We watched the Elephant March from the Disney Classic ‘The Jungle Book’ paying careful attention to the artwork and then we did our own jungle pictures.
This one is Sinead’s:
This one is Mak’s:
You can see all of the finished painting by clicking on this link.
Be careful … It’s a jungle out there !
Remember that it is literally ‘a jungle out there’ on the world wide web and always remember to supervise your child’s online activities 🙂
We hope you like our pictures.
When we read ‘Emlyn’s Moon’ by Jenny Nimmo, one of the characters, Nia made a collage.
We thought this was a good idea and decided to make one too.
This one is Aoibhin’s to see the other works of art click on the link above.
What we found out about Jenny Nimmo.
Her Childhood
Jenny Nimmo was born on 15th January 1944.
To start with there was just her and her Mum.
Then they moved to her uncle’s free-range chicken farm.
When she was only six Jenny was sent away to boarding school.
It must have been hard to be so far away from her Mum.
It isn’t surprising that she didn’t enjoy boarding school.
She was was happier when she went to a secondary school.
She was told that she should become an actress.
At school, Jenny was quiet but she could be giddy too.
She loved to make people laugh.
Jenny Nimmo always loved reading and writing.
She read all the books in the junior school library by the time she was nine.
She had to persuade the librarian to let her join the senior school library.
Now she is an adult…
Jenny now lives in Wales with her family.
She writes after she has done her chores and fed all the chickens, rabbits and cats!
This is how she writes
She uses a soft, 3B pencil
and rewrites, makes changes and proof reads as she goes along.
When she’s sure she has made all the changes, she wants to,
her husband reads the story
and types it for her.
Her books
Many of her books are about ‘magic’ in real life situations.
The books that she has written that we have read are
‘Tom and the Pterosaur’,
‘The Owl Tree’,
‘The Stone Mouse’
‘The Dog Star’
‘The Snow Spider’
but she has written many, many more.
by Aoibhin and Nadine
THE STONE MOUSE and THE OWL TREE and THE DOG STAR were all written by Jenny Nimmo.
How are these stories the same?
How are they different?
Of the three books, which is your favourite?
Why is it your favourite?
Do you remember our students from earlier in the year gave us a tomato plant? Well look at the great results we got. If you look closely on the left you will see little green tomatoes. Give them time and sunshine and they will turn red.
Teacher brought in some delicious cherry tomatoes today. They were sweet and juicy.
Room 6 play memory games in class. Some of them are online:
We play a memory game in class called ‘As I went into Tesco’s. It is good for developing concentration and memory. It is explained on the following link:
I went shopping and I bought a…
The following is a game I enjoy playing in class because for me as a teacher it is a useful reminder of the amount of information a child may retain from a lesson depending on
level of concentration
the children’s ability to retain information
and certainly how engaged or active the child has been in the lesson.
It is a reminder to me as a teacher not to forget the wise saying:
We remember 90% of what we do…
75% of what we see…
and 20% of what we hear…
This game also illustrates how stories can evolve as they are passed
from person to person;
how myths and legends were added to from generation to generation.
It can also show children how rumours start or misinformation be passed.
I choose four children.
Three wait where they can’t hear what is being said.
I tell a short story to the first child.
We then invite one of the waiting children to come back
and the first child tells the second the story.
Then child number three returns and is told the story by child number two.
Child number three in turns tells the story to child number four.
Child number four tells the story they have just heard to the class.
In general the story becomes much shorter.
A lot of the detail is lost and there are many inaccuracies.
But with practice the children improve. It is a game the children enjoy
Even with your own child, tell them a short story
and see if they can relate the story back accurately.
I often use the ‘blurb’ on the back of a book for this activity
or a simple recipe.
A picture by Alexandra, to put us in a summery mood 🙂
Today we went on a Seaside Scavenger Hunt.
This is what we collected:
New And Improved Seaside Scavenger Hunt
Choose only things that you can collect
and return safely and without damage
1. A small black pebble
2. A feather
3. A pebble with a hole in it
4. A mermaid’s purse
(dog fish egg case or whelk egg case)
5. A limpet (or part of)
6. A mussel (or part of)
7. A whelk (or part of)
8. Something beautiful
9. Some sea lettuce
10. A sea belt
11. Some bladder wrack
12. Something that makes a noise
13. A small white pebble
14. A pink flower
15. Something soft
16. A yellow flower
17. Something important in nature
(Everything in nature is important!)
