We had a great time at Dave’s Jungle workshop. We got to see some amazing Jungle creatures and many of us were even brave enough to hold them!
Dave’s Jungle
Symmetry
We were learning about symmetry in 2nd class. We cut and folded shapes, made shapes out of tangrams and explored symmetry of various flags.
Drumming Workshop
We took part in a very exciting drumming workshop.
Halloween Dress up
We had some very creative and spooky Halloween costumes in 2nd class!
Grandparent Visit
We were very grateful to have two grandparents visit 2nd class to tell us all about the history of Rathfarnham and their childhood was like growing up in Rathfarnham. We all got to ask the grandparents a question. We learned lots of new information that we didn’t know before!
February 2022
The children were learning all about fractions using sweets. The children were learning about dividing the sweets equally in half and in quarters. They were delighted to eat a few at the end too!
The children continued working like scientists this month. They made two airplanes each, one made of paper and one made of tinfoil. The children had to predict which would fly the best and give a reason. The children had great fun testing their planes.
January 2022
This month the children became scientists! The children were given a ball of plasticine each and they had to create a shape that would float on water. Once they achieved this they tested to see how many people (counters) could fit inside the shape before it sank. Each time the children attempted to beat their own score.
December 2021
We have been busy creating a festive atmosphere this December! The class worked in small groups to create paper chains. We then joined them together to make three long paper chains. In the background of two pictures you can also see the paper snowflakes the children made on the windows. The children are enjoying the opportunity to design and create a festive classroom.
We have an advent calendar in the classroom and we complete a Christmas themed activity each day. So far we have written letters to Santa, written application forms to become elves and made ‘Wanted Elf’ posters. One activity the class enjoyed the most was making ‘gingerbread houses’ using biscuits. They had great fun constructing the gingerbread houses and designing them with icing and sweets. Here are come photos of their happy and vey concentrated faces!
November 2021
In November 2nd Class had the opportunity to take part in gardening twice. The children identified and pulled weeds to clear the area for the new outdoor classroom. They planted a variety of vegetables and insured to water all of the plants. The children had a great day and gained a lot of new knowledge about plants and caring for them.
October 2021
Dress up Day:
Welcome Back to School!
It is great to be back in school and back to routine and our ‘new normal’. 2nd Class have been working really hard getting used to our new routines and making sure to keep their hands and desks clean at all times. The are all split into pods of 4 and they work as a team to earn pod points. At the end of the week the winning pod is announced and a small prize given, and they get to be the leading pod the following week.
Parents please remember that all homework is posted on Seesaw each week. It is important that your child gets used to checking their homework each night as it won’t always be the same. Children that go to after school could check their homework for the week on Sunday.
Last week 2nd Class really enjoying working on a STEM activity. They worked in pairs to design and build the biggest, sturdiest tower that they could using only 5 marshmallows and dried spaghetti. Here are some pictures of the activity:
This week is Anti-Bullying Week. We are focusing on bucket-filling- ask your child to give you an example of how we can fill someone’s bucket. We had a special assembly with Ms Brown. We also watched a story about bucket filling and completed some fun activities. Hopefully everyone has full buckets this week!
We are looking forward to lots of Autumn and Halloween-themed activities this month!
Ms Coffey and 2nd Class
Science Week 2020
Last week 2nd Class put their white lab coats on and became young scientists. Some pupils investigated what makes ice melt faster. Most found the result was the salt melted the ice the quickest:
Some pupils constructed their own windmills and bird feeders:
Others taped two two litre bottles together with some coloured water inside to make a whirlpool effect:
Take a look at some of our other experiments:
As you can see, the young scientists in 2nd Class were very busy last week! This week we are really looking forward to our virtual school trip!
Arts Week 2020
Last week 2nd Class took part in Arts Week. They explored some Drama games at home and some even dusted off their tin whistles! In SESE 2nd Class had been learning about the honey bee, so they used this as their inspiration for some bee-themed art. They also used ‘Summer’ and ‘Under the Sea’ as themes for more art. Take a look at some of their fabulous creations below:
We are really looking forward to trying out some new experiments during Science Week next week!
We have moved to Seesaw!
Hi all, I hope that you are all keeping safe and well. From now on, all work that is being set can be found on Seesaw. Please refer to the email that I sent last week with instructions on how to sign up. I am really looking forward to being able to engage with you all through Seesaw, an online learning platform. Take care, Ms. Coffey
World Book Day 2020
Last week we celebrated World Book Day with lots of fun, book-related activities! First, we wrote book reports on our class novel, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.
