Our Class News
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ALL ABOARD! Building the Titanic 2.0
For the past three weeks we have immersed ourselves in a very demanding, but worthwhile project. We were given the task to design and make the Titanic from scratch. We were divided into groups of 3/4 and we worked together to build the world's next best cruise liner.
First, we gathered in our groups and sketched our ideas as to what our Titanic would look like. We looked at photos of the actual Titanic for some inspiration, however, we decided that we would allow as much creativity and imagination in our designs and not create a complete replica. Once we had a broad overview of what our structure would look like, we carefully selected our materials from a pile of cardboard on the ground (cereal boxes, empty boxes etc.). We were given some general guidelines to adhere to throughout the project and our ships could be no larger than the following dimensions: 50cm length, 20cm width and 10cm depth.
Once we had our materials selected, we began the tough task of engineering our ship and manipulating the materials in order to create our designs. This proved to be difficult at first, however, we used our problem-solving skills that we have built and developed over time. By the end of Week 2, most of the ships had been constructed and all that was left was to apply our livery, or exterior colour scheme.
After three solid weeks of hard work, several coats of paint and glue, we finally arrived at the finished product. Our Titanic 2.0 was born and ready to set sail. Well done to every group who worked so well together as a team - you were all fantastic!
Check out the photos below to see our cool constructions!
First, we gathered in our groups and sketched our ideas as to what our Titanic would look like. We looked at photos of the actual Titanic for some inspiration, however, we decided that we would allow as much creativity and imagination in our designs and not create a complete replica. Once we had a broad overview of what our structure would look like, we carefully selected our materials from a pile of cardboard on the ground (cereal boxes, empty boxes etc.). We were given some general guidelines to adhere to throughout the project and our ships could be no larger than the following dimensions: 50cm length, 20cm width and 10cm depth.
Once we had our materials selected, we began the tough task of engineering our ship and manipulating the materials in order to create our designs. This proved to be difficult at first, however, we used our problem-solving skills that we have built and developed over time. By the end of Week 2, most of the ships had been constructed and all that was left was to apply our livery, or exterior colour scheme.
After three solid weeks of hard work, several coats of paint and glue, we finally arrived at the finished product. Our Titanic 2.0 was born and ready to set sail. Well done to every group who worked so well together as a team - you were all fantastic!
Check out the photos below to see our cool constructions!
Tree of Kindness
In SPHE this week, we became undercover agents and were given a task to secretly write a compliment about one of our classmates without being caught. Each person in the class pulled a name out of a hat and had to write a positive message about that person on a paper leaf. When the coast was clear, we delivered the leaves which were then added to our 'Tree of Kindness'.
Everybody was delighted to read their positive message from their secret classmate and we all agreed that it felt great to hear all the positive things about ourselves that we very often forget about. The 'Tree of Kindness' has taken pride of place in our classroom and captures the message that we should always be kind, caring and respectful towards each other each day. Most importantly, the 'Tree of Kindness' encourages us to be proud of our ourselves, celebrate our uniqueness and be continue to be the great individuals that we have all become.
Well done everybody!
Everybody was delighted to read their positive message from their secret classmate and we all agreed that it felt great to hear all the positive things about ourselves that we very often forget about. The 'Tree of Kindness' has taken pride of place in our classroom and captures the message that we should always be kind, caring and respectful towards each other each day. Most importantly, the 'Tree of Kindness' encourages us to be proud of our ourselves, celebrate our uniqueness and be continue to be the great individuals that we have all become.
Well done everybody!
Ready, Steady, STEM!
We were set a challenge to design and make the tallest structure possible using just five A4 sheets of paper and five pieces of string (of different lengths). The rules were simple - the tallest standing structure at the end of the 10 minutes would be the winner. We worked in groups and put our creative minds to the test. There were lots of trial and error attempts as we realised that it was quite difficult to keep the structure standing upright without falling over.
Once time was up, the height of each structure was measured and it was a very close race. The structures ranged from 40cm to 70cm, however, the winning group measured just over 70cm.
We really enjoyed the challenge and it proved that you don't need fancy equipment to do STEM. It's all around us everyday! Check out the photos below to see how we got on with the task.
Once time was up, the height of each structure was measured and it was a very close race. The structures ranged from 40cm to 70cm, however, the winning group measured just over 70cm.
We really enjoyed the challenge and it proved that you don't need fancy equipment to do STEM. It's all around us everyday! Check out the photos below to see how we got on with the task.
