Contents:
- A note from Tim
- Classroom Updates
- Extra Curricular Activities
A note from Tim
It has been a really busy term in the school so far but a very enjoyable one too. The children have been working extra hard on their New Year’s school resolutions and the results have been fantastic. They have also been making huge improvements in terms of being kind and there have been so many deserving Stars’ of the Week this term.
Now that the days are getting brighter there have been lots of sporting activities and competitions taking place and the students partaking in these events have represented the school spectacularly and have done us all proud.
I’m really looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things the children get up to over the next term and I know they will be very busy with Seachtain na Gaeilge and lots more!!!
Tim
Classroom Updates
Mark’s Setanta Class
In Mark’s class, we have been focusing on our fine motor skills. We have been weaving, threading, sorting and organising in addition to using play dough and theraputty. This builds up the muscles in our hands which makes controlling our pencil easier.
Sinéad’s Setanta Class
In Sinéad’s class we are learning about “The Home”. We learned about different types of houses and looked at our homes on Google Maps. We are learning cleaning skills; sweeping, mopping, wiping, dusting, and washing and drying laundry. We are also practising taking care of babies; feeding, burping, holding them carefully and wrapping them up in their blankets so they are snuggly and warm.
April’s Junior Infants
In April’s class we’ve been learning all about tempo and pitch in music. We have listened to different music genres to explore this, and our class was really enjoying some fast paced classical music! We explored some of the different pitched Boomwhackers, and then played along to some famous songs. We worked in groups of different coloured Boomwhackers to follow along and play the different notes in songs.
Báetán’s Junior Infants
In Báetán’s class, we spent some time learning about capacity. The children got used to measuring and using the language of “full”, “empty”, “nearly full”, “nearly empty” and “half full”.
We also measured out a recipe for a monster milkshake using some special ingredients!
Meredith’s Junior Infants
In Visual Arts, Meredith’s class spent some time exploring the work of Alexander Calder, who created playful sculptures — some of which hung from the ceiling. We then spent some time making a group sculpture suspended from tree branches in our room.
Claire C’s Senior Infants
In Claire’s class we have been learning all about wool. We learned that wool is a natural fibre grown by sheep that covers most of their body. It keeps them warm during the winter and the farmer shears the sheep to keep them cool in the summer.
For art we used a loofah and white paint to create our sheeps body. Then we drew their faces and legs with chalk on black paper, cut them out and glued them to their bodies. We think they look very cool!
For Valentine’s day we used red wool and glitter to decorate our hearts. We also learned the nursery rhymes Baa Baa Black Sheep and Little Bo Peep.
Elaine’s Senior Infants
In Elaine’s Senior Infants class, we have been very busy so far this year! We made clay hearts to take home to our families for Valentine’s day and have learned all about arctic animals! We have also been working on our reading. Everyone is able to sound out their own words and we have started to take readers home. We are very proud of our hard work!
We put this to good use when we went down to the hall for Book Day and had lots of fun looking through our favourite books!
Gerry’s Senior Infants
In Gerry’s class, we had a brilliant start to 2024! We learned how to make pancakes using eggs, flour, milk, butter and honey. We moulded love hearts from clay and painted them red. We painted colourful concentric circles like the famous artist Wassily Kandinsky. We improved our handwriting by forming different letters on the sky, grass and ground. We read, and played, and sang and jumped for distance!
Ciara’s 1st Class
In Ciara’s 1st class we had great fun with clay in the lead up to Valentine’s day. We learnt how to make pinch pots and shaped them as hearts to give to loved ones as a Valentine’s gift.
In English we have started to write narrative stories. We’ve been working on adjectives and including describing words to make our writing even more exciting. We have so many great story writers in our class!
Jodie’s 1st Class
In Jodie’s 1st class we’ve been learning about springtime. We made use of the new ipads on a nature walk. We took some pictures of signs of spring that we could find around the school.
We love using the ipads in our classroom and often use them to practise our maths or our reading skills, we are also learning some coding!
Lauren’s 1st Class
In Lauren’s first class we have been learning about the artist Vincent Van Gogh. We had fun trying to recreate a piece of his work ‘Sunflowers.’
This term we also got to do swimming lessons! Everyone improved so much over the few weeks!
Dawn’s 2nd Class
In Dawn’s 2nd class we have been learning about Procedural Writing. During this time we discussed how Procedural Writing involves giving step by step instructions on how to do something like bake a cake or make a snowman etc. We then had the opportunity to make some yummy toast with butter and jam and we wrote the steps down in our literacy copies.
Orla’s 2nd Class
In Orla’s 2nd class in January, we have been learning all about space. We discussed the phases of the moon and explored the life of Neil Armstrong. We learned a saying to help us remember all of the planets in our solar system and painted a picture of our own solar system.
We have recently been learning about everything to do with Spring! We learned how to use pointillism to create a beautiful spring picture.
Denis’ 3rd Class
We did loads of activities in class, but my favourite was golden time, Chromebooks, ukulele and PE. Oh, I forgot to mention swimming lessons.
In Chromebooks we played Duolingo, a language learning game, followed by a typing game to help students type like a pro! AKA not typing with just index fingers. We also did a 50 word story with exactly 50 words and an adventure story where you choose an option to get an ending. Well some people did some adventure stories.
I really liked playing the ukulele. In ukulele we learned songs, and those are Riptide and Thousand Years. When I learned G, F, C, Dm, Em and Am I could do any song.
In swimming it’s really fun while doing the lessons. After the lessons we can have free time once again, but in the water, which I find more fun than golden time. In PE we have been doing jumping over hurls. Sometimes we group up in fours and race the other groups.
