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This years theme for Space Week was Living in Space and our Junior Infants were very keen to get going. Meanwhile our fabulous 4th classes were boldly venturing where no other Ballina Primary students have gone before as they got to grips with our new Lego STEM kits. These kits and laptops have been very generously sponsored by Regeneron. These kits facilitate the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills by combining hands on building with coding and problem-solving. Maybe one of our students will be inspired to carry these skills forward to Space exploration some day. Throughout the school there were opportunities taken to spark curiosity and creativity. We learnt what it is like to live in Space, read space-themed stories, designed spacesuits, explored the planets, created space-themed Art and attempted to engineer and launch our own rockets. Thanks to everyone who got involved. We had a blast!! It seemed so far away when we started our Science Blast project, but our day out to UL finally arrived. It was an incredible spectacle with about 40 schools, science shows, interactive science related stalls and of course projects every where. Well done to all the pupils involved, your hard work and patience paid off. This year pupils from 3rd class to 6th were asked to design and build a boat that was propelled by elastic bands and paddles. The entries were so diverse and ingenious. So many different ideas. Not everything worked, but everyone learned from the experience and had a good time. In the end however, simplicity won out. The top boats on average had one propellor, one elastic and a relatively short paddle. A huge thank you to IT Systems for adjudicating on the day and providing generous prizes. Additionally, a huge thank you goes out to all the pupils that put so much thought and time into their creations. Engineers of the future. 5th class went walk about to observe the early signs of spring. Here is what we observed. So much science in just one week. Thank you to everyone that got involved. In the weeks leading up to Space Week 6th class researched all about the solar system and created a wonderful project. Well done to you all. Juniors really got into the swing of things for Space Week. They look like they really had some fun. What a lucky coincidence to have such amazing Northern Lights during Space Week this year. Thank you to the fifth class pupils that sent in their images. Super pictures. The day finally arrived. We went to the Sports Arena in UL today to exhibit our project to the Science Blast Team. Our project was on germs and whether washing your hands makes a difference, It does. There were about thirty other schools there and the excitement was infectious. Here is a selection of pictures taken on the day. More will follow. We are also planning to put together a podcast explaining our work which we will post here. |
