Term 3 was lighter and brighter with some nice sunshine to brighten our days and also a nice mid-term break in June. The girls were, as always, busy with different activities and projects throughout the term and I enjoyed seeing them bloom.

In History we were learning about the Middle ages/Medieval times in Waterford, in the towns and countryside and further afield in Europe. In small groups, the girls worked together to present an area of Medieval times – the types of houses; the manor layout; the tools and equipment used.

We had 6 weeks of fantastic gymnastics for P.E. with Kenny. The girls learned loads and also learned confidence in this area, as did I!

We compared Waterford city with our capital city, Dublin, for our Geography class. Using images from both of these areas, the girls had to compare how these two cities were similar and different on a worksheet. This included housing, landmarks, shops and workplaces.

During Friendship week, the girls participated in lots of healthy, friendly and fun activities such as meditation, mindful colouring, sharing bracelets, showing kindness and tasting some healthy and tasty treats provided by 6th class. At the end of the week, the girls dressed in bright colours to celebrate friendship Friday.

The girls did some investigating of our outdoor environment for Science and discovered some plants, animals and evidence of animals around our school environment. Outdoor activities are always the most enjoyable and the girls are always amazed at what is around us but sometimes we forget to stop and look.

We did some team building exercises in SPHE where I set them a challenge to use anything available to create a structure. We had Eiffel towers and a tunnel game. Pretty creative and imaginative and they all completed it, as a team.

In Geography, we have been learning a lot of the natural and man-made features of our environment. We took a look at the coast and the different coastal areas here in Waterford, Ireland and around the world. One common item that the children noticed at all of these locations was ‘rubbish’. We discussed the effects this has on our environment and living things. Using recyclable materials, the girls were asked to create a coastal box in 30 minutes. What they created was really impressive – there were mountains, cliffs, seas, beaches, yachts, rocks, trawlers and more.

Another group exercise was our History games. Over a number of weeks we have been learning about games from the past and present. We interviewed parents and grandparents and we have revived old games as new games in the playground. The girls taught games to each other from other countries and displayed and presented these in class – Mancala from Kenya , Kabbadi from India, Kendama from Japan and Loteria from Mexico.

We worked as scientists in our Science class and grouped living things into different categories. The girls decided what the categories would be i.e. plants with petals/plants with no petals; common everyday plants/uncommon plants; animals that swim/don’t swim etc. We also went on an outdoor habitat search to see what living things, or evidence of these, there are on our school grounds.

We went on our History trail around Ferrybank discovering places, people and jobs in our community. We learned to follow maps, find names of roads and discover distances to other places. We could see how our community has changed and is continually changing and recorded all this information in our ‘Footsteps around Ferrybank’ trail booklet. Why not ask the children some of the interesting things discovered!

In Geography we explored our school grounds and green areas investigating plants, animals, insects and soil. We learned the names of some new plants and animals – Common Mallow, wild poppy, Cat’s ear, Self-heal. We used our natural surroundings and took a breather to see what sounds we could hear as we lay still.

We had a super time on our school tour and I hope the girls shared their homemade chocolate with you??!! After the chocolate making workshop the girls had a play and boarded the train through the woods where they saw a herd of deer and even got to feed the geese. Following this, we had lunch and another play in an even bigger playground. At the end of the day, the girls did some orienteering through the maze of Ireland. Thankfully we didn’t lose anyone!! The girls arrived home tired but satisfied after a fun day out.

We also had a fantastic Sports’ Day and cake sale in the super sunshine. And the ice-creams were a welcome treat too.

In Art the girls did a tie-dye t-shirt and designed it with fabric markers. They turned out really bright and the girls will have this as a memory of 3rd class and can wear it with pride. Well done fashion designers!

Also in Art, the girls started and finished their wall hanging project where they included a foreground, middle ground and background sea theme. When the backdrop was complete, they then cut, pinned, sewed and stuffed some sea creatures to apply to the backing. The end result was really impressive and certainly a level up from last year’s. Well done girls!

It’s been a really fantastic year in 3rd class, full of happy memories. The girls will continue making more memories in 4th class and I wish them all the best over the summer. Enjoy the summer break and thanks for making my job so enjoyable each and every day. Mrs. Power