St. Raphaela’s Primary School

Stillorgan

Discover Primary Science and Maths

Plaque of Excellence Submission

Award Number : D105.

8th May, 2017

1. Second Class: Designing and Making

2. Fifth Class : Parachutes

3. Fourth Class: Sowing and Growing

4. First Class: Investigating Magnets

5. First Class: Dancing Raisins

6. Investigating the Water Cycle

7. Sixth Class: Finding your Blindspot!

8. Fourth Class Trip to Airfield

9. Science Week Activities

Step One: Science

Strand: Materials

Strand Unit: Properties and

Characteristics of Materials

Demonstrating engineering

principals with the challenge to

create a building structure that will

not fall when it was flicked!

We investigated how materials may

be used in the construction of

structures and how the shape of a

construction can affect the

strength of it! We worked together

and talked about why different

designs and shapes were stronger.

We learned that a strong base is

needed!

Strand: Forces

Skills: Predicting, observing, experimenting, exploring, planning, making and evaluating

We worked in groups to construct parachutes and made predictions on how their parachute’s would fly and fall. We tested our parachutes flight ability outside and

recorded our results.

Strand: Living Things, Strand Unit: Plant and Animal Life We planted tomato seeds in compost soil, using a small pot. These were left in a sunny

place in our classroom. We water them every five days as they grow from seeds to seedlings. Once the leaves appear and they begin to flower they will be watered every three days. They will be harvested when the fruits turn from a small green ball to a

bright red tomato. This may take up to 22-25 weeks in total.

The children in Ms. Tighe’s class are taking part in a

group quiz on the topic of Magnetism, using the Kahoot

application on the school iPads

Mrs. Hehir’s Class were learning

about magnets, and investigated

materials in the environment that

were attracted to magnets and

those that weren’t. The children

used magnets of different shapes

and sizes in purposeful play, to

explore the effects on materials.

They went on a magnet hunt

around the school and the school

yard!

Forces: “investigate how

forces act on objects…

investigate floating and

sinking with a wide range

of materials and objects”

Skill Development:

Experimenting and

Observing

We saw the raisins

sank to the bottom of

the glass of lemonade

at first.

After a short time, we

observed air bubbles

forming on the

raisins,. The air

pockets in the raisins

attract carbon

dioxide, causing them

to float up and down

Strand: Environmental Awareness and Care

We investigated the water cycle and we wondered how the rain falls with

no salt in the water if it has evaporated up into the atmosphere from the sea, which is very salty.

We designed an experiment ourselves that might test were all the salt goes

and made predictions about what might happen. We measured 80ml of water and mixed it with 10g of salt

and mixed it together. That was three months ago!

Now all of the water has nearly evaporated and the salt has been left behind. We did these experiments in

groups of four and working as scientists we realised that scientific

investigations can take a very long time to prove and that some of them

may go wrong along the way!

Strand: Living Things

Strand Unit: Human Life

The blindspot is the part of

your eye where you have no

rods or cones. The blindspot is

different from person to

person

In these photographs we are trying to find our blindspot.

You can see that one eye is open and the other is closed. On the sheet we’re holding there is a circle and a cross

marked out. You have to slowly move the page in towards you until the cross is out of view,

while still focusing on the circle

We were split in to teams and each team did either the salts or the tartar. We mixed the

ingredients with water and left them on the window sill so the water would evaporate"

Strand Unit: Materials

and Change,

Skill Development:

Observing and

Experimenting

Keira and Emma: "we

were studying about

rocks and soils and we

wanted to see if we

could create crystals.

We used two different

methods, one that

used "cream of tartar"

and one that used

"Epsom salts".

Strand: Materials,

Strand Unit: Materials and

change.

Inspired by the videos and events

of Science, second class children

presented their own favourite

experiments!

The children created volcanoes

using cardboard, paper and glue and

then using coke and Mentos sweets

a physical reaction occurred.

Materials and Change

We wanted to investigate how

materials changed when they were

mixed. In groups we made lava

lamps by adding vegetable oil to

water and the adding food

colouring. An Alka-Seltzer tablet

was dropped in and this reacted

with the water to produce carbon

dioxide gas bubbles.

Jolie and Klara explain their

experiment:

• You pour milk onto a plate and

add food colouring, you have to

keep the drops in the middle

of the plate.

• You use the top of a cotton

swab and touch to the centre

of the milk

• Drop some liquid soap on the

other end and you see a burst

of colour.

