SESE - 1st & 2nd Classes 2019/20

14th February 2020 - Floating and Sinking
We have been experimenting with floating and sinking this week.

We designed and made a boat using an egg sized portion of plasticine to discover what is the best design in order to hold as many passengers (cubes) as possible without sinking. The record was 12 cubes.

January 2020 - Birdwatch 2020
We set up a bird feeding station outside our classroom window at the beginning of the year. We have assorted seed feeders, suet ball feeders, peanut feeders and a water bath.

​The birds have been "tweeting" each other like mad and we are getting lots of visitors to the station. Each day we record what different types of birds visit. So far we have seen:-

• robins
• rooks - they haven't figured out how to get at the feeders yet so are only eating the dropped seeds and nuts.
• blue tits
• chaffinches
• goldfinches
• blackbirds - though these do not feed from the station. We think they only like worms.
• great tits
• greenfinches
• dunnock (also known as hedge sparrow)

Chaffinch

Rook

Dunnock

Robin

9th December 2019 - Hedgehogs are Cool
We have been learning all about hedgehogs in science recently. Here is our own hedgehog with lots of facts written around her.

Dec 5th 2019 - Geoff Hunt - Irish Garden Birds
We were visited by Geoff Hunt today. Geoff told us all about the Top Three Irish Garden Birds - The Robin, The Blackbird and The Blue Tit. We listened to their song and coloured in drawings of them.

Oct 25th 2019 - Traditional Halloween Games
In history this week we have been learning about Halloween Traditions in Ireland and decided to try out some of the games that would have been played at Halloween long ago.

​We tried our hand at

• Bobbing for apples
• Snap-apple
• Tower of Flour
• Predict your future
• Pass the apple

Friday Oct 11th 2019 - The Eagle has landed
As part of Space Week 2019 1st and 2nd Class discussed what it would be like to live on the moon. We designed and made our own astronaut suits. These had to be able to withstand temperatures as high as 123 degrees Celsius and as low as -233 degrees Celsius. They had to be able to supply oxygen to breathe. We also had to figure out how we would cope with having very little gravity on the moon and what we would do to protect us from harmful rays from the sun as the moon has no protective atmosphere.

We brought in some space related pieces and set up a display.
​

Blackrock Observatory in Cork captured our unique of the planet Saturn. 
 
​You can see the rings around the planet.

Friday Sept 20th 2019
We buried a time capsule with samples of our handwriting, our hopes for the coming school year, a copy of today's paper and some other unusual items (sliotar, picachu, gear) today. We will dig it up at the end of the school year - if we can find it!!!

Tuesday Sept 5th 2019.
We went on a mini-beast search in the school grounds today. We found:-

• Spiders Eggs
• Woodlice under stones and under a piece of rotten wood
• Worms in the vegetable beds
• Spiders around the windows
• Lots of daddy-long-legs
• A fly caught in a spider's web
• Midges
• Lots of flysl
• Honey Bees

There is a wonderful range off minibeast biodiversity in our school.