We had great fun making Halloween Slime in First & Second Class today!

First we measured out 100ml of PVA glue and poured it into a bowl.

Then we mixed in a few drops of food colouring and some glitter.

Next we added some bicarbonate of soda

We mixed it well and added in some contact lenses solution to bring all the slime together

We worked the slime using our hands, pushing and pulling it together until it formed Slime that we could play with.

We had great fun seeing how far we could stretch our slime out!

Writing is a key part of language learning in primary school. Over the past number of weeks, some of the children from 2nd class -Logan Mark, Mason and Shay worked hard on creating, writing and sharing fun and imaginative stories.

Through this writing process project, the boys were able to focus on their spelling, grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, handwriting as well as their reading/presenting skills.

Well done boys, we hope you enjoy these stories.

“The Brave Giant” by Logan

Link

“Monster Magic” by Mark

Link

“The Flying Bear” by Mason

Link

“Witch to the Rescue” by Shay

Link

@Claremorris946 @jojo_hynes @creativeirl @artscouncil_ie

“For the next hour, we advise the whole country move to level Gortskehy”

As part of our Creative Schools initiative 3rd and 4th class were presented with the opportunity of creating a radio show. We worked very hard with Jojo Hynes, our creative associate and Claremorris Community Radio. We started by brainstorming ideas and began the creative process of putting radio pieces together. We learned how to make radio reports, how to present items for radio and how to structure an hour of radio. We covered everything from the news and weather to farming to the sports desk and everything else in between. We also included some seasonal pieces as it was being aired on Christmas Day 2020.

We would like to thank Jojo Hynes and Claremorris Community Radio for giving us the opportunity of a lifetime. We had great fun putting this together and we hope you enjoy ‘Gortskehy Radio’ as created by 3rd and 4th Class. We definitely have a few budding radio stars in our midst here in Gortskehy National School.

Link

Gortskehy on Claremorris Community Radio 94.6 FM.

“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.” – Douglas Pagels

Over the last few weeks the middle room have learned a lot about the importance of friendship. For friendship week we had our secret friend project, where each child picked a name of another child in our class from the hat. Over that week they were to be extra kind to this person without them realising. At the end of the week each child shared some lovely facts they may have already known or even learned about their secret friend that week. This week we have concentrated a little more on the importance of friendship. The class were divided into groups to create a poem based on our topic. I think the results are fantastic and I’m sure you will all agree.

Following all our hard work we went outside to enjoy some of the lovely sunshine today.

Our Reading Buddy program is an initiative where older students participate in a paired reading activity with younger students.

This year, pupils from 4^th/5^th/6th classes (Big Buddies) were paired with pupils from 1^st and 2^nd classes (Little Buddies).  The pupils meet twice a week for 8 weeks.  Each week, the pairs & small groups read aloud to each other, benefiting both students reading & listening skills.

The ‘Little Buddies’ benefit from:

• hearing stories read-aloud (modelling of reading fluency, phrasing and expression)
• having conversations with an older student about topics that interest and involve them (extending their vocabulary, oral language abilities)
• having regular opportunities to practice familiar reading with assistance
• enjoying fun, positive experiences with older school children.

The ‘Big Buddies’ benefit from:

• further developing their own literacy skills
• fostering leadership and problem-solving skills
• improved self-confidence that comes from being looked-up to
• a very real and important reason to be responsible, and an opportunity to praised for positive behaviour

Reading Buddies can promote a higher interest and participation in reading, improvement in social and communication skills.  And, most importantly, it’s just FUN!

Here are some pictures of our buddies in action!