As part of National Cycle Week we are having a  Cycle on Wednesday – COW – event in school.

Everybody is encouraged to cycle to school that day and watch out for the COW at the school gates in the morning!!

All the regular cyclists will get a special breakfast on Wednesday morning and three classes will get to play game with Sandra from An Taisce.

The first Golden Bike award winners will also be announced.

So get on your bike !!

http://www.bikeweek.ie/

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457076-emma-lauren-sarah

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457054-tara-aislinn

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457048-jack-brooke

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457050-joshua-max

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457052-bernard-evan-dylan

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457001-madison

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457044-adam-ciaran

 http://audioboo.fm/boos/1456993-themba-yevhen

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1457042-jack-s-group

Sparkle Sparkle Small Star,

How I Question What You Are,

Raise Over The Globe Therefore Lofty,

Like Some Special Stone Inside  The Earth’s Atmosphere,

Flicker Flicker Tiny Space Light ,

How I Speculate What You Are. – By Karl

Sarah and Maebh went higher the ramp to get a bucked of  liquid,

Sarah tumbled down and smashed her hat,

and Maebh came rolling after. – By Sarah

Donald Duck seated at the pillar.

Donald Duck had an immense sink.

Most of the lords fillies and all the lords guys.

Couldn’t fix Donald side by side afresh.   By Cody

If  you’re excited and you are aware of it – bang your paws

If  you’re excited and you are aware of it – bang your paws

If  you’re excited and you are aware of it and you’re really desperate to show it

If  you’re excited and you are aware of it – bang your paws. By Samuel

Shimmer,shimmer miniature glow

I speculate which you are?

High above the universe so towering

Similar to a crystal in the heavens

Shimmer,shimmer miniature glow

How I wonder which you are? – BY SHAUNA

Sparkle, shine, miniatuure fixed bodies, which are really distant suns,

Senior,higher then the globe so raised far above,

Similar to a very hard precious stone,in the upper atmosphere.  - BY HANNAH

Peter and Brooke climbed up the mountain,

To collect a bucket of water,

Peter went splat and ripped his hat and

Brooked went crashing after. – BY JOSHUA

Sarah and John were sent up the mountain,

To get a bucket of water.

Sarah stumbled down and broke her headress and

John came falling later. BY EMELIA

I’m a miniature teapouring aperatus, dimunitive and fat,

Here’s my hift and here’s my nozzle,

At the time hot beverage is fit for human comsumption, cover your ears

or i’ll deafen you,

Elevate me and empty my contents – By JESSE

Baa Baa dark ram, do you possess any hair?

Yes man, yes man, three sacks brimming,

One for the ruler,

One for the servant,

and one for the peasant,

Who lives beow the passage! – BY BEN

Click on the link or the picture to watch a video of the boys egg and spoon race.   https://vimeo.com/68245440

Sack Race: Click the link here: https://vimeo.com/68246971

Girls Foot Race: https://vimeo.com/68247433

Ski Race: http://vimeo.com/68239298

We had our Sports Day on Wednesday. The sun was shining, even though our teacher thought it would rain.

We started with some races, we had running races, sack races, egg and spoon races and egg and foot races! It was great fun. Then we had ski races, it was really hard to get the hang of the skis, we think we might have had them up-side down!

After break we played football and did the obstacle course, that was great fun.

After lunch we did javelin throwing and the hammer throw. We had a great day.

