Newsletter September 2013
Mercy Primary School, Birr, Newsletter
September 2013
Welcome back to Mercy Primary School for another year. This is the first of our monthly newsletter for the year 2013/2014. We are looking forward to all the great activities that will take place in our classrooms and school.
We are well settled back in and lots of great work is already taking place.
We want to welcome our 25 new Junior Infants. They are settling very well and are getting used to the routine of the school day.
Our Academic Mass was held in the church on Friday 27th September and it was a beautiful ceremony. Well done to all involved.
We have assembly on Friday mornings and it is a great chance for us to get together and pray, chat about our rules, talk about anything interesting that is coming up and to hear different classes perform a song or a poem for everyone. We spoke about World Peace Day in our assembly on the 20th of September and 5th and 6thclasses created the International Peace Sign in the yard. Have a look at our website to see a photo of them.
Our Home School Liaison teacher, Mrs Fitzgerald already has some activities up and running. 2nd class have started Maths for Fun – thanks to the Mammies who are helping out. Junior and Senior Infants are taking part in the Dr Seuss reading initiative in the library and are really enjoying it.
3rd and 4th classes have started Chess with John Alfred and 4th, 5th and 6th classes have camogie skills with GAA coach, Hughie Hannon.
We are putting our choir together again this year and will be preparing to take part in the Cross Border Orchestra Peace Proms. We are all very excited about this and it will be a great experience for the children.
5th class, with the help of Mrs Murray has designed and painted a beautiful mural on the wall of the bicycle shed. Who says you need grass to have a garden????? Have a look at the website to see photos of the mural or come down to the school and have a look!
There are lots of great activities going on in all the classrooms and here is a small flavour of what is happening:
Junior Infants had a very busy month settling in to school. They are practicing very hard for their Welcome Ceremony this week.
They painted self-portraits and made hand prints.
Senior Infants are very much enjoying the Dr Seuss Reading Initiative in the Library on Thursdays. We also painted self-portraits and made beautiful flower name tags to show where we hang our coats.
First Class made beautiful self-portraits inspired by the artist Julian Opie. Autumn has provided great opportunities for art work with leaf prints and rubbings.
Second Class have started Maths For Fun and are enjoying it. They are learning all about ‘The Senses’. They thoroughly enjoyed experimenting using each of our 5 senses!
Third Class drew exotic and humorous animals at art. They started learning Chess with Mr Alfred and tin whistle with Mrs Kennedy.
Fourth Class are learning all about the lungs. They read their first class novel Diary of a Killer Cat and have recommenced Boot Camp ! Fifth Class: Busy discovering Ireland and each pupil has taken on a county to do a project on. We are learning all about the heart in science. We started camogie training.
Sixth Class: Started yard games with 1st Class during lunch break. We had our photograph taken for the Birr Review which will be out in a couple of months and we are learning all about the heart.
Dates for your diary:
Thursday October 3rd – Junior Infant blessing and Welcome Ceremony.
Monday 28th October – Friday 1st November – Mid Term Break.
Saturday 2nd November – Family Fun Day – Birr Library.
Don’t forget to look at our school website www.mercyprimaryschool.ie
Special Notice:
We have been asked by the clergy to make you all aware of safety in the Church grounds. You are asked to please park carefully and not to block the drive around the church. Also, speed in the church grounds has become an issue. Please drive very slowly and with great care at all times.