Letter from the USA!

Today we received letters from out penpals in Toledo, Ohio! 

We wrote to them in February and we were very excited to see their replies today. 

We are going to write back tomorrow and tell them all about our Confirmation and Aran Islands trip that we have coming up. 

The Larriers are Victorious!!

It's official, the Larriers have brought home the glory!! The boys in 6th class have won the table quiz for the One Book One Community project.
Before we get into some more showboating let us tell you a bit more about the project.
One Book One Community is an innative run by the home school liason teachers in the North Inner City. Pupils in 6th class and in first year from 19 schools all read the same book as well as parents in the community too. This project has been taking place for over 5 years now and is a great success. This year we all read the book 'The Blue Horse' by Marita Conlon McKenna. The book explores themes such as predjudice and a sense of home and belonging and is told through the story of Kaite Connors, a 12 year old traveller. It proved to be a very popular novel and we were even lucky enough to have the author Marita speak at the opening and closing ceremonies.
Back to the good news ........ The brainbox team comprising of Dane, Ben, Adam and Callum narrowly beat off the competition to take home the trophy for the Larriers. This is the first time we have won at the quiz and the trophy will be proudly displayed in our reception area.

A Trip to Mud Island

On a sunny Wednesday morning in March, the boys from 6th class went on a trip with Martina Galvin as part of an ongoing art project that we are doing. We went to see the community gardens at Mud Island on the North Strand. We were also lucky enough to have a tour of the Dublin City Corporation gardens given to us by Marie Staunton. We set off and met Martina at the Charleville Library at 9.30 in the morning. It was a lovely day and we were glad not to be in the classroom. We walked down the gardens together. They are hidden in behind the Cosy Café on the strand, it was the first time a lot of us were there. We were told that they are called Mud Island gardens because long ago, all of the North Strand was mud due to how close the sea was and that now the land has been reclaimed and put to good use.
We walked around the garden and looked at all of the different plants that are growing there. We saw purple sprouting broccoli, spring onions, potatoes, garlic, spearmint, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cabbages, rocket and much more. We learnt that all of these are planted by people in our community and that anyone can go to the gardens to help out. They are open Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. During the summer there is plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables that you can take away.

After exploring the garden, we took some time out and sat and drew some of the things that we could see. A few of us drew daffodils, crab apple trees, figs and some of the art work that we saw on the railings. Martina took samples of the plants so that we could look at them and draw them in closer detail back in school.

Mr. Bailey was chatting to one of the men working in the next garden over. He said that it was part of the Larkin Centre run through Dublin City Corporation and that they would show us around. We learnt a lot of new things such as:

• If a growing potato comes in contact with the sun it will turn green. A green potato is poisonous.
• There is such a thing as ornamental cabbages!
• They grow herbaceous plants. Herbaceous plants come back every year, the flower dies but the roots are still alive under the ground.
• We saw figs for the first time, they make up the filling for fig rolls!
• We learnt how to make a clone of a tree, this saves money but it’s also good if the plant is a very good plant and you’d like a copy of it.
• RTE send out potato blight warnings. If a warning is sent out they spray the potato leaves with fungicide. If they had’ve cut off the leaves of the potato plants during the famine the potatoes would have been small but still ok to eat.
• We saw a stump of a tree that now has moss, ferns and mushrooms growing on it.
• We learnt that they cover the soil that strawberries are growing in with a black sacks with holes in it. This means that the strawberries grow above ground, aren’t covered in muck and don’t get mould on them.
• A lot of the plants that are grown there are sent all over Dublin to places like St. Annes Park and Stephens Green.


We got a chance to plant some cress. We were also given a plant for our school. It’s a baby plant so we have to keep it covered in plastic for a few weeks to keep it warm until it is strong enough to go outside. We can’t wait to go back because we are going to plant pumpkins that they are going to give us at Halloween!

We then went of a little walk around the canal and had a look at the memorial garden for the North Stand Bombing. After all of this we went back to the school where we did some drawing with Martina. We drew more plants but with greater detail. We had a great morning and learnt lots about plants and gardening. Adam, Shane, Ben and Dane.

