This afternoon, Fifth and Sixth class had a lovely trip to Swinford Library as part of Engineer’s Week.
The children enjoyed a workshop entitled Engineering through the Ages. They learned of the evolution of engineering in order to make things easier for people to work, from the use of the horse to plough, wheelbarrow, tractor and JCB.
The students then learned how marbles helped people move things in earliest times, and how engineering developed hugely during the construction of the Pyramids in Ancient Egypt.
The children also learned how arches and bridges became more prevalent during the Roman Age and how they reinforce the building put together and how this evolved to the use of thrusses in many buildings today.
The Industrial Revolution began the era of the internal combustion engine leading to the making of the first car using liquid and eventually fuel to power and move the wheels.
The children has a very enjoyable trip. We thank Swinford Library for facilitating the exhibition and the children for being so engaged and well behaved.

Go n-eirí an t-ádh le Rang a h-Aon, Dó agus Trí tomorrow morning in Kilmovee where they take part in the annual Féile Dramaíochta competition.We hope all the children enjoy their morning.

A very special word of thanks to Ms.Sloyan and Mr.Rushe for all their hard work preparing their students so well. Maith sibh!

Bainigí go léir taitneamh as!

Have a great day!

On Monday morning a representative from the Irish Heart Foundation came to us to speak to Fifth and Sixth Class.

His name was Adrian Roache. Adrian works for The Irish Heart Foundation based in Dublin. He spoke to us about the recommended amount of exercise one should have which is 60 minutes or more per day, however it does not need to be all at once.

It can be split up throughout the day and add up to 60 minutes or more.The average amount of steps per day is 10 000(ten thousand) steps.
He told us that our heart beats at about 10 000 beats each day or at 72 beats per minute. A way to calculate your maximum heart-rate is 220 minus your age.

Adrian focused then on sugar and the impact that it can have if you take too much it gives you a …
35% chance of having a heart attack.
16%chance of having a stroke and,
26%chance of getting type 2 diabetes.

Did you know that there are ___________ teaspoons of sugar…..

1.There are 4 teaspoons of sugar in breakfast bar
2.25 teaspoons of sugar in a full pack of Haribo
3.6 teaspoons in a mint aero bar
4.16 teaspoons in Mountain Dew drink
5.Surprisingly there are 50 teaspoons in a bottle of Chef ketchup
6.A carton of Ribena has 12.5 teaspoons of sugar and a Capri Sun drink has 8 teaspoons of sugar.

There are 46 different names for sugar in products. The recommended intake of sugar per day is said to be 6 teaspoons.

We thank Adrian sincerely for his visit and learned so much from his presentation.

Emma Murphy Rang a Cúig

On Monday of last week Rang a Dó went on a trip with Fr Johnson, Mr Rushe and Mrs McCafferty to Barnacúige N.S.

Here they met with all the other children from the Parish who are making their First Holy Communion this year and with Antoinette Moynahan who spoke to them about the sacrament of First Holy Communion that we are going to receive this year. Antoinette is from County Meath and she speaks to children all over the country about First Holy Communion. She told them about how special they all are and also talked about some saints who received their First Holy Communion. They watched a video and talked about the information they learned.
After that they went by bus to St James’ Church in Charlestown. They sat at the Altar and learned about the many objects that they will see in the church during our upcoming sacrament. Our students learned about the Church Monstrance which is used to hold the body of Jesus. Each church has a different monstrance and they are designed in many different ways. They also learned also about the tabernacle.
Before the afternoon ended they all had time to speak quietly to Jesus. Fr Johnson helped them understand more clearly about the wonderful event that Rang a Dó are going to experience this year.

Thank you to Antoinette, Fr.Johnston, Mrs McCafferty and Mr.Rushe for all their help on this very special day.

Information for Parents:

Please find below links to a programme overview/video for parents

http://www.catholicireland.net/eucharistic-adoration-is-a-winner-among-children/

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T64PaftKTDQ

Last year as part of our Digital School’s Programme we developed class blogs. These open a window into individual classes in our school and can be found on the homepage of our website. To date we have five class blogs with more to follow. We hope you enjoy your journey through our school.

Senior Infants http://mrsreillyseniorinfants.blogspot.ie/

First Class http://firstclasscharlestown.blogspot.ie/

Second/Third Class http://thirdclassstattractasnscharlestown.blogspot.ie/

Sonas http://sonasclass.blogspot.ie/

Spraoi http://spraoistattractas.blogspot.ie/

We had a lovely end to a very busy week on Friday with the return of Mayo Star Tom Parsons to our school. Tom’s first port of call was Mr. Clarke’s Rang 5/6 and Ms. Henry’s Rang 4/5 as part of the Gaelic Players association Réalta Programme. Tom then joined the whole school at our weekly assembly and visited all our Junior Classes.

Tom is a wonderful role model and imparted great advice to all the children. He spoke fondly of his memories of St.Attracta’s and gave fantastic examples/life lessons of challenges he faced at an early age. Tom stressed the importance of believing in oneself and continuing to work hard to achieve your goals.

It was a pleasure to welcome Tom back to us again. Young and old enjoyed his visit.We thank Tom sincerely for his visit and in particular his time and interest in meeting all our students. Míle buíochas Tom.

Finally we felt after the very busy week we had with our Whole School Evaluation it would be unfair to chose any students as ‘Students of the Week’. A huge thank to all our students for their hard work, effort and focus throughout. We sincerely appreciated this great team effort. Maith sibh go léir!

Our Parents Association have decided to try and help the school cover some of the cost of the groundworks in the school that benefit every child and as such are focusing their fundraising activities for the school year 2016/17 towards this.

There are two fundraising activities currently scheduled:

A Table Quiz will take place on Friday the 25th of November at 8.30pm in Walsh’s Pub. It is hoped that everyone will come out and support our school on what promises to be a fun night with great prizes.

A Clothing Collection will take place on the 2nd of December and people can drop in bags and anytime from Monday the 28th of November.

Next Meeting

The next P.A. meeting is scheduled for Tuesday the 22nd at 8pm. This is to be a brief half hour meeting in advance of the Table Quiz to allow us to get organised.

The Parents Association always welcome all parents to join the Meetings and get involved in any of the fundraising activities.

As always we thank our Parent Association and indeed all our parents for their hard work and continuous support of our school.