September/October Newsletter
Mercy Primary School
Newsletter October 2015
Welcome to our October newsletter. Our first 2 months in Mercy Primary School have been very busy with lots of activities happening in all classrooms. Make sure to have a look at the website – www.mercyprimaryschool.ie to see photos of all the wonderful activities happening in the school.
We had our annual Friendship Week and this was a great success all through the school. We were very fortunate to have members of the Céilí Mission team with us for a week. We sang beautiful music, prayed and had 2 lovely presentations, one in the school and one in the church. We also sang at the Sunday mass. The girls enjoyed the week thoroughly.
Junior Infants have had a very busy few weeks. They enjoyed singing songs and saying poems for their parents in the Welcome Ceremony. They had great fun during Maths Week and they went on an autumn walk to the park. They have made some scary Art for Halloween which they can’t wait to take home.
Senior Infants had lots of fun this month. They went on a trip to the park and used their senses to see, hear, touch and smell things. They painted a scary picture and made witches for Halloween. They have also discovered a lot in their experiments on “Sound”.
1st class went on a nature walk to the park and they looked at the different autumn leaves. They collected leaves for an Art activity also. For Friendship Week they explored the importance of friendships and interacting with others through poems, stories and Art activities.
The girls in 2nd class have settled in very well and have had a busy 2 months. In September they focussed on the theme “Myself”. The girls made lovely books and “All about Me” bags. In SESE they explored the senses. They enjoyed doing different experiments, especially the taste test! They also really enjoyed all the Friendship Week and Maths Week activities. They were very lucky to be invited to the Boys’ School to see some birds of prey. They saw owls, buzzards and a hawk. Some girls even got a chance to hold the birds! They enjoyed it very much.
3rdclass have done lovely work on autumn and autumn leaves. They had a very enjoyable trip to the park. They did lovely art for Friendship week and for the week of the Mission. They also started multiplication for the first time! They had a visit from the firemen to talk about fire safety at Halloween and all through the year. They are doing procedural writing in English and have written about how to make lovely sandwiches and pizzas! They had lots of fun during Maths Week, especially with the giant games.
4th class had 6 marvellous weeks of chess and were very sorry to say goodbye to John, the instructor. They hope to continue to play occasionally so they don’t forget all they learned. They enjoyed experimenting to see what they could use to make an egg float. They are not telling the results!! They loved making lava lamps in Science too. They have been very busy with their camogie and are improving each week. Maths Week was brilliant they all had different favourite games in the Halla.
5th class have started learning about long division – they can do them on the interactive whiteboard, in their copies and even on the windows of their classroom. They had lots of fun painting their division facts. Look up and see the next time you walk down Chapel Lane! They have also been raising money for Multiple Sclerosis with the MS Readathon. This month of reading started on the 9th October and runs until the 9th November. They are enjoying it a lot! They have been very busy with recipe writing and have even begun writing recipes “as Gaeilge”.
6th class have also been very busy. They have been helping 4th and 5th classes to stay active during break times by teaching the new games. They are doing yard games with 1st class also. He Parish Mission came to the school and the girls sang in the church with the Boys’ School. For Art they have done GAA silhouettes. In Geography they have been very busy – they got into the Camcor River to work out the speed of the water. Don’t worry – they wore wellie boots!! They also had a very interesting visit from a storyteller – Michael Creagh, as part of the Sliabh Bloom Storytelling Festival. They have lots of pictures on the school website. This week, 6th class are very proud to have won Gaelgóirí na Coicíse and hope to win it back-to-back in a fortnight’s time. The girls are also preparing for the road to Confirmation.
Mrs. Murray’s class have settles into Mercy Primary really well. They are getting to know all of the other girls in the playground at break times. They are learning lots and are having great fun every day. They are really enjoying the times they spend with their “Big Buddies” from 6thclass. After the mid-term break they will welcome some children from 1st class and Senior Infants to join them sometimes in their beautiful new classroom.
As you can see, Mercy Primary School is a very busy place!
We have a very hard-working Parents’ Association and we are delighted to announce that they are bringing Rachel Allen to the County Arms Hotel on Thursday 3rd December, as a fundraiser. Tickets are on sale in the school office, from the County Arms, Cut n Curl hairdresser and The Stables at €20 each. It promises to be a fantastic night out with some great raffle prizes. There will be stalls in the foyer and you will be able to get some great Christmas ideas from these. Come along and encourage all your friends to come along too. We expect tickets to sell fast, so don’t delay and pop into the school office to buy yours.
Don’t forget – www.mercyprimaryschool.ie is where you will see photographs and all the school news.