Welcome to Mr Mc Groary's Class.
End of Year message
Hi again everyone,
A huge well done to all of you on your fabulous efforts to continue with your learning over the last few months. I understand how difficult it must be to continue to work away on your own from textbooks and workbooks without any interaction from a teacher or classmates. Working from books is only a very small part of what school is about. School should be about fun,chat, discussion, laughter, activity learning, song, games, sport, play and social interaction. Working individually from books can never replicate this experience but you can all be very proud of your efforts to keep up with your work and I am very pleased with the overall
response from the class. Hopefully over the last few months you have all enjoyed some new and different pursuits that you otherwise might not have had time for. I was delighted to read emails from some of you and your parents outlining the fun activities such as gardening, baking, camping, DIY, arts and crafts and sports activities that some of you have been doing.
Each one of you is different and unique and circumstances at home are different for all of you. Some of you have embraced IT and have completed a huge amount of work on IXL and Lexia. Some have emailed projects and work samples. Some of you have completed fabulous Powerpoint projects. Some of you have made fabulous constructions. Some of you have completed almost every page of of work prescribed from the textbooks each week. Some of you have written fabulous stories. Some of you have completed Maths, English or Irish activities from different textbooks.Some of you have really concentrated on developing your reading skills by spending a lot of time reading each week. Whatever you have managed to do, your efforts are very much appreciated and you are to be congratulated for your hard work. Hopefully when we return to school at the end of August we will appreciate the daily routine of normal school life. I am delighted that I will have those of you currently in fourth class again next year. You have been a really great class. It is such a pity that our year was cut short but I'm sure we will make up for lost time from September onwards. Unfortunately I won't get to teach the current fifth class next year but you too have been a great group to work with and I'm sure you'll enjoy your final year in Holy Family with Mr Sweeny.
You (and your parents) will be delighted to know that I am not going to post any regular schoolwork for the coming week. Instead, I have suggested a few fun activities below that you might like to try at home.
As you may be aware, the school will be open between 5.00 and 7.00 next Wednesday evening. With your parents consent, you are welcome to call to the school on that evening (accompanied by a parent). If you have work that you would like to submit on that evening, I would be delighted to collect it off you and have a good look through it over the coming weeks. Please make sure your name is on all work or that any loose sheets, etc are presented in an organised way! A certificate will also be awarded to all children to recognize all your hard work. It is important also that all rental books belonging to the school are returned on that evening. The books belonging to the school and due to be returned are as follows:
Fourth class:
The Golden Harp
Unlocking SESE 5
Alive O
Fifth class:
Above the Clouds (reader and portfolio book)
Unlocking SESE 5
Some of you may also still have your copy of Danny The Champion of the World or the Irish reader which should also be returned.
Any library books belonging to the school can also be returned on that evening.
Remember that there should only be one set of parents/children in the classroom at any one time and to maintain social distancing.
I look forward to seeing some of you again on Wednesday but if I don't get to meet you personally have a great summer.
Mr Mc Groary
A huge well done to all of you on your fabulous efforts to continue with your learning over the last few months. I understand how difficult it must be to continue to work away on your own from textbooks and workbooks without any interaction from a teacher or classmates. Working from books is only a very small part of what school is about. School should be about fun,chat, discussion, laughter, activity learning, song, games, sport, play and social interaction. Working individually from books can never replicate this experience but you can all be very proud of your efforts to keep up with your work and I am very pleased with the overall
response from the class. Hopefully over the last few months you have all enjoyed some new and different pursuits that you otherwise might not have had time for. I was delighted to read emails from some of you and your parents outlining the fun activities such as gardening, baking, camping, DIY, arts and crafts and sports activities that some of you have been doing.
Each one of you is different and unique and circumstances at home are different for all of you. Some of you have embraced IT and have completed a huge amount of work on IXL and Lexia. Some have emailed projects and work samples. Some of you have completed fabulous Powerpoint projects. Some of you have made fabulous constructions. Some of you have completed almost every page of of work prescribed from the textbooks each week. Some of you have written fabulous stories. Some of you have completed Maths, English or Irish activities from different textbooks.Some of you have really concentrated on developing your reading skills by spending a lot of time reading each week. Whatever you have managed to do, your efforts are very much appreciated and you are to be congratulated for your hard work. Hopefully when we return to school at the end of August we will appreciate the daily routine of normal school life. I am delighted that I will have those of you currently in fourth class again next year. You have been a really great class. It is such a pity that our year was cut short but I'm sure we will make up for lost time from September onwards. Unfortunately I won't get to teach the current fifth class next year but you too have been a great group to work with and I'm sure you'll enjoy your final year in Holy Family with Mr Sweeny.
