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16 Jan

5th Class update… Happy New Year!

In December we were so busy!

We had a lovely ‘Secret Santa’ morning!

We had the BEST time performing our class and school plays!

We were excited to receive our Christmas annuals!

We sent thank you tweets and messages to friends and followers!

We helped to decorate our school with every other class!

We watched our little brothers and sisters in their Christmas performances!

We really got into the Christmas spirit!

We updated our portfolios.

Our Roots of Empathy times were so precious…

We also finished Matilda, and watched the film. We LOVED IT!

A special visitor paid someone a visit too!

We completed our unit of work on WW1!

We earned hundreds of ClassDojo points too!

Meanwhile, on the first week back…

We’re studying some really cool topics in music!

There is no such thing as a boring or sad January here! We have already celebrated some birthdays!

We’re getting back into a keep-fit groove though!

There is a January Sale on in our Class Dojo shop!

Our first Student of the Week for 2017 was awarded!

We’re also back to the Roots of Empathy mat to see what more we can learn in our latest module!

We’ve started a new book too!

Our group work got off to a great start in January.

Our new morning stations routine is going brilliantly. We have eight activities that we get through. It’s so busy! We love to get to school on time and get going into our activities.

Phew! I think 2017 will be a busy year!

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16 Jan

Green Schools update!

The green schools committee got down to business by picking litter around the school last week. This will continue to be done every week as we are committed to keeping our school clean and green and getting our first green flag which is based on the theme of litter and waste!

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13 Jan

First Lego League Competition

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We are delighted to be taking part in the First Lego League competition again this year.

There are 3 main elements to the competition – The Project, Core Values and The Robot Game & design

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

Picture Conor McCabe Photography

  1. The Project:

There are three main parts to our project; Identify a problem, Design a solution, Share with others. This year’s challenge was to look at how animals and humans interact, find a problem with one of these interactions and develop an innovative solution.

After weeks of research & brainstorming we finally decided to focus on bees for the Animal Allies Challenge! We started our investigation about bees and we discovered that bees are pollinators.  This means that bees carry pollen from one flower to another.

Pollinators like bees are REALLY important to make sure we keep growing healthy and delicious foods like Strawberries, Apples, Pears, Pumpkins, Beans and Blackberries.

Unfortunately, our hard working bee is in danger of disappearing forever.

Why? A big factor is due to their interactions with humans. The bees are becoming extinct for number of reasons. Some of the main ones involve humans:

  • The destruction of bee’s habitats e.g. gardens, grasslands, sand dunes, bogs, woodlands
  • People use pesticides and chemical farming systems when growing crops. These pesticides and chemicals are killing our bees.
  • Climate change, if the climate starts to change this can cause big problems for bees. If the warm weather comes too soon, bees will wake up early from hibernation and because flowers have not yet come out the bees will go hungry with no food to eat.

The solution

We knew we couldn’t solve the problem for the whole world overnight.

So, we decided to focus on something we could do and try to help the bees in Ireland.

Our solution has two main elements raising awareness in schools and the creation of a website.

  • The first element was in relation to schools. We came up with the idea of contacting all the schools in Ireland by sending them a letter with information about how important our bees are.
  • We explained how to create a bee friend a bee zone in their schools by planting some flowers and plants for the bees to eat.
  • We designed a package for seeds to send to each school to encourage them to create a bee friendly zone.

The second part was the website. We created a website using Weebly called Be Friend A Bee.

The address is www.befriendabee.weebly.com.   The website is designed to give people information about how important bees are. It gives facts about bees and tips on how we can help save them.

Share our solution

The third and final part of the project was to share our ideas with others.

This is how we did it: Our befriend-a-bee website, we sent letters to schools in the area with packets of seeds to sow, we made posters about bees and stuck them up around the school and we contacted Bray town council and told them about our project.

2. Our core values:

core-values

3. The Robot Game & Design

The third and final part of the competition is the Robot design and robot game. This involves programming the EV3 Lego mindstorm to complete missions around the Lego table. This year’s challenges are  how animals help us. We found the missions challenging but really enjoyable.

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

Picture Conor McCabe Photography

We are travelling to Galway next Saturday 21st January to take part in the competition in the Radisson Blu Hotel. We are super excited to show off all our hard work!

 

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

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30 Nov

An Update from Ms. Wemyss!

