Ms. Dervan's 4th & 5th class

 We have been busy in 4th and 5th class learning about World War 2. The children themselves asked if we could immerse ourselves in World War 2 for the whole school day and explore the topic in many subjects. We read diary entries from the war, explored 'The Blitz' in free writing and Visual Arts, listened to music from the 1940s, used photographs from the war to prompt discussion and oral lanaguage and explored the topic in History. The children worked on projects based on different WW2 topics e.g. Anne Frank; How the war started?; The lives of kids during the war; Famous leaders during the war; Secret codes and battles etc. Below are some images from a few of the wonderful projects. 

Well done to the Junior quiz team in 4th class for coming first in the Credit Union Quiz in Gort. Well done also to the Senior quiz team who came in second place. Amazing achievement for both teams!

All the children looked very festive today for Christmas jumper day. Thank you to everyone for donating to Galway Hospice. Happy Christmas!

This week 4th and 5th class took part in the egg drop challenge as part of Science week. We discussed plans for their creations in school, resulting in lots of great ideas e.g. ideas to slow the descent and different ways to cushion the egg. Students built their own egg drop containers at home and were excited to try them out in school on Friday to see if their egg would make the drop from our classroom window to the yard without a crack. It was amazing to see how many survived the drop. Also, by some miracle, we witnessed one container open mid descent and the egg fell out and landed (unbroken, with just a little crack) on the tarmac. What a sight! Look at some of the amazing egg drop creations below!!! Image 1: The amazing egg that fell out of the container and survived!

Science week was lots of fun! 4th and 5th class talked about famous landmarks from around the world and then worked in small groups to build these landmarks out of spaghetti and mini marshmallows. It was tricky to make bigger structures using these materials. It was amazing to see all the cool landmarks in spaghetti form. We discussed famous Irish scientists and other scientists from around the world. Children worked individually to research a short project on a scientist of their choosing. Look at some of the very interesting facts below! We also learned about venomous snakes from a Science webinar run by the University of Galway. It was very interesting! We then finished off the week with a Science Kahoot Look at some of the great work below!