Claude Monet

About a fortnight ago, our class was learning about the artist Claude Monet in the classroom. We were learning about him as an art lesson. We tried to copy a painting of his called 'The Japanese Bridge'. The painting was painted with painted with water colours. He was an Impressionist artist and was around in the late 1800's. Claude Monet joined the army when he was 21 and he went to Africa with them. His aunt begged him to leave the army and paid for him to go to art college if he gave it up. The Japenese Bridge is a colourful painting, full of flowers. I really enjoyed learning about it.

An Stoirm!

Seo scéal beag a scríobh rang a sé.
Oíche fuar agus fliuch a bhí ann. Bhí an spéir dorcha agus bhí sé ag stealladh báistí. Bhí mé sa bhaile le mo mhadra. Bhí mé ag féachaint ar scannán nuair a chonaic mé las tintreach mór sa spéir. Bhí eagla ar mo mhadra. Rith sé amach ón teach! Chuir mé hata agus cóta orm. Fuair mé Batman dána ón ghairdín.

Summer Recount

Back in May Robert, my best friend, and I were in the pitch playing shots. We were playing shots because it was scorching out. When Robert and I were going the pitch there was already lots of people there. We hoped over the board and put our boots on .First I walked a bit with the ball and shot and shot it in the goal. I hit the crossbar and it rolled back out and Robert struck it and it flew in the top corner and I applauded him . After that we played heads & volleys with Ross Fay and Brian Mccarthy . The game only lasted five minutes. Next Scott Muka Lawless and Justin Anene came and we all had a game of crossins. On the day I really really enjoyed it and I picked up some new tricks on the evening . I would love another one of those days.

6th Class are Shooting Hoops in Trinity!

On November the 13th sixth class went to learn basketball in Trinity College. The weather was atrocious so we had to get Sammi Murphy's bus. Trinity College is running a programme called TAP and we have an hour to play basketball once a week. First we did a drill that Scott and Dylan had to demonstrate. It was just passing it to each other. Then he told us about the 5 lines on the amazing court. 1) end line 2) side line 3) halfway line 4) three point line 5) the foul line. After that we had a match and we were getting beaten but only for Scott, he got the equalizing point to make it a draw at 1 -1 and our team mate Cian got a smack of the ball in the face. I think basketball was class and it was my first time playing it and I am actually good at it. If I got a scholarship I would take it. I can't to go next week. Basketball was class. by Scott and Brandon

Cé tusa??

Fáilte go dtí an chéad blog ó rang a sé. Seo é rang a sé 2014!!

One Book One Community - Once

We are reading the book Once by Morris Gleitzman. We are reading it because it is the book chosen for One Book, One Community. There are 16 school in the North Inner City reading the book. The book is based in Poland in 1942 during World War 2. The book is about a Jewish boy called Felix who escaped from an orphanage and met a girl called Zelda. They both tried to get to to the city when they were caught by Nazis. They thought the Nazis could help them find there parents but we know there parents are dead. But instead the Nazis brought them to a ghetto when they ran out of the line. They thought the Nazis were burning Jewish books until they saw a Jews person get shot. Then a man called Barney hid them in a cellar were he was hiding and feeding several other kids. I really like this book so far. We are learning all about World War 2 in history. By Josh Doran I would really recommend this book to others.

Indian in the Cupboard

Author: Lynn Reid Banks

    I have read the book, Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Reid Banks. It’s based in London. It mainly takes place in Omri’s, the main characters, bedroom and in a school.

   The characters are Omri, Patrick, Little bull and Boone. My favourite character is Little Bull he is bossy, dangerous and crazy. He wears moccasins and a chief hat with feathers. He is my favourite character because he is 7cm toy that had being changed from plastic to real life. He shot a cowboy called Boone in the chest with a bow and arrow.

     The plot begins with getting a cupboard for Omri’s birthday, he got the cupboard of his brother also he got a plastic Indian of his friend Patrick. In the night he put the Indian in the cupboard and locked it with the a key he got of his mam.

     The climax is when Omri bring the cowboy and Indian in to school. He gives them to Patrick. Then Patrick goes to the principal and showed them to him. The principal was so shocked he went home. Omri was very angry.

     The book is funny, gory, interesting also it was also to read.

     I like the book because there was a lot of magic in it. My favourite part about the book was when the chief Indian died over a heart attack.

    The book is easy to read.

    I would rate the book 10/10

 

Damien