Rang a Trí

Welcome to 3rd Class 2019/2020

Letter Writing

We are learning about letter writing in 3rd class.
We focused on writing informal, friendly letters and the features of this type of letter.
We then wrote letters to our own families and posted them.
The letters arrived on Friday 29th of Nov.
It was great fun and lots of the children saw the post man come to their house and deliver the letters as we didn't have school that day.

Winter Art

As we are studying some winter poems at the moment, we based our art work on the theme of Winter. Here is our Winter themed art and we based it on the poem 'Jack Frost' which we are also learning in class.

Winter Poem
We are learning the poem
'Sir Winter' by Jean Kenward

I heard Sir Winter coming.
He crept out of his bed
and rubbed his thin and freezing hands:
I'll soon be up! he said.

'I'll shudder at the keyhole
and rattle at the door,
I'll strip the trees of all their leaves
and strew them on the floor;

'I'll harden every puddle
that Autumn thinks is his -
I'll lay a sparkling quilt of snow
on everything that is!

'I'll bring a load of darkness
as large as any coal,
and drive my husky dogs across
the world, from pole to pole.

'Oho! How you will shiver!'
And then I heard him say:
'But in the middle of it all
'I'll give you
CHRISTMAS DAY!'

Experiment Fun - 'Dancing Raisins'

We conducted an experiment - known as the 'Dancing Raisins' experiment.

We needed sparkling water, raisins and a glass to conduct this experiment.
When we placed the raisins into the soda water they sunk to the bottom and then traveled to the surface. After a few minutes the raisins would fall to the bottom again and raise to the surface.

So why does this happen?

The bubbles created from the carbon dioxide in the soda water act like tiny floatation devices that lift the raisin to the surface of the water. This is due to an increase in buoyancy. Once the carbon dioxide bubbles reach the surface of the soda they pop and the gas is released into the air. This makes the raisin lose buoyancy and fall back down to the bottom of the glass

Art Work inspired by the Irish Artist Eoin O'Connor
'COWS'

Autumn Walk

As Autumn came to a close we decided to take an Autumn walk in the woods. We identified the different trees in the woods by bringing a sheet of names and pictures of leaves to investigate. We collected the leaves and brought them back to the classroom to do leaf rubbings into our S.E.S.E. Copies.

Third Class trip to Galway

On the 17th of October third class went on a trip to Galway to see a show in the Town Hall theatre 'Baba Yaga'.

We went by bus and before the show we went to the Galway Museum, the Galway City Library and the Corbett Court Shopping Centre.

The show 'Baba Yaga' was fantastic and we had a great day exploring Galway City!

Arts Flag - Drama Workshops

As our school is aiming to obtain an Arts Flag - third class have been lucky enough to be involved in five drama workshops with Catherine - a facilitator from Branar.

We have thoroughly enjoyed these workshops.

Our class worked on the topic of 'Climate Change' and from this we created a story about the 'Forest People' and how they were forced to leave their homes in the forest due to the 'City People' coming and destroying the forest.

Here are some pictures from our workshops.

Lines and Angles

We were learning about lines and angles in third class.

We learned about horizontal, vertical, diagonal and parallel lines.

We also learned about angles and in particular right angles.

We worked in pairs to study different lines and angles.

Hurling

Third Class have been hurling with David for the last six weeks.

We have learned lots of new skills in hurling and have really enjoyed it.

Each week we were improving and we really enjoyed playing matches against one another.

Thank you to David for being such a nice coach and teaching us some fantastic skills.

A Visit from Dogs Trust

This week we had a visit from Aoife of Dogs Trust.

Aoife talked to us about safety around dogs and what Dogs Trust do.

We also listened to a story about a dog who came to Dogs Trust and luckily found a lovely home with a family.

Aoife gave us lots of gifts too such as magnets and certificates.

Stone Age Art

We have been learning about the Stone Age in history this month. Therefore, we decided to do some cave paintings for art.
We took inspiration from the famous Lascaux Cave Paintings in the South of France.
Take a look at some of our cave paintings.

Science Fun

We are having great fun in 3rd class and learning lots. Last week we did some science experiments in our class and made some mini lava lamps.

