We had fabulous weather today for our Sponsored Walk. The sun was beaming and we were joined by parents as we set off at midday on the Killeshandra Loop Walk. Some of us walked part of the Loop Walk before turning back for school, while the others continued on and came back to school via the Town Lake.
When we made it back to school, we enjoyed some refreshing ice cream to cool us down!
We also handed out our awards for the Reader and Handwriter of the Month for May in Assembly this morning – well done everyone!
We were delighted to welcome Fred, the Party Professor, back to school today for his amazing show. Fred was joined by his son, Leo, and together they entertained us with all sorts of wonderful skills, tricks and illusions.
Fred also treated us to some musical performances, including playing the world’s smallest instrument!
We had a very brave volunteer from the Senior Room who was willing to risk his hands for our entertainment!
On Friday morning we headed off bright and early for our school tour to the Shannon River Adventure Centre near Rooskey. The sun was shining and and spirits were high as we arrived for an action-packed and fun-filled day!
We spent the morning doing a range of land activities. We scaled the heights of the climbing wall – a few of us even managed to reach the top of the most difficult climb!
We also had a go at archery – some of us were very close to the bull’s eye!
The obstacle course was great fun as we climbed over, under and through and raced each other back to the start line.
There was a 4-way tug of war rope – this was much more difficult that it looked!
After a very busy morning, we all enjoyed a well-earned rest over lunch.
After lunch, it was time for the Middle and Senior Rooms to get kitted out with wetsuits, buoyancy aids, helmets and paddles for some water activities. There was great excitement as we headed for the river!
First up was kayaking – everyone got the hang of it quickly, although quite a few paddlers ended up in the water before we were finished!
Next came the mud slide – trying to climb back up the hill again took much longer than sliding down!
Finally is was time for pier jumping – a great way to wash off some of the mud!
The Junior Room were also out on the water in the afternoon – they had great fun out in the canoes.
When they returned to land, the Juniors completed some challenges, learned how to light a campfire and toasted some marshmallows to finish off their day – even Noah joined in!
It was time to pack up and board the bus back to Killeshandra after a fantastic day. Thank you to everyone at Shannon River Adventure, and well done to all the boys and girls – the staff at the centre complemented your behaviour, enthusiasm and willingness to try all the different activities. It was mentioned more than once that this was the ‘best school tour ever!’
We had a visit in school today from one of our parents, Elaine Morton, who is a Dental Nurse with the HSE. Elaine visited each classroom and spoke to us about the importance of looking after our teeth. She showed us how to brush our teeth correctly, and gave each of us a toothbrush, dental mirror and some disclosing tablets to bring home and check how well we are brushing at the minute!
Elaine also spoke about the amount of sugar that is in different foods and treats – we will be avoiding the Nutella from now on! Thank you so much Elaine for a most interesting and informative visit, and thank you also for everything you left us to help us look after our teeth.
To celebrate World Milk Day which is coming up on 1st June, Lakeland Dairies very kindly delivered lots of flavoured milk to school today for us – we enjoyed some at break and lunch times, and also had some left over to bring home! They also left a great selection of dairy products for the staff to enjoy. Thank you so much to Lakeland Dairies for their generosity!
We had a fantastic morning today when we were joined by the band from Music Generation for our Music on Wheels event. The Junior and Middle Rooms have been working with Aishling all year and today was their chance to show off all they have learned.
The band played a few songs and accompanied the children for the pieces we have been learning over the year. We sang Funga Alalfi (an African welcome dance), Is Mise Fear an Cheoil, True Colours and The Rattlin’ Bog. We also did a couple of dances. Some of the songs were well known and everyone joined in (even Noah!)!
A huge thank you to Aishling and everyone from Music Generation – it was an amazing experience to have a live band in our yard! Thank you also to all the parents who came in to join us this morning, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
The Junior Room went to Visit Cully’s Bakery in Arva today.
When we arrived we had to put on aprons and a hair net. Even Noah had to wear them!
We went into the bakery and we got to make our own bread which was baked in the oven.
While our bread was baking, we went out to the store and we saw all the ingredients used for baking the bakery goods. We saw big bags of flour and we even got to smell the blocks of yeast!
Then we had a look at all the different machines used when making bread. We saw the mixers, moulding machines, the proving oven and the cooking ovens.
The last part of the bakery we saw was the packaging area. We saw the machines that cut and package all the baked goods.
Finally, our bread was baked and we got to take this home with us. It smelled delicious and we were so excited to taste it.
Thank you so much to Barney, BrÃan and Elaine for having us today and teaching us so much about how the bread and baked goods are made and for the goodie bags! We will be looking out for Cully’s bread in the shops from now on!
We also presented our Reader and Handwriter of the Month trophies for April in assembly last week. Well done to all our winners!
We had our last Music Generation session with Aishling today. Over the last few weeks, we have been busy putting the finishing touches to our performances for the Music on Wheels event on Wednesday 17th May at 9.30am. We are really looking forward to this special event when we can show off all we have learned!
We celebrated Active School Week this week – we were very fortunate with the weather and enjoyed an action-packed few days!
We started every morning with a Wake Up, Shake Up! We used our spin the wheel activity board to get us moving and warmed up, then had fun with some dances.
We enjoyed playing some team games each day – dodge ball, saucers and domes, Farmer’s Land and Rob the Nest.
We also continued with our Mile a Day.
It was fantastic to be able to use our new hockey sticks and balls for the first time.
We also enjoyed playing tennis one afternoon.
We played a few very competitive matches of basketball and soccer!
We had great fun competing in different relays in our teams.
We went for a walk to the park and completed laps of the track around the pitch.
We finished our Active School Week with some challenges on Friday afternoon – cross the river, throw the welly, tug of war and gutter ball. What a great way to end a wonderful week!
Before we finished today for the Easter break, we had an Easter trail around the yard – we had to find Easter pictures, mark their location on the map and record what we found. Everyone enjoyed a chocolate treat to finish!
We also presented our award for Reader of the Month in March – well done!
