Fire Safety

Two firemen from Athenry fire station visited 3rd and 4th class. Their names were Gerry and Gordon. They taught us about fire safety and how to make our homes safer. For example not to leave a candle on the window and if some one smokes in the house make sure you empty the ash tray before you go to bed. They also taught us how to “Stop, Drop and Roll”. This would be important to do if you ever caught fire! They showed us lots of posters about cartoon characters who were good and bad at dealing with fire. These helped us to understand more about fire safety. Jason had to demonstrate how to stop, drop and roll!!! They gave us fire safety folders to take home and we all have to make sure we check the fire alarms once every week! It was very interesting and we learned lots about how to make are homes safer.

The Trail


Third and fourth class went on a trail around our school and local area. The first stop on the trail was to look at the plants and birds around our school. We saw blackbirds, robins and magpies. We looked at ivy, holly, evergreen trees and other plants in the school yard. For the second stop, we went to the church. There, we had to draw the altar and answer some questions in Irish. The church plays a very special part in the community of Newcastle. The third stop was the signpost for ‘Teampallmaol’. It means the bald church or the church with no roof. Then we walked down to the graveyard. We looked at some old head stones. There is only one wall left of the old chapel that was first built. We had to draw a sample of what an old head stone looked like. One of the oldest headstones is from 1802. When we were finished we did an activity on Saint Patrick. Then we went back to the school and made a map of the trail.

Halloween Fancy Dress
On the last day before the Halloween holidays we all dressed up in our Halloween costumes. Some children were dressed as goblins, killers, skeletons, witches and vampires. In the afternoon we played games like ‘Guess how many sweets are in the jar?’ and ‘Guess what the doll’s name?’. We also had a sweet hunt! Sweets were hidden all around the school yard and we had to go on a hunt to find them. There were also cakes and buns on sale. We ate rice crispy buns, rice crispy cakes, sweets and doughnuts. In total we helped to raise over €400 for the Galway People in Need charities. It was a very worthwhile cause and lots of fun too!