Thanks to all who helped make this a successful event.
That time of the year again when we join together to lift some of the litter from the local roads and hedges. Every bit helps. Ní neart go cur le chéile. You can get bags from the school during the coming week.
Remember- if we want our young people to learn volunteering, they have to see it in action!
That time of the year again when we join together to lift some of the litter from the local roads and hedges. Every bit helps. Ní neart go cur le chéile. You can get bags from the school during the coming week.
Remember- if we want our young people to learn volunteering, they have to see it in action!
Community Clean Up
Leaf identification
Juniors and Seniors came together for some nature study work.
We looked at different leaves, using resources from the Woodland Trust to help name and identify the leaves.
Plenty of learning skills involved here- comparing and contrasting, looking, thinking...
Some new words we learnt were: Cordate and Elliptic.
We looked at different leaves, using resources from the Woodland Trust to help name and identify the leaves.
Plenty of learning skills involved here- comparing and contrasting, looking, thinking...
Some new words we learnt were: Cordate and Elliptic.
Biodiversity in our School
We are working towards our next flag, which is for biodiversity. One of our dads kindly made some Five Star accommodation for minibeasts and insects. We hope you like "Bug-ing-ham Palace" as much as we do!
Spring Scavenger Hunt
Bhí muid abálta dul amach ar shiúlóid dúlra inniu. Bhailigh muid go leor rudaí.
Using the Outdoor Classroom- a visit to the Flough
This part of the Lennan Valley is part of a river catchment. The catchment includes the mountains, streams, tributaries all of which run into the main river channel itself. We're lucky enough to be able to walk over to the area known locally as the Flough and see first-hand the low lying flat land at the floodplain. Here the river is flowing slowly although the day we visited, the river was very full and was flowing quite quickly. We observed the surface water in the fields, also part of the river system.
We saw gulls on the water, feeding on the invertebrates (like worms) that come to the surface. We looked at the haws, providing a burst of colour on a November afternoon. Is maith an rud bheith amuigh faoin aer!
We saw gulls on the water, feeding on the invertebrates (like worms) that come to the surface. We looked at the haws, providing a burst of colour on a November afternoon. Is maith an rud bheith amuigh faoin aer!
Botany
Enjoying our nature study. Examining wild flowers, using identification books. We compared and contrasted Cow Parsley, Three Cornered Garlic and Meadowsweet.
Community Clean Up Spring 2021
Ní neart go cur le chéile! Buíochas do achan dhuine a chuidigh leis an 'glanadh suas' sa cheantair áitúil le gairid!
Many thanks to all who helped with our local community clean up recently. The local roads around Rathdonnell, Trentagh, Sockar, Legnahoorey, Garryharry, White Hill , Cloncarney were given the spring clean treatment. Our appreciation to the local council also for their support and practical help.
Many thanks to all who helped with our local community clean up recently. The local roads around Rathdonnell, Trentagh, Sockar, Legnahoorey, Garryharry, White Hill , Cloncarney were given the spring clean treatment. Our appreciation to the local council also for their support and practical help.
Rathdonnell NS awarded its 4th Green Flag for Travel!
This has been one of the most enjoyable flags to work for! Thanks to all involved particularly to Mrs Russell and Áine, our An Taisce Travel Officer. We worked on a "No Idling" campaign, we enjoyed many cycles to and from school, were lucky enough to get a new cycle shelter, had one of the best days ever when we enjoyed our cycle picnic and all the while continued to think about climate change and environmental action. Our Concern debating themes have a strong environmental component too - so it's all to the good! Hopefully we will enjoy our Green Flag celebrations at a later date.
Amuigh faoin aer- bird-watching.
Athchúrsáil (Recycling)
Buíochas mór do na daltaí a chuidigh leis an athchúrsáil roimh saoire na Nollag. Ansin thóg an múinteoir na malaí go léir go dtí an t-Ionad Athchúrsála. Ní raibh ach mála salach amháin againn, dhá mhála plaisteacha, ceithre mhála paipéir agus mála amháin don Tetrapaks. Nach maith muid!
