The Great War

 

1914-1918

 

 

A Musical Commemoration

 

 

Mr Flynn's class completed a four week drumming workshop with Eamonn focusing on composition and performing. Eamonn is a regular visitor to Scoil Niocláis over the years and we were really looking forward to this year as we had completed a similar workshop last year. As we were studying the First World War in class we decided it would be a good idea to carry that theme through to the workshop. We decided to have three parts to our performance, the 'March to War', the 'War' and finally the 'Homecoming'. Everyone had different jobs to complete and it was a whole class project. We decided to call the performance 'The Great War Trilogy'. We hope you enjoy the following video of the final performance.

 

 





Third Class

School Tour

Trabolgan 2013

 

The good weather continued for Rang a Tri on Friday when we headed to Trabolgan for our School Tour. The buses were a little late arriving due to an earlier accident on the Kinsale Road roundabout but we soon headed to east Cork and looking forward to a great day. We were certainly not disappointed and the day turned out to be the highlight of the year. Everyone had a go on the Go-Karts, the Zip-Wire, the Combat Zone and specially the swimming pool. We arrived back at school after 6pm and were looking forward to our beds! Many thanks to the parents who accompanied the five third classes, the teachers, SNA's and especially Mr.Foley who was instrumental in organising the whole day. Enjoy the photostory of some of the photographs taken during the day.

 



The Romans

 

In Mr  Flynn's class we have been learning about the Ancient Romans and in particular the Roman army. The Romans had a powerful empire for over 800 years and much of the reason behind this was due to their army. They were well armed, disciplined and a large army. The size of the army changed depending on what wars or conquests they were involved in. The Romans controlled much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and it was their army that allowed them to control their empire for so long. When a Roman joined the army they had to stay in the army for 25 years!

In class we made some Roman armour, their shields were called a 'Scutum' (Latin for Shield) and their spears were called a 'pilum'.

 

 

 

They also were very clever when it came to fighting their enemies, they used different battle formations that their enemies had never seen before and this with their training was key to their success.

 

 

This was called the 'Repel'



 

 

This was called the 'Wedge'

 

And finally this was the famous 'Tortoise'

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pompeii

 

Pompeii was a Roman town that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August AD79. Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano located close to the modern city of Naples in southern Italy. During a Science lesson we created our own version of a volcano using vinegar, baking soda, washing up liquid and food dye. When the vinegar (an acid) and baking soda (an alkaline) react, carbon dioxide is created and with the help of the washing up liquid and food dye helps to create an erupting volcano. We recreated Mount Vesuvius using a small plastic bottle and clay. The following photostory gives you an idea of how the experiment works.

 

 

The music is called 'The Last Days of Pompeii'





Viking Presentations

Vikings

 

Mr. Flynn's Third Class

 

As well as the last day of term before the Easter Holidays, Mr. Flynn's class were also finishing their Vikings topic. We had a lot of work to finish today, with our projects to be presented, our video of 'Literally' to be shot and our Viking plays to be performed, so all hands were on deck to get everything done before noon. Thankfully, by noon we just managed to get it all completed and left for home happy with a good day's work done.

 

 

Vikings at large!

 

'Literally!

 Scoil Niocláis version

 

The class reenacted the Vicious Viking 'Literally' song from the Horrible History series on BBC.

 

 



 

 

 

 

Viking Projects

 

 

The class presented their projects on the Vikings. We had nine in total, looking at different aspects of Viking civilisation. The children presented their projects through Powerpoint and the standard was very high. Well done to all the groups!!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 Ahoy Vikings!!!

 



 

 

 

 

Viking Plays

We also performed two plays, titled 'A Viking Tale' and 'The Death of Balder'.

 

 

 

 





Scoil Niocláis

 

Science Fair 2013

 

 

All of our third classes participated in the annual Scoil Niocláis Science Fair. Although the weather was miserable outside, the excitement inside the halla was electric. The children had spent a lot of time preparing for today and all their efforts were worthwhile. Well done to everyone!

