We had another visitor today as part of the Creative Schools programme – Helena Golden, a Basket Maker and Willow Artist came to do a workshop with us.
We really enjoyed learning about weaving, working with willow and charcoal, and everyone made a fabulous piece to bring home with them – we made beautiful wall hangings, finshing rods and bird feeders. Thank you Helena for a wonderful experience!
Each week during February, we went down to the football pitches to walk or run laps of the track – we had to postpone our last week due to the snow, but we have managed to increase our laps each week so far – well done everyone!
Last week, we started a block of Volleyball coaching with Donal, organised by Cavan Sports Partnership. It has been great fun learning new skills and a new game for all of us!
We are also taking part in the Active School Flag ‘Run Around Europe’ Challenge – each classroom has chosen a European city to run to and we are counting our laps every day. The Junior Room are running to London, the Middle Room are running to Brussels and the Senior Room are running to Paris – we are well on our way already! How many different cities will we get to before the Easter hoildays?
We have been celebrating Creative February as part of our involvement in the Creative Schools programme.
We had a visit from Zoe Basha on 19th February – we enjoyed lots of different music and drama improvisation games and activities.
On 29th February, we got together in our teams to be creative! We had collected lots of different boxes and junk art materials and sat down together to see what we could make. There were some fantastic ideas and at the end of the hour – each group had made something completely different – we had robots, gardens, houses, villages, an arcade and the instruments for a rock band! There was lots of co-operation and team work on display, as well as great imagination – well done everyone!
Over the last few weeks, we have also been collecting folklore from our families and friends. We have gathered some amazing stories, photos, artefacts and recordings about what life was like in the past, both in Killeshandra and further afield. We had a chance this week to share these with the rest of the school. Our Creative Associate, Ultan, is going to work with us over the next few months on a project where we can record these stories and share them with everyone in the community. Thank you to everyone who has shared their stories so far – there will be lots more exciting opportunities to get involved with this project as we move forward!
February was a busy month in Aistear – we were at the Clothes Shop! We set up a clothes shop where we bought, sold and even modelled some clothes. We made a shop in our Small World play, and we were dressmakers in Art when we designed and created clothes for our models.
We celebrated Global Play Day today as part of Creative February. We enjoyed investigating some of the new STEM resources that arrived last week, had great fun in the playground and played with the games that we brought in from home. There was even time for some pancakes at break time as well!
We had a visit from Aina Tullier yesterday as part of the Creative Schools programme. She spent some time in each classroom teaching traditional music and dances from around the world. She also played a few unusual instruments for us – a nyckelharpa and a traditional French bagpipe.
We also presented our awards for January in assembly this week – congratulations to our Reader and Handwriter of the Month. A huge ‘Well Done’ to our Peace Proms choir who were awarded the Excellent Effort award for all their hard work during January learning the songs and dances for the Peace Proms concert – it definitely paid off on the day!
After looking out at the snow all morning, we had great fun outside at lunchtime – we came back inside with cold hands, wet feet and big smiles!
The day we have been looking forward to and rehearsing for since November finally arrived! Yesterday morning, bright and early, we boarded the bus and headed for our Peace Proms concert in Dublin – and what a day it was!
We arrived at the RDS Simmonscourt Arena in time for a rehearsal at 11 o’clock. It was our first chance to have a look around the venue and the excitement was building. The choir and orchestra were sounding good!
As we ate our lunch, the audience began to arrive and we were able to spot our parents coming in. The venue filled up and we were ready for the show to begin!
From beginning to end, it was a fabulous show!
The stars of the show were the Peace Proms choir – it was amazing to sing with over 2000 other children and show off all our hard work learning the words and choreography for the songs. We sang and danced our hearts out!
We were also treated to some fantastic performances by the orchestra, drummers, pipers, singers and dancers. There was even an extra special surprise appearance from Alisha Weir, the star of Matilda The Musical who sang Naughty. The orchestra also treated us to a Club Classics Medley that had the whole choir and audience up on their feet and dancing!
It was an unforgettable experience for all of us in the choir. Thank you to everyone who travelled down to Dublin to support us – the audience had as much fun as we did!
We are incredibly proud of you all – it certainly was a day to remember!
We had a wonderful day at our Cake Sale and Open Day organised by the Parents’ Association on Saturday. There was a huge selection of delicious cakes, breads, traybakes and all sorts of homemade treats for sale – thank you to all the children, parents, grandparents and friends who provided items for sale. Thank you also to everyone who came to support us – we hope you enjoyed everything you bought!
We also welcomed everyone in to have a look around our school building. There were refreshments available as people had the chance to chat and have a look at some photos of different activities we get up to here in school.
There was also lots of activity in the Junior Classroom. Children who will be coming to the school in the next few years and their parents had the opportunity to look around, meet the teachers and pupils and enjoy playing with some of the resources we have in school.
We also had a ‘Guess the number of sweets in the jar’ competition – the total number of sweets was 362. There were lots of very close guesses, but well done to one of our grandparents who won the jar of sweets!
Many thanks to all on the Parents’ Association who helped organise the Cake Sale and to everyone who provided goods for sale. Thank you also to everyone who supported the event on the day or sent a donation. Over €1500 was raised at the event.
Thanks also to all the children who helped set up the classrooms and prepare for the event, and a special thank you to the Senior pupils who helped on the day.
It was great to welcome everyone back to school this week after the Christmas break.
The Middle and Senior Rooms have been rehearsing for the Peace Proms concert at the beginning of February. There was lots of fun as we choreographed our own routine for the Dance Medley, as well as learning the dance moves for some of the other pieces. The Junior Room had a sneak peek during assembly today!
We also presented our awards for December. Well done to our Reader and Handwriter of the Month, and a special congratulations and thank you to everyone for their Excellent Effort as we performed The Hoity-Toity Angel – you were all stars!
For our last day before Christmas, the Parents’ Association arranged for us to have a Pyjama Day as a fundraiser. Everyone came in to school in their pyjamas, slippers and blankets, and there were a few cuddly friends too!
We enjoyed watching some Christmas movies and had hot chocolate and cookies – a lovely treat at the end of a very busy term!
Happy Christmas everyone!
