Science Week: Portumna Forest Park & Workhouse Visit

Our school travelled to Portumna Forest Park and Portumna Workhouse on Tuesday, 26th of November because students and teachers were learning about biodiversity as part of the Green School programme and Science Week! The school is also involved in the Junior Ranger pilot programme.

Special thanks must be givien to Ann Bingham; Park Ranger and two other park rangers; Niall and Eamon who guided us on our nature walk through Portumna Forest.

During our walk we came across four different habitats; Forest (Woodland), Bog (Fen), Pond and Grassland. In each habitat we saw flora and fauna that live in that environment.

The weather might not have been great but spiritis were high and all pupils took some valuable lessons home with them.

For more info on Portumna Forest Park please visit:https://www.coillte.ie/site/portumna-forest-park/

After our visit to the park, we visited Portumna Workhouse where, once again, we were given a guided tour of this 19th century building full of the history of the Great Irish Famine.

We learnt of it's origin and many stories about the poor unfortunate people that spent time there during the famine and even post famine!

Many thanks to our guides in the Workhouse today for showing us around and explaining our past.

For more information on Portumna Workhouse please visit: http://irishworkhousecentre.ie/

 

The Restaurant

This month we have been exploring the theme of 'The Restaurant' in Aistear. We set up our own restaurant where we played the roles of waiters, chefs and customers.

We made some delicious looking food at our Play Dough Station...

...And got creative making our own menus

In 'Small World' we made our own restaurants. Everyone worked really hard and we made great use of our imaginations. We had car parks, play areas and outdoor seating areas for customers. Some of us even made our own B&B so that our customers could stay the night!