St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

Our project was called ‘Cool Crystals’ and our question was ‘which produces the best result when growing crystals – sugar or salt?’ We found out that salt produces the best crystals. Adam’s granddad told us all about crystals. We learned that you have to use boiling water because the crystals won’t form with cold water. You need to use string so that the crystals don’t stick to the side of the glass container. We learned that saturation is when you mix in so much sugar or salt into the water that it won’t dissolve any more. It took more sugar... 

Our project was called ‘Fizz Kids’ and our question was ‘which combination of carbonated drinks and Mentos produces the best reaction?’ We found out that Diet Coke and Coke produced the best reaction because it exploded the highest. The fizzy water made bubbles the longest but it didn’t explode so we concluded that sugar had some effect on the reaction. You can see more about our research in this video. Mini-Scientist – Fizz Kids from St Peter’s, Bray on Vimeo. In our research, we found out that the ingredients in the Mentos react with the Diet Coke.... 

My project was called ‘Bubbles in a bottle’ and my question was ‘what quantity of food colouring will make the best lava lamp?’ You can see me explain my project in this video. I found out that 20 drops of food colouring makes the best lava lamp because it gives a better effect when the water is darker. Mini-Scientist – lava lamp from St Peter’s, Bray on Vimeo. In my research, I learned that oil is less dense than water so it floats on top of the water. I learned that the Alka-Seltzer mixes with the water to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide, which pushes... 

During the first term, our students from 4th, 5th and 6th classes worked really hard to prepare science projects for the Intel Mini-Scientist showcase. For all who didn’t get a chance to see the projects on the day, we have decided to hold our very first Virtual Science Show. Over the next month, we’re going to showcase our projects as part of our participation in the Discover Primary Science Award. We look forward to telling you all about our projects and reading your comments. Watch out for guest appearances from 2nd and 3rd, who were too young for the Mini-Scientist Showcase this... 

Thanks to the great support of the family and friends of St. Peter’s, we managed to win our EduBlogs award! This is a huge achievement and recognition of the work done by the children of our school. The Edublogs Awards are recognised internationally and we are privileged to have our name beside so many other outstanding achievements online. We thank you sincerely for our nominations and votes. It will encourage us to use sound and technology to enhance our lessons further. The award is the best Christmas present we could get. To acknowledge our thanks, the boys and girls made this message... 

Mini-Scientist – Sam, AaronG, Davy and LukeOB from St Peter’s, Bray on Vimeo. Today Sam Smith, Luke O’Brien, Aaron Gray and Davy Berry-Connell went to represent St. Peter’s in Intel.-Aaron We all had a great day in Intel even though we didn’t go through to the grand finals-Davy There were loads of great projects out there and there was over 5000 workers. There is a huge lunch room-Sam We are very proud that we got that far in the Mini-Scientist competition. -Luke I had a great day out in Intel-Nugget It was a great day in Intel. There was a girl called Sue that was... 

  We’re absolutely delighted to say that our blog (specifically our work on our podcasts) has been selected as a a finalist in the international EduBlogs Awards. You can find the link to the list of finalists here. The Edublog Awards reward people who contribute to life online with their education posts, tweets and podcasts. Last year one of our favourite Irish sites won it outright! We would really love it if you would vote for us. We are against some incredible podcasts and sites and it would be a fabulous achievement to get to the final voting selection. Voting is open until 11:59pm... 

Over the past few weeks, St Peter’s has been a hive of activity preparing for our Mini-Scientist Showcase. You can see all of our previous posts about preparing for it here! We were delighted to welcome two judges from Intel to the school – Sarah and Emily. We’ve had plenty of interaction with them over the past few months, by email and on Twitter so it was lovely to put faces to names! All of the staff remarked on how much time and attention that the judges gave to each project. It was an amazing opportunity for the students to present their work and to answer questions about... 

This year the #eddies13 (EduBlog Awards) are 10 years old. The awards reward educators, students, teachers and educational communities who reach out to inform, include and inspire others. We were absolutely delighted when three of our favourite blogs, www.anseo.net, www.seomraranga.com and www.merrybeau.edublogs.org nominated us for our blogging and podcasting work, and we only felt it appropriate that we give back by nominating those sites that have helped us in the past 11 months on our blogging road. We hope that it reflects the help and guidance we have received from those below, and please... 

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the Intel Mini-Scientist showcase will now take place on Wednesday 4th December at 1pm. 4th, 5th and 6th are working really hard on their projects and we can’t wait to see the finished results!