< Previous© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 30 Réalt Na Mara GNS In Cuan na Réaltaí and 5 th class, the girls put their investigative skills to the test when they tried to figure out ‘who stole the trophy’ in CSI Donacarney. They became super detectives for a day when they learned about fingerprints and DNA with Kathy Haigney from Discover Primary Science. Sixth class also had experiments every day which included exploring how rock- ets launch, how acids and bases react, what seeds need to grow, and they learned all about electricity, including how to light a bulb with only tinfoil and a battery! We definitely have some budding Ein- steins in our school so the future looks exciting! § Science Week Investigations with Worms CSI Donacarney checking the evidence with Cathy Haigney 3rd Class find out what worms like Scott Ziglinski asks the questions but never gives the answers to 1st Class Science Week In Réalt Na Mara Girls’ School S cience Week has been a busy one in Réalt na Mara. All of the classes in the school took part in science workshops and many other science activities during the week. Juniors, seniors and first classes all had a fun workshop with Scott Ziglinski (Mr. Z) from Elementary Engineering. The children used all of their scientific skills to investigate rollercoasters and kinetic energy. Second, third and fourth classes enjoyed Zoology workshops with Niamh from An- yone4Science. They had a chance to ob- serve earthworms and to discover which habitats suited them best!© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 31© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 32 Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Laytown P arent Teacher Meetings were held on 17 th and 18 th November and thank you to all of our parents who took the time to meet with teachers. It is so important to keep abreast of how your child is pro- gressing at school and ensure that we all work towards making your child’s experi- ence of school as good as possible. ties based around this topic during the week. Many of the senior pupils watched the very first ‘Youth Assembly Climate Action’ which was televised live from Dáil Eireann. We also launched our very first ‘Wrapper Free Friday’! Science Week: What a busy week we’ve had at Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh! We launched our ‘Ban the Bottle’ campaign in the school. It was fantastic to see staff and pupils par- ticipate in this worthy initiative. Pupils were busy designing logos for a new reus- able bottle and they also created slogans to promote it. The theme for this year’s Science Week was ‘Climate Action’. There were many discussions, quizzes, surveys and activi- Science Experiments are always popular! children making and using the Clinometer!© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 33 6 th Classes at Dublin Zoo! 6 th Class pupils visited Dublin Zoo to help design a sus- tainable habitat for the giraffe. Peace Proms Rehearsal: The 5 th and 6 th class members of SSN choir headed off to the National Sports Arena, Blanchard- stown on the 7 th of November to rehearse for the Peace Proms event which is hap- pening in the RDS on the 1 st February 2020. We joined a number of other choirs from around the country and had great fun practising the songs and movements under the direction of Greg Beardsell. We are so looking forward to participating in this event, the sound from all of us work- ing together was amazing! Shoe Box Appeal and Gratitude Tree – Annabel Kearney Firstly, we got into groups of four. Then we watched the Shoe Box Appeal video and found out all about the children in © December 2019 The Meath Coaster 34 need in other countries. It was very inter- esting. Each person in the group got a ‘W’. There were four W’s, they stood for wash, wear, write and WOW. Every person in the class took part and placed something in the shoe box. We then wrapped up the boxes with lovely Christmas wrapping pa- per. We were aiming for six shoe boxes to be created by the class but we doubled this and had twelve boxes to donate. Fi- nally we sent them to the post office to be posted to the children in need. Thank you to Ms. Kearney & Ms. Conlon for all their help. We are all so proud of ourselves. Tree of Gratitude During our lesson we spoke about all of the things we are grateful for. For ex- ample, our Mam & Dad, our home, our brothers and sisters, our school. Then we each got a piece of paper in the shape of a leaf. We all wrote one thing that we are grateful for and designed the leaf. Ms. Conlon and Ms. Kearney both cut out the leaves and laminated them on lovely green card. We created a tree of gratitude displaying all of the wonderful people and things that we are grateful for in our lives.© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 35 Clothes Recycling ! Parents Association Fundraising Initiative: Time for a winter clear out! Set aside your bags of unwanted items ahead of our next clothing collection which runs at the school from Monday 25 th to Friday, 29 th November. A chance to de-clutter while raising money for the school. The Bag to School scheme will also donate an addi- tional 10% to Laura Lynn House for your efforts. Items accepted: Clothing, Paired shoes, Handbags, Hats, Bags, Scarves and Ties, Belts and Soft toys. As always, your support is greatly appreciated. First Aid Responders Training took- place from 26 th to 28 th November for some members of staff. This provides our staff with an opportunity to enhance their vital First Aid skills. 