Here is a snippet of some of the work completed with Ms. Wemyss so far this year! What a busy few months it’s been….

Random Acts of Kindness

We have been working really hard to be kind to each other inside the school and outside the school. We were tired of hearing all the negative news and sad stories in the world so we decided to spread some joy! Each week we record something kind that we have done to add to our wall! We call ourselves ‘The Kind Kids’

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Weaving

We have really been enjoying our weaving. It takes good concentration and hand-eye coordination. We want to make a beautiful piece of artwork to hang in the hall of the school.

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Mind Mapping

We are working hard at making mind maps to help us plan our writing. We are taking inspiration from Tony Buzan. He is the man who invented the mind map.

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Worry Balls

We created wonderful worry balls to help us relax and stay calm when we are feeling worried or stressed. We made them by putting flour into balloons. We give them a quick squeeze to help us feel better. 🙂

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Beautiful Oops

We also learned that it’s OK to make mistakes! We read the story Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg. We made beautiful art from old scrap paper that we had made mistakes on.

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Scissor Skills

We love practicing our scissor skills to create colourful collages! We cut up paper and then glue it to an outline.img_1490      img_1301      img_1492

 

We look forward to filling you in on all the exciting things that we have planned for December!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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29 Nov

Senior Infants – update for November

Senior Infants have had a busy month. We continued our work on Money – working first on the bank and then onto the post office. We’ve been writing constantly thanks to our post office and we expect that December is going to be very busy too!

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This is our attendance tree. We’re working to get apples to earn rewards. It’s really important that we are in school every day!

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Sadhbh was in with us for a week on work experience. She was a fantastic addition to our classroom!

Literacy stations

Here are some of our videos of our literacy stations. We have different stations every day including fine motor, reading, blending, DEAR (Drop Everything and Read), writing, nursery rhymes and listening and speaking. Literacy stations are very busy so the best way to share our work with our parents is to take short videos and share them on Class Story (on Class Dojo). If you have lost your code or would like an additional code for another member of your family, let Ms Sexton know.

Art

We did a lot of work with printing this month. We experimented with colour and with different textures.

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Red + blue = purple

 

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Some of our fingerprinting art

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Unusual printing techniques!

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Beautiful colour mixing printing by Max!

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We played with some leftover sugarpaste. It was different to PlayDoh – very sticky and smelled much nicer. We really enjoyed making snowmen with it.

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We also worked together to create an Advent wreath!

Sand

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Socio-dramatic

We’ve been having great fun in the Post Office this month!

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PlayDoh

We love PlayDoh and our work constantly impresses our teachers.

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Construction

We love Lego and it has taken over our construction station. Look at our fantastic creations full of imagination!

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Small World

We set up mini-towns (and Jurassic Parks!) for Small World station.

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Puppets

We used puppets to create shows. We made tickets and signs for our performances. Look at the emotions our puppets are showing!

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Movement

We’ve had lots of fun with GoNoodle over the last month! We’ve also done lots of work in PE on balancing and mirroring. You can see some of our work below.

Maths

We use a lot of hands on Maths – especially counting, games and Ready Set Go Maths activities.

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Gaeilge

Show and tell

We love bringing things in that we’ve made at home. Look at these beautiful books, pictures and constructions! Such a talented bunch in Senior Infants.

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Cillian and his mum made cake for us!

 

 

 

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22 Nov

October All Star Attenders

Welcome back to another exciting edition of “St Peter’s All Star Attenders Awards.” At the end of every month children with full attendance for the month receive a certificate and have their name put on the Wall of Fame. The class with the greatest attendance each month also receive a class prize and all students with full attendance get named “All Star Attenders”.

Our winners for September were Ms. Farren’s Junior Infant Class. They chose the Indoor Cinema Experience as their prize and were delighted to be ushered to their seats after visiting the “Cinema Shop” to pick up their treats. You can check it out here: http://www.stpetersbrayblog.com/2016/10/14/junior-infants-attendance-award-winners/

I am delighted to announce that the winners of October’s Attendance Prize were Ms. Drislane’s 1st Class who have also opted for the Indoor Cinema Experience which is happening this week.

Check back each month to see who has won the class prize for best attendance and check if your name has made the All Star Attenders List.

