Under the topic of Forces in Science, the children in 2nd class designed and made their own land yachts, with help from their parents. They had great fun launching them in the PE hall and testing to see how far each one would go! They also carried out friction experiments using ramps and toy cars. Here’s a flavour of  what they got up to!

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On Thursday 14th March 2nd class had their first session of Shared Maths Activities. The children had great fun learning and playing with Tangrams, Pentominoes, Polygons, Quadrilla (marble run) and Snakes and Ladders. We were delighted to have so many parent volunteers in to help us. The activities will continue every Thursday morning for four weeks in total. Here are some photos of the maths in action!

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Seachtain na Gaeilge was brought to the penultimate closure yesterday, Friday 15th of March, with a ‘Riverdance Flashmob’ unveiled by Miss Sinnott and 6th class after our 11.10am Active lines. The whole school was amazed as 6th class unleashed there ‘aon, dó, trí’s led by Anna Jeffares, Irish dancer extraordinaire, in role as Jean Butler and Daniel O’Mahony as the Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley. Well done to all involved!

We hope you enjoy a glimpse of this as much as we enjoyed the real event!

There was great excitement on the morning of Friday 8th March as 2nd class, accompanied by Mrs. Corrigan, Mrs. Barrett and Fiona, set off to attend a creative writing workshop in Wexford Library.

With the help of volunteer tutors, the children wrote an original story which they saw being typed up onto a big projection screen as it was being written. The children decided on the characters, plot, setting, etc. and went through the story together, sentence by sentence, editing as they went.  A volunteer artist was also on hand to provide illustrations.

The class wrote the first part of the story together as a group, then each child had the opportunity to write their own individual ending to the story, with assistance and encouragement from the volunteer tutors. Finally the story and illustrations were printed and each child received a copy of the book to take home.

Before leaving, the class spent some time browsing in the children’s section of the library  and reading. The children thoroughly enjoyed this event, which was organised to coincide with The Book Fair and World Book Day 2019.

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Mindful March began quietly and gently in all classes on Mon 4th March with some beautiful mindful colouring led by class teachers and the wonderful student members of our Health Promoting School committee (Chloe Curtin, Lucy O’Hanlon, Ella Ormonde & Hugh O’Brien.)

Check out the pictures of Junior Infants engaged in their mindful colouring

The children will learn how to do Box Breathing, a strategy they can use at any time if they feel under pressure

We are also going to think about all the things in our lives we are grateful for & record them in our School diary at the end of each week.

Each day we have a “thought of the day”. Please check these out on our Health Promoting School Noticeboard.

With our Read-A-Thon coming to close on Tuesday 12th March, Piercestown N.S. will make a smooth transition to all things ‘as ghaeilge’ to celebrate and mark ‘Seachtain na Gaeilge 2019’!!!

What better way to learn a language, than to immerse oneself in it! We will be keeping an ear out for gaeilge neamhfhoirimiúil being used during the day as much as possible. An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas? Conas atá tú? Conas atá an aimsir inniú?

The much loved ‘Gadaí Gaelach’ will be on the loose in Piercestown N.S. Children will endeavour to find out who the Gadaí Gaelach is each day by asking people, An tusa an Gadaí Gaelach? For the lucky person who hears the words ‘Is mise’ , they will then go to the office to report to Siobhán ‘ Is í/é __________ an Gadaí Gaelach.

Thursday 14th March will be host to our Lá Gaeilge. We invite ALL pupils to get into the spirit on it on Thursday by wearing some or all of the Irish colours!

This year will see Piercestown N.S. embrace the use of technology with our Seachtain na Gaeilge in the form of a new competition / comórtas ‘Comórtas Selfie’ – this is where we ask the children to work with their family in finding some ‘Gaeilge’ in the environment and take a selfie with it. We then ask for the photo to be emailed to our dedicated SNAG email address PNSSNAG2019@ gmail.com and we will print some off as they arrive. On Friday, the best two will be chosen for a small ‘duais’ (prize). So let’s get our thinking caps on, where do we see Gaeilge in our local community?! Sometimes, we don’t see things until we actually go looking for them. Lean ar aghaidh agus bain triail as!

It was a wonderful night of story telling on Thursday 7th March to mark World Book Day. Our special guest Billy Roche kept young and old enthralled as they sat and listened to his stories. Many of the younger children were in their pyjames and had brought their teddies with them! Congratulations to our lucky golden ticket winners, Jessica and Michaela who each received a book voucher. Many thanks to Billy Roche, Piercestown Parents Association and all who supported this worthwhile and enjoyable event.

Don’t forget – our Readathon continues until next Tuesday so please keep the momentum going!!!

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Happy World Book Day to one and all. The PE hall has been transformed from a ‘reading zone’ to a ‘World Book Day Quiz Zone’ today in celebration of World Book Day.

Many thanks to Ms. Hearne and Mrs. Corrigan who organised the quiz.

We look forward to welcoming Billy Roche to Piercestown N.S. tonight. Billy will host a story telling session for the Junior end of the school at 6.30pm and a story telling session for the Senior end of the school at 7pm.

All attendees will receive an envelope on the door and one lucky recipient in each group will win a golden ticket which will entitle them to a prize!!!!!!! (Willy Wonka eat your heart out!) Also, for the Read-A-Thon the Story telling session minutes will be calculated as DOUBLE POINTS this evening!!!! 

The Book fair will also be open from 6.30pm until  8pm. Once again, I would like to take the time to thanks Piercestown Parents’ Association who give up so much of their time in running the Book Fair. We could not do this without you!

See you all later!!!