Hello everyone!

Welcome to the 5th and 6th class blog. Have a look to see what we get up to in school! Follow us as we share our learning experiences with you throughout the school year.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

National Botanic Gardens Trip

On a (very) cold Tuesday 26th of February we headed off to the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. The guided tour was a great way of improving our knowledge of biodiversity while having lots of fun!


5th and 6th class in the Botanic Gardens!
Luckily none of the tropical pitcher plants ate us...although
some flies we saw weren't as lucky!


Some of the girls hiding under a banana plant! 


Did you know that we grow bananas in Ireland?
OK, we don't grow many but here's proof that we've got a few!





I double dare you to put your finger in the Venus Fly Trap!!

Kilcoskan N.S. Mini Me 2

Work is progressing on our model of Kilcoskan National School. This week we tackled the windows. It proved a bit more difficult than we anticipated as the matchsticks were so small...hence all the bowed heads in the photos!








Green School Biodiversity 4

As well as our hyacinths, we planted some Star of Bethlehem bulbs, or to give them their proper name, ornithogalum bulbs...for any botanists who may be reading! We used soil from the school compost heap which was formed over time from the contents of our fruity bins! 


A man's work...inside the school compost heap!


 The girls weren't very keen to go digging in the compost heap!

Star of Bethlehem bulb and some homemade compost!


 The girls finally get their hands dirty!

 Now that's a farmer if ever I saw one!

Green School Biodiversity 3

These glass vases are a great way of watching our hyacinth bulbs growing...roots growing down and shoots growing up! Unusually, they only need water and some light to develop!

If you don't have much to do, you can click on the pictures below and watch the hyacinths as they progress...but by doing this you're admitting that you have too much time on your hands!!

Day 1 


Day 5

Below are each of our three hyacinth bulbs in full bloom on 22nd March; the last day before our Easter hols! They left a lovely perfume in our classroom!






Green School Biodiversity 2...Bird-feeders continued!

Our recycled bird-feeders are now hanging proudly around Kilcoskan NS! Here's a few photos of us putting the final touches to our feeders.

Take 1...turns out a funnel is a necessity for pouring birdseed!

 Take 2...that's better!

Our homemade paper funnel proved more successful than this plastic one we bought!

Measuring string to hang our feeders

Tricky work threading string through a small hole!

Hard at work?!!!!

Lots of bird-feeders...oh and how could I forget, 5th and 6th class!!

 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a bird-feeder!


I wonder if staring at it will make the birds come?

Bird-feeder...gangsta style!!


If you look closely, now I mean REALLY closely, then you might just see a little
blue-tit dining at one of our bird-feeders...now that's what you call a job well done!

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Kilcoskan N.S. Mini Me!

Before our school gets a make-over, we are trying to build a scale model of the existing building and grounds. It's a big challenge and will take us a while to complete but it's great to see our work progressing week by week! A huge thank you to Brian for all his help!


The scale model foundation that Brian made for us 


Sticky work...gluing lollipop sticks together for the walls. 




Make sure all the lollipop sticks are in a straight line!



Painter decorators...these 5th class pupils used a mixture of
yellow paint, white paint, salt and glue to get the colour and texture just right!

We're still not quite finished our school model but work is well underway at this stage...we'll keep you updated as the project progresses!




Green School Biodiversity 1

It's very important to respect other species in our environment! At this time of the year, when it's cold outside, we thought it would be a nice idea to give the Kilcoskan birds a helping hand...so we made our own bird-feeders from recycled plastic bottles!




A bit of measuring! 





A bit of puncturing...careful with the compass! 



The finished product!
Now all we have to do is hang them around the school grounds next week!