Category: Z 2015 / 2016 Archive

Rang a 3 & 4 had great fun showing off their science experiments and explaining them to the other classes and parents. We are really looking forward to our upcoming science day where we will show our work to the wider community. 

Rang a 5 and Rang a 6 went to Oughterard to visit Electronic Concepts where they manufacture electronic components. 

They had a tour of the factory and got to see first hand how capacitators are made.

The company has been in operation since 1982.

The purpose of any leavener is to produce the gas that makes bread rise. Yeast does this by feeding on the sugars in flour, and expelling carbon dioxide in the process.
While there are about 160 known species of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly known as baker’s yeast, is the one most often used in the kitchen. Yeast is tiny: Just one gram holds about 25 billion cells. That amount of fungi can churn out a significant amount of carbon dioxide, provided it has the simple sugars it uses as food.

Rang a 5 had fun watching the yeast expelling carbon dioxide.

Classes involved: Rang a 5 Ms Joyce   

    
  
 

Rang a 5 had a lot of fun exploring the energy and forces strand.  

    
    
   
Classes involved: Rang a 5 Ms Joyce

Senior infants explored the effects of washing their hands with an experiment. First they used a fresh piece of bread and put it into a bag. After they all handled a piece of bread and then put it in a bag and finally they washed their hands and handled another piece of bread. The results can be seen on the three pieces of bread.  

 
  

Classes involved: Senior Infants – Ms Brown / Ms Cotter

Rang a 3/4 had great fun investigating energy and forces by making hovercrafts.

Classes involved: Rang a 3/4 Ms Grealish

Making pizzas – Rang a 3 were examining the effects of heat on different foods by making pizzas. They had lots of fun and the pizzas were delicious !

Rang a 1 decided it would be fun to raise some frogs in our classroom. We set up a big fish tank and we were lucky enough to get some tadpoles. We have been watching them grow over the last few weeks. All of them have their back legs now and one of them had to be released today as he had turned into a proper frog and needs flies to eat! We learned that they are really fast swimmers and it is really interesting to watch them change.

    
    

Rang a 1 took their digital camera and went around the school in search of some signs of Spring. They found buds growing on trees, daffodils and crocuses growing in the school garden and a bird building its nest.

Classes involved: Rang a 1 Ms O Toole

It was the perfect but chilly day to measure our front yard.

      

Classes involved: Ms O Toole’s Rang a 1

Science experiment on the effect of heat on a slice of bread – We explored  touch taste and smell.

  

Classes involved: Senior Infants – Ms Brown / Ms Cotter

We had great fun programming the tiniest robots we have ever seen. They use colour codes to accept commands and follow lines. Art and programming in one!

 

  

 

During science week we were very lucky to have a visit from Learnit’s Lego Workshop. 5th and 6th class took part in a machines and mechanisms workshop and the children thoroughly enjoyed it.

Classes involved: 5th & 6th – Mr O Flaherty’s, Ms Sweeney’s & Ms Joyce’s

We planted seeds in a bag to observe their growth. We used wet cotton wool in the bottom of the bag along with the seeds and then we stuck them to the window to get sunlight. We will be observing and measuring their progress as the weeks go by. We also put a seed (with water) in darkness to see what would happen and we put another seed in sunlight (without water).

After two weeks we removed the seeds from the bag to observe their growth. Results are below:

  

Classes involved: Rang a 1 – Ms O Toole

We had fun making our human data graphs. We lined up according to our eye colour.

Classes involved: Rang a 1 – Ms O Toole

We have a really fun device for working with the iPad in our classroom. We used it for solving tangrams during our math station time but it can also be used for word work and even for art! It’s a great device and we loved using it.

Classes involved: Rang a 1 – Ms O Toole

We have decided to try to compost with tiger worms. We set up our composting bins and added the worms. We had to let them settle in before we added the food. They need a dry, warm place to stay alive and eat all our leftovers.

   
   
Classes involved: Rang a 1 – Ms O Toole

 

We made a wormery so that we could see the different paths made by worms. We used different layers and then gathered worms in the yard. We had to look in some dark places for the worms because they don’t like the light.

Classes involved: Rang a 1 – Ms O Toole

We made our very own kaleidoscope using mirrored paper some transparencies and sharpie markers. They turned out very well and we had lots of fun testing them out.

Classes involved: Rang a 1 Ms O Toole