Click on the Spanish Flag above to see a project we did on Spanish buildings.
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Modern Languages
Here in Tubber National School we are very lucky to be a part of the "Pilot Project on Modern Languages". Our school picked Spanish as our Language. Ms. Malone comes to our school every Monday and Wednesday. We have been taking part in the Spanish classes for the past two years. We have learned how to count, have a simple conversation, sing Spanish songs, name the days of the week and the months of the year, some Spanish history and games. In Spanish history we researched the important buildings of Spain.
After the tragic bombing of Madrid we sent our condolences to the Spanish Embassy in Dublin and we were delighted to receive a reply from our letters of sympathy.
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| Reply to our letter of condolence after the Madrid bombings. |
Next year when we go to Secondary school we hope to continue learning Spanish. We are delighted to be familiar with Spanish for when we go on holidays abroad. Spanish is a widely spoken language and we are extremely lucky to have had contact with it as part of our education.
Our Artistic Endeavours
Art is a very popular subject in our school. Pictures from the children are displayed all around the school to make our school a colourful and art appreciating school.
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| This is a montage created by the Junior room of Our School Community.
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At the start of the year we worked with clay. We made animals, tiles, monsters, cottages and for Christmas we made models for a crib and it was placed near the altar in the Church on Christmas Eve. To get different textures or shapes we used materials like plastic knives, shells and straws. Each model was painted and varnished about a week after it was made.
Check out our cool models in the art corner of this web site.
In the 2nd term we tried construction. We were split into groups and each group was given four empty milk cartons and with simple instructions from the teacher each group made their own airplane. The next day we painted the model in any design the group wanted. The Junior room made lions and owls. All the constructing artwork is hanging from the roof by string.
We entered a lot of Art Competitions including the Credit Union Competition, the Esso Wildlife competition, Environmental competition organized by Sherkin Island Marine Station and the Supervalu colouring competition and we regularly win prizes.
Science
Science has been introduced into our school this year. We have learned about magnets, electricity, plants, animals and materials. We found magnets most fascinating because there was a very interesting story behind it. We set up experiments to prove that magnets attract each other.
Magnets have an amazing power to attract many kinds of metals. One day an old shepherd called Magnus was tending his sheep. He carried a staff tipped with iron. He prodded the stones in the bottom of a pool of water with his staff. Suddenly he felt a great weight tugging on his staff. He pulled it out of the pool and found a rock sticking to the iron tip. Magnus had discovered lodestone or magnetic a rock containing magnetic ore.
A few months ago we did an experiment on electricity by making a circuit. Everybody in the class were grouped into pairs and made a simple circuit.
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| Working with circuits.
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We also learned about static electricity. Static electricity happens when an electric charge builds up on an object. We tried experiments that all worked. In one of the experiments that we did we had to use a balloon and rub it on our cardigan then the balloon can pick up a piece of paper.
We learned that plants need water and sunlight to live. Earlier in the year we did a habitat study on the field closest to our school. We discovered earthworms, ants, spiders, houseflies and caterpillars, beetles, woodlice and snails. When we came back in from the field we did research on all the wildlife/mini beasts we found.
Science is our favourite subject because you get to go outside and collect lots of creepy and weird insects. We are happy that we started science before we went into secondary school.
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| Studying mini-beasts on the ivy wall.
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I.T. in Our School
We are lucky in our school to have access to an extensive selection of I.T. equipment, including computers, laptops, printers and a scanner. In recent years we have entered the "Building for the Future Competition" and we have received a digital camera that is useful for the project and for improving our web site. Our web site was recently launched on the first of April this year. We borrowed a data projector to present the web site to our family, friends and community members.
The children's work such as poetry, art, historical information and information about our community is on the web site.
Our web-site address is
http://homepage.eircom.net/~tubbernsclare.
In school we learn how to type and edit our work on the computers. We also use Microsoft Word to publish our write-a-book projects. In the classroom we use the Internet to research topics such as famous buildings or any topics we need to know more about for our schoolwork.
All children enjoy the educational games because they are fun to play and you are learning at the same time. Unfortunately some children in the school do not have access to computers at home. That's why it's important to have the use of the computers at school.