Then the 5th Class pupils read our DEAR time books to us.
We also got to make our own bookmarks which are going to be laminated by Ms. Coffey.
An enjoyable day was had by all.
December
We have been SO busy this month will all of our pantomime practice, and I think all of you parents would agree that 2nd Class did a wonderful job! Here is a photo of us hard at practice
The boys and girls have had a very important challenge this month- they had to earn baubles on the Christmas tree in order to win a hot chocolate party! They could earn baubles by listening carefully, being kind to their friends, walking silently through the school halls, working hard to name but a few. The children worked so hard and earned all of their baubles just in the nick of time!
So today we had our hot chocolate party with a few extra treats thrown in 🙂 We even had a special visit from Santa who was helped by Tyler!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas break and I will see you all in 2020!
Dave’s Jungle Visits WNS!
Today we had a special visit from Dave and some of his very unusual friends!
We met a snake called Sharon who was only two and a half years old. Before we got to hold her Ms. Coffey had to make sure it was safe!
Then it was our turn!
Charlotte the tarantula was really excited to meet us as she was passed around the students
We even had time to meet some of Dave’s other friends- Bernard the Poisonous Toad, Spike the Snapping Turtle from the Mississippi and Kevin the Crocodile
We had a very exciting afternoon- big thanks to Dave and his friends for coming in and to Ms Brown for organising it all!
OÃche Shamhna i Rang a Dó
Excitement is at an all time high this week as we get ready for Halloween! We learned all about the history of Halloween- where the tradition of carving pumpkins came from and why people dress up and go trick or treating. Second Class found out how their parents and grandparents celebrated Halloween and shared this with the class. We also learned how Halloween is celebrated in Mexico, USA, Romania, Poland and China. We learned lots of new words in Gaeilge and wrote spooky OÃche Shamhna stories! 
We practised the new Irish words that we learned by playing a number of games like bingo, loop cards, four in a row and pairs during our Irish stations:
We learned about colour in Art when we created witches legs and also about light and shadows when we painted pumpkins.
In Science we experimented with how materials change when mixed- and made slime!
Garda Mandy (Ms Coffey’s sister!) came into school to talk to us about safety at Halloween:
And let’s not forget dress up day, all in aid of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland:
I hope that everyone has a wonderful mid-term break and I’m looking forward seeing you all back in November.
Welcome Back to School
Welcome back to our new Second Class and their families. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead!
September has been a busy month as we settle into new routines. We have just completed our theme of ‘Myself’ and have moved onto the new theme for October, ‘Autumn’.
We have a class mascot, an owl called Hooty, that the Student of the Week gets to bring home each weekend. Please don’t feel it is necessary to print pictures to stick into Hooty’s diary.. Ms.Coffey loves to see drawings as well!
Next week we will start Show and Tell where three pupils per week will bring something in from home to talk to the class about. Please ensure the item is small enough to fit into your child’s bag and is something that isn’t breakable as accidents can happen! The rota will be posted outside the classroom and is also attached to this blog post.
This week (30 September to 4 October) is Anti-Bullying week. Our theme this year is ‘Kindness is Catching’. On Monday we had a special assembly with Ms Brown where we learned about different ways that we can show kindness in school and at home. We have note paper in class where we can write down if we are kind to anyone or if someone has been kind to us. These notes are being displayed on the notice board beside the hall.
We are really looking forward to Halloween Dress Up Day and the pantomime this term!
Brazil
This fortnight Second Class have been learning all about Brazil. We were very lucky to have Tiago’s parents Gustavo and Ana come in to visit us and tell us all about life in Brazil.
Gustavo gave a presentation informing the class about the Brazilian flag, the history of the country, the climate, sport, food and much more.
The pupils listened carefully with keen interest and came up with some interesting questions for Gustavo. After that, the class (and teacher!) got to sample some of Ana’s delicious baking. She made some traditional Brazilian cheese bread and some chocolate and coconut balls which would typically be eaten at parties in Brazil.
