Congratulations to the winners of the Spring Clean Art Competition held recently in the school. The winners were selected by artist Fiona Desmond.
School Activities
2nd class in St. Ann's Park
The two 2nd classes enjoyed a very special day today. After a very busy few weeks preparing for and celebrating their First Communion last weekend, they enjoyed a fun day today. First off they walked down to St. Ann's Park next to Shandon. There they played and ran around before having a surprise treat of ice lollies. They then posed for a big group photo on the steps of Shandon Church. After yard the children got another surprise of pizza being delivered to their classes. Everyone enjoyed their treats.
Intercultural Art
Some of our parents are working with artist Fiona Desmond to create an piece of art for the school's Intercultural Day in June. Everyone is looking forward to seeing the finished piece.
Maths for fun in Early Start
The children in Early Start had a great time this week. Some of their parents came into their class for a few days of the week to play maths games with them. The children loved all the activities and having their parents and relatives in to help them. Thank you to everyone who came into the classes and did the activities with the children.
Help with our sensory garden
Thank you to members of Blackpool Men's Shed for making some sturdy planters and a potting table in our sensory garden.
First Holy Communion
The children in 2nd class celebrated their First Holy Communion last Saturday. They were very lucky that the sun shone for them. They celebrated their mass with the boys from Blarney Street school. Fr. John said the mass and the children could not have done themselves, their families or their teachers prouder. Afterwards they enjoyed a party in the cathedral centre. Thank you to the parents association and Ms. Coleman for organising the party for them.
Art from the classes
There is some spectacular art work hanging around the school recently. 2nd classes have been learning about art from different cultures and countries. They looked at the art work in the Book of Kells before colouring their own Celtic Knots. As they were learning and researching about America, they came across a video showing them how to draw birds based on the way Native Americans drew. The results are amazing. Just before the Easter break they designed their own Pysanky Eggs, drawing the designs and symbols in crayons before painting over them. In the Ukraine eggs are designed with different symbols before Easter using wax. 3rd class have been learning about the artist Henri Matisse. Mr. Donovan's class created their own art based on Matisse's piece "Icarus". While Mr. O Conor's class based their art on the "cut-out" technique that Matisse used. Both classes have some talented artists among them. 1st class were learning about Australia and some created some paintings based on Aboriginal art. They were also reading the novel "Fantastic Mr. Fox" by Roald Dahl and did some wonderful pencil drawings based on their favourite parts of the book. Senior Infants paintings of spring flowers have definitely brightened up the hallways. While the girls from 5th class did some spectacular art with leaves.
One book, one community
4th class finished off their term with a table quiz based on the book "Holes" by Louis Sacher held up in St. Vincent's Secondary school. This was part of the One book, one community activity where multiple schools in the area all read the same book. There was also a celebration in Blackpool library where the classes who read the book did a little performance. The girls recited a poem and played their tin whistles for the other schools and parents. The art work that some of the girls completed with their parents was also on display in the library. Thank you to all the parents that got involved in the reading of the book and the activities held over the past month.
Happy Talk
Happy Talk finished this week in the Junior Infants and Early Start classes. The children had great fun with Nibbles and Twitch every week. Thank you to all the parents that came in and did the sessions with the children.
Math's Eyes
The children and parents in Mr O Connor's class took part in Math's Eyes this week. On the first day the children went with their parents around the school grounds and school community taking pictures of maths that they could see everywhere - shapes, numbers, car registrations etc. On the 2nd day the children and parents looked at the pictures they took and wrote some maths questions based on the pictures.