Scáthlán rothar- brea úsáideach!
Tree Week October 2019
We got our very own native tree (by post) to celebrate Tree Day!
The selected tree this year is the Irish native spindle tree/shrub .
The selected tree this year is the Irish native spindle tree/shrub .
Luibheolaíocht- Botany
Botany is the study of plants. It is a branch of biology. Scientists who work in the field of botany are called botanists.Botany is important because people and animals depend on plants in many ways. People and animals get food and oxygen from plants. People also use plants to make clothing, building materials, chemicals, medicines and countless other things.
Rinne muid staidear beag ar an bhláth seo- Cab an ghasáin (Field Scabious). Fásann sé idir 30cm go 100cm. Tá dath corcra ar an bhláth. Its name comes from the fact that it was used as a cure for scabies and other skin complaints. Bláth ilbhliantúil atá ann (perennial).
Rinne muid staidear beag ar an bhláth seo- Cab an ghasáin (Field Scabious). Fásann sé idir 30cm go 100cm. Tá dath corcra ar an bhláth. Its name comes from the fact that it was used as a cure for scabies and other skin complaints. Bláth ilbhliantúil atá ann (perennial).
A visit from our Green School Officer
Áine is our Travel Officer and she works hard, helping us with our Travel Flag programme, working closely with us to support us through the 7 Step process of the Travel theme. Áine has helped us conduct our Environmental Review; develop our Action Plan; hosting Days of Action and delivered cycle training to us. We had a cycle picnic last year, and were lucky enough to get our own 10 bike cycle shelter.
Bike Day
A huge thank you to Áine and Aengus for a memorable day. Chuaigh muid amach ag rothaíocht faoin tuath agus bhí lá spéisialta againn. It was such a novelty to cycle as a group around the lovely countryside of Rathdonnell and Trentagh, crossing the Lennan at the Nine Eyed Bridge, around by Trentagh Church to the crossroads and back over the Flough and back to the school. The Junior Room got outside too to cycle or scoot.
Áine treated us to a delicious lunch of a healthy sandwich and a a chocolate brownie treat. The food was prepared by Branden at the thatched cottage coffee shop- really good food! Thank you to our parents who helped- cycling, collecting the food or doing a pick-up at short notice! The children and teachers are enjoying their cycling and scooting. This has been a great success.
Áine treated us to a delicious lunch of a healthy sandwich and a a chocolate brownie treat. The food was prepared by Branden at the thatched cottage coffee shop- really good food! Thank you to our parents who helped- cycling, collecting the food or doing a pick-up at short notice! The children and teachers are enjoying their cycling and scooting. This has been a great success.
COW Day! (Cycling on Wednesdays)
We didn't have our official COW Day today- but you can see that many enjoyed a cycle to school! We calculated that 56% of the Seniors cycled today.
Summer visitors
Our house martins have returned and are busy flying in and out of the nest. We love to observe the changing seasons and feel lucky to have these little visitors spending the spring and summer with us. Like the Swallow, the House Martin is a very common and very widespread summer visitor to Ireland from tropical Africa. While many people confuse the two species, there are some distinguishing features: the House Martin has a large white rump patch, a short, forked tail like a fish and a black and white face whereas the Swallow has a dark rump, often long tail streamers and a red face. Also, the Swallow usually builds indoors in a barn, shed or other building whereas the 'house' part of the House Martins' name refers to the birds' preference for building out of doors high up under the eaves of houses.