Well done to 1st Class and to the following “All Star Attenders” from each class for October;

Junior Infants

Jonathon Carabaich

Robyn Cheevers

Fia Clucas Keogh

Aaron Cosgrave

Jake Fitzpatrick

Garylee Locke

Leon McAuliffe

Natalia Miedzinska

Tyler Sweeney Kearney

Agata Wnuk

 

Senior Infants

Maja Bessler

Grace Carton

Aaron Chumakson

Joey Chumakson

Taylor Coakley

Abbie Coen Troy

Jasmin Coogan Moorehouse

Ben Douglas

Oliver Duraj

Lauren Hipwell

Noah Johnston

Max Murray

 

1st Class

Carl Barry

Daniel Byrne

Luke Cahill

Jake Clucas Murphy

Kristana Anna Daniel

Chloe Farrell

Tobias Farrell

Jodie Fitzpatrick

Kurina Mason

Lee O’Shaughnessy

Cian Petty

Elif Standage

 

2nd Class

Damiano Carabaich

Carla Cheevers

Alice Maire Delaney

Liam Mullen

Ned Wall

 

3rd Class

Karl Ashe

Benjamin Bessler

Josh Coen Troy

Craig Hipwell

Alec Kealy

Liam Mason

Tadhg McDonald Hemp

Ruairi McFarland Bolger

Jack Roche

 

4th Class

Tristan Byrne

Emanuel Carabaich

Lana Douglas

Nathan Douglas

Madeleine Farrell

Oisín Kenny

Callum O’Sullivan O’Carroll

Desmond Traynor

Jerry Wall

 

5th Class

CAOILYNN ASHE

DOMINIK BESSLER

BROOKE  CAREY

KAYDEN CLUCAS

DEAN DOUGLAS

CAITHLIN FARRELL

KIA FARRELL

DYLAN FITZPATICK

JAMIE HIPWELL

ROWAN MCFARLAND BOLGER

KELSEY O’CALLAGHAN

DEAN THOMAS

RYAN TYRELL

 

6th Class

PATRICK BRAGANCIUC

AOIFE DOLAN

LEX FARRELL

DYLAN HEMPENSTALL

LEANNE KEALY

JAMES O’SHAUGHNESSY

 

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10 Nov

5th Class take on the second part of Term 1!

Here is the latest blog update from 5th Class.

We’ve been learning about syllables using our GoNoodle song!

We finished series two of the ClassDojo Growth Mindset and Empathy programme! Just google ClassDojo Big Ideas for more information.

Our Geography work has kept us on our toes!

Click to see all of our great Geography videos!

Is maith linn an dán ‘Ricó’!

We did our half-term tests and SAlfie challenges!

However, we took some time out to prepare a ClassDojo board for the corridor!

We love our recorder lessons!

We got into the Halloween spirit!

A was in the newspaper!

Our Roots of Empathy sessions are going really well!

Ag canadh le chéile!

Our recent poems are very popular. Listen to them here!

We started our latest Art and History project, all about the Famine.

The boys did so well at a recent tournament too.

Check out our Halloween costumes and activities!

Check out our Halloween disco!

There was a little treat for some of the lads.

Caoilynn did us all proud with her recent win!

We extended our coding work to include use of the Makey Makey board!

And finally, our favourite EVER photo!

We’re delighted to be back to school after the break…did someone mention the C word? HO HO HO…there is a lot to look forward to!

From 5th Class.

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31 Oct

Senior Infants update – week 8 and 9

In week 8, we finished off our work on our Homes unit and in week 9, we moved onto our unit about Money. This has been a very exciting fortnight as we got great news about an investment in our school by Salesforce. You can read all about it here.

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We’ve had lots of fun in the Aistear stations this fortnight with puppets, socio-dramatic, small world, sand, PlayDoh and our very popular construction station. First, we plan, then we play, then we review. We problem-solve a lot before we play about how we’ll ask to use something that someone else has. Here are some things that we say:

  • Can I use that please?
  • Can I have it after you?
  • Can we play with it together?
  • Can we share it?

Just as important is how we respond to when someone asks to share something that we have when we’re not finished using it. Here are some of our responses:

  • Do you want to play with it together?
  • I’m using it now, but you can play with it in three minutes. I’ll get the timer.
  • I’ll give you half of it (PlayDoh)
  • I’ll share it with you.