The children then wrote reports on Brazil based on what they had learned. Here are some of the facts that they mentioned:
‘The flag in Brazil is green, yellow and blue. The green represents the green land like the Amazon Rainforest. The yellow represents the riches in Brazil. The blue represents the rivers in Brazil. There are 27 stars, they are the states.’ (Eoin)
‘The capital city of Brazil is Brasilia.’ (Vann)
‘The language we speak is Portuguese. The currency we use is Real.’ (Tiago)
‘In 1500 Portuguese invaders landed on the shores of Brazil and clashed with the angry natives. Eventually the Portuguese won and conquered the country. Brazil gained it’s independence from Portugal over 300 years later.’ (Alex)
‘There are lots of nice foods in Brazil. Barbecues are very popular. There are other foods such as cheese bread, beans and white rice, and chocolate and coconut snacks.’ (Marianna)
‘There is a landmark on top of a mountain in Rio. It is Jesus on a cross.’ (James)
‘In summer in Brazil it is very hot, especially in the north. In winter it is similar to here.’ (Leah)
‘One of the most popular sports in Brazil is football. The Brazilian team’s jersey has five stars because they won the World Cup five times.’ (Aoibhinn)
Thank you to Ana and Gustavo for taking the time to come into our class, we really enjoyed it.
Author Jane Landy visits
Last month, Second Class were very lucky as we had a real-life author come to visit our class! Her name was Jane Landy and she wrote a book called ‘Gringer the Whinger’. She told us all about how she came up with the idea for Gringer and all about the process of writing and publishing a book. We got to pretend to be illustrators for her story and then got to pass around the real illustrations to examine. We were even lucky enough to get two copies of the book for our class library! 
Jane Landy and she wrote a book called ‘Gringer the Whinger’. She told us all about how she came up with the idea for Gringer and all about the process of writing and publishing a book. We got to pretend to be illustrators for her story and then got to pass around the real illustrations to examine. We were even lucky enough to get two copies of the book for our class library!
Well-Being Week
This week is Well-Being Week. Yesterday we had a special assembly with Ms. Brown. We learned about all the different food groups. We also learned how to make a healthy lunch. Ms. Brown brought in all different types of food. She told us that we should have a rainbow of food in our lunch boxes. Then Ms. Coffey showed us the food pyramid. There was six sections in it. The one at the top is the junk food. She said that we should eat one of those a week. The second was fats, oils and spreads. In the third there was meat, eggs and fish. In the fourth there was cheese, milk and yogurts. In the fifth there was bread, pasta and rice and finally the sixth was fruit and vegetables.
Aoibhinn Keogh, Second Class.
Drum Nature Workshop
This we week took part in a Drum Nature Workshop which we loved! We got the chance to play lots of different instruments. We practiced playing to the beat and we also were able to compose our own rhythms. Ms. Coffey was very glad that she had headphones!
Halloween
Second Class really enjoyed our Halloween theme before midterm. We took part in paired reading as Gaeilge with Fifth Class and also created an Irish alphabet!
Our favourite part of the week was mixing magic potions in Science!
Maths Week
We had a lot of fun with numbers last week! Second Class really enjoy all the maths games we played in class, including ‘Guess the Number’, ‘Kings and Queens’ and ‘Round the World’. On Thursday and Friday, the pupils completed a maths trail around the school.
Well done to Cate who was our ‘Mathematician of the Week’ for her super-quick recall of her tables!
Book Fair
The pupils in Second Class all designed a book cover in preparation for the Book Fair today. Well done to Arthur who won a voucher to spend at the fair! Here is the book cover that Arthur designed:
Ms Coffey had a very difficult time choosing a winner as we have a class full of very talented artists!
The pupils had a great time choosing new books to purchase. They even got to start the exciting stories after the fair, during DEAR time!
Show and Tell
Thank you to everyone that has brought in some very interesting things to show the class this week. Next week (8-12 October) we will have Show and Tell for group 2.
Then we will move to having Show and Tell once a week on Fridays. Please see the rota below for your child’s date.
Here are some pictures of just some of the wonderful things pupils have brought in to show us.
Meet our Class Mascot!
This is ‘Hooty’, our class mascot. Hooty keeps a watchful eye on us during the day from his perch behind Ms. Coffey’s desk. At the weekend he enjoys spending time with the child in the class who has won ‘Student of the Week’. He has been on some wonderful adventures already this year and he cannot wait for the adventures that lie ahead! Every Monday we love to hear all about Hooty’s exciting weekend!
Gardening
Today we enjoyed tidying up the school garden. It was important that we got rid of the weeds before winter sets in. We worked really hard and were rewarded for our efforts with a juicy home-grown raspberry!
Our New School Library
Today Second Class got to enjoy DEAR time in our new school library. It has been beautifully designed in a jungle theme and provides a really comfortable and relaxing space to read in. We are looking forward to visiting the library regularly throughout the year for reading and circle time!
2nd Class 