Signs of Spring 2014

These beautiful crocuses are one of the first flowers of spring.

During the week we were participating in a Twitter project with schools from around Ireland The title of the project was Signs of Spring 2014. An tEarrach is the Irish word for Spring and we had to use #antearrach in our tweets. Here are some of the pictures that we used in out tweets.
by Joyce Awo

These tiny daffodils are called Tete a Tete

Around the city you will see thousands of daffodils in bloom in many gardens and parks.

The long pendulous catkins are the male part of the Alder tree.

The catkins come on the Alder tree before the leaves. The long pendulous catkins are the male part of the Alder tree and you will notice yellow pollen on your hands if you touch them. The tiny red catkins are the female part.  They grow into miniature cones containing seeds that you can still see on the tree. The tree is pollinated by the wind.

According to some plant books the catkins are edible but they have a very bitter unpleasant taste and are likely to make you very ill.

Many young animals such as lambs and calves are born in spring.The magpies near our school are starting to build their nest. They build their nests in deciduous trees. They use 600 twigs to build their nest and it takes them 60 days to build their nest.
Click Signs of Spring 2014 to read how schools around Ireland recorded signs of Spring in their ares.

The Black Hole

Barry was just a normal worker in the Empire State Building. He had lost a bet and is now doing over time so he can pay his bills. He was annoyed and  moody  and was doing printer duty. He pressed the button to photocopy a report for his boss but it did not work so he gave it a kick. It started working. He was humming while he waited. When he looked again at the printer, he noticed  a black hole on a piece of paper that had been printed. He threw  it in the bin and tried again.

 It didn't work again so he gave it another kick. It worked almost straight away but  the black hole was there again. He touched it and was about to rip it when his thumb went right through it. He stood looking at it shocked. He  put his whole arm through this time and pulled it back out. He wondered what is this? His stomach  rumbled and he looked at the vending machine and at the piece of paper. He walked over to the vending machine and placed the piece of paper  against  the glass of the vending machine and put his hand through the glass and took a Snickers bar out. He looked around and a smile came across his face.

He ran through hallways until he came to a stop at his boss's office. He opened the door and ran to the safe in the corner. Quickly he placed the piece of paper  against the cold metal, put his hand through and took out a stack of money. He  shoved it down his shirt and continued  until it was all gone. Then he walked out happily.

Johathan was inspired by the short film The Black Hole when he wrote this story. I'm wondering how Barry escaped. What do you think of his ending?

Quadblogging

Quadblogging is a process where four classes from around the world agree to take it in turns to read and comment on each other's blogs. Each week one class is in the spotlight and the other classes visit and leave comments.

This is a great opportunity for the students to write for an authentic audience, to collaborate with students from around the world, to read blogs and to enjoy what others are writing and learning about. It also provides an opportunity for them to learn how to comment effectively and how to be respectful online.It also helps to build up the number of visitors to our site.

Click Hanelin Elementary School in Michigan in the United States to visit the blog of the class in the spotlight this week.

Our Local Area

Our school is located in the suburbs of Dublin. It is a wonderful area close to the Irish Sea yet only eight kilometers from the city center. If you would like to find out more click on the link below.

Evaporating Atlantic Seawater to make Salt Crystals

Mr. Breathnach brought us some sea water from the Atlantic Ocean so that we could try to make our own sea salt.
First we measured 1 litre of sea water. Next we put the sea water in a saucepan and put it on the cooker and we boiled it. While it was boiling Karl and I had to watch it. There were a lot of bubbles at the top of the saucepan. We boiled the water to 100ºC When our teacher came in she noticed that some salt was forming around the pot and there was even a little ring of white salt on the cooker. She knew it was salt because she dabbed it and tasted it.

Can you see the sea salt that has formed on the base of the saucepan?

Next our teacher began checking the saucepan every few minutes to make sure it didn't burn and stick to the saucepan. Eventually all the water ecaporated and we were finished it looked like dried white paint.
Finally we got all of the sea salt out of the sauce pan and put it in a bowl.When we weighed the salt on a digital scales we discovered that we had 33 grammes.

We got 33 grammes of salt from 1 litre of sea water

post by Jessica Dempsey

RDS Primary Science Fair

Did you know that crystallography is the science of studying crystals and how they form? During the last few weeks pupils from Fifth class have been working as amateur crystallographers engaging in the process of scientific inquiry as the investigated, observed and recorded their experiences making crystals.

They have boiled water, cooled water, and used graduated cylinders, cups and teaspoons as they dissolved substances, evaporated the solution and learned how to recognise a saturated solution. They used sugar, salt, Epsom salts and alum to investigate the process of crystallization. The work is almost over and now they are ready to display their project at the RDS Primary Science Fair on Friday the 10th January.
Check our the links below to find out about some of the Special Acts that I hope you will get an opportunity to see when we get a break from our stand at the Science Fair
World of Robots
Science Museum Super Cool Show
Big Small Science
50 Years of Space Exploration

Happy Christmas

This is an image of our class Christmas card.

Happy Christmas to all our visitors around the world from 5th class Scoil Eoin