Category: Knockainey School News

Week 3: – Green School Activities

Knockainey Green Schools

Many thanks to the boys and girls who sent in some lovely photographs of you and your family carrying out the biodiversity activities we have being setting for you. Well done to you all and keep up the good work.  We have set you some new tasks for this week and we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the lovely weather and make sure to get outside and have lots of fun exploring the local environment.

Keep Safe & Best Wishes,

The Green School Committee.

Activity One

Bees

May the 20th, was National Bee Day. Make an origami bee with Green-Schools Officer Allison and learn some cool facts about our flying pals.

Have you got your Bee Facts Straight?

Can you tell a honeybee from a bumblebee? Are you Queen Bee or do you need to do some more bumble-work to get full marks? Take our quiz and find out, by clicking on the link below.

https://greenschools.typeform.com/to/DE4IQx

Activity Two

Bioblitz!

Race around your garden and count how many living things you can find! Make sure you share your findings with us. Use the checklist sheets below to help you during your Biodiversity hunt.

Bird Spotter Sheet

https://greenschoolsireland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bird-Spotter-Sheet.pdf

Bug Spotter Sheet

https://greenschoolsireland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Crawling-Bugs-Spotter-Sheet.pdf

Flying Insect Spotter Sheet

https://greenschoolsireland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Flying-Insect-Spotter-Sheet.pdf

An Ghaelbhratach

Táimid go léir ar mhuin na muice i Scoil Náisiúnta Cnoc Áine gur bhronnadh an Ghaelbhratach orainn i mí Aibreáin. Is mór an onóir dúinn an bhratach seo a ghlacadh.

Bhíomar ag obair go dian ar an scéim seo le dhá bhliain anuas agus fuaireamar ardmholadh ó na scrúdaitheoirí. 

Comhghairdeas leis an gCoiste Gaeilge agus leis na daltaí go léir i Scoil Náisiúnta Cnoc Áine.

It was a very successful year for the team of Students, Parents and Teachers who made huge efforts and strove to promote the Irish language timpeall na scoile.  The ‘Gaelbhratach’ is a programme in which schools around Ireland take part to increase both awareness and involvement in the Irish language. The goal is to promote our native language. We here at Scoil Náisiúnta Cnoc Áine have done some super work in an effort to not only show that learning Irish has educational benefits but can also be enjoyable.  

The staff and everyone in the school have been excellent in their engagement and interest shown in tasks and activities advised by the team. Below are some of the activities that we engaged in.


Our committee went to each classroom once a week to deliver ‘An Nuacht’. This was a great success – and the ‘Nuacht’ was followed by some ‘ceisteanna faoin nuacht’ to see who was listening carefully.

‘Frásaí na Seachtaine’ was another activity the children enjoyed. The children were encouraged to use these new phases as much as possible throughout the school day and at home.  

Several other Irish activities occurred around the school, which included Sean nós dancing, Gaelige 24 (Talking Irish all day in school ‘gan aon Béarla’)

The ‘múinteorí ‘were asked to give some ‘treoracha’ as Gaeilge during PE lessons in order for the children to see that Gaeilge is much more than just a classroom subject. This was a great success and the staff really did a great job.

‘Feadóg Stáin’ – Ms Morris engaged in tin whistle lessons with our senior classes. The children really looked forward to engaging in these lessons weekly. Bhain siad an-taitneamh as!


Our children completed beautiful artwork to decorate our ‘Balla Gaeilge’.

With the many activities that the Gaelbhratach team and Knockainey National School as a whole took part in.

We are overjoyed and honoured to have been awarded the Gaelbhratach flag. In the words of the stiúrathóir we are ‘worthy recipients’ of this prestigious flag .

A ceremony will be arranged on our return to school to mark this occasion. Comhghairdeas to all who put in a lot of hard work on this and in the promotion of Irish around the school.

Míle Buíochas do chách.

Múinteoirí: Múinteoir Uí Mhurchú , Múinteoir Ní Mhuiris agus Múinteoir Ó Cléirigh

Daltaí : Robyn,Justin, Kate, Liam, Holly, Abigail, Eoghan, Rita.

Tuismitheoirí:  Gerard agus Laura

  • Rang a ceathair.

Rev. Fr. Liam Holmes R.I.P.

The Board of Management, staff and pupils of Knockainey N.S., send our condolences to the family of the late Rev. Fr. Liam Holmes. 

