@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.

First, I stuck on one side of Albert Lasker’s face onto a sheet. Then I started drawing him. I used pencil and I rubbed my finger to blend the colours.

Albert Lasker was born on the 1 st of May 1880. He was famous for advertising. He lived in Germany but moved to New York. He died in New York in 1952 aged 72 . He was the author of five books, one was the ‘Lasker Story’.

Our senior room have been lucky enough to pair up and become pen pals with pupils from 5^th & 6^th class in SS Peter & Paul Primary School near Wellington New Zealand. In preparation for this each child had to research New Zealand and create a presentation for this. Following completion of this project each class member shared their presentation. Last Wednesday the 28^th of November after a very exciting wait we received our letters and learned the name(s) of our new pen pals. Some of our class were lucky enough to get two pen pals. All of the senior room had the opportunity to share their letter with the class and prepare their replies. Following the sharing of our letters we learned that the schools in New Zealand are very similar to us in many ways and have a very similar school day. Some big differences we noted were the weather, seasons and school holidays. Our pen pals are approaching their summer holidays now and getting excited for the break. We were very excited to send our first reply today and really enjoyed learning new information about our pen pals and life in New Zealand.

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!

Over the past few days we’ve had five online meetings with our partner schools in France, Croatia, Portugal, Lithuania and Austria. We sang Silent Night in Irish, English and played it on the tin whistle. The other schools also sang Silent Night in their native language. We asked each other questions about Christmas in each country and played an online card game where we had to try and find the matching Santas.  Everyone from Infants to Sixth class took part. It was great fun.