The children in Sixth Class had great fun and learned lots exploring Matisse in art, orienteering around the school, engaging in TSI Literacy Circles and constructing pin wheels and high paper towers for Engineers Week 2022. A big thank you to Mr O’Boyle for organising so many fun activities.
The boys and girls in Rang a Sé are currently engaged in TSI Literacy Circles where collaborative learning, team teaching, reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, inquiry led questioning and feedback systems have taken centre stage in relation to their reading. The children are being led through this collaborative approach to literacy by Mrs Mulhern, Mr O’Boyle, Mrs Cawley and Ms Loftus.
Well done to Aoibhinn, Aoife, Kahu and Seán who performed superbly for Kilglass National School on Tuesday in the second of our Concern Primary debates against Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Ballymote. We were proposing the motion “Shopping local must become the new normal”.
Building on the experience of our first debate with Shay, Thomas, Lauren and Charlie and after lots of great effort in preparation Aoibhinn, Aoife, Kahu and Seán emerged as victors after the delivery of their speeches and refutes on the day.
Thank you to Scoil Mhuire gan Smál for two great debates. Our next team will now turn their attention to our next debate against Sooey National School where we are opposing the motion “Sustainable cities should have free, regular, public transport available to everyone”.
The children created some lovely St Brigid’s Day Crosses today to mark her Feast Day and the first day of Spring. St Brigid is buried in Downpatrick with St Patrick and St Colmcille. In Christian lore, St Brigid and her cross are linked by a story about her picking rushes from the floor and weaving this cross at the death bed of a pagan lord in Kildare. St Brigid’s crosses are hung over the door to protect the house and outbuildings from fire and evil. Soft rushes grow in acidic wet soil. They flower in summer and each plant can produce up to 70,000 seeds which can remain dormant in the soil for up to 60 years! In the past they were used as animal bedding and cover for turf and potatoes.
Bhí na páistí i Rang a Sé ag glacadh páirt i ndrámaí beaga bunaithe ar an téama “Sa Siopa” le déanaí. Bhain na páistí an-taitneamh agus an-tairbhe as na drámaí.
For the month of January Sixth Class have been busy investigating gravity and air resistance. They have designed and made parachutes and paper helicopters, calculated weights on the moon and different planets and have lowered the centre of gravity by making acrobatic clowns. Check out the photos below to see the children exploring what has been described as the universal glue!
Over the last few weeks, Sixth Class have been immersed in The Toy Theatre project. It has been inspired by the watercolour painting The Toy Theatre (1910), one of Jack B Yeats many works in the Niland Collection.
Each step on the journey required great artistry and creativity from the children. Firstly, the children made and decorated their own toy theatre. Next they had to design and make backgrounds, set pieces, characters and props. Then the children had to build a story around a scene in the painting “Toy Theatre” by Jack B Yeats.
Finally, they had to perform and film their toy theatre play. The children were full of creative ideas, met lots of challenges and had great fun completing the projects along the way.
We hope you will enjoy the magic of The Toy Theatre videos below.
This week Science Week was in full swing. On Monday Sixth Class linked to an online workshop “Music to Your Ears Science Show” hosted by Sligo Science Festival in Sligo IT. The children found out how our ears pick up sound, and how they can be damaged by loud music. They uncovered the mysteries of how CD players and MP3 players work and saw all kinds of unusual ways to make sound and music. On Friday, as part of the Galway Science Festival, created Sixth Class had lots of fun making Scribble Bots which were a great success. Check out the photos below.
Over the last few weeks Sixth Class have been busy engaging in lots of football drills honing key football skills. This is part of the Connacht GAA Skills for Schools Programme. So far we have had input from Ross Donovan (Sligo), Cora Staunton (Mayo) and Johnny Heaney (Galway) focusing on the body catch, hand pass and solo. A big thank you to Daniel Hayes and Oisin Arthur, past pupils and Transition Year students who helped us out during their work experience. After Midterm we will have more sessions focusing on the punt pass, high catch and pick up by Cathal Cregg (Roscommon) and Keith Higgins (Mayo) which we look forward to.
On Tuesdays, over the next 12 weeks, Catherine McGlinchey from Music Generation will be sharing her fantastic musical talents with the children in Sixth Class.
We are being introduced to the world of rhythm, beat, tempo and percussion. Lots of the clapping and rhythmic games are already zooming in on our listening and responding skills. We are learning all about rhythm syllables (ta, titi) and staff notation (crotchets and quavers) in a fun and engaging manner.
Towards the end of the Summer Term last year the Parent Association purchased a range of science kits for the school to the value of €1250 based on the many topics of the Science Curriculum including Materials, Heat, Air, Water, Sound, Electricity, Magnetism and Forces.
Since our return in September, Sixth Class have been extremely busy investigating and having great fun exploring the new equipment in our Electricity Kit. We have made simple circuits, series circuits and parallel circuits. We have made circuits with switches, bulbs, motors and buzzers and have examined and grouped materials as conductors and insulators. We have learned a lot and hope to apply our knowledge and the results of our investigations to some design and make tasks in the weeks ahead.
Predicting is like being a detective.
I can make predictions before and during reading.
I think about the information I know from the cover, pictures and the story.
I think about what will happen next and listen to the author’s clues.
It doesn’t have to be right!!
“I predict that …”
Explains why
Use prior knowledge
Use evidence and clues
What has happened so far?
What is the reason for your prediction?
Why do you think that?
What clues are you using to predict?
What will happen next because of this event? Why do you think this will happen?
We can ask questions anytime!
They help us to think more about what we read.
Sometimes we can find answers to our questions in the story or using our background knowledge.
Sometimes the author leaves us wondering!
Asking questions helps us to “solve” the story by putting all the pieces together.
“I wonder …?”
“Here” questions have obvious answers
What? When? Where? Which? How?
“Head” questions
Use your own thoughts, feelings and opinions
Use prior knowledge to make connections
Was it something that happened that made you think that?
Do you need to infer?
“Hidden” Questions
Try to use all the clues from the story so far.
Think about the characters in the story and the things they are doing
Why do you think he did that? How do you know?
Why do you think she felt that way? How do you know?
Why do you think he said that? How do you know?
Picture / movie in your head
We use our “movie” to help us picture the story inside our heads. Smells, sounds, taste and touch can make your movie better.
The words are like the script.
Change your movie as you get more information.
Everybody will have a slightly different movie.
Are you connecting with something?
My picture is slightly different …
Why did that picture come into your head?
Can you describe what you saw in the film of you head while reading?
Can you describe something you could see? / feel? / touch? / hear?
We can make connections at any time.
You think about something that happened in the story that reminds you of something else in:
The Story – Text to Text
Your Own Life – Text to Self
The World – Text to World.
Our background knowledge is very important here.
It makes the story come to life and you can imagine it better.
“It reminds me of …”
Did you make a connection with this text?
Did it remind you of anything?
What type of connection is that?
This strategy encourages readers to constantly ask themselves what is important in a sentence, phrase, paragraph, chapter or whole text.
I can understand the main ideas of the text and what the author’s message is.
The text was mostly about…
The important details were…
I will underline the key words ….
I think … and … are important
Who, what, when, where, why …
Famous Five Key Word Search
What’s Your Story
Main Idea Pyramid
Summarising is the ability to reduce a larger piece of text so the focus is on the most important elements of the text.
When I summarise I can think about what I have read and then focus on the most important elements.
First, next, finally, then…
I think the purpose of this text was to…
I can think about the most important parts and retell them in my own words…