Today in school we did a mystery skype call to another teacher somewhere in the

world.First we had to get organised and think of good questions to ask the other

teacher.Then when we were ready we skyped the other teacher.The first thing I

noticed about her was her American accent so I knew she lived somewhere in

America.I asked her if she lived in North America and she said she did so I took a

guess and asked her if she lived in Canada and the answer was yes.The hardest part

of it was trying to find out where she lived in Canada.We guessed about 50 times

and the  people on the laptops had to keep asking questions so they could cross

out the places where she didn’t live.They asked her if she lived near the boarder

and when she said yes the people on the laptops looked up places near the

boarder and when we finally found out where  she the teacher lived she told us that

we were meant to find out where her school was so we had to start all over

again.After another 20 minutes of searching the other teacher started giving us

clues.Since we already knew that the teacher lived in Hope she told us that her

school was a hour away to the west.My teacher was stunned that the other teacher

had to travel a hour to work every day.WE finally found out that the school was in

Surrey but we still had to find out the name of the school.After a while the teacher

gave us another hint.She said we should use the alphabet and we should  put the

letters into groups like a to e and so on.It was really hard because we were only

able to ask questions with a yes and no answer we couldn’t ask any questions like

where is the school.The name of the the school was Green Timber and when we

finally we finally found out we started asking the teacher questions about Canada

and the school.She told us all about  her class and that most of the work they did

was online.She said that her class had 13 Ipads 3 laptops and 1 desktop computer.

Then she picked up her computer brought it out the back garden  and showed us

the view.She said the mountains in the background were part of the United States.

She then told us that our accents rocked.We asked her a couple more questions

about their homework and do they wear uniforms. She said that they barely ever

get homework and that they are allowed to wear in whatever they wanted into

school.She said that her school was very casual .Everybody in my class was jealous

about the homework and uniform.

On Thursday we did a Skype call with a teacher from ‘mystery school’.  Our teacher set up the call.  We had to ask the teacher yes/no questions to try and figure out what part of the world the school was in.

We got into groups, people worked on computers to search Google maps, others took notes while the questions were being asked.

We introduced ourselves and started asking questions.  We narrowed it down quickly to North American, and Jack guessed Canada.

We had to work hard to find out where in Canada the school was located. We used our atlases and Google Maps to find out that it was in a suburb called Surrey.

With the help of the Mystery Teacher, giving us clues we found out the school was located in British Columbia.  The school’s name was Green Timber Elementary School.

After that we got to ask the teacher all about the school she works in.

The time zone between our two schools is eight hours.  So it was 6.30 am in British Columbia when we spoke to the teacher.  She gets up at 4.30 am as she has an hour’s drive to school.

She teaches every subject except music.  She doesn’t like giving much homework and she does most of her work on computers.  Their classroom have 13 iPads and 11 laptops.  They don’t rally have tests but they do a big end of year tests and they do project work during the year.  Many of her students are of Indian descent. The class don’t wear a uniform and the teachers dress casually.

They don’t have a class mascot but they play a lot of sports  and have a lot of teams.  Their main sports are soccer and baseball but they also have volleyball and basketball too.  Their teacher likes doing PE and they have just finished up their gymnastic lessons.

Their school is a mixed school, they start at 8.30pm and finish at 2.30 pm.  They have a 15 minute break in the morning and then a 45 minute break for lunch.

Their teacher’s name is Robyn Thiessen and she was really nice and I loved her accent.  She said our accent totally rocks. The Skype call was really fun and the the other school isn’t really that different from our school.

Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956), known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting.  You can learn more about him and see some of his famous paintings by clicking on this link  http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.ie/2007/09/jackson-pollock-and-lavender-mist.html

You can try some Jackson Pollock style painting on line at this website http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

As many of you know we have been following the life of a baby hippo called Douglas who was rescued by a conversation team in Zambia back in February.

Here is a quick Douglas update for you.

In May the team found out that Douglas was actually a girl, so now she is known as Douglina!!

Last week Douglina had to be transported to her new home, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre, which was 1,000 km away.

So how do you transport a hippo? Well by aeroplane of course! Douglina, travelled with her four carers and her flight was 2 hours long.

She was put in a special cage and was given her own ticket! She also had refreshments before and during the flight!

She landed safely and is now enjoying her new home. She has a new ‘Hippo Care’ team and has made lots of new friends. Look how much she has grown!