We were delighted to welcome an Energy Workshop from the Lifetime Lab.

Our 3rd, 4th and 5th classes engaged in the energy workshops which covered the topics of energy sources, climate change, CO2, and what we as individuals can do to reduce the amount of energy we use.

The classes completed some fun curriculum-linked energy experiments, for example, did you know you can make a battery out of a lemon?

Towards the end of the workshop, the children played Guzzler’s Energy Challenge, where the aim of the game was to collect as many energy points as possible – and avoid the dreaded Sin Bin! Each of the classes had a great morning of learning and fun.

Podcast: “The Story of Tojo”

2nd Class has been busy creating and recording their very first podcast recently. It is all about the visit of a spider monkey named Tojo to Clonakilty nearly 80 years ago.

The podcast was recorded in Knockskeagh and produced by all the 2nd class pupils. They had great fun making it and bringing the story to life.

All of 2nd class would love to hear from you if you enjoyed listening to their podcast. You can make contact on the ‘Contact Us’ section of our website, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page.

Well done to all 2nd Class on a wonderful production.

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We marked ‘Science Week’ from Monday 8th to Friday 12th November last week.  

There was a variety of science activities investigated and explored in each class this year including; a range of science experiments, bug hunts, science shows, our virtual Science Showcase, and much more. 

Create Our Future 

The whole school took part in a Create Our Future Design Competition. The pupils in each class were tasked to design something that they feel will aid future research in schools or homes. There were some very creative designs in each class and winners were awarded small prizes. All participants were presented with Science Week certificates too. Well done to all who took part. 

The gallery below displays a snapshot of some of the other Science activities in the classes during Science Week 2021.

Science Activities around the school

Junior Infants, 1st Class, and 2nd Class explored our garden habitat for bugs and minibeasts. 

2nd Class investigated the bond between milk and washing up liquid during the rainbow colours experiment. Also, they explored electricity and investigated the paper towel colour mixing experiment.   

3rd Class made their own “magical potion” creating a chemical reaction using the following ingredients vinegar, baking soda, washing up liquid, and food colouring. It was certainly a messy one but great fun!! 

5th Class explored the butter-making process and it turned out really tasty too !!  

6th Class Mad Scientist Showcase

6th Class completed a Virtual Mad Scientist Showcase through using Zoom this year for all the classes to view.

It was an amazing show and the class did a great job explaining each experiment. The groups made elephant toothpaste and oblek, created a volcano explosion, made their own rain cloud, showcased the skittles experiment, created an explosion between coca-cola and mentos, and much more.

Well done everybody, it was certainly a Science Week to remember !!

We marked ‘Maths Week’ this week, from Monday  18th October to Friday 22nd October.  

We have had a very busy week in Knockskeagh doing lots of different maths activities!

We had maths games in the school hall on Monday, a ‘Maths Eyes’ trail finding 2D and 3D shapes all around the school on Tuesday and an orienteering maths code-breaker challenge on Thursday!

There were Maths art, quizzes, and other activities in some of the classes as well. 

It really was great fun discovering maths all around our school during the week!!

We celebrated ‘Space Week’ from Monday  4th of October to Friday 8th of October last week. 

This year, we introduced the “Space Booklet” for all pupils in our school. The Space booklet was packed full of space facts, information, puzzles, colouring sheets, and much more. During the week, the pupils worked on their booklets which led to some fascinating discussions about Space. 

As well as this there were many Space Week themed activities in all classes during ‘Space Week’ this year including; space engineering projects, art, poetry, experiments, space facts, and much more. 

Please see a snapshot of some of the Space activities in the classes during Space Week 2021.

 More Space Week photos to follow soon……..

We have just received the great news that our school has been awarded its ninth ‘Award of Science and Maths Excellence’ for the school year 2020/21.

We are extremely proud of this award, as it once again demonstrates the work done in Science & Maths throughout the school.

This is some of the feedback that we received for this year’s award,

“Excellent work Knockskeagh NS. You are deserving recipients of the DPSM Plaque Award for your STEM work this year. You engaged with a very wide range of activities as illustrated comprehensively in your submission.

I really liked that you also documented your STEM activities on your Web Site thus sharing with the community outside the school – an excellent showcase opportunity.

Your video presentations for the Sciene showcase must have been watched by many.

You did trojan work, 4th class establishing a school garden and a pond – I’m sure the wildlife in Knockskeagh will be delighted with you.

Well done on getting local engineers on board with your STEM activities too, I’m sure the engineer was pleasantly surprised with “Lorky Bridge” construction and its weight-bearing potential during the Bridge Building event.

You should also be very proud of your Environmental awareness project “Lights Out”.

Keep up the good work”

Congratulations to all staff and pupils who participated in the programme especially second class teacher Mr Denis Murphy who compiled our submission.

Please check out our dedicated Discover Primary Science and Maths page on the Awards section of our website for more information on our submission.