We also made lava lamps. How we made them was, we got food colouring and oil with some water. It was pretty fun. We made electromagnets using copper wire, tape and a battery of course.
I also really like what we’re learning in Gaeilge. We are learning about the different years and what happened in the past to the present. We also learned about Egyptians, Greek mythology and Latin myths. Another thing I liked was learning about a scrap book that Denis picked up from a garage sale.
Eoin O’s 3rd Class
This term Eoin’s class have spent time learning about the county of Dublin. We have researched the Geography and History of the capital. We then displayed all we learned in projects displayed on our wall!
Keith’s 3rd Class
Our class have been working hard on writing procedural texts. We have started work on fractions and the WHOLE class are working really well on this topic. The class are looking forward to putting their Irish skills to good use by helping out during Seachtain na Gaeilge. In art we studied futurism and have almost finished creating our class of the future. Sadly, Godzilla has been spotted and TETNS City may be in danger!
Claire’s 4th Class
In Claire’s class this term we have enjoyed learning about myths and legends from different cultures. We are currently creating videos to retell our favourite stories. We have researched and presented projects about the counties of Ireland as well as sketching and drawing a variety of native Irish animals. We had a fantastic time during our visits to the National Aquatic Centre. We have begun learning to play the tin-whistle and are now busy preparing for Seachtain na Gaeilge.
Kathryn’s 4th Class
Kathryn’s 4th class have been very busy this month learning all about Ireland. We looked up interesting and famous Tourist Attractions around the country and created brochures encouraging people to come visit Ireland. We also researched in groups each county and found out interesting facts and information on each one.
Paul’s 4th Class
In Paul’s 4th class we have been learning about Mount Everest and the Sherpa people that help guide people up the mountains. We looked at and researched the history of some of the various explorers on Mount Everest over time and found information on Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
We created our own Mount Everest sculptures in Art. We used paper mache techniques, paint, string, lego minifigures and paper as part of the process.
Also, we have recently enjoyed learning how to do Lego coding with i-pads through the Lego Wedo app. Pupils have enjoyed making their lego move and developing an insight into the worlds of both construction and coding.
Adam’s 5th Class
Adam’s class are currently learning about Space and The Solar System. We created poster projects in groups, with each group taking a planet. We then presented it back to the rest of the class, and displayed them on the wall.
Mallorie’s 5th Class
Mallorie’s class have been studying the geography and history of their local environment. They used perspective drawing to draw their view from the school to Super Valu and added in extra details of what they would look to see in their local environment. They are also learning about life in other communities around the world.
Seán’s 5th Class
Seán’s class have recently been in intense rehearsal for their performance at the forthcoming Seachtain na Gaeilge Assembly. The class have been arranging a well known Irish melody on xylophones, tin whistles, keyboard and guitar. They have particularly focused on the musical skills of tempo, phrasing and timbre to make sure their performance is of the highest standard!
Eoin M’s 6th Class
This term Eoin’s class has been learning Discussion Writing and creating Haiku and Cinquain poems. In Maths we have been practising protractor skills when estimating and measuring angles.
The class has also been learning to play the Ukulele and building creative writing and performance skills in Drama.
Francis’ 6th Class
This term Francis’ 6th Class have been learning all about the Normans in History and the impact they had on Ireland. We first built their iconic Motte and Bailey fortresses in Minecraft and then made physical models.
We also studied poetry using syllabic structures and explored a variety of different art projects involving paper as our medium!
Tag rugby has proven popular with the class. It’s always good to try new sports…
Shane’s 6th Class
For the past few weeks, we have been busy preparing for upcoming events like our graduation. We have been working on our yearbook and graduation songs.
Another upcoming event is Seachtain. na Gaeilge. All of the senior classes have been practising the song ‘Riptide’ in Irish. We are almost finished learning it, we only need to put all of the parts together.
A common favourite subject among students is P.E. In P.E. T.T.T. is taking place. This stands for ‘Table Tennis Takeover’. It started last week and will end in early March.
We also have an exciting event coming up on the 28th of February too. Sixth class will be going to Le Chéile to watch them perform a musical called ‘All Shook Up’. All of the 6th classes in TETNS will be going.
Extra Curricular Activities
Basketball
The TETNS 5th and 6th class basketball teams competed in a blitz against St Luke’s, Powerstown ETNS and Gaelscoil an Chuilinn. The children really enjoyed the day and their teachers are very proud of them.
Quiz
Representatives from our 5th and 6th classes took part in the Credit Union Primary School’s Quiz this term. The team worked well together, planning out which topics to study beforehand. There was a wide variety of questions on the night, covering topics from literature to sport, geography and entertainment. Unfortunately our school did not win this year but we look forward to next year already.
Football
The 5th and 6th class girls football team had their first matches at a 5 a side blitz tournament. They really enjoyed the day and got in some experience on the pitch before the league starts.
Our boys Senior football team participated in a 5 a side tournament in Swords. One of our two teams topped their group, winning all four of their matches. They were then narrowly beaten 3-2 in a semi final by the eventual winners.
A great day had by all and it was a fantastic starting point for the boys as they commence the FAI schools season in the coming weeks.
Active School Committee
Table Tennis Takeover
Our recently assembled Active School Committee has been very busy and recently launched a Table Tennis Takeover week as an Active School initiative. During the designated week classes throughout the school have been availing of our newly acquired portable table tennis sets and being active whilst having fun in the classroom. So many classes have been setting it up, playing and enjoying the game together making it a great success.
Fingal Athletics League
Our 3rd to 6th class boys and girls had a great time in Porterstown Park on the 27th of February. We had several race winners throughout the day and all the children tried their absolute best in all the races.
Our 3rd to 6th class boys and girls will be representing the school again on the 19th of March.
