As a follow up to our last post on learning about Local History from old School Roll Books, in a stroke of sheer co-incidence, the English couple mentioned in the post have just made contact with our school principal. They have recorded the whole incident of tracing their family roots in the locality and have given permission to share their story here: During the
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This week we have been looking through old roll books from Knocknarea school. The writing in the books was difficult to read, some of it was in old Irish. Some people found their relations in the roll books. One of the books dated back to the 1800’s. The books were very old and dusty, with a musty smell. There was blotting paper in some of the
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In History we have been learning about the life of Marco Polo. Marco was a famous 13th century explorer who was just 17 years old when he set off on a voyage to China and Mongolia. It was 22 tears before Marco returned home to Venice. His stories about what he had seen on his travels were so amazing that many people did not believe him. Some
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Wednesday January 30th was Grandparents’ Day in our school. Some grandparents talked to us in class about their childhood, when they were in school and how it was different to our childhood. We recorded them telling us these stories. Peggy Cromey and Jim Lawlor talk about making sandals, ration books, oranges, gas masks and hoovers. Podcast 6 Jim Lawlor talks about people going to
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Wednesday January 30th was Grandparents’ Day in our school. Some grandparents talked to us in class about their childhood, when they were in school and how it was different to our childhood. We recorded them telling us these stories. Podcast 1 This is Mary Kate Nicholson talking about when she was at school. She tells how the walls were painted green and you had
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Third and Fourth classes studied electricity in Science. We began by learning how electricity is generated and by examining all the uses of electricity in our homes and at school. We then discussed the dangers associated with electricity and how to use electricity in a safe manner. Our first investigation was to explore different ways of creating simple cicuits using a combination of bulbs, batteries and wires.
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We studied the Norman invasion of Ireland in History. We learned all about why the Normans came to Ireland in the first place, towns they conquered, new towns they established, new farming practices they brought, Norman surnames, pastimes and Norman forts and castles. We each then completed a written project on The Normans using the information we learned at school along with our own individual research.
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Third and Fourth classes completed group projects on Co. Sligo. We spent a lot of time researching and writing about different aspects of Co Sligo. Some of the topics included in our projects were physical features of Sligo, the history of Sligo, tourist attractions and landmarks, famous Sligo people and industry in Co Sligo. We also sourced or drew suitable illustrations to enhance our projects.
We had a fun history class in the hall on Wednesday and we learned a lot about the past. Declan brought a mini museum to our hall. We learned about the ice age and how the first animals came to Ireland. Wild boar, deer, wolves and elk were the first animals to roam about the country. We learned about the Megalithic, Neolithic and the
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Before Hallowe’en, we went on a trip to a Famine Graveyard after swimming. We went there because we are reading the novel “Under the Hawthorn Tree” in class. The book is set during the Great Irish Famine 1845 – 1849. The main gate was locked so we had to use the entrance through St. John’s Hospital. The main gate was designed by an artist
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