STEM
Tree studies:
The children of all ages enjoy examining our local different trees. In Autumn we collect leaves and seeds from many trees in our locality and compare them for shape, size, colour. We collect the leaves to add to our soil. The rotting leaves are good for the soil in the vegetable patch. In Springtime we observe the buds. We are really lucky to have a newly planted forest in our school that is home to many different varieties of trees for us to examine. The park behind our school has many more! The children noticed that some of the buds were sticky, some were red, some were brown, some pointed and some were round. The children also explored the different bark of each tree. We do bark and leaf rubbings. We study the gorgeous variety of colour! We also study with great interest the changes that the trees undergo from week to week and season to season.
Science week takes place annually and in the Marist it is one of our favourite times of year. During science week every class takes art in scientific learning every day. A huge amount of topics are covered from animal life cycles, to big bangs, creating potions and slime, to engineering feats of the highest standard. Have a look at a tiny sample of some of the explorations we have made:
6th class looked at the effects of water temperature on yeast. They discovered the yeast is temperature sensitive and likes lukeworm water the best! The combination produced carbon dioxide which blew up the balloon.
4th class used lots of different materials to design parachutes, testing which materials made the best parachute.
Early Start want to know how cool are their lava lamps? These scientists are starting young - the future is bright:)
Science or magic?
How did that happen???
Magnets are fun!!
Junior Infants were learning about a very very tall animal (the giraffe) and a teeny tiny insect (the spider). We learnt that the giraffe's neck is as long as our teacher and that the spider has 8 eyes!
Maths week
All classes take part in Maths Week every year. Junior and Senior Infants take part in Maths trails. 6th class students play maths based games with the Junior students every day before lunch. Junior students take home maths games as their homework to enjoy with their families.
But maths week is only one week. All year round we use our problem solving skills, maths eyes and enjoy games that reinforce our mathematical learning!
We are really lucky too that our teachers know some excellent maths apps that we can use on out tablets.
Science at it's best!
Our amazing vegetable patch is a wonderful asset to our school. At all times of year there is a lot of learning going on here. In Springtime we plant our crops and mind them for weeks. We harvest some before our summer holidays and others when we come back in September. We love tasting the crops we have grown. We have grown potatoes, lettuce, peas, spring onions, beetroot, and carrots. We have even had pumpkins growing this year for Hallowe'en!
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We love digging in the mud when the beds are free from crops on our mini beast hunts. We know a lot about minibeasts and their importance for our environment:)