11 th December – Christmas Carol Ser- vice @ 7.30pm in the Church. Monday 2 nd to 6 th December – Scholastic Book Fair. December 4 th to 9 th – St Vincent De Paul Food Appeal. Our annual Food Appeal is an opportunity for us to make donations to those less fortunate. All non-perishable food items are welcome. §© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 36 Coláiste na hInse with two wins, the most recent coming against Coláiste de Lacey in Dunganny. The Second Year team completed their GAA season in Dunganny recently bow- ing out to a very strong St. Oliver’s team at the North Leinster semi-final stage. CNI started well with a goal direct from the throw in but succumbed in the sec- ond half to superior St. Oliver’s shooting. Notable performances this year included Aidan Clarke, Tadgh Duff and Cormac O’ Donoghue. A big thank you to Meath GAA for providing pitches to ensure the tournament ran smoothly. Soccer The Under 17 soccer team have made a promising start to the season with two wins from two to make steady progress in the Leinster Cup. The Under 19s have been involved in two high-scoring matches in the league, draw- Winner of Chartered Accountants' Competition Second Year GAA team Under 19 Soccer Team Dáltaí Visit Chartered Accounting Ire- land 4 0 dáltaí from Idirbliain, 5ú and 6ú vis- ited Chartered Accounting Ireland to learn about the career paths to becoming an accountant in Ireland. There were a number of guest speakers and a complex case study to be solved. One of our stu- dents won an iPad on the day! Gaelic Football Our Junior team have opened their season © December 2019 The Meath Coaster 37 Volleyball Our volleyball teams continue to make their mark in Coláiste na hInse’s newest sport. The First and Second Year Boys’ teams travelled to Kilkenny for their first blitz and recorded a number of wins. Well done to both teams. ing 2-2 with De la Salle Dundalk before losing 4-3 to St. Joseph’s. They will now need to win their remaining matches to reach the knock-out stages of the league. Coláiste na hInse Science Fest Coláiste na hInse held their own Mini- ScienceFest recently as Idirbliain dáltaí researched and presented on a range of topics including how your brain works, disinfectants, sleep patterns and how boats capsize! Díospoireacht Maith thú to Aaron Threadgold, Ryan Brennan and Oisín Burton, first year dal- taí who represented CNI in a recent Gael Linn Díospoireacht na Gaeilge. The dal- taí showed bród, uaillmhian agus dearfa- chas and look forward to competing again next year. § Dáltaí Working for SciFest Foireann Diospóireacht Chead Bliain Junior Boys' Team© December 2019 The Meath Coaster 38 Please mention The Meath Coaster when replying to advertisements The View From The Kitchen Table, By Geraldine Hughes W e’ll give Christmas a mention since it is actually December, and as I’m writing, there is a bit of controversy going on about the Christmas lights in Dublin. There was no announcement made about the turning of the lights so that annoyed some people. I don’t remember if they made a big deal out of turning the lights on years ago. I seem to remember they put them on around the end of November and you went into the city to see the lights at your leisure, but in later years it became an occasion, and a very squashy one at that apparently because now they’ve stopped it again on the grounds of Health and Safety (3 of the most fun crushing words ever!). I do recall being squashed frequently when I was young. e Most memorable time was at a Shakin’ Stephens concert, when my friend and I got caught up in a teenage frenzied rush to the stage. Don’t judge me! I was a teenager too, I hadn’t quite morphed into the super cool human I so clearly am now, the tickets were free and to be fair to Shaky, he did get the crowd on their feet, and thankfully, I survived. I don’t like events where I can get squashed so I stay away and maybe they are right to just put the lights on with no red- carpet, brass band affair. They can be enjoyed just as well with a quiet lit- tle flick of a switch. Or can they?!because the latest con- Oasis Childcare Centre Mornington Co. Meath Crèche Montessori Playgroup After School Telephone 9888135 + Purpose Built + Fully Insured + HSE Inspected + Fire Certified + Intercom Entry + Large Safety Tiled Playground + Large Car Park + Easy Drop Off and Collection + Small Groups + Dedicated Staff + 7:30am to 6:30pm ONE CHILD! ONE LIFE! ONE PRE-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE Limited places remain for our ECCE and PLAYSCHOOL classes for SEPTEMBER 2019. Book now to ensure that your precious child gets the highest quality & happiest pre-school experience possible! East Meath’s Leading Childcare Provider since 2005 troversy (to date) is that they have put up lights in Grafton Street saying ‘Welcome to the Grafton Quarter’. Very hip! It used to be a Christmas greeting in Irish, strung over the street and I’m sure although tour- ists didn’t necessarily understand it, it was clear it was a Christmas message and must surely make them feel that they are some- where different to home. I’m all for change but it does upset some people, Christmas if nothing else, is a time for tradition, and if it warms people’s hearts to see Christmas lights spelling out a greeting as gaeilge- then my unasked-for advice would be to leave well enough alone. But Christmas traditions have always evolved, and in some cases this is not a bad thing, take the game of Flapdragon, from the 1600’s, where Raisins and Almonds were put in a bowl, doused with brandy and set alight and then everybody dived on the bowl to get the fruit and nuts (which were n fire) and presuma- bly spent the rest of the day with their hands in a bowl of ice. Also, Swan, Pheas- ant, and Peacock were at one time traditional Christ- mas dinner. 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