18. A small grey pebble
19. Any part of a crab
20. Something that reminds you of yourself
21. A white flower
22. A sun trap (This is anything that captures the sun’s heat)
23. More than 100 of something!
24. Something that the sea has changed
25. A creature’s home
26. Something round
27. A big smile
At the very end, after we have showed each other what we found ,
we left what we found on the beach.
Leave only footprints.
Take away only memories!
Taya found a cowrie 🙂
which is a very unusual find on our local beach.
Well done Taya.
We sent away a ‘message in a bottle’. Maks threw it into the sea and we waved it goodbye.
“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea”
ee cummings
This review of Mrs. Mooney’s shop was sent in
on behalf of the children in 2nd class, Room 6.
Boys and girls you are famous!
Some of your letter about Mrs. Mooney’s Magical Sweetshop
was printed in today’s Irish Times.
Well done 😀
24 Reasons that Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special!
1.“My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is ‘Traffic Light Lollipops.’” (Noah)
2.“My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is you get a lot of sweets
for your money”. (Alexandra)
3. “Mrs. Mooney’s have the best sweets ever!” (Cian)
4. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is buying lots of sweets like candy floss, brain lickers, stickies, bon bons, pop rock, chewy strawberry sweets.” (Hollie)
6.“My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is that she remembers every ones’ names and that she has nice sweets” (Sinead)
7. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is she is so kind and generous” (Nadine)
8. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because Mrs. Mooney is nice and works hard. My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is the sour sweets”(Taya)
9. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is that you can buy apple bon bons. Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because Mrs. Mooney is so kind and friendly.” (Chloe)
10. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because I love the sweets there and Mrs. Mooney works hard.”(Stacey)
11. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because she is so nice to all her customers and she has a big selection.”(Laura)
12. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because you can get a big bag of ‘Toxic Waste’ (Don’t worry it’s not real!) for one euro” (Ryan)
13. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is ‘Alien Spray’” (Max)
14. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because she does a very good job (Jessica)
15. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is she is so nice and
everything is value for money” (Kate)
16. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is she’s cheap”. (Conor)
17. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because Mrs. Mooney is so kind. My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is that there is dog food there too. My dog Poppy loves it as much as I love the sweets there” (Ríona)
18. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s Shop is the candy floss and the bon bons and especially the stickies” (Paris)
19. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s shop is blue bon bones, candy floss and stickies and brain lickers, lollipops and pink bon bons”. (Sophie)
20. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s shop is everything in Mrs. Mooney’s but my most favourite thing is the stickies and candyfloss” (Billie)
21. “My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney is candyfloss”, from Luke.
22. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is very special because it is very nice. It is very low on price compared to Auntie Nellie’s sweet shop and much nicer than Auntie Nellies. My favourite sweet shop is Mrs. Mooney’s. I love and adore the shop because it is cheap and they are really nice”. (Sarah)
23. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because she has my favourite sweets. My favourite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s shop is stickies and jelly snakes and jelly stats and alien spray and toxic waste and golf balls.” (not real… You can eat them!) (Micaela)
24. “Mrs. Mooney’s shop is special because they have nice sweets. My favoutite thing about Mrs. Mooney’s shop is that the lady is so kind.” (Vagif)
We have made a slide show of this work also on Photopeach
24 Reasons that Mrs.Mooney’s Shop is Special
We were learning about good Dads in the Animal Kingdom. Here are some we found out about:
Dinosaur
The experts say that there is evidence
that dinosaur dads minded their children
and protected the nest.
Marmoset
The marmoset grooms the baby monkeys,
feeds them and carries them round on his back.
Seahorse
The seahorse is the only male creature that gives birth
Darwin frog
Carries the eggs in a special pocket
in his throat until they hatch into tadpoles.
Siamese fighting fish
Protects the eggs until they hatch.
Emperor penguin
The Emperor penguin keeps his egg warm under his feathers, balanced on his toes. He doesn’t eat for two months while he is waiting for the egg to hatch.
Silverback gorilla
The silverback gorilla protects his children and plays with them.
We LOVE Mrs. Mooney’s Shop. We go to school next door.
