Senior Infants have spent a lot of time learning about Space last month.
One of our lesson was making a rocket from paper, a straw and sellotape. We wanted to see if we cold blow the rocket off the straw using air from our mouths.
We had to investigate to see which position to place the straw and how much breath to use to ‘launch’ the rocket.
Once we found the best way to blow the rocket we wanted to see who could blow it the furthest.
We all went into the hall and in small groups, stood at the one point to make it fair. Then we launched our rockets on the count of 3, and whoever had the rocket that flew the furthest went to one side.
Finally, the finalist all went up against each other and there was one over all winner. We had lots of fun investigating forces through rocket launching.
With Spring upon us we have been learning about nature and the environment. Linking in with our work on recycling before Christmas we have been discussing the impact plants and trees have on us and the earth.
We took a nature walk to look for signs of Spring. We learning all about parts of a plant. How trees create oxygen for us to breath and have planted our own seeds which we will watch sprout and grow over the coming weeks.
This year 6th class took part in the ESB Science Blast and asked the question:
‘What happens to the food we waste and how does it impact our lives’.
Science encourages us to question the world around us and how we as humans, interact with the world. We chose our project title because we identified food waste happening in our school community and knew it was an issue in our homes too.
We wanted to find out what happens to the food we waste and where it ends up. We know that recycling/ compost bins are encouraged but do people and communities use them correctly or is there any way to reduce the amount of waste that eventually ends up in them?
We decided to carry out an
experiment that tracked the rate of decomposition of certain foods. We reasoned
that if we had more information on how quickly certain foods decompose, then we
could make more informed decisions when buying and storing food.
We chose the following categories
to track:
Vegetables
& fruit
Pasta/
rice
Bread
Yogurt/
cheese
We made sure to include natural and processed food in the investigation to ensure multiple food types were tested.
Take a look at some of our predictions:
Hypothesis:
‘If we leave various natural and processed foods to decompose, then we predict that natural foods will decompose at a faster rate.’
We made this prediction based on our assumption that natural foods contain less additives than processed foods.
Check out our results:
Yogurt mould.
Tomatoes surprised us!
Pasta and ginger decomposing.
Onion – liquid and mould.
Where does our first waste go?
Food waste
is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences.
More than one quarter of the food produced globally is wasted. It is a significant contributor to climate change, as food loss and waste contribute to 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Irish Government has committed to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, which is in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals. The EU will also set targets to reduce food waste.
Food loss and waste also exacerbates the climate change crisis with its significant greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Production, transportation, and handling of food generate significant Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and when food ends up in landfills, it generates methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas.
‘Reducing food waste in our school and community’
As part of our investigation into how food waste impacts our lives, we decided it would be useful if we tracked the hot lunches that are wasted in our own school.
We
are lucky to receive hot lunches every day and can order from a range of
options, including chicken curry, shepherd’s pie and pasta bake.
We
tracked food waste in all the classes over a number of weeks from November ’23
to January ’24.
Our results were as follows:
We have lots of work still to do to reduce food waste in our school.
Check out our presentation in the RDS. We worked hard to prepare our Science Blast booklets in anticipation of answering questions from our judge.
We were delighted to receive such positive feedback and comments from the judge!
Science Blast in the RDS was an amazing day and we got to meet with other students, listen to scientists giving talks and try out some cool Science experiments 😁
We have been learning about the environment and climate change in 6th class and are busy working on our Science Blast submission.
As part of our research into climate change, we studied some shocking facts about the way it affects different countries. We have been learning about Malawi and the economy there. We watched some great Donal Skehan clips about a visit he took there and heard some interviews with locals regarding the changing climate over the past number of years.
We saw how drought affects crop yields and how heavy rain can also be responsible for destroying products. We also learned about how access to clean drinking water can affect people in developing countries. Access to clean water is not something we should take for granted.
We decided to carry out an investigation into water filtration and tried our best to filter water to make it cleaner ourselves. Here’s how we got on:
Materials:
Bucket of mud to add to water
Clear plastic cups
Coffee filters, plastic bags, tissues
Elastic bands
Method:
Collect some mud/ muck from outside to add to clean water.
Mix the mud into the water until it’s cloudy.
Use 1 clear cup to test possible filters: cover the top of the cup with a choice of coffee filters/ tissue or plastic (or a combination of all) and use an elastic band to keep in place.
Pour the water in the cup through the ‘filter’ into another clear sup.
Assess the cloudiness of the water after passing through the filter; is it less cloudy? Do you have you to pass it through more than one time?
Determine what material works best to filter water.
Adding muddy water.
Collecting mud to add to the water first.
Teamwork.
Attempting to filter.
Using coffee filters first.
We were impressed by some of the teams ability to filter the mud out of the water – or so it seemed! We still knew that the water was contaminated and couldn’t be used by humans to drink or wash or cook.
Paper and coffee filter combination.
Pouring slowly to test if this helped with filtration.
Coffee filters didn’t appear to work by themselves.
Securing with an elastic band.
Testing.
Monitoring results.
It was apparent that filtering water using a home – made system was extremely time – consuming. We think that everyone should have access to clean drinking water, no matter where they live.
We love to integrate technology into the classroom whenever we can. Children are so adept at using IT now they are practically teaching us! We make regular use of the school tablets to enhance our learning, particularly during Math stations.
We use the IWB daily in the class and children love to get a chance to play games in literacy and numeracy activities. We teach basic programming throughout the school and love to get a chance to use the Beebots to teach early programming skills and more computer based coding with senior classes.
In November all classes in the school took part in Anti-Bullying Month. We engaged in cooperative games, completed lessons on bullying and discussed what bullying means. We loved playing Chinese Whispers and discussing how rumours start! We concluded bullying has 3 elements;
Hurting Someone’s Body or Feelings
Lots of Times
On Purpose
We finished the month by creating and discussing Anti-Bullying Posters.
For Science week, we tested our senses. Did you know, about 70% of our taste is linked to our sense of smell? We investigated this using skittles and can confirm that it is true! We hope you like our video 🤩
6th class have been taking part in the Dare to Believe Programme, run by Team Ireland which aims to teach us about Olympic values, hard work and reaching our full potential!
We loved taking part in the programme and learning about the following topics:
Olympic and Paralympic Games
Maintaining a Healthy Mind and Body
Finding Joy in Effort
Respect and Equality
Striving for Excellence
We took part in ‘Weekly Challenges’, including spreading kindness and getting active! We created art work based on the topics covered and to top it all off, we had a visit from a Team Ireland athlete!
We were so lucky to have Gráinne Walsh visit our class for an afternoon and that 5th class joined us! Gráinne is a boxer who is aiming to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 🥊 She told us about her career to date, her family and friends, her motivation and the challenges she has faced to get to this point. We were so impressed by her story and even a managed to hold her medal 🏅 and plate from previous victories. We held a press conference and got to ask Gráinne some questions, such as ‘What motivates you?’ and ‘How do you feel before a fight?’ She signed her autograph for us and said she was very impressed with our hard work as part of the Dare to Believe Programme. We hope Gráinne goes on to qualify in February and that she’ll be able to visit us again 😊
Huge thanks as always to Paddy for encouraging to get involved in sports and to work hard!
