Citywest & Saggart

Community National School

First Class Room 9: Science with David Fitzpatrick

Science Week took place in Citywest & Saggart CNS from the 14th November 2016 – 18th November 2016. We were lucky enough to have Dr David Fitzpatrick from the National University of Ireland to join us! David and his science team really got us working scientifically during the workshop. We used the following scientific skills: Predicting Observing Experimenting Questioning Recording and communicating First we tested bread, cornflakes and mushrooms with iodine. We used a pipette. We wanted to find out which food went black. If the food went black it meant that it had lots of energy in it for us and was good to eat. The cornflakes and the bread went black. The mushroom didn’t. David told us that this did not mean the mushroom was bad for us, but that it might not necessarily give us much energy to do fun things like playing. Better off sticking to bread and cornflakes. Mushrooms do have lots of vitamins and minerals. We then tested orange juice, water and yogurt for vitamin C. The orange juice was the only liquid that had vitamin C. Although it only had a very small amount. David said he would contact the people who make the juice to ask them why there was so little vitamin C in the orange juice. Let’s hope he gets an answer! Lastly David and a very special helper, made the famous elephant toothpaste for us! It was fantastic. The photo is below. For more photos please click...

First Class Room 8: Science Week

What a week we’ve had! Room 8 had so much fun being scientists for Science Week. On Tuesday Dr. Dave from Maynooth university visited the very lucky children in our school. We were each given lab coats and goggles to protect our clothes and eyes. Dr. Dave told us the importance of healthy eating (makes us strong) we then experimented on lots of different foods such as bread, mushrooms, and cornflakes to see which one had energy  (starch). We were amazed that the high energy food turned black after we dropped a special solution on them (iodine). We then tested drinks for protein and no surprise that milk came out on top.   On Wednesday and Thursday Ms Bates introduced us to magnets! We learned so much by freely exploring magnets. We watched a video and found out that if two of the same sides of the magnet are put together they will repel each other. Did you know? the earth is one giant magnet as there is nickel and iron in the middle of the earth! How cool is that! BIG THANK YOU TO DR. DAVID FITZPATRICK AND HIS ASSISTANTS….. WE LOVE SCIENCE! For more photos click...

Junior Infants Room 5: We Are Scientists!

To celebrate national Science Week Room 5 have become scientists! We have been doing lots of scientific thinking and investigations using magnets, exploring different magnetic materials. We have also been discussing the pushing and pulling forces created by magnets. Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from Dr. David Fitzpatrick (Zoe’s Dad) who helped us to conduct experiments. We used iodine to test our favourite foods for starch – this gives us lots of energy. We tested bread, cornflakes and mushrooms. Which ones do you think contained starch? Next, we tested milk, water and 7up for protein. Dr. David explained that protein helps us to grow big and strong. Which one do you think contains protein? Milk of course! Room 5 have learned lots of different skills and week and have had fun being scientists – thank you Dr. David! For more photo’s of us doing our experiments click...

Senior Infants Room 4: Long, Longer and Longest

We spent the month of October learning all about lenght. We found items which were longer and shorter. We then learned about the longest. We enjoyed ordering all of the teddy bears from the shortest to the longest. We loved measuring our books and pencils with unifix cubes. We used lollipop sticks to measure longer items like the tables, the mat and even each other! Take a look at some of our photos here!  ...

Junior Infants: Visit from the Vet

The Junior Infants had a special visitor in last week… a Vet! Dr. Hugh showed the children lots of pictures of the different types of animals he treats, and explained some of the ways he helps to make them better when they are sick. The Junior Infants asked him lots of great questions, such as how do you become a vet, and how can they care for and help animals. Dr. Hugh showed the children some of the special equipment he uses to help animals, such as a stethoscope, and asked the children to mind and care for two pet goldfish for him- they must feed them, clean their water, and make sure they have enough air and light to be healthy and grow. The fish are in Room 2 – feel free to pop in to see how they are getting on 🙂 For more photos of the Junior Infants from Rooms 1, 2 and 5, please see...

Junior Infants Room 2: Fruit and Veg shop

The Junior Infants have been running their own Fruit and Veg shop in Room 2 over the last month! They have been buying, selling, and weighing lots of fruit and vegetables during their playtime stations, and even printed lovely pictures using the shapes and colours of the different foods during Art. They have been reading and acting out the story of Handa’s Surprise, singing songs about food (they really love the One Potato song!) and talking all about their favourite food. Room 2 have also been doing lots of experiments in Maths and Science, measuring, weighing, and learning all about magnets and electricity. They became Safety Officers, investigated all the different ways we use electricity in school and at home, and even helped Ms. Larkin and Vinny to point out ways to keep their classroom and school safe- can you remember any of the rules we came up with Room 2? (Don’t put fingers near sockets or wires, and keep water away from ALL electrical things!) To celebrate all the good learning they have been doing, Vinny gave all the children balloons to make electricity with, by rubbing them off their hair 🙂 Room 2 really enjoyed having all their family members and friends in to their classroom for their Welcoming Ceremony, and had a little fashion show to celebrate the Midterm on Friday! They have been working so hard and really deserve their break, well done everyone! To see more photos of Room 2  busy at work & play, please see...