With Spring upon us we have been learning about nature and the environment. Linking in with our work on recycling before Christmas we have been discussing the impact plants and trees have on us and the earth.
We took a nature walk to look for signs of Spring. We learning all about parts of a plant. How trees create oxygen for us to breath and have planted our own seeds which we will watch sprout and grow over the coming weeks.
Fáilte ar ais chuig Frása na Seachtaine!
Tá frása na seachtaine seo an – tábhachtach mar a cheiliúrann muid ‘Seachtaine na Gaeilge!’
Is é frása na seachtaine seo…
This year 6th class took part in the ESB Science Blast and asked the question:
‘What happens to the food we waste and how does it impact our lives’.
Science encourages us to question the world around us and how we as humans, interact with the world. We chose our project title because we identified food waste happening in our school community and knew it was an issue in our homes too.
We wanted to find out what happens to the food we waste and where it ends up. We know that recycling/ compost bins are encouraged but do people and communities use them correctly or is there any way to reduce the amount of waste that eventually ends up in them?
We decided to carry out an experiment that tracked the rate of decomposition of certain foods. We reasoned that if we had more information on how quickly certain foods decompose, then we could make more informed decisions when buying and storing food.
We chose the following categories to track:
We made sure to include natural and processed food in the investigation to ensure multiple food types were tested.
Take a look at some of our predictions:
Hypothesis:
‘If we leave various natural and processed foods to decompose, then we predict that natural foods will decompose at a faster rate.’
We made this prediction based on our assumption that natural foods contain less additives than processed foods.
Check out our results:
Where does our first waste go?
Food waste is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences.
More than one quarter of the food produced globally is wasted. It is a significant contributor to climate change, as food loss and waste contribute to 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Irish Government has committed to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, which is in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals. The EU will also set targets to reduce food waste.
Food loss and waste also exacerbates the climate change crisis with its significant greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Production, transportation, and handling of food generate significant Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and when food ends up in landfills, it generates methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas.
‘Reducing food waste in our school and community’
As part of our investigation into how food waste impacts our lives, we decided it would be useful if we tracked the hot lunches that are wasted in our own school.
We are lucky to receive hot lunches every day and can order from a range of options, including chicken curry, shepherd’s pie and pasta bake.
We tracked food waste in all the classes over a number of weeks from November ’23 to January ’24.
Our results were as follows:
We have lots of work still to do to reduce food waste in our school.
Check out our presentation in the RDS. We worked hard to prepare our Science Blast booklets in anticipation of answering questions from our judge.
We were delighted to receive such positive feedback and comments from the judge!
Science Blast in the RDS was an amazing day and we got to meet with other students, listen to scientists giving talks and try out some cool Science experiments 😁
Fourth Class had a great time bringing in our favourite books and sharing our favourite images and scenes with each other in the classroom.
We also loved getting the chance to read to Senior Infants and listening to them read to us too!
The best part was getting to be in our cosy pajamas while we did all of it!
Fáilte ar ais chuig Frása na Seachtaine!
Mar cheiliúradh ar Lá Domhanda na Leabhar is é ár bhfrása an tseachtain seo ná…
Is é an leabhar is fearr liom le léamh ná __________!
Bain sult as a bheith ag léamh ar scoil agus sa bhaile gach lá más féidir leat!
Fáilte ar ais chuig Frása na Seachtaine!
Táimid fós ag foghlaim faoin éadaí.
Déan iarracht do chuid Gaeilge a chleachtadh gach lá ar scoil agus sa bhaile.
Anois, is é frása na seachtaine seo:
Tá dath glas ar mo chóta.
Tá dath dearg ar mo hata.
Tá dath gorm ar mo scairf.
We have been learning about the environment and climate change in 6th class and are busy working on our Science Blast submission.
As part of our research into climate change, we studied some shocking facts about the way it affects different countries. We have been learning about Malawi and the economy there. We watched some great Donal Skehan clips about a visit he took there and heard some interviews with locals regarding the changing climate over the past number of years.
We saw how drought affects crop yields and how heavy rain can also be responsible for destroying products. We also learned about how access to clean drinking water can affect people in developing countries. Access to clean water is not something we should take for granted.
We decided to carry out an investigation into water filtration and tried our best to filter water to make it cleaner ourselves. Here’s how we got on:
Materials:
Method:
We were impressed by some of the teams ability to filter the mud out of the water – or so it seemed! We still knew that the water was contaminated and couldn’t be used by humans to drink or wash or cook.
It was apparent that filtering water using a home – made system was extremely time – consuming. We think that everyone should have access to clean drinking water, no matter where they live.
Fáilte ar ais chuig Frása na Seachtaine!
An mhí seo, beimid ag foghaim faoin ‘eadaí’!
Anois, is é frása na seachtaine seo:
Caithim m’éide scoile gach lá ar scoil.
Tá sé an – fhuar inniu, b’fhéidir go bhfeicfimid roinnt sneachta go luath!
Má thosaíonn sé ag cur sneachta, is feidir linn an frása seo a rá…
Seo an frása den tseachtain againn…
An bhfaca tú réamhaisnéis na haimsire an tseachtain seo?
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s Junior Infants, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s Senior Infants, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 1st class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 2nd class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 3rd class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 4th class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 5th class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by this year’s 6th class, click here.
If you’d like to read about the work by Ms Kane’s class, click here.
We’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment on our posts!
We were the Scoilnet Star Site for December 2013!
