Cregmore National School

Science Day Continued!!

Science Day took place on 12^th October 2015. A science exhibition took place throughout the school on this day. A facilitator from Science Ireland attended. This provided an all-day, all inclusive, whole school science experience which helped increase self-esteem, inspire curiosity and made science come alive for the Children! Pupils from the senior classes demonstrated amazing table-top science experiments to the pupils in younger classes. It was an amazing experience. The lessons instilled a sense of curiosity and wonder in all of our pupils. Please see images associated with this wonderful day attached below.

Science Fair Day in Cregmore NS!

We had a fantastic day yesterday (Oct 12th) when Declan visited the school to Help us organise our Science Fair. He met with 5th and 6th class in the morning and trained them to present a range of expriments tp the other classes in the hall. He then visited each class to show them other interesting experiments. It was a fantastic day and we learned a lot of scientific facts. More photos from the Science Fair can be viewed in the 'Science and Maths Award' section of this website.

Children circulated around a variety of stations

Some of the stations in action in the hall!

Declan came to each class to deliver a science experiment workshop during the Science Fair day

Lá na gCrann 2015

National Tree Day took place on 8^th October 2015. Throughout this day we completed lots of activities. In particular we identified trees in our yard, undertook nature walks, created and painted trees, investigated the woodland habitat & we identified insects and animals that live in/near the trees in our school surroundings. We really enjoyed Tree Day and look forward to celebrating National Tree Week later in the year.

Some interesting facts:

The Tree for Tetra Pak Tree Day 2015 is Hazel. (Corylus avellana) Coll.

Hazel is a native Irish tree and the Hazel produce catkins in spring known as 'lambs tails'. The Hazel nut appears like a bud tuft ball under the leaves and twigs and grows on the tree in autumn. The hazel nut was eaten by the earliest Human settlements in Ireland (Mesolithic Man) they also used the hazel to build their homes as it was very flexible timber.

Sammy squirrel also loves eating hazel nuts.

Forked branches of the hazel are used by diviners to locate underground water.

It is believed that the early settlements used Hazel branches as rods, which were woven into panels for the creation of wattle and daub walls, similar to those that encase Crannógs. Wet clay, dung, chopped straw and lime combined with the Hazel rods to provide shelter for our ancestors.

NAMES OF SOME COMMON TREES

1.    Dair 'oak'

2.    Coll 'hazel'

3.    Cuilenn 'holly'

4.    Ibar 'yew'

5.    Uinnius 'ash'

6.    Ochtach 'Scots pine'

7.    Aball 'wild apple-tree'

Here's some of our tree inspiring lessons. We hope you enjoy them.