This year the Christmas Nativity is being held in Aghinagh G.A.A. Hall on the 19th of December.  The Nativity is “The Great News Story” about the Birth of Jesus.  All pupils will participate in the Nativity.  We are hoping everything will go well.  Junior Infants to 4th Class will be singing songs and 5th and 6th will act out the main parts. Martina Ring has been teaching us Nativity Songs.  We hope there will be a good turnout on the night.

Here are some photography from our Christmas Nativity which went really well.

On the 9th of November, we had a visit from Dawn Kavanagh with her dog “Oddie”.  Dawn is a member of the Dogs Trust Foundation in Cork.  She taught us about what dogs need i.e. food, water, exercise, respect, space, attention, veterinary care and training and also how to act around dogs.  (stay calm, don’t pet them while they are eating/sleeping, show the dog your hand before petting them).  While she was here she told us stories about dogs she took care of.  When she left she gave us certificates and bands.

We all really enjoyed learning about dogs and would definitely recommend it.

Every year in Rusheen N.S. we do the Christmas Shoebox Appeal.  We send the Shoe Boxes to Eastern Europe and Africa.  Pupils from 3rd to 6th Class take part in the shoebox appeal.  In the shoe boxes we included tooth brushes, soaps, clothes, sweets and colouring books.  Before we sent them off we picked an age group and decided whether it was for a boy or a girl.  Team Hope pick up the shoe boxes by truck, then they travel by train and boat to the poorer countries.  These Christmas Shoeboxes may be the only presents these children get this year.  Ireland sent 270,000 shoe boxes last year.  These children are very happy with even one present.  We do the shoebox appeal to bring a smile to a child’s face.

Science Week started on the 13th of November.  Pupils in 5th and 6th Classes learned about different scientists and their inventions.  One such scientist is Father Nicholas Joseph Callan.  We learnt that he was not only a Priest but a scientist.  He made the Maynooth Battery.

We also made gloopy slime with water, borax powder pva glue and food colouring.  When the experiment was finished the goo was squishy.

We looked at how circuits work and Ryan Leahy  in 6th class even made illuminating water using led light, a bottle of water and some recycled boxes and bottles from around the house.

On Thursday 27th October the Parents’ Association held a Bingo night in the Aghinagh G.A.A. Hall.  There was money and prizes given out to the winners.  Winners included Noah O’Leary who won €50.00.  Jack Kearney won €20.00, Liam McSweeney won a goody bag in the raffle, Michael Twomey won two goody bags.  Leah Kearney won a prize and Robbie Cunningham won a bottle of wine and a box of sweets.  There were also loads more winners.

There were lots of parents who won too:  Niamh Cuddihy won €50.00, D.D. McCarthy got €20.00 and Marcella Lee got a “full house” twice so she won €100.00.  We would like to thank the Parents’ Association for organising this brilliant night.  We raised €1,870.00 from the night.  We raised €170 more than last year.  Thanks to everyone who attended the Bingo Night.  It was much appreciated.

The Library Quiz took place in McEgan College on the 26th of October.  The Quiz Team consisted of Eoghan O’Brien, Moira Leahy, Finn Stevenson and Conor Murray.  The quiz team came fourth  and missed out on 3rd place by one point.  The team  studied hard for the quiz.  Some of the questions were:

What is the most sold book in the world?    Bible

What is the smallest bird in Ireland?    Goldfinch

For six weeks 5th and 6th Class went swimming during October and November in the Castel Hotel Leisure Complex.  For the last two years, instead of our normal swimming lessons, we did Primary Aquatics Water Safety (PAWS), developed by Irish Water Safety.  In the pool we learned the straddle jump, simple diving, front crawl, back crawl, breast stroke, how to thread water and inverted breast stroke.  Our examiner was Karen Buckley.  We achieved different levels.  If you achieved level 6 you would have the ability to tread water for a period of one minute, swim 15m without touching the ground and we had to do an oral test as well.

We all got a cert at the end telling us our levels.