5th Class School Tour

Today, 5th class visited the Galway City Museum down by the Spanish Arch. We got a bird's eye view of the Claddagh area of Galway from the top floor observatory. We learned about the foundation of Galway, about the rule of the Ó Flaherta family followed by the Norman De Burcas. We heard about the importance of Galway as a trading port with countries like Spain and France and about the fishing industry in the Claddagh. We even heard that the Claddagh still has its own king!

Following the guided tour, we got a look at the marine science exhibits on the top floor. This showed the real map of Ireland which showed all the Irish territorial waters and we learned about the exploration of the sea and all its marine life. There was a huge globe showing global climate systems, wind-up machines showing how deep ocean creatures create electric current so that they can glow in the dark. We even had a look inside a submarine.

We also had a round of Crazy Golf in LeisureLand. Initially, there was a few fresh air shots and plenty of balls were lost in the rough but there were also some sparkling displays of golf and one or two hole-in-ones. Watch out Rory and Tiger!

Finally, we got to the main event which was swimming. We got to practice some of the strokes we learned back in November and there were some notable attempts at synchronised diving; many of the spectators in the stands got wet!

Cuairt ar Caisleán Merlin

We had a special request from a girl in the class to visit Merlin Castle so off we went last Friday. The weather was glorious for our walk and we got a good look around the tower. It was like the tower that Rapunzel was imprisoned in but thankfully there was no sign of any locks of hair hanging from the windows!

Kids Go Racing at Ballybrit Racecourse

5th class pupils got to go behind-the-scenes at Galway Racecourse for the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Go Racing Kids Club education day.

They met with a racecourse manager and a famous jockey Derek O’Connor who gave the children a brief insight into their lives in the racing industry and the preparations involved for Galway race week. They also met a horse called "Fillipe" and her trainer.

We also got to visit the stables and see the horses, the changing rooms, weighing scales and equipment used by the jockeys. Some of us even got a go on the racing simulator, an artificial horse which allows the jockeys to practice their technique. We also had our own race - see below to find out who was 1st past the finishing post!

Our Spring Clean

Spring is the time to clean around,

Every day the trash is to clean up all around

Littering is bad so pick up the trash

Every time you litter an animal dies even your favourite pet

So don’t litter anymore to save the animals evermore. 

  

We went on an amazing adventure to clean around the community garden and the woods.

We were split into groups of three.

We got 300kg of rubbish all together as a team.

After we did a good job, on the way back to school we got ten minutes to play around the pitch.

And all of us enjoyed the time.

                                                                                                                                By Dominik, Albert and Valerie

Electricity experiments - Let there be light...!

Today we explored electricity. We learned how tiny atoms were and we learned how tiny the nucleus of the atom itself is. We saw diagrams showing how electrons "orbit" around the nucleus and how when they flow, they create an electric current.
Using all this, we created simple circuits using bulbs, buzzers and motors. Lots of us created propellers and fans, one boy even made a hair dryer!

The classroom started to sound like a traffic jam in Time Square with all the beeping and buzzing!

Day 9 - Roll up, roll up for the Circus Extravaganza!

Finally, performance day came on Friday and all the hard work paid off. We had jugglers, amazing feats of balance and barrel rolls! We had acrobatics, tight-rope artists and human pyramids! Thankfully, the teachers escaped becoming human canon balls. Enjoy the show!

Note that the videos are uploaded in smaller segments due to web page restrictions on size.

Day 9 of the Community Circus - practice