​
Our Lady of the Wayside N.S. Ballybetagh Road
Kilternan
Dublin
D18 CY28
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
in
Our Lady of the Wayside N.S.
Hour of Code 2017
​
On the 6th of December 2017, 5th and 6th class participated in the Hour of Code. We each got a laptop. Some of us had to share with the 6th class. Two women and one man from Microsoft came in to help us and give us instructions. We started off by opening our laptops and going into Google Chrome. We looked up https://code.org/minecraft <- link here if you are interested. We went into Minecraft Adventurer and began the coding experience. There were 14 levels, each getting progressively more difficult. We learnt how to make our Minecraft character move, destroy blocks, shear sheep, turn left and right and even build houses! We also learnt about ‘repeat’ blocks and ‘if’ blocks.
We enjoyed the hour and the Microsoft team were very encouraging and helpful. We are very fortunate and thankful for the opportunity to learn how to code as it might help us in the future.
By Sarah Sherman and Rebecca Dowling
(5th Class Ms Grier-Gavin)
​
The Intel Mini Scientist Competition
​
Fourth, fifth and sixth class took part in the Intel Mini Scientist this year. As well as presenting to judges, our scientists showed their investigations to the rest of the school. We really enjoyed hearing about all of the research and investigations that were carried out by our students.
Science Week Buddy Experiments
Fifth and Second Class
24th November 2017
​
Second and fifth constructed Lego houses and tested suitable materials for the roofs of their houses. They tested their materials to see if they were waterproof.
Science Week Buddy Experiments
Fifth and Second Class
24th November 2017
​
Second and fifth used the power of friction to launch their rockets. Friction between the surfaces of the string and the straw caused the rockets to move.
​
Science Week Buddy Experiments
Fifth and Second Class
24th November 2017
​
Second and fifth worked together on some S.T.E.M. challenges for science week. One challenge involved determining which shape was stronger; a square or a triangle. Buddies constructed these 2D shapes using toothpicks and plasticine. They then investigated how applying a force can distort these shapes. They determined that triangles were the stronger shape and used this knowledge to construct tall structures.
​
Science Week Buddy Experiment
Third Class and Senior Infants
24th November 2017
​
SCIENCE WEEK EXPERIMENT 2017 3rd CLASS
For science week we made parachutes.
Materials:
-
plastic bag
-
marker
-
2 paper clips
-
string (same size)
-
tape
-
scissors
-
pencil
-
a ruler
Method:
-
First get your plastic bag and your marker.
-
Draw an octagon on the plastic bag with your marker.
-
Cut out your octagon with a scissors and draw circles on each corner.
-
Poke the dots out with a pencil.
-
Next get out your ruler and string and scissors. Then choose the size of your string (minimum 10cm and maximum 30cm).
-
With your ruler, measure the string and cut it at the size you want (8 times). Then tie knots on top of all the pieces of string.
-
Put all of the pieces of string through the holes in the plastic bag.
-
Then get the pieces of string and tie them to the two paper clips (attached) and tie all the pieces of string together on the paper clips.
-
Then check what size your plastic bag is and stand up on a chair (with adult supervision)
-
Drop the parachute and see how fast or slow it goes down. If it is small it should go down fast enough if it is medium than it should not go down too fast or too slow- it should go down just normally. If it is big it should go down very slow.
We tested these out with our buddies in Senior Infants. Also, the best smallest, medium and large were tested out of our window to see if they worked properly. We had lots of fun making and testing these hope you have fun too.
By: 3rd Class
Written by: Ameila, Hugo and Ewan
​
Sixth Class
Ozobot
9th November 2017
​
Chris Madden paid a visit to our classroom and we had fun exploring how to make a path for an 'ozobot' to travel along.
​
Floating and Sinking
Forces
9th November 2017
​
Second class are investigating objects that float or sink in water. They investigated a range of objects by placing them in water and then discussed why certain objects floated while others sank. Following this, second class used plasticine to make boats that would float in water.
​
The Flower Experiment
Living Things
9th November 2017
​
Second class have been learning about procedure writing in literacy. One of the procedures, The Flower Experiment, showed us how to investigate what happens when cut flowers are placed in coloured water. The students left the white flowers in the coloured water and watched them change colour over the week.
​
Frankenworms
Materials
6th November 2017
​
Second and fifth completed their science investigation with Frankenworms. They placed some jelly worms into a mixture of baking soda and water for 15 minutes. The soaked worms were then taken out of the mixture and placed into a glass of vinegar. The baking soda in the worms reacted with the vinegar and gave off carbon dioxide gas which bubbled up through the vinegar and caused the worms to wriggle.