You (and your parents) will be delighted to know that I am not going to post any regular schoolwork for the coming week. Instead, I have suggested a few fun activities below that you might like to try at home.
As you may be aware, the school will be open between 5.00 and 7.00 next Wednesday evening. With your parents consent, you are welcome to call to the school on that evening (accompanied by a parent). If you have work that you would like to submit on that evening, I would be delighted to collect it off you and have a good look through it over the coming weeks. Please make sure your name is on all work or that any loose sheets, etc are presented in an organised way! A certificate will also be awarded to all children to recognize all your hard work. It is important also that all rental books belonging to the school are returned on that evening. The books belonging to the school and due to be returned are as follows:
Fourth class:
The Golden Harp
Unlocking SESE 5
Alive O
Fifth class:
Above the Clouds (reader and portfolio book)
Unlocking SESE 5
Some of you may also still have your copy of Danny The Champion of the World or the Irish reader which should also be returned.
Any library books belonging to the school can also be returned on that evening.
Remember that there should only be one set of parents/children in the classroom at any one time and to maintain social distancing.
I look forward to seeing some of you again on Wednesday but if I don't get to meet you personally have a great summer.
Mr Mc Groary
Suggested Activities, Week beginning Monday 15th June
Activity 1
Visit http://www.teachpaws.ie/ to access Water Safety Ireland's PAWS programme. These activities outline the essential life saving guidelines that every child needs to know. Select your own class level and complete the suggested activities.
Activity 2
Design your own obstacle course at home. Use everyday items such as balls, buckets, rackets, balloons, cones, slides, skipping ropes, chairs, to create a challenging course for yo and your family. Time yourself completing the course and add more difficult challenges if necessary. Feel free to email any photos or videos of your efforts!
Activity 3
Visit http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/resources/MathSphereMathsPuzzles.htm and try a selection of the free maths puzzles available.
Activity 4
Continue with some of the remaining activities in The Great Isolation Handbook. Create your own time capsule of your experiences and memories of the Covid-19 school closure. Include pages from the handbook, photographs, a letter to yourself describing your experiences and maybe a few items that in future years will remind you of this time. Seal the time capsule and store in a safe place not to be opened again until June 2030!
Visit http://www.teachpaws.ie/ to access Water Safety Ireland's PAWS programme. These activities outline the essential life saving guidelines that every child needs to know. Select your own class level and complete the suggested activities.
Activity 2
Design your own obstacle course at home. Use everyday items such as balls, buckets, rackets, balloons, cones, slides, skipping ropes, chairs, to create a challenging course for yo and your family. Time yourself completing the course and add more difficult challenges if necessary. Feel free to email any photos or videos of your efforts!
Activity 3
Visit http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/resources/MathSphereMathsPuzzles.htm and try a selection of the free maths puzzles available.
Activity 4
Continue with some of the remaining activities in The Great Isolation Handbook. Create your own time capsule of your experiences and memories of the Covid-19 school closure. Include pages from the handbook, photographs, a letter to yourself describing your experiences and maybe a few items that in future years will remind you of this time. Seal the time capsule and store in a safe place not to be opened again until June 2030!
FAI 3rd and 4th Class Futsal Tournament, Letterkenny November 2019
Traffic SurveyAs part of our Geography studies on the theme of transport and travel we conducted a traffic survey on the Belleek Road in September. Our findings showed that there were more cars leaving Ballyshannon than entering at 2.00pm. Back in class we explored reasons might that support these findings.
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Instruments from HolyFamily on Vimeo. |
Experimenting with soundAs part of our Science lessons on the theme of 'Sound' we designed our own musical instruments. The challenge was to create a musical instrument that could produce at least two distinct pitches of sound by blowing, striking or vibrating the instrument.
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The Slow RacetrackAs the 'Design and Make' element of our Science lessons on the theme of 'Friction' we designed a 'Marble Run'. The objective was to slow the progress of the marble by increasing the level of friction (or by introducing obstacles to slow the marble).
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The Slow Racetrack from HolyFamily on Vimeo. |