We were delighted on Wednesday, to welcome Simon O’Malley, Mayo Development Officer, Connacht Rugby to school as part of our Active School Celebrations.
Simon carried out workshops with all classes. His sense of fun and energy ensured this was a very enjoyable day, despite the changeable weather conditions.
A special word of thanks to Mr.Rushe who organised Simon’s visit. We look forward to exciting events in the coming weeks as part of the Active Schools Programme.
This year, 5th Class entered the RDS Science Blast programme with an interesting question:
“Does the colour of food affect it’s taste?… And, do all Skittles taste the same?”
The class came up with this question during class as we undertook the beginning of our study on major systems of the body. The addition of the Skittles part was probably a little bit less science-based and more sweet tooth based…but that’s acceptable too!
The completion of the Science Blast involves many steps. The children learned so much from this seemingly simple question than you could start to imagine. For example, they are all competent and confident in drawing, identifying and explaining the tongue and taste buds, the olfactory system, the digestive system and the nervous system and brain. This is knowledge in line with Secondary school students. Not only do they know this, but they were genuinely eager and enthusiastic in their learning!
The next phase of the process involved investigating our question. The children came up with a taste experiment to test their prediction that colour should not affect the taste. They used apple juice and food colouring to conduct this test. Food colouring does not affect flavour. They then administered individual taste tests with 44 students from 1st and 2nd classes and the results were very surprising! Only 4 children identified that all three juices tasted the same. The vast majority described the juices as having different fruit flavours.
We then researched previous scientific studies in the area of the psychology of taste perception. One American study had coloured steak and chips and conducted the test in a darkened room. When the lights were lifted, some of the participants got sick when they saw green steak and blue chips! The children were amazed by the impact colour can have on our perception of taste. We have come to the conclusion that colour has a major effect on taste and taste is an experience which is impacted on by all of our senses.
The children created displays to showcase all of their hard work and they had a virtual judge assessment on Wednesday, April 5th. The culmination of all of their effort was evident to see as they confidently displayed their presentation and knowledgeably answered all of the judge’s questions. Mrs McDonagh could not be prouder of all of their individual and collective input. They were a credit to themselves and showed maturity and knowledge far above 5th class standard, as you will see from the judge’s feedback.
It is so positive to see the children involved in initiatives such as this as they have learned so much both in scientific knowledge and vital life presentation skills. The children enjoyed the programme so much and almost learned by osmosis through their immersion in the topic in question. The promise of Skittles as the final experiment definitely was the icing on the cake. We can now conclusively state that the colour of food does affect its taste and all Skittles definitely do not taste the same!
Please note our judge’s feedback:
“Wow, what an impressive class of young boys and girls! I really enjoyed listening to them explain in great detail the different stages involved in their project, “Does the colour of food determine its taste?”. The children were so articulate and confident in delivering their presentations.
From their interesting research methods; investigating the olfactory system and specific taste areas of the mouth; fair testing with their experiments by having 44 people taste test both normally and some blindfolded and their surprising conclusion – every aspect of this project was well thought out and explained.
I love the fact that one of the children in the class, Adam actually came up with the project title and his classmates all contributed to finding out the answer! Well done, a great example of collaboration which is so important.
The information that was presented was explained clearly and understood well by the children. In particular, I was really impressed by the recall of facts on the tongue and what different parts of the tongue detect and identify different flavours. The details recalled on the senses and the body were that of Leaving Cert Biology students – a real credit to the teacher, Ms McDonagh, and the class for taking it all in!
The PowerPoint presentation was wonderfully colourful and clearly laid out. The results were easy to follow and made for an interesting read. Taste really is an experience and that is why different people have different taste preferences.
Well done to all of the boys and girls in 5th Class, thank you for inviting me into your lovely classroom, I hope you enjoyed your skittles in the afternoon!
Well done again!”
Annaliese McConnell
We were delighted to participate in the Hurling for Hope Jersey Day on Friday March 4th. This, to support two charities close to our heart’s here in school, the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association and Mayo Roscommon Hospice.
Thank you to all our students, teachers and family members who supported this fundraiser. It was a great sucess raising €500 for a very worthy cause.
Should you still wish to contribute, you can do so using the link below:
https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11423049_hurling-for-hope.html
We wish all involved well.
What an exciting day we’ve had in school as we opened our School Library to our students for the first time to coincide with our World Book Day celebrations.
