- Senior pupils were afforded the opportunity of three French lessons with Mrs Kathleen Lynch. For the first time, Fourth Class pupils also had these ‘taster’ sessions. Children learned days of the week, colours, numbers, greetings and other basic French vocabulary during this time. We hope that the experience will ignite students’ interest in the language and encourage them to choose it as an option at Second Level.
- At the start of the month, Ms Sheila Hunt (Manager at Kilmovee Community Centre) approached Mrs Warde with a proposal of supporting and encouraging our pupils to write to various older members in the area. Ms Hunt supplied the names of the Senior Citizens, many of whom are members of the Thursday Club. She also provided us with postage stamps for both pupils’ letters and the recipients’ replies. The children were most enthusiastic about this project and spent time thinking about interesting things to say, as well as taking care with their writing! Students were encouraged to talk about their feelings around Lockdown, both the positive and negative aspects. As a Staff we thought there was a twofold benefit in participating in this initiative. Firstly it ties in with the letter-writing genre in the Language Curriculum and corresponding with an actual person engaged the children in the process to a much greater degree than writing a ‘make-believe’ letter. Secondly we think it is of utmost importance to forge connections between our young pupils and older members of society. Through the years we have taken part in ‘Bealtaine’ activities organised in the village with this very aim. We thought it was fitting that this undertaking should occur during the month of May also. There was palpable excitement as the Postman delivered the mail each day and pupils eagerly waited to see if there was reply from their new ‘pen friend’. Letters arrived steadily and children were delighted to read their personal correspondence, many stating it was the first letter they had ever received. A common theme in the letters was how people had missed their grandchildren greatly during Lockdown but were looking to the future with hope, having obtained their vaccines. We thank everybody who co-operated to make this worthwhile venture such a success!
- May Altars were on display in each classroom and children brought Rosary Beads to school to say a decade of the Rosary in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- The following article was written by Fifth Class pupil Conor Duffy. A visit to Kilmovee Community Tunnel
On Friday, May 21st, Fifth and Sixth Classes went to visit the new Community Tunnel in Kilmovee. There was a woman there named Ingrid from the Organic Centre in Leitrim. Sheila and Lorraine helped her. Ingrid showed us how to put compost into small containers. Then we sprinkled some wild flower seeds and covered them lightly with more compost and watered them.
When it stopped raining, we were divided into two groups. We went outside and identified trees we could see. We discovered ash, oak, hawthorn, sycamore, holly and ivy. Ingrid told us about a disease called “ash dieback” which is attacking ash trees all over the country.
After that, Lorraine made us form a square and we looked to see what we could discover inside the square. We found different types of plants and bugs including dock leaves, rushes, buttercups, meadow grass, slugs, snails, earthworms, ants and devil’s coach. I recognised the devil’s coach because I had seen one on my wellington some time ago. I searched on Google to find out its name.
At home, we order all our plant and vegetable seeds from the Organic Centre in Leitrim, so it was great to meet someone from there!
We got to play on the Astro-Turf while we waited for the bus. We had a choice of bringing our seeds home or putting them on our classroom window. I brought mine home. We had a great day!
- For the month of May, the Aistear theme in Miss Waldron’s room was “The Doctor’s Surgery”. Over the course of the month in the ‘Construction’ station, the children have been designing hospitals and doctors’ surgeries. They have included receptionist desks, wheelchairs, surgery rooms, x ray machines and much more. They have also constructed ambulances using mobilo. They travelled very quickly and had sirens on top to warn traffic they were coming. We used play-doh to make skeletons, chicken pox spots, bandages and plasters. In ‘Role Play’ the doctors and nurses were healing patients every day. The receptionist was also very busy with appointments. In our ‘Small World’ station the people of the community have been travelling to and from the hospital for check-ups. There have been some emergencies too! In messy play the children were cutting and pasting objects for the doctor’s bag, and making stethoscopes. All the time we are using various tools to write and draw new vocabulary; we play word games and have great chats using our new vocabulary. The Doctor’s surgery has been a real success!
- There were three lotto winners this month- Aoibhe Duffy, Gemma Rush and Noah Duffy.
- Frása na Míosa- Bíonn dhá insint ar gach scéal!