Check out some of our Artwork!

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A visit from Nurse Elita

Nurse Elita came to visit our class. She told us all about the work a nurse has to do. Before Nurse Elita came we thought of lots of questions we could ask her. When she visited we took turns to ask the questions.

Nurses have to work long hours. Sometimes they have to work twelve hours or more a day and sometimes they even have to work at night. Nurses look after people and help them to get better. Giving medicine to patients is a very important job for the nurse. This is Nurse Elita's favourite part of her job. 

A nurse wears a little watch on her  uniform. This is very important because she needs to give medicine at the correct time. Her pen is also very important. The nurse needs to make lots of notes about her patients. Nurse Elita showed us some injections, an inhaler and she also put some bandages on us.

 Some of us would like to be a nurse when we grow up. We would like to help people get better. Nurse Elita says we need to work hard in school if we want to be a nurse!

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The Hedgehog

We have been learning about hedgehogs in school. Hedgehogs use their spikes to protect themselves and they curl up into a little ball if they are in danger. Hedgehogs like to hibernate for the winter so in autumn they get themselves ready for a long sleep. They eat as much as they can to make themselves nice and fat. Then they won’t get hungry while they are asleep.

We made little hedgehogs using clay, matchsticks and paint. To begin with we rolled, pinched and squeezed a piece of clay to make it nice and soft. Then we shaped the clay into a little round fat piece. We use our fingers to pinch a nose shape and to make two eyes. We got a matchstick and used it to make the smooth clay on the hedgehogs back rough. Then we gave our hedgehog lots of spikes by sticking lots of matchsticks into the clay. 

We left our clay hedgehogs to dry out for a few days. Then we painted them brown and used black paint for the nose and eyes. We took some nice photos of our hedgehogs in the autumn leaves. Luckily none of our little hedgehogs ran off on us! We hope you like the photos of our hedgehogs!

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Birds of Prey

Ian Patterson brought his beautiful birds of prey to visit us here at Scoil Mhuire, Magherarney. Ian takes care of his birds really well. He is like their Daddy. He has a special leather glove that they sit on. Some of us got a turn to wear the glove and hold the bird.

 The first bird we saw was a barn owl called Alba. Barn Owls come out of a white egg and baby owls are called owlets. Owls sleep during the day and wake up at night. They have very sharp feet called
claws. They use these claws to catch their prey. Owls like to catch and eat mice but they don’t drink anything, not even water! Owls can’t see up close, they can only see things that are very far away. They have brilliant hearing.

 The next bird we saw was a kestrel called Klee. Kestrels hunt during the day. They like to eat mice, beetles and worms. They can fly very high. Kestrels have yellow feet and really sharp claws. The last bird we met was a Pelican Falcon. It is a very fast bird. It kills its prey with its sharp yellow claws. The Pelican Falcon was wearing a special leather hood. We all got a turn to stroke its feathers.

We really enjoyed learning all about the birds of prey. They are really cool birds!

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Postman Declan

Postman Declan came to school and told us
all about being a postman. Being a post-person is a very interesting job.
Postman Declan starts work very early in the morning. He has to go to Monaghan Post Office to help sort out all the letters. Then he has to deliver lots and lots of letters and packages.

A post-person has to be very organised. We didn’t know that a post-person has so much work to do in the post office before they deliver the post. A post-person has to remember where everyone lives. Postman Declan’s favourite part of his job is meeting lots of people. His least favourite part of his job is meeting cross dogs.

 Postman Declan brought lots of things for us to see; a special high visibility coat, a hat, a sack for holding letters and lots of photographs. We saw lots of very interesting photos of all the work that
happens in Monaghan Post Office.

 Thank you very much Postman Declan for your very interesting
talk. Please remember to say a big hello to your good friend Postman Pat and his
cat Jess from the Infants here at Scoil Mhuire, Magherarney !

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Jamie and Enda - Best Buddies!!!!!

Jamie meets An Taoiseach, Mr Enda Kenny.

Thumbs up to Jamie’s daddy, who has broken the Irish record for marathon running, raising a huge amount of money for the Irish Heart Foundation!

Jamie lets Mr Kenny’s friend, Barrack Obama, know just how brilliant his daddy is!

A Visit From Granda Hurson

We have been learning about school long ago. It is very interesting learning about what school was like for our parents and grandparents. Granda Frank Hurson (Caolán’s Granda) came to our class to tell us all about school when he was a little boy. As well as sharing many of his memories with us, Granda Hurson also brought along some photos and a DVD to help us learn about school years ago.

When Granda Hurson was a young boy (about 55 years ago), he went to school in Greenan’s Cross. There were more than 50 children in the classroom. There were not enough seats for everyone so they had to take turns to sit down. Granda Hurson brought bread and jam for his lunch and loved playing football, hide and seek and tig with his friends. He had to walk for about a half an hour to get to school. All the children had to bring wood or turf for the big open fire in the classroom.

There were no computers or televisions in school then. There were no posters on the walls but there were lots of maps. Granda Hurson’s teacher was a cross man. Like a lot of teachers long ago, he used to slap the boys and girls with a big stick if they were naughty or if they found it difficult to learn and remember things.

It was very interesting hearing about school long ago! Thank you very much Granda Hurson for sharing your memories with us!

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           Baby Charlie drops in for a chat!

Baby Charlie paid us a visit to help us learn a bit more about babies and how they grow and develop. Babies can't do very much for themselves so they need a lot of looking after. They need to be fed, winded, changed, bathed and dressed. You have to be very careful and gentle with babies. Babies can't talk so they tell us what they want by crying. They can't eat food when they are born because they don't have any teeth.

Thank you very much Sheila fro bringing Baby Charlie to see us. We really enjoyed the visit!

Thank you very much to our mammies and daddies for looking after us when we were little babies. We know it was a lot of hard work but hasn't it been worth it!

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Mapping Skills

After our school tour to Tayto Park we worked in groups to create a map of the park. First we talked about all the different parts of Tayto Park; the factory, the playgrounds, the animals, the adventure zones and the picnic areas. Each group had a team leader who helped everyone decide which part of the map they would draw and where they would draw it. We used lots of coloured chalks and got to work on the tarmac. We were very proud of our group effort and think our maps look pretty cool! 

                    A Look At Some Interesting Instruments

Thank you to Ms O' Kane who very kindly brought in some of her instruments. Ms O' Kane told us about her harp and played two tunes for us, a slow tune and a fast tune called a reel. We were amazed by how many strings the harp has and really enjoyed listening to all the notes it can make. The harp has a lovely soft sound. Ms O' Kane also brought her concertina. She explained how you make different notes by pushing on the little buttons and pulling and pushing the instrument in and out. The concertina makes a loud and lively sound.

We can make music too!

                         What A Sweetie!

Check out the really cool tree that Ellie made for us! We really wish we could grow Jelly Baby Trees in our school garden. We think Ellie could get a job in Willie Wonka's Factory. Thank you Ellie for the delicious and creative gift. It was the best tree we've ever tasted!

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