Anti-Bullying Week was yet another busy week in Room 11. As well as taking part  in daily activities  focusing on Anti-Bullying/Kindness we also made an extra special effort to be kind and friendly to everyone. We chose the name of someone in our class to give a compliment to on 'Pay a Compliment Day' and wrote letters to people who may be missing family and friends on 'Act of Kindness Day'. We also came up with a class motto for the year and made a video to display our message:
 'Kindness, peace, happiness and joy,
Should be shared with every girl and boy,
Bullies- boo, Friends – hurray,
Be nice and helpful, Be kind today,
Bushypark NS- United Against Bullying.'

We have been  learning about   how to be a good friend this week. We made a friendship wreath using our hands.   We have been   showing each other  what it means to be a good friend and  have been  practising being kind.

We had a fun and busy week  making lots of discoveries for Science Week. We learned about our 5 Senses and discovered the different parts of our tongue for tasting. We planted some bulbs and are looking forward to Spring to see what flowers will grow. We  heard some pea ghosts! We put some  dried peas  in a mug. We learned what happens when you add  warm water to the dried peas. They start   to swell  and need more space   so the peas on top fall out. We could hear them  rattle as they fell on the tin box lid. We also printed our finger prints like detectives.  We enjoyed  watching Ken Mystery with Dr. Ken. He carried out lots of fun experiments in his kitchen.  

We wanted to see if play dough sinks or floats in water so we dropped a ball of play dough into water and it sank.  Then we all made a play dough boat,   making sure it was smooth and  could hold some passengers (peas).  Ms. Egan put her play dough boat into the water at first it sank , so we had to dry it and try again. The second time it floated. Then we predicted how many passengers (peas) it would hold before it sank. None of us predicted that it would hold  a 100 passengers (peas) then it started to sink. 

Between conducting experiments, virtual science shows, researching famous scientists and wrapping it all up with a Science Quiz, Science Week certainly was a busy one for 6th Class. We made periscopes, used the separation of the colours in markers on filter paper to demonstrate chromatography and placed balloons under a table to illustrate how air pressure works. We also impressed teacher with the range of investigations we carried out at home and uploaded to Seesaw. We  enjoyed the virtual science shows 'Surprising Science' with Dr. Matt Pritchard and 'Mysterious Microbes' with Scientific Sue. Many thanks to the Science Foundation of Ireland and Galway Science and Technology Festival for facilitating these. We have been looking at report writing in English and so compiled reports on two scientists, Mary Anning and Alexander Graham Bell, using shared writing. We are now attempting to write reports independently on a scientist of our own choice. The Science Quiz on Friday tested our knowledge and we proved ourselves with great results! A great week was had by all!!

We thoroughly enjoyed Science Week in room 4.  Dancing Raisins   was one of our favourite experiments.   Firstly, we made our predictions.   We saw that raisins  were more dense than water and sank in still water.    However, the raisins danced in fizzy water and 7up!  The bubbles got trapped in the grooves of the raisins helping them to float to the surface   and when the bubbles popped the raisins  sank back down. Finally, we  recorded our findings. 

What a busy and action packed week  it was in Room   13! We did some very fun experiments, watched interactive lessons and also were creative by making  bird boxes, money boxes, storage containers, fans and much much more. Have a look at the photos below to give you an idea about how our fun week!

Here in 6th Class - Room 10 we are very disappointed that we can't attend the Connacht Final this Sunday in Pearse Stadium so instead, we are sending our "virtual" support! We created self portraits  and these are then going to be stuck onto the seats in the stand! Keep an eye out for "us" on the TV on Sunday - the match is starting at 1.30pm! 

Third class investigated the science of yeast and how it causes bread to rise. A very interesting and tasty study

Have you ever tried to make a paper clip float on water? We tried in Room 13 and at first we were unsuccessful. Then Mr. Healy showed us how to make the paper clips float!
Step 1: Fill a  jug with water
Step 2: Get a paper clip and some tissue
Step 3: Gently place the paper clip on the  tissue and then  on the surface of the water.
Step 4:  Using a pencil, carefully push the tissue away so the paper clip is floating alone!
What happens? The paper clip floats!
Why does this happen? It happens because of something called surface tension. It means there is a skin on the water that means  the water molecules cling on tightly. This is also how some insects can "walk" on water!n” to walk across the surface of a stream.

We did an experiment called dancing raisins. We put raisins into cups of water and predicted what will happen. They sank, then we recorded our results. Then we dropped raisins into some 7 up, they floated to the top and they sank  repeatedly.  We learned that the bubbles  were making the raisins lighter thus floating back up to the top, when the bubbles burst they sank again.