Fr.Liam, during his many years as chairperson of our B.O.M., worked tirelessly with the school community to transform our school through our many phases of fundraising and building. We wish to thank him for his dedication to our school, for his vision and for his friendship.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Green Schools – Week 2

Knockainey Green Schools

Well done to all who completed last week’s activities. We received some lovely pictures of you with your completed projects. This week we have set out two more activities for you to complete. Please share photos of you completing these activities and send them to either mrsdavernkns@gmail.com or mrsconwaykns@gmail.com and we will be delighted to share them on the school website for all to see.

Activity One

Make a necklace bird feeder to hang on a tree/shrub.

Make the following bird feeder necklace using your leftover food. Place out in the garden. Then sit well back and wait. Record any birds that enter the garden and eat from your bird feeder necklace. You may have to research and look up some of the birds to find out their names.

Activity Two

Make a footprint trap to discover what animals visit your garden at night.

Keep up all the fantastic work that you are doing and don’t forget to go outside, enjoy the fine weather, have fun and make lots of memories with your family.

Keep Safe & Best Wishes,

The Green School Committee.

Green School – Activities for Outdoors

We the Green School Committee hope you are well and that you are enjoying the fine weather we have had over the last few weeks. As you are all aware, we are currently in the first year of a two-year process to achieve our fifth green flag, the biodiversity flag. We, the Green School committee wanted to share some Green Schools resources with you all so that we can continue our learning around the theme of Biodiversity. The following is a link for a PowerPoint on this theme.

https://www.twinkl.ie/resource/roi2-g-044-biodiversity-information-powerpoint

We hope you would share this resource with you son/daughter and encourage them to discuss the recent visits of Geoff Hunt to our school. While visiting our school Geoff completed a lesson on trees with the 5th & 6th, made a bug hotel with the 4th class and explored the theme of birds with the younger classes. In addition to this, Ms.Morris’ class, with the help of Ms.Morris, Mrs.Davern, Mrs.Conway and Niall our caretaker, planted some wildflower seeds. Unfortunately, we have not been able to return to the school to see the fruits of our labour.

Following on from this, we hope to provide you on a regular basis, with some lovely hands on, outdoor activities for you to do with your child. These activities will keep our students involved and engaged with the theme of Biodiversity. We would love to see and will share on our website images of the children engaging with these activities.

Activity 1:- Seedling Plant Pots

Age Group: Junior Primary

A step-by-step guide on how to make your own seedling plant pots. All you need is a scissors, loo roll tubes and a marker. It’s very easy and can be completed by young children. Give loo roll tubes a second use and save money on buying new plant pots to sow your seeds in.

Activity 2:- Bug Hotel

Age Group: Junior & Senior Primary

A step-by-step guide on how to make your very own miniature DIY Bug Hotel. All you need is a scissors, string and three plastic bottles and to go foraging for dried autumn debris. It’s very easy and can be completed by young children with the help of an adult or older child.

A more difficult version for the older pupils can be found on this link.

Well done to all who completed last week’s activities. We received some lovely pictures of you with your completed projects. Many thanks for sharing these pictures with us.

Please Stay tuned to our website for next weeks activities 🙂

Green Schools Committee

50/50 Split the Pot

16-III-2020.  
Hello all. We live in challenging and uncertain times. Many of the familiar patterns of life are changing rather dramatically in the unchartered waters in which we now find ourselves. In the interest of the well being of our committee members, and the over all health of the public, our 50/50 RED Bucket ‘split the pot’ draw will be postponed until such time as the Department of Health indicates that it is safe to resume the normal styles and structures of life that we had all taken so much for granted. While regrettable we must do the right thing for all and we trust that you will understand. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, the RED buckets will return to the locations that you had grown accustomed to seeing them at. Thank you all for your support to date, a sincere word of gratitude to the establishments that so generously accommodated us and hosted a bucket. Those who have an entry in the present buckets will be in the first draw that takes place in a Covid19-free Ireland. Please mind yourselves, stay safe and take care of each other.
Fr. Sean Fennelly (Chairperson).

Seachtain na Gaeilge – Tuismitheoirí

Tuismitheoirí – bain triail as beagán Gaeilge


As it is Seachtain na Gaeilge and in order to celebrate and appreciate our Irish language, culture and heritage we are sending home an Irish sheet to each family this evening.

On it, you will find common Irish phrases; spelled phonetically, so that you can communicate with your child ‘as Gaeilge’.


Please make an effort to do this. Bain Triail as agus bain taitneamh as!

Le gach dea ghuí,

Coiste Gaelbhratach.