During the months of January and February we were so disappointed to hear that we wouldn't be able to return to in-class teaching following the Christmas break.

This meant that all children would once again engage in remote, online learning using Seesaw and Zoom. The children were absolutely brilliant at engaging in this and we couldn't believe how many posts we were getting everyday. 

We continued to celebrate annual traditions such as World Book Day and children dressed up as their favourite book characters and wrote wonderful book reviews. The Senior room entered poetry competitions for Valentine's Day and Book review competitions for World Book Day. Congratulations to Lucy Meagher in 3rd class who got 1st prize in the Carrick-on-Suir library 'Write a book review competition.'
Well done also to Lucy Meagher and Frankie Burke who won the 'World Book Day' classroom competitions.

Congratulations also to Lucy Burke in 4th class who was selected to participate in an online course run by Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. Lucy chose to learn all about the secret life of Microbes!!! Very fascinating!

All children were delighted to hear that they would once again return to the classroom in March 2021!









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In December all of the children were really looking forward to the Christmas break and counting down the days to Santa's visit.

Things were a little different this year due to Covid and instead of a Christmas party and the usual Santa visit to Killurney Hall, we welcomed Santa into our classroom using the power of zoom on the 22nd December. The children really enjoyed this and they couldn't believe how much Santa knew about each and every one of them. 

During the month of December the children also experienced a block of 4 Forest School lessons with Joanna.
All children from Junior Infants to 6th class swapped their runners for their wellies and boots and braved the elements to walk to our local forest. The children engaged in a wide variety of lessons including den building, lighting a forest fire (and learning how to safely extinguish it!), toasting marshmallows, building bird feeders using biodegradable materials, making Christmas decorations and identifying various trees. 

Also this month, we learned that our school had been selected to participate in the Creative Schools initiative and all of the children met our Creative Associate, Muireann. Muireann will work with the children and the staff over the next two years as we develop and achieve our Creative Schools project. The school will also receive a grant totalling €4500 to help us with this project and achieve 'Creative School' status.

On the 11th December, all children and staff wore their Christmas jumpers to school to fundraise for Crumlin Children's hospital.  We were delighted to raise just over €300 for this very worthy cause.

We also held our annual Christmas raffle and thanks to all of your kind donations raised a total of €860. This money will be used to purchase equipment for our outdoor classroom space! Congratulations to the winners of our 11 hampers!







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November brought some wet and windy weather to our school but we did not let that dampen our spirits here in Killurney N.S.

During the month of November, we celebrated our Science fortnight. Although restrictions meant that we couldn't welcome our Lismore Primary scientists to our school this year we engaged in a variety of zoom interactive lessons and experiments instead.

1. The Magic of Water lessons: An Forum Uisce: Children in the senior room learned all about the physics of water, the chemistry of water and water as an ecosystem. All children learned about the three states of water, the chemical elements that make up water and some of the species that live in our water. They learned about the importance of oxygen in our rivers and how maintaining a stable pH is so important for our wildlife. We also discussed the effects of pollution on our rivers and streams.
2. The Amazing Cosmo Journey: Limerick Science Festival: All children from Junior Infants to 6th class learned about planet Earth in space, other planets in our solar system and the sun. They also learned about light and the speed of light and the life cycle of a star. They were taken on a journey through space and engaged in a question and answer session with an astronomer from UL.
3. Kahoot Science Quiz: Senior Room children participated in a Kahoot Science Quiz.
4. WIT Calmast Festival of Science: Senior Room children participated in the zoom lesson 'The Science of Sport'. They learned about what it is like to study Sport science in Waterford Institute of Technology and they learned all about the science and technology behind improving your performance as a sports person. They engaged in a question and answer session with professional footballer Mark Langtry.
5. Limerick Festival of Science: All classes participated in a zoom lesson ‘How to become a superhero scientist’ They learned all about the science and technology behind the Avengers costumes and superpowers. Junior Room pupils created their own superheroes.
   
   All children also participated in hands on Science experiments.
   
   All classes made volcanoes using Vinegar, food colouring and baking soda.
   