We’re getting really good at playing nicely together and giving each other compliments. We have a ‘Good Tales’ and a ‘kindness’ point on Class Dojo that helps us to share nice stories about each other.

Here’s an Animoto video of some of our recent Aistear adventures.

To prepare for the Money theme, we went to the AIB branch in Bray. They even opened up early for us so that we could have a look around before the customers came in. They were really lovely to us, showing us lots of parts of the bank and they gave us posters and sweets. We had great fun on our mini-tour!

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The visit to the bank was part of our celebrations of Maths Week – we had lots of fun with Maths Week – including lots of problem solving with number fans:

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and lots of work with shapes – particularly squares and triangles!

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We’ve been trying out a new system for our literacy stations with visual timetables – this is really helping us to move around quicker and to find out exactly where we should be for each station – and it’s fun too!

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Here we are working hard at our stations one morning.

Of course, the other big event that took place this fortnight was Halloween! We loved dressing up last Friday and the fantastic Parents’ Association had a spooktacular disco for us. It was so much fun. We also learned all about Oíche Shamhna.

D’itheamar báirín breac. Fuair an cailín seo an fáinne!

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Seo an dán ‘Is mise an púca’:

 

Laura and Yvonne from the Parents’ Association helped us to make witches for the Halloween disco:

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Liz made us a very cool Halloween table in the classroom:

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We also learned a Halloween poem thanks to Ms Wemmys who helped Aaron to find it for us:

Here are our costumes:

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Look at how much fun we had at the Halloween disco:

Thank you very much to all the parents who organised it and put in so much hard work. It was amazing!

We’ve been working very hard on our presentation and neatness this fortnight and we have lots of fun activities planned for November to continue work on our handwriting, fine motor skills and colouring. Here is some of our excellent work recently:

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Our teacher, Ms Sexton, uses Class Dojo to keep our parents up to date about life in Senior Infants every day. If you are a Senior Infant parent and you’d like to get your code again, please let Ms Sexton know and she’ll send it out to you. Most of the parents are now connected and are really enjoying using it.

You can find all of our posts from Senior Infants here.

September posts from Senior Infants

October posts from Senior Infants

Have a wonderful midterm and a great rest before our very exciting Christmas term!

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26 Oct

$100,000 Investment for St. Peter’s Primary School!

We have just received some very exciting news! St. Peter’s has become the first school in Ireland to receive funding under Salesforce.org’s Circle the Schools programme. Under the scheme – originally developed in the US – St. Peter’s will receive $100,000 (€92,000) grant to upgrade it’s digital literacy, special educational needs and STEM teaching capabilities.

A portion of the grant will go towards the creation of a new computer room with state of the art technology and also towards the creation of a multi-sensory room. This room will allow students a place to aid creativity and support those with complex needs.

In the words of Charlotte Finn, Vice-President, EMEA programmes at Salesforce.Org, ‘School is a place where children’s futures are shaped and we believe that all children should have the same opportunities for their future development. Circle the Schools is an important initiative that gives schools the necessary resources to make significant difference to children’s lives’.

Salesforce employees will also have an important role to play in this partnership. In addition to assisting children with STEM projects and setting up a Coder Dojo, Salesforce employees will be rolling out an ICT programme to help parents get up to speed with technology, enabling them to support their children’s development in this area.

Dr. David Dempsey, Executive Director and Senior Vice-President at Salesforce, believes that ‘We have such a vibrant technology sector in this country and the opportunities that exist within it are only going to continue to grow. We need to make sure that we support our young people so that they are in a position to take advantage. We are delighted to be able to lend our expertise to work holistically with the children, teachers and parents at St. Peter’s Bray to further this cause’.

For further details please see http://www.salesforce.org/salesforce-org-brings-circle-schools-uk-ireland/ and http://www.techcentral.ie/salesforce-gives-bray-school-upgrade-round/

We look forward to developing a shared vision with Salesforce and are very grateful to them for this fantastic opportunity. I will keep you updated throughout the development of the project.

Many thanks,

Emer Whyte

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

Salesforce Picture Conor McCabe Photography

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24 Oct

Halloween has reached St Peter’s!

Thanks to Karen for putting together the beautiful autumn and Halloween display in the doorway at the new entrance to the school.

Sincere thanks also to Susan and Brooke for making sure we had the best of bales available for the display too! Team Peter’s at its best!

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