Fun with Catapults!!!
(Written by Rose and Saoirse)
Today in school we made catapults! First we were split into groups of three and four. Secondly we gathered up all the equipment needed {Lollypop sticks, elastic bands and other decorative things}. Some groups had the same design and some were different. After long discussions and lots of planning we finally had a finished product!!! We all sat down on our ‘runway’ for a catapult competition!!! Odhran, Daniel, Jamie and Elizabeth came in first place, Lisa and Lee came in second and three groups came third, so we had another round between them and Rose, Jack and Reece’s team won so that meant they were in third place!!! Great fun was had by all teams!!!
Hope you enjoy our pictures:
On Thursday the 15th of December a U.C.C guest came to do science with us. She firstly showed us a model of a brain! Shortly afterwards she taught us about the brain. She told us about the second brain in our stomach, which was very interesting. This controls feelings like butterflies! We learned that our brain is floating in our skull but is protected by a fluid. Multiple pupils tried to break an egg in a container filled with water, which was passed around. The egg represented the brain surrounded by the fluid. It was great fun! We also learned that an average adult brain weighs 1.3 kg and that we have 86 million nerves in our body!! If we had to count these nerves one by one, it would take 3,187 years to count! Lee volunteered to get his guts measured by string! These measured about the length of the classroom! Lots of more information is available on http://apc.ucc.ie. It was a great morning!!
Written by Julia, Damian and Rose
This morning 5th class along with Mrs Walsh, Rachel and Ms. Linehan headed to Cork City Hall for a show called ‘The Colours of Music’!! What a morning we had! We were introduced to the different musical instruments in an orchestra. Keith Hanley then came on stage and there was lots of excitement particularly with Niamh, Chloe, Lee, and Ciara who danced their socks off! We really loved the song Closer, Can’t Stop The Feeling and Purple People Eater! Lots of people had very groovy dance moves especially Nathan, Julia …….. well actually the entire class!!!!
Hope you like our photos!!!
What a fun and enjoyable morning we had in the halla with the jazz band!! Check out these photos!!!
Fifth class had fun this week making Norman castles! Here are the finished products from each group! 
On Tuesday the 25th of October 4th and 5th class went to the Cork City Library in the Grand Parade. We went there for the Children’s Book Fest to see ‘Not so Vicious Vikings’. We had a great morning and learned loads about the Vikings!
Firstly we learned that the Vikings originated in Scandinavia. We were particularly interested in the Vikings that came from Norway as these were the ones that settled in Ireland. We learned lots about Viking fashion, clothing and hygiene. The ladies presenting told us that the Vikings wore linen to their skin as it was soft and dries easily and wool over the linen to keep them warm. We were interested to hear that the Vikings were very hygienic and always tried to keep as clean as possible. We were shown combs they made out of pigs bones that were nailed together and decorated!
We also learned lots about Viking weapons and armour. We saw a sword, axe and shield as well as lots of different types of armour! We even got to try some on! The rich people generally had armour like chainmail and metal helmets whereas the poor people just had axes as they were cheaper to make. We did find out that the axes were very useful as they were curved and lighter than swords and we really enjoyed the ‘battle’ between the two ladies! We all had a great and very interesting morning! Hope you enjoy our photos!!
As part of maths week we did a maths quiz in the halla today. We were divided into seven groups of four. There were six rounds including one where we had to make a triangular prism at speed!! We had lots of great discussions and enjoyed problem solving during each round! Finally the results came in! Two groups tied in 2nd place and one group came first! Ryan, Nathan, Jamie and Rose were in the winning group! They luckily won a homework pass and received medals! The two groups that came in second place also received a subject pass! We all had a great morning and each group enjoyed treats for their hard work. Thanks to all the maths team who worked so hard to put this together for us!
Written by: Saoirse, Afrin and Damian 
On Friday the 7th of October we did our 3rd of 5 cycling workshops. Firstly we put on our helmets and went through our bike checks as we had done the previous two weeks. For the next hour the yard in Greenmount became a busy main road! Some of our classmates were chosen to be the traffic where they continually cycled on a set route which involved navigating a ‘busy road’ with two roundabouts! It proved a little difficult at first but we soon got the hang of it! Our other classmates learned how to use hand signals correctly and cycle from a T-Junction! We also practised changing directions with lots of other cyclists! Some of our classmates are also working on improving their cycling skills and they are making fantastic progress! Loads of learning and fantastic fun again this week as seen in our photos!!!
On Friday the 23rd of September we started our first of five cycling workshops! We first learned how to fit our helmets correctly and went through all safety checks for our bikes. After that we worked in groups where everybody had their own bike. We particularly enjoyed the slow bike race as we had to have great control over our bikes. We also tried sudden stop races and manoeuvring around cones. Some people even learned to ride a bike for the first time!!! Fantastic fun was had by all and we are already looking forward to next week!!!
Darragh’s team won a trophy at the weekend. His class are delighted for him.