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Festive Fever at SMPPS
The festive atmosphere has well and truly arrived at SMPPS this week. The corridors have been filled with colour as each classroom decorated the doors with fabulous festive designs. The standard of work has been incredible and we have been blown away by the creativity on display from all the classes.
We decided that we would design our own Christmas door, but we thought we might do something a little different. After a lot of debate and discussion, we decided to design and create a Disney-themed Door which reflected the magic of Christmas. The whole project took one full week to complete, but the results were definitely worth it. Well done everybody! A special thanks to Marko, Kamile, Eilish and Cian who helped to design the Walt Disney castle entirely from scratch.
Check out the photo of our door below (it looks even better in real life!)
Nollaig Shona!
We decided that we would design our own Christmas door, but we thought we might do something a little different. After a lot of debate and discussion, we decided to design and create a Disney-themed Door which reflected the magic of Christmas. The whole project took one full week to complete, but the results were definitely worth it. Well done everybody! A special thanks to Marko, Kamile, Eilish and Cian who helped to design the Walt Disney castle entirely from scratch.
Check out the photo of our door below (it looks even better in real life!)
Nollaig Shona!
INTEL Mini-scientist Regional Finals 2018
On December 5th, four children from our class attended the regional finals of the INTEL mini-scientist competition which was held in IT Blanchardstown. Despite an early start, we had a great day and not only did ourselves proud, but our school too! We were very happy with how well we answered the judges' questions and they seemed very impressed with our project, which was called "How Clean is Our Classroom?".
The quality of the projects was very high overall and the Head Judge told us on the day that the standard was the highest they have ever seen in the competition. The judges had then had the tough task of whittling down the projects from 83 to just 16. We were very happy to make it this far in the competition and we are so proud of ourselves for taking part and doing so well.
The quality of the projects was very high overall and the Head Judge told us on the day that the standard was the highest they have ever seen in the competition. The judges had then had the tough task of whittling down the projects from 83 to just 16. We were very happy to make it this far in the competition and we are so proud of ourselves for taking part and doing so well.
Ancient Aztec Art
This week we learned all about the ancient Aztec people in History and discovered many interesting things about their way of life. We had lots of discussion about how the Aztecs lived and we debated whether we would like to be part of the Aztec tribe.
The Aztec tribe were very colourful and had a very unique style. We decided to recreate this in Art this week by designing a mask that the Aztecs might wear. We really enjoyed using our imagination and experimenting with colour, patterns, shapes and designs. We also used chalk pastels instead of regular colouring pencils to create tones and variations. Check out some of our work below! |
Hour of Code Nov 2018
We had a Dance Party in the Library
Today, we had a great time learning how to code. We created different animations and made the cartoon characters dab, dance and dive to a selection of popular musical hits. We really enjoyed working together to solve problems and complete a range of tasks. There was lots of creativity on display!
If you click on this link you can play too!
https://code.org/learn
Today, we had a great time learning how to code. We created different animations and made the cartoon characters dab, dance and dive to a selection of popular musical hits. We really enjoyed working together to solve problems and complete a range of tasks. There was lots of creativity on display!
If you click on this link you can play too!
https://code.org/learn
World Kindness Day 2018
To celebrate World Kindness Day which was held on November 13th, we decided to explore different ways that we could be kind to one another. We set ourselves the challenge to complete one random act of kindness for homework and the results were very impressive.
Some of the acts of kindness included offering a compliment, helping with dinner, washing the dishes, tidying the house and helping a younger brother or sister with homework. Now that we know that we can be kind to one another, we are going to make these random acts of kindness a little less random in our lives. "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted" - Aesop. |
Frightening Fancy Dress Day 2018
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Almost like a spell of magic, the classroom was transformed into a sea of ghastly ghouls, creepy clowns, death-defying demons and freaky face masks. The spooky spell was not only cast upon the children, but also the teachers too who became unrecognisable (or better looking according to some!).
Mr. Herron became a Grumpy Grandad and needed the assistance of a walking stick to get around the classroom. This proved particularly challenging when we completed our Halloween Parade around the grounds of the school which took Mr. Herron almost half an hour to get down the steps. Nevertheless, he made it, but not without a slagging from everybody.
We had a great day overall.
Mr. Herron became a Grumpy Grandad and needed the assistance of a walking stick to get around the classroom. This proved particularly challenging when we completed our Halloween Parade around the grounds of the school which took Mr. Herron almost half an hour to get down the steps. Nevertheless, he made it, but not without a slagging from everybody.
We had a great day overall.