Round the corner is the local Secondary School. Even though they are big kids there, they like to shop there too.
First we love Mrs. Mooney. She is always smiling and has a twinkle in her eye. Mrs. Mooney knows all our names. She even knows our parents’ names from when they were little. Her own name is Bridie Mooney. Mrs. Mooney is 82 years old. She starts work every morning just a little after eight. She has been running the shop for nearly 60 years.
We also love the sweets Mrs. Mooney sells. We are very lucky to go to school beside such a special sweet shop. Fridays is a busy day for Mrs. Mooney when we go to buy a special treat for the end of the week.
There are the old fashioned sweets that our Mums and Dads used like to eat like apple bon bons, clove cubes and cola cubes, cough drops, bull eyes, jelly babies, Sherbet Dib Dabs and Jaw Breaker gobstoppers.
Mrs. Mooney shop has the look of a traditional old fashioned shop. The shop itself is famous because it starred in a TV advert for cheese
Mrs Mooney is famous in Our Town. She has been a Person of the Year.
Though Mrs. Mooney’s shop is old fashioned, it is modern is other ways. Mrs. Mooney keeps up with new sweets and playground crazes. We love her Traffic Light Lollipops and Marshmallow Men.
She sells Pop Rock that pops in your mouth and cool pops that turn your mouth blue. There is Candy Floss and Toxic Waste, both sold in tubs; one is very sweet and the other is very sour.
She also has a Facebook page!
Mrs. Mooney gives good value for money. She has one euro bags and two euro bags and we can pick and mix. Mrs. Mooney is patient with us while we choose.
The grown ups buy their newspapers there and she knows all their names too.
Mrs. Mooney is loved by her customers and we think this is the secret of her success.
2nd Class, Room 6
You can read more about Mrs. Mooney’s shop HERE
and HERE
Projects about the Countries We Come From.
This week we finished doing projects about the countries that we come from..
Our friend and classmaate Vagif comes from Azerbaijan.
We had never met anyone from Azerbaijan before.
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was from Azerbaijan,
so we saw what a really beautiful country it is.
Vagif is an ambassador for his country.
He is a good friend and is always kind and helpful.
Children in the class have done projects on
America,
Australia
Azerbaijan,
Canada,
France,
Hungary,
Italy,
New Zealand,
Poland,
The Philippines
Russia
Senegal,
Scotland,
and Wales.
We certainly learned a lot.
Did you know that …..
After Russia, Canada is the second largest country in the world?
and that the Rubic Cube and ball point pen were invented by Hungarians?
Maks’s illustrations really brought his project to life.
Projects about people in history.
Now we are doing projects about people.
Our first project was about Isambard Kingdom Brunel who was born in 1806.
He was an engineer who designed steamships, bridges and tunnels.
He engineered the railway line between Bray and Greystones.
Next we are going to learn about Elizabeth Whitshed
and her husband Colonel Frederick Burnaby.
Lots of places in our local area are called after Colonel Burnaby.
Colonel Frederick Burnaby was a Victorian celebrity: a soldier, adventurer, and writer.
He and his new wife Elizabeth Whitshed travelled to North Africa on honeymoon,
but due to delicate health, Elizabeth returned to Greystones.
She moved to Switzerland for health reasons.
Colonel Burnaby was killed in action (near Khartoum in Sudan) in 1885.
Elizabeth went on to become a mountain climber and alpine expert. S
he married twice more and lived to the ripe old age of 73.
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/63948
Other projects are planned on
Inventors: Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
Did you know that both of them found school difficult?
and
Authors: JK Rowlings and Roald Dahl.
We finished reading ‘The Snow Spider’ by Jenny Nimmo.
Certainly it was challenging for 2nd class to read as a class novel.
But we were drawn into Jenny Nimmo’s magical world.
So much so, we are continuing with the next book in the trilogy;
‘Emlyn’s Moon’.
But this time we listen to Teacher reading.
The discussions these books are generating are very interesting.
The children are having great fun predicting what may happen next.
To follow up we can see how it was adapted for ITV.
Link to view Emlyn’s Moon Part One
Once again I would remind parents not to let their children watch You Tube unsupervised.
The internet is a wonderful gift, but it has the potential to be Pandora’s Box.
