From early education robots, to coding cards to basic programming, digital learning begins in the infant classes and is adapted each year in response to new digital technologies. This year, we joined with Science Foundation Ireland in UCD to introduce 3D printing to senior pupils. The pupils installed UltiMaker via Flatpak for Linux on their chromebooks and used Cura3D to design and print personalised keyrings on the school 3D printer. With the right tools and opportunities to share their learning, pupils stay motivated, excited and engaged as they embrace digital learning during their time in Gortskehy.

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1st and 2nd class have been very busy bees learning all about the honey bee.  Lucky for us here in 1st and 2nd class, we have a bee expert in our midst – Conor Jennings in 2nd class! Conor’s family have their own bee farm locally.  We were delighted when Conor brought in some of his bee protection clothing, bee food, smoker and honey frame to present to the class.  We learnt a lot from Conor about taking care of bees, the honey making process and and it was fantastic to see some of these items needed up close!

In SESE, we learnt some interesting facts about the honey bee, it’s life cycle and labelling different parts of the bee anatomy.  We also learnt the importance of bees in helping to pollinate our flowers.  Without bees, we wouldn’t have lots of delicious fruit and vegetables to eat!  Later in Spring, we hope to plant some more bee-friendly plants in our school sensory garden.

In Art, the children created some beautiful crafts for display and they really brighten up our classroom.  Well done everyone!

Our school community garden is taking shape. Each classroom has its own raised bed. All pupils planted seeds and we had a debate as to whether or not we should go organic. The motion to grow organically won and we are also looking forward to welcoming some hens to school in the coming days.

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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!