Each of the children received a precious library card before choosing a book to borrow from Gemma our very efficient librarian! We’re certain this will a great resource here in school and a visit the children will look forward to each week!
A special word of thanks to Paul, for his vision and hard work in preparing our library. Ms.Horkan and all our wonderful staff for their help and guidance as we prepared for today’s celebrations.
Finally, a very special word of thanks to Gemma who has brought this project together. We really appreciate all her effort and hard work.
Third and Fourth Class this afternoon were very fortunate to visit the Arts Centre in Charlestown and go behind the scenes to enjoy a fantastic project ‘The Light Brigade’ by Tom Meskell.
Tom and his equally talented colleague Tommy Casby, have been working extremely hard sculpting paper lanterns in the shape of life-size horses. This work, will be part of a large exhibition of paper lanterns which will be exhibited in Connolly Barracks, Longford, on February 25th-27th (5 pm -8 pm).
The children of 3rd and 4th class loved learning about the process of how these beautiful pieces of art were created.
A very special word of thanks to Tom (facilitator for our Creative Schools Cluster) for inviting us to see how his wonderful work is progressing.
It was a lovely treat for our students to enjoy.
We had a lovely end to a busy school week this afternoon with a virtual assembly and the return of our Student of the Week awards.
In recent times, our Student Council presented a very strong case for this to happen and our teachers were very happy to oblige. While many things may have changed in school over the past two years, it was heartwarming to come together to celebrate the many wonderful things that have happened inside of and outside our classrooms throughout the past week.
At the outset, all teachers were at pains to say that many students in their respective classrooms could have been chosen this week, however, we’re confident that everyone’s time will come in the weeks ahead.
This afternoon we learned how many of our older students are setting a great example to our younger students, showing great maturity inside of and outside class whilst taking part wholeheartedly in all school activities. We heard of students who are making great strides and of those who perform each week consistently well.
We learned of students who consistently work very hard and of those who have learned to wait their turn when answering questions and others who in the past loved to talk/chat have become more understanding and patient.
One of our students this week has also displayed a very positive attitude to ‘Gaeilge’ and another making great progress with reading, both setting the bar very high in their classrooms. Finally, we heard glowing tributes to one of this week’s students which highlighted that they are always nice to everyone and of an excellent student who has settled into his new school with ease! We cannot ask any more than that!
Well done to all the students chosen this week, we’re really proud of the great effort you’ve made. Maith sibh!
Colm Horkan Memorial Run
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all at East Mayo AC and Charlestown Sarsfields the very best of luck with the Colm Horkan Memorial Run tomorrow.
It is heartwarming to see so many of our pupils, parents and staff signed up. We wish everyone who is taking part a safe and enjoyable race.
Staff Development Primary Language
Finally a gentle reminder that we finish at 12.30pm on Monday afternoon for a Primary Language Curriculum Staff Development.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend!
We are now accepting enrolments for the new school year 2022/23.
Our Enrolment Application Form is available in the Parents and Quicklinks sections on the homepage of our website www.stattractasns.ie (Parents & Quicklinks section).
We would be very grateful if you could download this form and send it back by email (scanned copy) to office@stattractasns.ie or by hard copy and post to our school.
We would also appreciate it if you could fill in a short pre-enrolment form by using the following link https://www.aladdin.ie/i/5142428197584896
Thank you to all who have done so to date.
Should you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact by email at office@stattractasns.ie or by telephone at (094)9254905.
As part of our countdown to Christmas, yesterday we had a lovely morning, singing Christmas carols and seasonal tunes. Under Ms.Burke’s lead, young and old entered into the spirit, enjoying this lovely time to come together.
We sincerely hope that we can return to carol singing and our long-standing tradition of visiting St.Attracta’s and St.Anne’s Nursing homes at Christmas again in the very near future.
A very special word of thanks to the very talented Ms.Burke who organised this event for us all to enjoy.
Tháinig Daidí na Nollag ar cuairt chuig Scoil Naomh Athrach ar maidin. Bhí sceitimíní áthais ar na páistí!
Santa visited the very excited boys and girls of St.Attracta’s this morning. He arrived in style with the Charlestown Unit of the Mayo County Fire Service.
Santa imparted many wise words to all our excited students for the build-up to Christmas! It was a lovely way to finish the term.
A special word of thanks to Paul and of course to Daidí na Nollag for taking time out at this extremely busy time to visit our school.
