October Newsletter 2018
Mercy Primary School
October 2018 Newsletter
Welcome to our October Newsletter. Our first two months in Mercy Primary School have been very busy with lots of activities happening in all classrooms.
We had our annual Friendship Week and this was a great success all through the school. Beautiful art was done, people were kind and caring to each other and friendship was very evident around the school. We finished it off with a beautiful mass in the church.
Mrs. Murray’s class
We are very busy and are getting a lot of work done. We work hard in our own room and also in the classes we visit.
We have all made fantastic progress on our bikes. We have become fitter and stronger. We are delighted that a school garden is being created as we love growing flowers and other plants. We have been involved in cycle safety, school choir, the Credit Union art competition and farm safety.
Junior Infants have settled in great to their new school and classroom. They have been learning new sounds and songs. They have made new friends. They are having great fun learning about Autumn and Halloween. We are taking part in Once Upon a Time with Birr Library and are busy reading books. We also planted some bulbs in our school’s new secret garden.
Senior Infants have been learning all about Birthdays, School, Autumn and Halloween in our structured play. We also learned about bio-diversity and loved our visit to the School’s Secret Garden.
Friendship Week encouraged us to be more thoughtful and kind to each other.
First Class : This term we have been learning all about Autumn and even made hibernation nests for “Hattie the Hedgehog”. We welcomed our fairy Indigo into our class who we have been writing to regularly. Now we are being kept busy preparing for Halloween.
Second Class have been “busy bees” since returning to school in September. From Maths and Literacy groups, to giving each other a ‘helping hand’, we have created a ‘Circle of Friends’ in Rang 2.
As part of our preparation for our First Holy Communion, we have been to mass twice, we have also played the tin whistle, ran great lengths in athletics, sang songs, hugged a tree in the park (called Roger!). We did work-out-Wednesday (W.O.W.), planted a mighty oak, created and painted a Friendship Tree, and learned lots in between!
Third Class have had a wonderful September and October. We enjoyed a dance workshop in Birr Theatre, fitness class and camogie. The girls are learning all about autumn – have written poems, visited the park and created colourful paintings in art class. Friendship week was a lovely week where the children learned the true qualities of a good friend. 3rd Class played games, made friendship cards and created friendship rainbows. We also took part in many Maths Week activities – solving puzzles, playing maths games and a maths trail around the school. We are looking forward to our pumpkin carving.
Fourth Class have had a very busy time since our return to school after the Summer Holidays. We have been learning all about our local history and the children have completed wonderful projects and went on a local trail of the town. We also had 6 weeks of draughts with John, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed. The girls also had camogie with Orla in St. Brendan’s Park each Tuesday. We enjoyed Maths Week and solved lots of mathematical problems. We also had Athletics each Wednesday in the Hall. The girls have completed some wonderful artwork for Halloween and written many spooky stories. We look forward to the next term….
Fifth Class began their new school year with great enthusiasm and a hunger for learning. September we were busy with our Cycling Course, we are now experts with road signs, how to signal left and right turns and have a much stronger knowledge on safety and awareness when cycling.
Friendship Week – we designed our very own “Friendship Week T-shirts; we also designed our own slogans, symbols and wore them into school We made Friendship Week bracelets with 6th Class too!
During Maths Week, we had a Table Quiz with 6th Class.
6th Class: This term in 6th Class we have been having great fun learning to play tag rugby with Denis. We have also been learning how to play chess and we now have some masters of the game in our class! We have been running and jumping in
athletics. For Friendship Week we made friendship bracelets and friendship art. Dani from the School Completion Programme has been coming in to help us with our transition to Secondary School. We have been writing our own Irish stories, doing maths trails and quizzes for Maths Week and also projects on different ecosystems.
Important dates for your diary:
Friday 26th October – Parents’ Association Cake Sale and Halloween Dress Up Day.
Friday 26th October – school closes for Halloween and
Monday 5th November – school reopens.
November 8th – 14th – Scholastic Book Fair
Wednesday 13th Nov – Parent/Teacher Meetings for 1st – 6th Classes.
Thursday 13th December – SCHOOL SHOW! We are delighted to announce we will have a school show in the Marian Hall. Time to be announced later.