Christmas Newsletter

 

                        MERCY PRIMARY SCHOOL

                     CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2015

 

 

Welcome to our Christmas newsletter. It’s hard to believe we are at the end of a term already! The girls have been very busy and lots of great activities have taken place.

Junior Infants performed very well in their Christmas Concert. They looked amazing up on stage. They have made lots of lovely things for Christmas which they can’t wait to bring home. They enjoyed their visit to the library for story-time and enjoyed going to Birr Theatre for the show “Cinderella’s Christmas”.

Senior Infants also gave a wonderful performance in their Christmas Concert – they sang out and knew all their words. They made beautiful paper plate Santas, Christmas tree cards, a nativity scene and drew a picture of Rudolf in the snow. They enjoyed their trip to see “Cinderella’s Christmas” in Birr Theatre. They decorated their classroom and had their own little Christmas tree. They have had great fun and love playing PAX games from “Granny’s Wacky Prize Bag!”

In 1st class the girls have worked very hard this term. They really enjoyed and gained a lot of knowledge from Science and Maths Weeks. They immensely enjoyed learning all about penguins, North and South Poles and Ernest Shackleton. They went to see “The Polar Express” in the library and loved it. They have painted lots of lovely pictures for Christmas.

2nd class have been very busy this term. They took part in Science Week and enjoyed doing lots of different experiments. Maths Week was a great success – they had great fun playing games, puzzles, board games and card games. Tennis coach, Kieran Galvin visited the school and the girls got a chance to take part in his coaching session. They learned some of the basic skills of playing tennis. The girls visited the library for a film and really enjoyed it. They also visited the Post Office to post their Santa letters! The classroom is beautifully decorated with Christmas Art.

3rd class continued with their multiplication and are flying at their tables! They also started division for the first time ever. They are brilliant at both now and will be doing more in 2016.They learned very nice songs in both English and Irish and learned to play “Winter Wonderland” on tin-whistle and chime bars! For Science week they carried out some great experiments – testing the properties of light, investigating ramps and their effect on rolling objects, and properties of materials and dissolving. They learned about Christmas traditions in the Ireland of long ago. They have done beautiful Christmas Art including cards and cribs with gorgeous crib characters. They did lovely Christmas stories in English about children less fortunate such as “The Little Match Girl” and Jackson in their novel “Fair’s Fair”.

4th class filled and decorated dozens of shoeboxes for those less fortunate than ourselves. They also looked at the different countries they are sent to. They had great fun trying (and succeeding!) in making miniature, working lighthouses in the classroom. After studying the Romans, they used their technique to make their own mosaics, but with a Christmas theme. This term they have been doing some dance in P.E. and they are now dancing like rock stars!! They made up their own moves to different pop songs.

5thclass have had a very busy few weeks. They have been working as hard as Santa’s own elves preparing Christmas games for the school. The girls created, designed and built different games such as a “Rudolph Ring Toss”, “Pin the Tail on Rudolph” and Christmas jigsaws. They loved making them in Art and hope the other classes enjoy them too! They have continued to visit Birr Library and have sent away their MS Readathon forms also. In Science, they have learned all about energy like sound and magnetic energy. The girls loved making their own voice boxes and magnets. They are finishing procedural writing and have made some beautiful Christmas wreaths, trees and snowflakes through procedures.

6th class have had a busy term leading up to Christmas. They’ve been busy preparing for their confirmation by participating in weekend masses and filling in worksheets for their confirmation parish booklet. In history they learned about Native Americans and made beautiful headdresses. During Science week they created crystals and erupting volcanoes. They won Gaelgóir na Coicíse twice in a row and are now aiming for their third award! Art has been great fun this term. They made laminated story books and maths games for the Junior Infants which they absolutely love. They have their classroom and their school beautifully decorated for Christmas with origami snowflakes which are hanging in the windows and corridors. They attended the Community school musical ‘We will Rock You’ and two girls from their class scooped 1st and 2nd place in the poster competition. In December they entertained the residents of the hospital and Elm Grove Nursing Home with their music, singing and dancing. Ms Ryan & Mrs Kennedy treated them to Hot Chocolate for their ‘positivity’ this term. It was divine!

Mrs. Murray’s class are working very hard, learning to read,count, match and sort. They sing and work on their iPad. They spend lots of time in the gym and sensory room. They got a fish tank and their fishy friends have settled in well. The girls love them! They are really enjoying preparing for Christmas and work on the story of the first Christmas every day. They had a very special visit from Santa and went to the theatre to see Cinderella. They want to thank their 4 sixth class friends for all their help this term.

 

We were delighted to welcome 2 members of the Defence Forces to the school and they presented us with our national flag. We look forward to raising it in March.

The Green School committee are working hard on our Travel Flag programme and Mieke Scholte came in to help map where the children live in Birr. This was a very interesting exercise.

The school choir are singing away and went carol singing in the square in Birr and also in the grounds of Birr Castle. One of the highlights of the term for them was a visit by one of our past pupils, Dana Donnelly. Dana is a member of the band “I’m Your Vinyl” and, wow! What a talent. Dana sang for the girls and chatted about following your dreams and the hard work it entails. The choir sang for her too and then they all sang together! It was great!! Have a look at the website to see the pictures.

Our Parents’ Association organised a very enjoyable and successful night for the Rachel Allen cookery demonstration. Well done to all for their hard work for the girls in the school. They also brought Santa in to visit the girls and everyone got a selection box. Thanks Santa!

Our school Mass was on Friday December 18th – it was a beautiful ceremony and the girls sang like angels.

We have had a very busy but a great term in Mercy Primary. Thanks to the staff for their constant hard work.

We wish you all a peaceful Christmas and New Year.

School closes on Tuesday 22nd December at 12.15 p.m.

Re-opens on Wednesday 6th January.

www.mercyprimaryschool.ie

Mercy Primary School, Birr, Co. Offaly