We learned that oil is lighter than water and when an acid and a base combine a reaction is caused.

We had great fun watching the reactions!

Fáilte go dtí Rang a Trí 2018/2019

Active School Week 2019

3rd Class really enjoyed getting active during Active School Week. They especially enjoyed swapping written homework for fun challenges to get them fit and active.

In their swimming lessons, they completed the Swim a Mile Relay Challenge, where they swam as many widths of the swimming pool as they could. They all received swimming caps and certificates for their efforts. Maith sibh, Rang a Trí!

Microgreens

Just after the Easter holidays, Rory and Martina from Caragh's Microgreens came to visit our class. They supply fresh, nutritious microgreens to many restaurants around Galway.

They brought us to the polytunnel where we sowed radish, mustard, red cabbage and amaranth. We covered them gently with sieved compost and kept them moist. Look how well they've grown!

We look forward to tasting them very soon.

Gardening

Rang a Trí have got involved in three different projects to do with gardening and the environment this year: Incredible Edibles, The Innocent Big Grow, and Spikey the Hedgehog's Exploration Box. We'll keep you updated with news and photos.

Máirt na hInide

An Mháirt seo chaite, d'ullmhaigh Rang a Trí pancóga. Mheasc siad le chéile plúr, uibheacha, salann, bainne agus ola. Dhoirt siad beagáinín den mheascán isteach sa fhriochtán a bhí smeartha go héadrom le hola. Rinne siad iad a fhriochadh ar an dá thaobh. D'ith siad na pancóga le bananaí, le fraocháin agus le mil. Bhí siad go han-bhlasta ar fad!

Comhoibriú

Rang a Trí have been discussing the importance of co-operation in Circle Time recently. For one of the warm-up activities, we had to work together and trust each other to sit on each others' laps at the same time. The plan worked!

Iománaíocht le Daithí

On Friday, 1st February, Rang a Trí donned their helmets, hurleys and sliotars to brave the frosty weather and enjoy their first training session with David.

After some warm-up activities, David took them through a few basic skills including dribbling and catching. We're already looking forward to next Friday!

Activities

Rang a Trí have been very busy keeping their bodies active recently. Before Christmas, we had lots of dance breaks to help us refocus between subjects.

We have been very lucky with the weather since coming back to school in January. On the first Friday back, we completed the planet walk, stopping along our journey to complete different activities.

The second week, we teamed up with Naíonáin Shóisearacha for stations in PE with skipping, throwing and catching, bouncing, and using ladder runs. Did we mention that we did all these whilst wearing our pyjamas?!

Baboró Trip

On Tuesday, 16th October 2018 we went on a trip. We went with 4th Class. Some parents came too.

We went by bus to Galway. First we went to a shopping centre because it was raining. In the shopping centre, we saw the old city wall. It was made of stone and was very thick with round towers at the corners.

Next we went to Eyre Square. We saw a statue of the poet Pádraig Ó Conaire. We ate some lunch and went to a playground.

Then we walked through Shop Street to St Nicholas’s Church. We did a Treasure Trail around the inside of the church building. We learned lots of facts. We saw a statue of a smiling angel.

After that we sat beside the canal to eat our lunch. It was then time for Baboró so we walked around to An Taibhdhearc. We watched the play ‘Narrow’. It was hilarious. It was about two people living in a box.

Sadly it was time to get the bus back to school. We had a fantastic day.

Student Council Elections
Toghchán do Chomhairle na nDaltaí

3rd Class held their Student Council Elections last week. This was a great opportunity to learn about the importance of voting, especially with the upcoming Presidential Election.

On Polling Day, students had to present their 'identification cards' to the Presiding Officer in order to receive their ballot papers. They then took their papers to a 'polling booth' so they could vote in private, numbering their candidates in order of preference.

After a hard-fought campaign with carefully-designed posters and thoughtful speeches, the successful candidates were Erica and Ruairí. Well done all!

Fáilte go dtí Rang a Trí 2017/2018

Welcome to our third class website.

We have been up to lots of fun activities since we came back after our Summer Holidays.

Eoin O'Connor Art

We looked at the art work of Eoin O'Connor and took inspiration from his work and re created our own versions of his famous cow paintings.