 

As we have five third classes this year, it was decided to divide the classes into two different sessions. Mr Flynn's, Ms. Quigney's and Mr O'Connell's classes taking the early session and Mr Foley and Ms. O'Callaghan's classes on in the afternoon. Many of the childrens' parents also came along to view what the children had prepared and all the parents were very happy with the Science Fair. All of our first and second classes also came to visit and are looking forward to their turns in the next couple of years.

 

Included is a photostory of today's events with some short videos displaying some of the experiments on show.

 

 

 

 

Rocket Launch

 

 

Walking on Air!!!

 

 

 

Volcanoes

 

 



World Book Day

Mr. Flynn's class have been very busy over the last couple of weeks studying the Vikings or Norsemen. The Vikings came from present day Scandinavia.We have found out that the Vikings are not as bad as they are sometimes protrayed. Eventhough, they were fierce warriors and deserved the 'Vicious Viking' name they earned, they were also great explorers, adventurers, craftsmen, traders and sailors. We have also learned that the Vikings travelled great distances by sea and were brillant boat builders. They discovered Iceland, Greenland and it is also said they landed in Newfoundland hundreds of years before any other explorers. They also travelled to France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland and as far away as modern day Iran and Iraq.

Did you know that Normandy in France is named after the Norsemen (Vikings)!

 

 

We have also had some great fun building our own 'Longboats', the name of the Viking ships. We all helped to make a large longship on display outside our class. It is complete with our own Roundtower with monks David, Darren and Elaina not looking too happy with the sight of the Vikings coming. With the help of our parents at home we have made our own models of the longboats.

 

 

 





 

We are all very busy with completing different projects on the Vikings. Each group has three of us working on different aspects of Viking life. The projects include Viking Religion, Viking homes, food, weapons, burials, women and children, Viking warriors, differnt Viking jobs and Viking raids. We will get a chance to complete our projects using Powerpoint and present them to the whole class. Everyone is busy working on the projects!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that many words that we use in English today have come from the Vikings, such as window, egg, cake, happy, sad, anger, scare, die, rotten, by law, berserker, mistake, hit and many more!

 

We will keep you up to date over the next couple of weeks as we plan to trace the footsteps of the Vikings in Cork with the help of local historian Kieran McCarthy.

 

Please enjoy the following Viking song we have been leaning in class, it is from the BBC Horrible History series and is called 'Literally'!



 



Blackrrock Observatory

Trip to Blackrock Observatory 30/1/2013



 

Mr. Flynn's class travelled to Blackrock Castle Observatory as part of their study of 'Our Place in Space'. The theme of the trip was 'Comets at the Castle'. Some photos are attached with a full report by one of the children to follow.

 



Using frozen Carbon dioxide to make our own comet! The carbon dioxide is at -80 degrees Celsius

 



Third Class Visit to Titanic Experience November 2012

 

Mr. Flynn's Third Class made a visit to the Titanic Experience in Cobh as part of our study of the Titanic during the 100th Anniversary. The following report was written by Meave Moran.

 

 

 

I went to the Titanic Experience in Cobh or as it used to be Queenstown in 1912. I went with my Teacher and class. We travelled by bus and it was so much fun! There was a movie we watched as soon as we got in but first we got a ticket of a passenger that travelled from Queenstown. I was a lady called Delia McDermott. She was 31 years old and a third class passenger. I found out at the end that she survived. It was very interesting. Our teacher, Mr. Flynn gave us a quiz. Some of the questions were hard and some were easy. We saw a few other movies during the tour. One of them was when we were in a lifeboat and the Titanic was sinking. On the screen it looked as if you were being lowered down as the Titanic was sinking. You then saw the Titanic snap in half! It was amazingly cool. It looked as if it was actually happening. It was kind of sad to watch, as it was one of the biggest tragedies in Irish history. We also got to see the third and first class cabins. There was a huge difference. First class were lucky and third class not so much! Well it was a great experience seeing luxurious cabins and cool movies and our tour guide was really nice, she told us loads. I loved it there and I would definitely go back again. I would recommend it to other classes and schools and other families. I would give it five out of five icebergs!!!