Cycle Day
Míle buíochas d'Áine ó An Taisce agus Scoil Ghlas ar son an cuidiú inniu. Bhí lá ar dóigh againn. Áine covered a lot of skills. We learnt the basics: how to correctly fit your helmet, how to get on your bike, how to look over your shoulder, how to brake and stop. More challenging skills included riding in a group through a 'funnel', communicating with one another, signalling and turning right/left, and making an emergency stop. We also had a slow bicycle race where pupils had to pedal in a very controlled manner. Áine also brought lots of cycle resources including cycle helmets (worth €50 each), scooter pouches, bells, high viz vests and bike lights. We'll raffle these! Well done to all the boys and girls- it ws a memorable day. Thanks also to the parents who helped cycle, organise bags, bikes, scooters, helmets!
Pollution and Solutions posters
This week we've been working on 'pollution and solutions' posters, learning about what happens when vehicles keep their engines 'ticking over' or idling. We explored some of the myths and facts surrounding idling. For example, it's less wasteful to turn off the ignition than running the engine for over 10 seconds, without moving. We'll be launching our 'No idling' campaign soon so watch this space!
More Green School Work
Fourth class and 1st class were on the Green School's Committee this week and were eager to keep the school green! They made sure that there was no rubbish lying around the yard and filled the bird feeders. We also had a look at the compost bin and discussed what we could put in and why. The children were quite intrigued by the amount of worms and slugs around and in the compost bin and were impressed with the work that the slugs were doing!
Meanwhile, the rest of the school were inside having important discussions on Travel in the Future. The children chatted about what we would need from our transport in the future. Some great ideas came out of this, including a moving footpath!
Meanwhile, the rest of the school were inside having important discussions on Travel in the Future. The children chatted about what we would need from our transport in the future. Some great ideas came out of this, including a moving footpath!
Green School Work
Sixth and Junior Infants were our Green Team this week. They did some weeding work, litter picking and listening to the story 'Grandpa Christmas' by Michael Morpurgo. This is a beautiful book containing a strong environmental message.
Green Schools Visit
On Friday we had a visit from Aine from Green Schools. We are beginning to look at our next theme, which is TRAVEL. We talked about how we travel to school and were there any other ways we could travel to school, rather than by car. We talked about why it is better to walk than to go by car: it is better for us physically, and it is better for the environment. We considered car pooling and other alternatives. We carried out a travel survey to see how most children travelled to school. We then discussed the barriers to us walking or cycling to school. We realised the main reason that we don't walk to school was due to safety concerns, time constraints and heavy schoolbags!!. We considered how, in an ideal world, how we would like to travel to school. Most children would love to cycle to school!
We then carried out a Walkability Survey, where we took a look outside the school, to see what were the barriers to us walking to school and was there anything we could do to address the problem. We looked at the speed limits outside the school and looked closely at the road coming up to the school. There are no footpaths, which make it dangerous and there is a blind corner coming up to the school. We are looking into reducing the speed limit outside our school to 30km per hour as it is currently 80 km and we think that is too fast. We had a really lovely morning and we were very thanful to Aine for her visit!
We then carried out a Walkability Survey, where we took a look outside the school, to see what were the barriers to us walking to school and was there anything we could do to address the problem. We looked at the speed limits outside the school and looked closely at the road coming up to the school. There are no footpaths, which make it dangerous and there is a blind corner coming up to the school. We are looking into reducing the speed limit outside our school to 30km per hour as it is currently 80 km and we think that is too fast. We had a really lovely morning and we were very thanful to Aine for her visit!
Conserve Water!
St. Joseph’s NS, Rathdonnell is proud to be a Green School. We have received our third Green Flag for Water.
We are now working on our 4th Green Flag on the theme of Travel.
We are now working on our 4th Green Flag on the theme of Travel.
Tionscnamh beag ar an Scoil Ghlas
Bhí cur síos maith ar an "Scoil Ghlas" sa tSeachtain Óg' le deanaí.
Tá cód glas againn.
Tá muid ag obair ar an téama 'Uisce' i mbliana.
Tá cód glas againn.
Tá muid ag obair ar an téama 'Uisce' i mbliana.