Procedural Writing

Since Easter the boys in 3rd and 4th class have been looking at Procedural Writing. We have been looking at various recipes and finally today we got the chance to follow one and make a nice snack for ourselves in the process.

The recipe is as follows

Queen Cakes

225g Soft Margarine

225g Self Raising Flour

225g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs

A splash of milk

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200Degrees Gas mark 6

2. Sieve the flour into a bowl.

3. Cream the margarine and sugar together with a hand held mixer.

4. Beat the eggs in a jug.

5. Add the flour and eggs gradually to the creamed margarine and sugar, beating well to avoid curdling.  If the mixture is dry add your splash of milk.

6. Divide the mixture into bun cases which you have put into the bun tray.

7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20minutes

Science Experiments and Projects

Last week the boys conducted experiments based on dissolving. We investigated which items dissolved in water best. We investigated the following items salt, sand, rice, sugar, pepper and flour. We found that sugar and salt dissolved in the cold water ionce they were stirred. We also checked the same items in bolied water. We found that the sugar and salt dissolved instantly. The flour also dissolved more than it did in the cold water.The pepper made the water darker in the hot water also.

We also looked at the fact that oil and water will not mix. We put 3cm of cooking oil in a jar and topped it up with water that had a splash of food colouring in. No matter how much we shake them to gether they always separate.

Active Scientists!

 5th and 6th Class students have been active scientists all year and this term we are stepping it up! Recently, we made our own lava lamps and learned that some molecules will mix and others won’t. We had great fun with our investigation!

Music in the Classroom

This school year, 5th and 6th Class are showing their fantastic musical talent. This includes their singing, tin whistle playing, listening and responding to music, music literacy, percussion and musical composition. They are consistently challenged to improve their knowledge and ability! Earlier, each group of students had the task of composing their own musical piece using just body percussion. Once again, they came up trumps!

‘Write a Book Project 2015 Winners!

 Last term, all 5th and 6th Class students spent their Literacy lessons on Thursday and Friday afternoons writing their chapters for their individual novels. Massive effort was put in by all and these novels were submitted into the Write a Book Project 2015 Competition last term. We had double success! 5th and 6th Class students Tristan Wood and Fionn O’Gorman were both winners in the Write a Book Project 2015 in Co. Clare. Both students, along with their parents and Miss McKeogh were invited to the awards ceremony at The Inn at Dromoland. This was a great achievement as there were thousands of entries throughout the county. Well done boys!

Construction/Technology

  5th and 6th Class students recently studied different aspects of famous buildings and their designs and structure. Each student then had to design a structure and construct it using the given materials. Great imagination and creation was evident!

Major Sporting Achievements!

 Huge congratulations to the many students in K.B.N.S. who were recently awarded for their sporting talents. This included: Most Improved Player of the Year  U/11 and U/14 Lough Derg Soccer, Player of the Year Lough Derg Soccer U/10 and U/11,  Most Improved Player of the Year U/12 Ballina/Killaloe Rugby.

Well done to the athletes who recently won medals in the Clare Championships for Athletics.

Also, congratulations to Adam Stuart who recently made the North Tipp. Football Team and Gordy Wood who recently has made it to the last 40 in the North Tipp. Football Trials.

Well done and the very best of luck to all our talented students!

Butter Making!

  5th and 6th Class had great fun recently making butter in class. This was made by shaking cream with a little bit of salt. The boys shook the jar until the contents became ‘lumpy’. Then we spread it on cream-crackers. We were very impressed with the taste and our talents!

Confirmation

Best of luck to our 6th Class students who will be making their Sacrament of Confirmation on Saturday 23rd May at 11am. All students are to be in the church by 10:45am at the latest. Much work has gone into preparing the students for their special day. We also look forward to hearing our school choir which includes children from 1st Class to 5th Class who will perform the music for the mass along with students from the Girls’ School.

Please do not forget that formal school uniform is to be worn by each student including the Confirmation students on the day.

Active School Status

Sport and activity plays a huge part in the lives of the boys of KBNS. Two years ago Miss Cronin began the process of applying for Active School status for our school. After 2 years of hard work I am delighted to share the fantastic news that K.B.N.S. has been awarded Active School status. Following a 3 hour inspection by PE lecturer in Mary Immaculate College Limerick Dr. Sylvia O’Sullivan, we received our certificate and flag in the post today.

Much work and commitment has been put into this project in the school. The boys have been actively engaging in yard games that have been run by the senior pupils in the school. Sylvia was very impressed by the level of activity in our yards when she visited on Friday and complimented the systems in place. She also spoke to the Active Committe who told her about lots of the activities that are available in our school.

Staff have donated their free time to make this active flag application possible. Special thanks to Mr. Corcoran, Mr. Dillon and Mr. McKeogh for donating their evenings to take training sessions with the boys after school. Sylvia also saw PE lessons from the Junior Infants who were working on Gymnastics and also from the 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th classes who were working on the Dance strand.

Finally thanks to the parents. Sylvia was so impressed when she saw the beautiful activities painted on our yards. Special thanks to Michelle and Melissa for all their hard work in this area. Thanks also to parents who help coach our teams and donate their time to helping out the staff. Also as part of our presentation to Sylvia we had a slide show of pictures from last years Walk to School Wednesday days and our Sports Day. All these events were made possible and more enjoyable by the participation of parents and children. We hope you will get involved in our Active Week starting on the 25th of May and also in the Park and Stride System in place in order to boost activity levels in the school further.

We will cotinue to strive to maintain the status of being deemed an Active School as we are priviledged to have been awarded this title. It will be reviewed again in 2018.

Please encourage your boys to get involved in some activity and as our school motto says ‘Get off your chair and get some air’. Well done to all involved.