Spring in Second

Spring has been an extremely busy season in second class.

We began by celebrating St. Brigid’s Day, learning about her life and work in Ireland, the story of her cloak and by making St. Brigid crosses. The boys also wrote about St. Brigid.

Next we learned lots of new vocabulary about spring in English and as Ghaeilge.

Using the new vocabulary, the boys produced some lovely writing about spring.

We studied the lifecycles of several animals that are born in springtime. The boys loved learning about the lifecycle of the frog and the butterfly. They then completed some report writing:

Green-fingered Anna helped the boys to plant a delicious variety of vegetables – broad beans, runner beans, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, onions and beetroot. The boys used compostable toilet rolls as pots. Our green marshals took charge in the classroom, ensuring our seeds got plenty of water and sunlight.

They then used all the new words and technical terms acquired to write about plants and also sequenced the plant and growth process.

Once the weather got milder, Anna and the boys transferred the vegetables to our plot in the school garden. They even erected a mini greenhouse to protect and grow the tomatoes! Well done guys on all the skills you learned and for embracing the challenges and mucking in!!

Time really does fly when you’re having fun, because St Patrick’s Day was only around the corner. We had ‘spraoi agus craic’ making crafts and dressing up for the celebration. We hope you enjoy our performance of ‘Lá ‘le Pádraig’!

A short hop and a skip and the Easter bunny had landed……. with eggs galore and a fun challenge for the boys!

Working in pairs, they had to navigate an orienteering task to hunt and locate the eggs, which were hidden around the school grounds. They collected number cards which they exchanged for eggs. I hope the squeals of laughter and excitement didn’t disturb the other classes.

On their return to the classroom, the teams were tasked with cracking a code for eggstraordinary prizes.

Problem-solving…

Comhghairdeas!!!!!

Finally, pupils made some eggs from clay and paper bunny bags, which they took home as Easter gifts for their mams.

On our return to school after the Easter break, the saying ‘April showers, May flowers’ was particularly applicable given the downpours we witnessed. The boys were inspired to design their own plant pots and use printing techniques to paint colourful spring flowers.

We said goodbye to spring by bidding it ‘Adiós’ as we celebrated our Active School status by running to Madrid!! Mr Collins set classes a challenge to complete a number of laps equivalent to the distance between Ireland and a European city. Second class voted to run to Madrid in Spain and we achieved our goal by the end of April. Well done to my super Olympians.