• The colours continue to move

even after you remove the

swab

Demonstrating atmospheric pressure:

Inés : “ you fill a cup up with water and put it on the table. Take a

piece of paper and cover the top of the cup completely.

Place the cup on a sheet with your hand completely covering it. Then

you turn the whole thing upside down, keep your hand on the page for

a second and then let go of your hand. The water stays in the cup!

Check Ms. Delany’s page for more excellent work from Second Class:

ttps://twitter.com/teachermsdelany?lang=en

We visited Airfield Discovery Centre.

Our teachers gave the classes a tour

of Airfield Estate’s working farm. We

began to look at the work on the farm

changes with the seasons : the daily

work of the farmer and the animals

which they tend to.

Airfield’s Jersey herd helped the children understand the story of milk from grass to glass. This visit enabled the

students in understanding the importance of farming in

Ireland.

1. Using StoryBoards in Fifth Class

2. Using Laptops during Maths Stations in Second Class

3. Using ICT to access SESE and Maths information in Third Class

4. Participating in the Hour of Code

5. Using Scratch in Third and Fifth Class

6. Creating PowerPoint and Prezi Presentations

Step Two: I.C.T.

Students use technology to

support their literacy

development. Using Story

Board, the pupils in fifth

class created storyboards

as part of their English

writing work. They created

brilliant animations and

characters to bring their

stories to life!

In this example, the students in fifth class had created Hallowe’en themed StoryBoards using laptops.

They created their StoryBoards and then presented them to the rest of

the class.

Fifth Class published them on the school website and Ms.Crowley

captured them on Twitter!

We are very lucky to have

laptops and iPads in our

school. We love getting to use

them in pairs or in groups to

help our learning.

Ms. Delany’s class use laptops

as well as the interactive

whiteboard to complete

activities on maths topics

during Maths Stations every

week

We also have a school website, and

some of the teachers use this as

well as Twitter to communicate the

learning activities that we are

focusing on in school, or to celebrate

the great achievements of our pupils

(curricular and non curricular!)

Using the School Website to

support Maths Learning at

Home for Homework

Ms. Delany’s Class Website:

http://www.straphaelasns.ie/

classes/2nd-class-2

1. Using ICT to access information on

the structure of the tooth!

2. Using iPad apps for practising

multiplication facts

3. Looking up facts for their project on

Australia

4. Mrs. Riordan uses her class Twitter

page to celebrate learning and share

all the hard work with parents

We are very lucky to have laptops

and iPads in our school. Third Class

have begun to learn to code with

Scratch and Fifth Class have had a

little bit more practice and use it

during maths Stations. Creating

code in pairs!

Each week in Ms. Crowley’s class

there is a “Project of the Week

Presentation”. Students pick a

topic of their choice and research

it online using the school laptops

and iPads or as part of homework

Emma chose to do her project on

the year 2005 “I chose this

project as it was the year that I

was born” (Emma)

“I chose to do China

because I am from Hong

Kong but I find China more

interesting” (Emer)

The students use Prezi or PowerPoint to

present their work. They must use

animations and visual effects to bring their

presentations to life! (Ms. Crowley)

Zoe chose to do her project

on microscopes: “I chose this

title as a lot of interesting

things have happened using

microscopes!”

“The most powerful

microscope in the world is

worth more than €2 million”

1. Design and Construction in Senior Infants

2. Third Class visit Imaginosity during Engineers Week

3. Building Bridges in UCD!

Step Three: Engineering

Senior Infants and their Class teacher Ms. Smyth are taking part in the “Arts in Education Programme” and are working with Helen. Their Project is entitled

“Space to Grow”

As part of this project, the children have investigated shape and space, and

construction in designing and creating a fantastic Space Ship that is suspended

proudly in Ms. Smyth’s classroom!

The pupils investigated lots of different materials, while investigating and creating

their work. They described the materials and their properties and decided which ones

were the best for the job!

The pupils investigated lots of different materials, while investigating and creating

their work. They described the materials and their properties and decided which ones

were the best for the job!

Helen: “Through designing and building the rocket together the children began to understand structure and stability. With these new skills and a wide range of materials we further explored scale and constructions both inside and outside of the classroom”

The pupils of Third Class were delighted to attend a workshop

in Imaginosity. They took part in activities that helped them gain an

understanding of how electricity passes through and

circuit and then worked together to create their own

circuits!