​
Inflatable
Pumpkins
Materials
6th November 2017
​
Second and fifth then used a chemical reaction to inflate pumpkin balloons. The goal of this investigation was to show the power of the gas produced with water mixes with an Alka Seltzer tablet or a vitamin C tablet. The students observed that the gas produced inflated the balloon attached to the neck of the bottle.
​
Pumpkin
Catapults
Energy and Forces
6th November 2017
​
Second and fifth class constructed some catapults using lollipop sticks, elastic bands and plastic bands. Elastic materials store energy when they are stretched, and release the energy when the force is removed. Energy is stored in stretched rubber bands and this energy is released when the rubber band is let go and it goes back to its original size. The students used this energy to catapult orange Plasticine pumpkins into the air!
​
Hallowe'en
Slime
Materials and Change
6th November 2017
​
Second and fifth class worked together on some Hallowe'en experiments. They made some ooey gooey slime and investigated the properties of it.
​
First Class
Helicopters
Forces
24th October 2017
​
First Class learnt about gravity and that gravity is a force through this helicopter activity. Students made helicopters using paper and paperclips and dropped them from a height. The shape of the helicopter rotor blades made it spin when dropped from a height. Gravity pulled the helicopter down. The air resisted the movement and pushed up each rotor separately, causing the helicopter to spin. They looked at how the size of the rotor blade affected how the helicopter fell.
​
Images from Maths Week
Number Day
​
3rd Class
The Planets
24th October 2017
​
Third Class have been learning all about the Solar System and the planets. They have created amazing projects on the planets and presented these to the school at Assembly.
​
1st Class
Space Exploration
24th October 2017
​
First Class have been learning all about Space and the Solar System. They have learnt the names of the planets and words such as astronaut, spaceship and satellite. First Class imagined what it would be like to travel into Space with no gravity. They imagined what they would see when they looked out of their spaceship portals and into Space. They presented their Spaceship Portals at Assembly.
4th Class
Space - The Solar System
13th October 2017
​
Fourth Class performed a song about the Solar System to the school. They showed pictures they had painted of the planets and positioned them in relation to the Sun. It was a fantastic performance and taught us a lot about the Solar System.
I am the Sun.
I’m a burning ball of fire.
I’m very big indeed.
Life on earth depends on me.
I am the sun.
​
I am Mercury.
I’m the closest planet to the sun.
I’m a ball of iron — I have no moons.
I am Mercury.
​
I am Venus.
I’m the same size as the Earth
but I spin the other way and much more slowly.
I have no water — I am Venus.
​
I am the Earth.
The place where we all live.
There is land and lots of sea so I look blue.
I have a moon.
I am the Earth.
​
I am Mars.
I’m a rocky, red planet.
My mountains are the highest in our solar system.
I have 2 moons.
I am Mars.
​
I am Jupiter.
I’m a gas giant.
I’m the biggest and I spin the fastest.
I have the biggest moon.
I am Jupiter.
​
I am Saturn.
I’m a gas giant.
My rings are made of ice.
Titan is my biggest moon.
I am Saturn.
​
I am Uranus.
I’m an icy gas giant.
I’m the coldest planet in our solar system.
And I have rings made of dust.
I am Uranus.
​
I am Neptune.
I’m an icy gas giant.
I’m the farthest planet from the sun.
I have many storms.
I am Neptune.
​
We are The Solar System.
We are The Solar System.
​
This song was written by A.J. Jenkins
2nd Class
Math Stations
11th October 2017
​
Second Class have been practicing their mathematical skills and knowledge through various activities such as The Doubles Race, Four in a Row Addition and The Secret Path Addition.
2nd Class
Lava Lamps
11th October 2017
​
Second Class made lava lamps using water, oil, food colouring and Alka-Seltzer tablets. We learnt that oil and water do not mix. We saw that the oil lay on top of the coloured water. We then added Alka-Seltzer to this and it reacted with the water. What resulted was lots of bubbles of acid moving through the water and oil and the effect was like that of a lava lamp.
2nd Class working in teams IZAK9
11th October 2017
​
Second Class used IZAK9 cubes to solve various maths problems. The first challenge was to skip count in 3s and to construct the wall of nine cubes using the multiples of 3. The second challenge involved arranging the numbers one to nine in alphabetical order. Next, the students had to memorise a sequence of nine numbers and arrange these numbers using their nine cubes. Finally, students worked together to rebuild the 27 cubes in order, with the various 2D shapes visible on each face of the cube. The teams worked very well together and completed additional tasks based on each challenge.
6th Class working in teams S.T.E.M. Challenge
11th October 2017
​
The objective of this lesson was to explore how structures are built and investigate what methods of building can make the tallest and strongest structure.
We were given marshmallows and spaghetti and used these to construct structures. We learnt that triangles are the strongest shapes and are used in construction to support tall buildings, towers and bridges.