Today, 4th and 5th Class met exciting new Irish author Dave Rudden in Phibsboro Library. The children are reading his book “Knights of the Borrowed Dark” as part of the Citywide Reading Campaign. Dave gave them a short workshop and read from his book. The class had a question and answer session and got a lovely autograph from Dave.

Children who are reading the book are invited to enter a cool competition by checking out: https://daverudden.com/

A huge thank you from St Gabriel’s NS to Mary and the staff of Phibsboro Library for having us today.

Mr Smyth’s 4th and 5th Class have been learning about the counties, rivers and mountains of Ireland.
Check out this cool game on the counties of Ireland:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone/primary-students/subjects/geography/geography-full-story/ireland-my-home/the-counties-of-ireland-g/

In Geography this month, Mr Smyth’s class are learning about the solar system and all the planets.

Check out these cool websites and the fun song about the different planets in the solar system.

https://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMF8WVLWFE_OurUniverse_0.html

http://idahoptv.org/sciencetrek/topics/planets/glossary.cfm

Cool Planets song video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrlgH97v94

This month Mr Smyth’s class have been looking at 2-D Shape.

Check out this interactive Maths webpage where you can study different 2-d shapes and have fun making different shapes http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/polygons-interactive.html

There is a lot of excitement this week in St. Gabriel’s as we are celebrating Maths Week 2016.  One of the pupils, teachers and parents favourite events took place on Tuesday when the whole school came together at the same time to play Maths Games.  This year’s event was as enjoyable as ever and everyone was very proud that we broke our previous records for the amount of parents in attendance.  All the pupils and staff appreciate the time that the parents gave up to come and be a part of the fun.  There was a wonderful atmosphere of friendship and learning in the P.E. hall that was felt by all.  Next up, the Tables Championship finals!!!!

Maths Week Ireland will take place from the 15th – 23rd October 2016 (see www.mathsweek.ie for a list of activities nationwide)  In St. Gabriel’s we always enjoy an active Maths Week each year and look forward to this event for months.   Most importantly, each child from Junior Infants to Sixth Class gets involved in the various activities.

Our whole school Maths Games event will take place this year on Tuesday 18th October at 9am  in the P.E. Hall.  As every class is involved in this one event, we need our parents to come along and help out with the fun and games!  If you are free to be a part of this fantastic event, please come along next Tuesday morning for a really enjoyable morning.

A big thank you to all of the Junior and Senior Infant parents who attended Anna’s Jolly Phonics workshop on Tuesday. We hope this workshop will help you to help your child more at home with learning phonics.

We also recommend using the Jolly Phonics app at home. This can easily be downloaded on your smart phone or tablet.

Don’t forget the next workshop for parents is next Tuesday, 11th October at 9am.

This workshop will introduce parents to the Help My Kid Learn website, and some great activities you can use with your children both at home and out and about.