In second class, we work really hard at being good writers. We learn about different writing genre and practice writing in that genre. We were learning how to write procedures and poetry in the last few weeks. We wrote a procedure on how to build a snowman. We also read some poems and tried to write own acrostic poems on cakes, parties and homework. Our homework poems showed how we really feel about homework!! We love being authors!

We have been working away like busy little bees in second class on our art over the month of December. We designed hats and gloves using oil pastels, we turned a paper plate and crepe paper into a winter themed bird scene. We made the Christmas crib, using lollipop sticks and stars and designing our own people and animals to populate the scene. Finally we painted these beautiful Rudolph pictures, and teacher really doesn't want to send them home!!! Aren't they amazing???

The season of Advent is upon us and we are preparing for the arrival of Jesus. We have the crib reminding us of the Christmas story. Our Advent wreath is on our Sacred Space and we are counting down the days using our Advent calendar and our waiting chain. Our waiting chain gives us jobs to do to prepare our hearts for Jesus. We are also learning all about Jesus's family by placing symbols on the Jesse Tree every day. We are also remembering those less fortunate than us at this time of year. We brought in food for St. Vincent de Paul to donate to families in need of some extra help. On Friday we will wear our Christmas jumpers to school and donate €2 to Focus Ireland who work with the homeless. We remember how fortunate we are at this time of year to have food on our table and a roof over our heads.

The weather has turned crisp and cold, so we wanted some inspiration for our art to reflect this. We learned about Vincent Van Gogh, an artist from the Netherlands. He didn't become famous until he died. He painted The Sunflowers, The Potato Eaters and Starry Night. We tried to paint in his style, using swirls of colour. We love how our interpretations of Starry Night turned out!

Today 2nd class went to the hall to see the 6th class science projects. There were four groups. Group one explained recycling and we had to sort some materials into the waste bin and the recycling bin. We didn't get them all right but we will next time! Group two briefed us on biodiversity. We learned about bees, flowers and the coral reef. Group three told us about climate change and how pollution affects the earth. Group four taught us about endangered animals and how their habitats are being destroyed. We really enjoyed learning from the sixth class pupils. Well done guys!

On Thursday 21st of November, Audrey from Dogs Trust came to visit our class. She brought her dog Lucy and taught us about what a dog needs to live a happy life. She told us three golden rules for staying safe around dogs. Never pet a sleeping dog. Never pet a feeding dog. Never pet an dog without asking the owner. Lucy was so relaxed in our classroom she fell asleep and even snored!! We got certificates showing we know how to be safe around dogs and a sticker with Lucy's picture on it. We really enjoyed our lesson from Dogs Trust! Thanks Audrey and Lucy! For more information on Dogs Trust you can access their website here: ​https://www.learnwithdogstrust.ie/

Second class have been busy learning about the origin and customs of Halloween. We also learned how to keep safe at Halloween around fireworks and bonfires. For art, we constructed super spooky castles and Halloween characters to inhabit them. We played some Halloween games like bobbing for apples, telling the future and we made some chocolate apples. Happy Halloween everyone from second class!!

Every Wednesday Mr. O'Bric comes into 2nd class and we do Maths for Fun. We split into four groups and complete practical and fun tasks created around the topic we are learning . This week we were learning about 2-D shape. We played a shape board game, completed shape activities on the laptops from topmarks.co.uk, identified 2d shapes in the school environment in a shape hunt and everyone created own shape pictures. Finally for art, we created some scary 2-D shape monsters. Lots of learning happening through fun!

2nd class were busy discovering all about minibeasts. We learned about some different types of minibeasts and then we went on a minibeast hunt. We found lots of minibeasts living in our school grounds especially spiders...Mrs. Corrigans favourite...NOT!! Pearl shared a wonderful minibeast exhibition with the class and we sketched a minibeast each for our art lesson. Finally we wrote a report about a minibeast. We hope to build a minibeast hotel in the next few days...  watch this space!

2nd class were learning about "Myself" as a theme this month. We looked at the art of Swiss sculpter Alberto Giacometti. We created our own sculptures using his style. Didn't we do a wonderful job!