Dec 10, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
Freedom – What does it mean for us? In order to highlight the importance of the fundamental rights of children, PREDA Ireland invited the children of Citywest & Saggart CNS and all schools across Ireland to take part in a novel project they organised on Wednesday December 10th 2014 – International Human Rights Day. They asked the school children of Citywest & Saggart CNS to take a photo on Wednesday December 10th, which they feel represents “Freedom”. The simple brief was as follows: This image can be fun, creative or thought provoking; it’s up to you! After talking, discussing and brainstorming freedom in groups, the children were then asked to create a still image that they felt was most reflective of their perspectives on freedom and their discussion with their peers. It is important to note that I had nothing to do with the creation of these images. I merely facilitated a the discussion and helped the children to organise their own still image in the open space. The children were autonomous agents in the creation of the images and provided excellent reasoning for the creation of the two very distinct images. The two images are below: Image number one shows the children in four distinct rows – a back row of children stand, a second row of children kneeling, a third row of children sitting and a front row of two children lying down! The children represent the ‘Steps to Freedom’ and the boy in front is ready to walk up the steps of freedom. Image number two shows the children running around freely – some of the children are running...
Nov 28, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
In first class we have started to learn how to solve maths storys and worded problems. Sometimes we can’t see the maths in the maths story! To help us make a number sentence from a number story we have to be RUDE! Below is our very first maths story that we successfully solved and a brief description of our RUDE problem solving strategy! There are three black rabbits.There are four white rabbits. How many rabbits are there...
Nov 25, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
Dear Parents/Guardians, Parent Teacher meetings will take place after school on Monday 8th, Tuesday 9th, Wednesday 10th, Thursday 11th and Friday 12th December 2014. These meetings will start at 2.40pm and each meeting will last 10 minutes. A blank timetable will be posted outside the classroom on Thursday 27th November for you to fill in. If you will not be available to fill in a slot, you can ring the school and ask us to fill in a time slot for you. With thanks, Mr...
Nov 17, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
This is how we learn our spellings: Look Say Cover Write Check. Check out this fabulous website that helps make learning tables...
Nov 13, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
As part of Science Week, First Class have been working scientifically to see if items will sink or float. We have been using the following scientific skills: questioning observing predicting investigating and experimenting recording and communicating classifying Some items we investigated to see if they could sink or float included: paper clips, conkers, pencils, pens, white tack, cubes, avatars, leaves. To visit the gallery to see some photos please click...
Nov 7, 2014 | First Class – Mr Kinsella
First class is so excited about next week’s Science Week. Here are five reasons why: We will have a visit from National University of Ireland biologist Dr David Fitzpatrick who will be conducting experiments with us. Dr Fitzpatrick is even bringing lab coats for all the budding scientists! We will be working scientifically with Mr Ronayne. We will be choosing things to see if they will float or sink. Of course as good scientists always do, we will be making predictions first. We will be conducting the Balloon Rocket experiment which ties in with this year’s theme for Science Week, The Power of Science. We will be constructing our very own bridge using various different manipulatives. Our inspiration is the bridge below, which is just outside our school! We will showcase our bridges to the school community on Friday 14th November...