   The senior room used the same chemical reaction to inflate rubber gloves.
   The senior room also investigated how to make a rocket fly and how to steer it using just the following equipment: a balloon, a piece of string, a straw and a piece of selloptape.
   
   The senior room also had great fun learning about the distance of each of the planets in our solar system from the sun. They each made a scaled drawing of our solar system.
   
   The Junior room had lots of fun making colourful rainbows and lava lamps.
   
   
   Also this month we marked the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. (21st November 2020)
   The children in the senior room enjoyed learning all about Bloody Sunday and the fight for Irish Independence. They made beautiful concept maps depicting all they had learned. 
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   We were also delighted this month to hear that John Joe Morrissey won a prize in the Credit Union Art Competition. He came 'Highly Commended' and won a certificate and a cheque for €10. Well done John Joe! We are all so proud of you!
   
   

October was a very enjoyable month in our school as all of the children looked forward to mid-term break and Halloween celebrations.
After working super hard during the first term and completing some mid- term assessments, countdown was on to our 'Spooky Halloween party'.
During the final week of school each child participated in a 'Spooky Craft Competition'. Children had to design and carve a pumpkin, magic potion, mask or costume, type their procedure and upload onto their seesaw account.
All children participated and then voted for their favourites.
The winners in the junior room were Aoife O' Reilly and Rosalie Cox. The winners in the senior room were Lucy Meagher and Fred ffrench Davis. Well done to everyone!

We had a wonderful Halloween party on Friday 23rd October and whilst we knew Halloween would be different this year due to Covid 19 restrictions, it did not stop us from having fun! All children dressed up and participated in socially distant Halloween games such as musical statues and designing a monster. They then enjoyed some treats and a Halloween movie.

In other news, well done to all the senior room pupils who participated in Clonmel Rotary's club 'Young writers competition'.
We were delighted to hear that Max O' Reilly, 6th class won second prize and Alexis Roche-Nagle, 5th class won first prize in the intermediate division of this competition. Alexis'story will now be forwarded to the regional competition.

During the month, we also enjoyed a visit from Mr Walsh, principal of the Patrician Secondary school in Fethard. He made a lasting impression on our senior room pupils with amazing  magic maths tricks.
The children in the junior room worked really hard on a class project about 'The Amazon' and the children in the senior room have been learning all about Africa. You will see some very impressive art work in our school windows. 
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Well done also to Max and Robyn O' Reilly for all their achievements and awards they have won with the pony club. Keep up the great work!!!

All of our children have well and truly settled back into school at this stage.
It is great to hear the sound of laughter and learning filling the classrooms once again.

On 27th August 2020, we were delighted to welcome our new Junior Infant students - Lacey Nolan, Rosalie Cox, Clara O' Donnell, Fern O'Reilly, Tadhg O'Reilly and Charlie Meagher. They have all settled into 'Big School' really well and are always eager to learn.

Children are busy engaging in projects, art work and music lessons.
The Junior room have started working on a project all about the Amazon and the Senior Room have just finished their project on France and the French Revolution.

All children have recommenced their music lessons with Gillian on Wednesdays and our new football coaches - John and Keith have also started lessons with the children.

We were thrilled to learn this month also that our school was selected to participate in the Creative Schools programme 2020-2022.
We will be assigned a Creative Associate who will work with the staff and children to create a plan based on promoting the arts in our school. We will also receive a total grant of €5100 over the next two years to spend on arts education and development in our school.

The following is a list of some fun art websites that your children might enjoy;

-Scrap Colouring

-Bomomo

-Aminah's World

​-Toy Theatre

Also find attached a GAA Heroes colouring book for those children that may be interested.

The World of David Walliams is releasing an audio story every day for the next 30 days! www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/

Keep the children busy with these daily audio treats, perfect for tea and biscuit breaks.

And why not write a book review after listening or draw a picture? Have fun!

Well done to all our staff and pupils for taking part in World Book Day and dressing up as characters from their favourite books.

Congratulations to Lucy Meagher, Ellie O'Donnell, Alexis Roche-Nagle and Lucy Burke who won the World Book Day Easons vouchers.