Each year every class in our school gets to take part in special workshops run by the Junior Achievement Programme. We always love it and really

enjoy working with the volunteers who come in! This year, fifth class were invited to a special event in UCD to encourage

girls in to all areas of Engineering. It was a brilliant day and really inspired our girls to think about future careers in STEM!

The pupils got the chance to work with and listen to inspirational women leaders in STEM occupations. We met Cathriona Hallahan, who is a former

pupil of St. Raphaela’s Secondary School and the Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland and Peggy Johnson from Microsoft who was voted the

most powerful female engineer in 2017 in America! They were lovely to meet and inspirational to listen to!

The students learn the importance of keeping costs to a minimum as they

worked on a bridge building project. The workshop challenged them to

think about the importance of Project Management, and pupils had to take

on roles as accountant, designer, project manager and quality

controller!

1. Investigating the Water Cycle

2. Capacity Challenge

3. Measuring Trees

4. Manga High Maths Activities

Step Four: Maths

For this experiment we were

investigating the water cycle and we

were wondering what happens to the

salt when the water evaporates from

the sea.

We worked in groups of four and we

used our maths skills to measure out

18ml of water in to a glass jar and then

we added 10g of salt in to the water.

We stirred it, and then put it on the

windowsill to sit in the sun.

We had a lid on one container to stop

the water evaporating

We recorded our predictions on how it

would turn out

Three months later, most of the water

has evaporated and the salt has

crystallised and it has stuck to the side

of the jars.

We enjoyed this experiment because we got to make

predictions and every prediction was different because people

though different things would happen in different amounts of

time. Nobody was totally correct, but a few of us got some of

it right. Kate, Suzanne, Maria and Doha

The two Fourth Classes were

working together in Science

and Maths:

"We were challenging the other

class with subtraction and

addition of capacity

measurements" (Maria)

"when you would measure it out

the other person would have to

check if it was right, we used

measuring jugs, graduated

cylinders, and syringes that

measured millilitres using the

decimal point” (Suzanne)

We also had

medicine spoons

that would measure

2.5ml and 5ml.

We were doing

these activities to

learn about

capacity, it's an

important skill

because if you

need to measure

out a quantity of

liquids for cooking

you'd need to know

it (Kate)

We learned about

capacity for the

whole week in

Maths, but you

need capacity for

cooking or if you're

shopping or if you

worked in a

pharmacy or in a

hospital giving

injections. (Doha)

We measured the circumference of the tree and divided it by 2.5

to get an approximate age for the tree.

We were working in pairs and identifying if it was a deciduous or

evergreen tree. An evergreen tree doesn't lose its leaves but a

deciduous one does in the autumn seasons.

Pupils from Second, Third and Fifth Classes

participated in Manga High. They completed

curriculum based learning activities in class and

also kept their own log at home in which to

complete challenges!

Participating, and visiting, the RDS Primary Science Fair

Step Five: STEM Showcase

Miss Crowley’s Fifth Class

pupils represented our school

at the RDS Primary Science

Fair in January 2017.

The pupils developed their skills

of “designing and making” and

“working scientifically” to

investigate “What sort of kite

flies best?”

Their project was based on the

strand: Energy and Forces.

We researched the different shapes and parts of a kite and the criterial for

kite flying! Then we created our own individual kite designs. We had to find

our own materials and then we constructed the kite!

We made predictions and then we tested our kite designs outside in

different weather conditions. We recorded our results and then reported

them using graphs and tables

We discovered

that the box kite

flew the best!

We created a video

of our investigation

using “Filnora:

Wondershare”

software and this

video was played in

the RDS!

The pupils were responsible for

organising and displaying their work

in the RDS.

They explained the investigation and

findings to the adjudicators and

also to the other pupils from all the

different schools around the

country who were visiting!

We researched the different shapes and parts of a kite and the criterial for

kite flying! Then we created our own individual kite designs. We had to find

our own materials and then we constructed the kite!

We made predictions and then we tested our kite designs outside in

different weather conditions. We recorded our results and then reported

them using graphs and tables

We discovered

that the box kite

flew the best!

We created a video

of our investigation

using “Filmora:

Wondershare”

software and this

video was played in

the RDS!

Not only did Fifth Class make us

proud, they also inspired the pupils

from fourth and fifth class who

went to the RDS to support them!