Junior and Senior Infants
Junior and Senior Infants had lots of fun playing with bubbles outside!
1st and 2nd Class
In April first and second classes learned all about the Titanic, First we learned facts about the boat, such as, where it was built, that it was the longest boat in the world and that it was thought to be unsinkable. We decided to make our own boats using different materials of our choice. We chose our materials based on whether we thought they would float or not. As you can see from the gallery we were very creative in our designs. wood, metal cans and plastic boxes are just some of the materials we used to make our boats. To conclude and consolidate our learning we wrote our favourite facts about the Titanic and we also drew images of the ship. We loved learning about the Titanic so much that we even brought our learning to our Golden time and used lego and playdough to make more Titanic creations.
We would like to wish all our First Holy Communion children a wonderful day on Saturday.
5th Class
Fifth class have had a busy few weeks. We have been enjoying our morning meetings as part of our Amber Flag goals. We created and and presented projects on "Planets" and "People who Inspire us". In art we learned about and responded to the art of Joan Miro. Our drama classes are great fun and we are really lucky to be continuing our strength and conditioning classes with Matthew too. We trained hard and played our best in our Sciath na Scol matches. We're really looking forward to the final!
6th Class
Excitement is reaching fever pitch in 6th Class as they prepare for the launch of their Ballinadee Bakes 'n' Bites Cookbook. Behind the scenes all the committees have been working tirelessly to ensure smooth running on the day. The communications team are busy preparing their JEP Journey talk, the marketing team are behind all the posters and online ads, the sales team are planning the schedule for the day and preparing the venue, while the finance and design team are making sure all our finances are in order and creating clear signs for the day!
Please come and support 6th Class in Ballinadee Community Hall on the 2nd May from 11am onwards.
We're sure you'll agree our entrepreneurs are looking very smart in their new school hoodies. We love the colours and design they chose for them. They definitely have great taste and an eye for detail, the cookbook is sure to be great!!
Amber Flag
Our Amber Flag application has gone in this week. We have reached now reached all our goals. Our first goal was to organise and run a wellbeing week. The Wellbeing committee had great ideas for this and really got stuck into the running of our wellbeing week in January. It was a huge success.
Our second Goal was to hold a fundraiser for Pieta House. We did this on 13th of February, Shrove Tuesday, with our fundraiser "Pancakes for Pieta" We raised a total of €280. Well done to all and thank you for your generous contributions and donations.
Our third and final goal was devised by our 2 sixth class committee members. They had been having morning meetings since September and really felt they were the best way to start the school day. They listed numerous benefits to wellbeing that were achieved by the morning meetings so we were sold on the idea as our third goal for the Amber Flag.
Thank you to our Wellbeing Committee for lending a hand anywhere needed and for sharing ideas in our meetings. Fingers crossed our application is successful and watch this space!!
Drama
Drama lessons are back up and running for our final term in school. It is safe to say every class level is thoroughly enjoying these sessions with Susan from Theatre Tricks.
Roots of Empathy
We are really enjoying our Roots of Empathy programme in 5th class. We are learning so much from our tiny teacher. At this weeks family visit our theme was communicating. We watched and noticed how our baby communicated his needs to his mum and to us. He can't communicate with his words in sentences like we can so he has to use other ways to communicate. He did things like shake his head if he didn't like things and he cried when he felt nervous, he smiled and laughed when he was happy and enjoying himself. We don't feel good when our baby cries, we love it when he laughs and smiles-hey presto!! That's empathy - we understand how he is feeling and are feeling it with him.
In our post family visit we discussed how challenging it must be for people who have difficulty with communicating of have physical challenges. We learned how important it is to make sure that everyone feels included as part of a group no matter what their difficulties may be. We even learned some Irish Sign Language. We have 2 more themes in our programme and are looking forward to 2 more family visits!
Rowing
Sixth Class are delighted to have past pupil Laura O' Neill working with them once a week in partnership with Kilmacsimon Rowing Club. They are really enjoying learning the techniques and skills involved in rowing. They feel so grateful to be having this opportunity as some of them have never rowed before. It is great to get the exposure to new skills and discover the possibility of a new pasttime.
Sciath na Scol
Well done to both our Sciath na Scol teams who trained hard and played harder.
Our girls were unlucky in this competition and didn't make it to the final. They can hold their head high though because the team spirit and sportsmanship they showed were second to none. Maith sibh cailíní.
Our boys, on the other hand, have secured a place in the final. WE are delighted that all the hard work has paid off and cannot wait for the final. Ballinadee Abú!!