We had great fun drawing the cows as we had to pretend the cows were looking down the lens of the camera.

Take a look at our wonderful creations.

Fighting Words Writer's Workshop

On Friday the 29th of September third class got involved in the Fighting Words Writing Workshop. We had great fun as a class taking part in this workshop. We worked together as a class to think of characters, a setting and a plot for our story. Then we worked in groups or individually to create an ending for our story. It was so much fun. This week we received copies of our book and it even had our pictures at the back.
Thank you so much to parents of the school Anna, Fergus and Cathy and to Patsy for organising it.
We loved it!

Mind UP!

As part of the Mind Up Programme that is being implemented in our school this year we started one of our lessons on learning about the brain. We learned about three important parts of the brain - the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the hippocampus. We learned the functions and the locations of these parts of the brain. We worked together to write about these parts of the brain and to describe what they do. We have them displayed at the back of our classroom.

Fáilte go dtí Rang a Trí

Engineering Week

For Engineers week Dara's dad in fourth class came into our class to talk to us about engineering with two of his colleagues. It was really interesting and we also had to make towers out of marshmallows and matchsticks. We worked in groups and had to use our engineering skills. It was really fun!

Science - The Bending of Light!

We conducted some experiments in class as we were learning about light and the 'bending of light'

Tessellation Fun!

SPHE - How my classmates describe me

We did a lovely activity in class where everybody in third class wrote a nice adjective about everybody. They are on display on our SPHE wall in the classroom!

Down Syndrome Day

Ruby and Max's Mom, Maeve and Susan came into talk to all the classes about Down Syndrome for Down Syndrome Day. It was really interesting and we really enjoyed it. Thank you very much Maeve, Suzanne, Max and Ruby.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

We got up to a lot of activities for Seachtain na Gaeilge. We had an art competition where we had to draw pictures and design poster based on different seanfhocail. It was really fun! Bhain muid an taitneamh as!

We also dressed up and had a fashion show. Children wore traditional Irish clothes! It was great fun! Well done to Oisin who won!

We also had a Tráth na gCeist with Rang a Dó! Bhí sé go hiontach!

We also did a performance for first and second class where we sang the song Báidín Fhéilimí and Ruairí accompanied us on the guitar! Ruairí was great on the guitar and the children sang beautifully.

Maths Week Fun!

For Maths Week Third Class got involved in a number of maths activities. We played maths games in the classroom and we also had a maths challenge. The children had to estimate how many jelly beans were in a jar, the person who came closest to guessing the correct amount won the jar of sweets! It was a lot of fun estimating how many sweets were in the jar.

Walking in the Woods

We decided to take a winter walk through the woods near our school. We had a lovely time and we were looking out for all the signs of winter in the woods.

Hallowe'en Fun!

Some of the boys and girls dressed up for Hallowe'en! We had a great day in the class with everyone dressed up in different costumes!.

A Good Egg!

In science we conducted an experiment with fresh water and salty water.
We used eggs and we predicted in which water would the egg float in, salty water or freshwater.
We worked in groups and put water into a glass jar and put water and salt into another glass jar and stirred it.

Lyndsay Hughes from Galway Bay FM interviewed the children about their experience taking part in the Write a Book competition. We were broadcast on Monday at 5pm on Galway Bay Fm!

Practicing G.A.A skills with Darren a local coach.

We had a visit from Tony, a dental technician. He showed us dentures and we used plaque tablets to see plaque on our teeth!

We celebrated Burns Night on the 26th January. We acted out a Robert Burns poem, sang a Scottish song and made our own tartan patterns. Thank you to Avatal for sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm with the class.

The children engages in map work and then drew aerial view maps of our school!

Testing our reaction speed to a falling weighted scale.

The children play soccer with a twist!

Rinne na páistí pictúirí a thaispeáint na héadaí is fearr leo.

Bhí na paistí ag foghlaim faoi éadaí- Féach ar na héadaí sin!

Firefighters from Gort fire station talked to the class about fire safety.

Planting spring bulbs.

Taking part in a maths trail with senior infants.

Practising our balance in Science!