking part in some wonderful learning. This page will highlight many of our fun activities, our amazing creativity and our exceptional efforts this school year!

Magnetism
Junior Infants have been learning about magnets and investigating what objects are attracted by magnets. We explored items in the classroom and out in the yard. We also did some experiments to test whether magnets would work through water and wood.

Junior Infant School Trip to Newgrange Farm

Having learned all about life on a farm and about the animals, the infant classes got the opportunity to visit Newgrange Farm. There were so many things to do including: driving tractors, finding our way through a maze made of bales of hay, playing with sand and water, visiting all the animals, feeding the lambs, holding baby chicks and ducklings and the most exciting part of the day...going on a REAL tractor ride through the farm and seeing one of the three bears!!! Here are some photos of the day to show you how we got on.

Our School Garden

Mr. Mahon, our caretaker, and Mr. Hickey have been working tirelessly to improve our school garden and their work has really paid off! Junior Infants have loved exploring the theme of biodiversity. We've even been reading our stories out in the glorious sunshine too! Have a look to see all of our adventures in St. Mary's new and improved garden!

Junior Infants Biodiversity Project

Junior Infants have created their very own projects on Biodiversity. We've made ladybirds, learnt about the various flowers and plants that grow in the garden and read a variety of stories based on minibeasts in the school garden. Have a look to see our creative processes and outcomes! We hope you like them!

Transportation Enquiries

After exploring our future careers Junior Infants got the chance to experience the various transportation opportunities available to us. We constructed train tracks, explored our way around a city and we even took a trip to NASA and designed our very own space rockets!!

Junior Infants - Mrs Kalisa's Class
After the Easter holidays, we returned to find that our caterpillars had turned into beautiful butterflies. We gave them something to eat and released them at our minibeast hotel. We noticed that the underside of their wings had colours that camouflaged them against the wood chippings. When they opened their wings, we saw beautiful colours!

Our Local Area: People at Work & Map Work
We have been learning about our local area. We went on a walk to see what businesses are near our school and spoke with people who worked in them about their jobs. Then we made our own map! We also learned about what maps are for, what different symbols mean, how to do a key, and then we made our own treasure map!