On Thursday we had an exciting (and stressful!) day as the finals of the Maths Week Tables Championships took place. A huge well done to all the children who reached the finals and showed everyone their amazing number skills and strategies. Congratulations to Alan, our junior champion and well done to Marta and Karol who were our runners up. In the senior final it was congratulations to Alistair who came in 1st place and his worthy runners up were Daniel and Leon. Well done to all involved.
The staff and pupils of St. Gabriel’s from 1st to 6th Class came together to hold our annual Poetry Reading event. The atmosphere in the P.E. Hall was one of warmth, relaxation and respect as many of the children shared the poetry that they had written themselves with the wider school community.
With our special celebrity guest on the day Ms. McGarrity present, the children relaxed on their cushions as our host, Ms. Comerford invited different children to the mike. There were a variety of poetry genres on display, from haiku and limericks, to acrostic and descriptive poems. The level of calmness and confidence displayed by our poets was highly impressive as they read to their audience. As an audience, we experienced a range of emotions ranging from tears to laughter. Some of the themes explored included animals, trees, personal explorations and witty observations.
On this weekend celebrating Yeats 2015 ( the 150th anniversary of the birth of W.B. Yeats) this was a true celebration of poetry and we are looking forward to next years event!
On Monday the children from 1st and 2nd Class went on a trip to the Draíocht theatre to take part in a clay workshop. We left school straight away in the morning and caught the 39A bus all the way to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. We even brought Freddy the Teddy with us!
Deirdre and Andrew were the artists who helped us to create some beautiful Christmas decorations from clay. We used rolling pins, moulds and tools to shape the clay and different techniques such as pinching, cross hatching and rolling. We made some fantastic decorations that we are now painting in our classes!
Congratulations and well done to all the children from 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class who made it to the final of the annual Maths Week Tables Championship. The fifteen finalists showed nerves of steel when they competed in front of an enthralled audence, and it took a number of rounds to whittle the fifteen down to the final three. In 1st place we had Alistair, with Alex in 2nd place and Nicoleta in 3rd, all deserving winners.
