FOREST SCHOOLS WINTER THEME

P3 and P4 together with the P3 children from St Patrick’s Primary enjoyed a Christmas/ Winter themed Forest School Session on Tuesday 19th December. They had six different activities

• Build Santa’s house  - using large scale construction blocks and pipes

• Story Time - ‘ A Little Bit of Winter’ - they then made insulating layer to prevent ice from melting

• Santa’s Elves - The elves’ house was destroyed in a rainstorm.  Use natural materials to build them a new house ( twigs, leaves, moss etc)

• A home for a hedgehog - Build a warm comfortable home for a hibernating hedgehog

• Paint a picture - Mix own paints using coal, mud, leaves grasses and warm water and then paint a winter scene

• Collage - gather natural materials to make a winter and a summer tree.

  Thanks to Mrs Henry and Mrs Morrison for all the work they did in preparing the activities.

Building Santa's Home

Insulating Layer

Building homes from natural materials

Paint a picture

Collage of trees

CHRISTMAS PARTY FUN

Thanks to Mrs Morrison for organising parties for everyone.  They all had a great time.

Air Ambulance Thank You

NI Air Ambulance sent this letter to thank everyone for their support.

ACCELERATED READING CUP WINNER

Congratulations to Alexander P7 who won the Accelerated Reading Cup for this half term.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Congratulations to all our P1-P3 children who showed brilliant acting and singing skills in their school play ‘Chicken Licken’!  The P4- P7 children shared the Christmas story in their play ‘Night of all Nights’.  We saw great talent as the children acted, sang and danced their way through the story. Thanks also to Andrew, Isaac and Grace who played some carols on the piano and also to the group of violin, clarinet and bells players who entertained us with ‘Jingle Bells’.  Thanks to parents, relatives and friends who attended the performance and also thanks to the Committee of Rasharkin Presbyterian Church for  the use of their halls for rehearsals and for the concert.

IMPRESSIVE WIND TURBINES

As part of their energy topic, P5/6/7 were learning about renewable energy.  They wrote an explanation of one type of renewable energy, then added text, photos and audio to make these super interactive books.

P5/6/7 were set a challenge to make a wind turbine from everyday materials.  Lots of problem solving and  team work skills were required.  The turbines were tested using a hair dryer to see if they worked.  There were some very impressive wind turbines!

CHRISTMAS DINNER

Thank you to the Leaney Kitchen staff for providing such a fantastic Christmas dinner. Mrs Calderwood, Mrs Morrison and Mrs Wilson had a very busy time getting the dinners served to everyone.  We really appreciate all their hard work.  We also want to thank the pupils who played Christmas Carols during lunchtime.  They are all pupils of Mrs McAleese who teaches piano in school. 

CHRISTMAS CONCERT REHEARSALS

We are all looking forward to seeing everyone next Wednesday night, 19th December at 7pm at Rasharkin Presbyterian church hall for our annual Christmas Concert.  Here are a few pictures from our recent performances of ‘Chicken Licken’ P1- P3 for the playgroup. P4 -P7 performed their play, ‘ Night of all Nights’ for the P5 pupils from St Patrick’s Primary today. Thanks to those children who had to stand in for some of the cast who were sick.

P6 and P7 PORTGLENONE FOREST

P6 and P7 children and some pupils from St Patrick’s Primary enjoyed a Shared Education, Forest School Session, to Portglenone Forest.  As well as learning interesting facts about red squirrels, the children searched for evidence of the grey squirrels being in the forest. They found cones that had been eaten by them.  The children also made dreys at the base of some of the trees.

SANTA LETTERS

P1 and P2 have been busy writing their letters to Santa.  Today they walked down to the post box at Fullan’s Supermarket to post them to Santa.  Hopefully they will arrive at the North Pole well before Christmas!

MARY POPPINS

Today, we all travelled to Green Pastures for their production of ‘Mary Poppins’.  Everyone really enjoyed the show which was full of singing, dancing and great acting.   

RADIO CRACKER

On 6th December some of our children went to sing on Radio Cracker in Montgomery’s Restaurant in Ballymena. They sang ‘Come and Join the Celebration’, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and ‘It’s Christmas Time’.  The children sang brilliantly. We were delighted to see so many parents, grandparents, relations and friends enjoying a cup of coffee as they listened to us. Thanks also to Montgomery’s for providing a snack for everyone.

P6 and P7 PDMU. - 'CHILDREN'S RIGHTS'

In Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (PDMU),  P6 and P7 have been looking at Children’s Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.  They took part in a Webinar with the N.I. Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Koulla Yiasouma where they had an opportunity to ask questions. Two questions asked by the children were answered.

• What do you think is the most important right?

• What is being done to help children living in poverty in Northern Ireland?

After discussing the different rights, the children made a quilt illustrating the ones they thought were most important.

LUNCHTIME AWARDS

Congratulations to Harley, Archie, Tyler, Kelsey, Anna and Jane who received Lunchtime Awards for this half term.

NOVEMBER ASSEMBLY AWARDS

Congratulations to all the children who received Headteacher’s certificates for November.  The certificates awarded were, ‘Quick Recall of Table Facts’, ‘Excellent Listening’, ‘Great Writing’ and also the ‘Kind and Caring Award Certificate’.

SQUIRREL TRAIL

On Tuesday 4th December P1 and P2 children, along with children from St Patrick’s Primary, participated in the first of three Shared Education, Forest School Sessions.  They visited Portglenone Forest and Liz who is a Forest Education Officer, talked to the children about red and grey squirrels.  They then followed a squirrel trail where they learnt lots of interesting facts about red squirrels - what they eat, where they live and how they move.  They also tried to balance like a squirrel and jump like a squirrel.

Health and Well Being Pupil Survey

For school use only

Click here for survey

NIE Networks Safety Talk

Alex visited P6/7 to remind them of the dangers of electricity.  They learnt that electricity can ‘jump’, therefore it is very important to stay away from high voltage electrical pylons, sub stations, etc.  Children also looked at a kite that had come in contact with power lines, a ball and jumper from a child who tried to rescue it from a substation.  The message they heard was to always contact NIE to have items safely retrieved, never try to get something yourself.

Andrew, Harvey, Grace and Hannah who heard Alex’s NIE Safety talk.

LONG MOUNTAIN WINDFARM

P6 and P7 have been studying ‘Energy’ as their topic for World Around Us.  They have been looking at renewable energy, and they got the opportunity to visit Long Mountain Windfarm on Monday 3rd December.  Thanks to Richard and Brian from the Energia Renewables Firm, for taking time to tell all the children about the development and the maintenance of the windfarm.  Everyone was given lots of information about wind turbines and Brian showed the children inside one of the wind turbines.