A School where Learning comes Alive
Eighteen students and twelve teachers from all of our Comenius partner schools in France, Spain and England came to visit Clontuskert, Ireland in May 2015. The schools involved were CRA La Serrania, Spain, École Edmond Bocquier, France, The Oaks Secondary, UK and Dryden School, UK.
This film gives an overview of their stay here:
Learn more about about the project on our group blog www.stage.scoilnet.ie
Dia dhaoibh a gcairde go léir,
Inniu an lá deireanach i Valencia. We will be very sad to leave all of our new friends this evening and move on to Barcelona.
We had a lovely breakfast in the Expo hotel this morning.
We met all of the Spanish and French this morning and went for a walk in the old town of Valencia. They showed us all of the sights.
We went to watch the Water Court of Valencia. At the Door of the Apostles of Valencia Cathedral, which faces out into the Plaza de la Virgen, the Water Court of the Plan of Valencia meets every Thursday just as the bells toll the twelve strokes of noon.
The Court is made up of eight workers, who wear a black ‘Heurta’ shirt. They are elected democratically every two years by the other water users of the Heurta. The eight men are the deputies of the eight canals in the plan of Valenica. If someone breaks one of there les of the canals they are brought before the court the next Thursday. They also arbitrate in disputes regarding the water. The decisions of the court are absolute and there is no right of appeal.
We were lucky enough to meet two of the judges and get our photo taken with them.
We also met some of the Fallas Mayor. Check out their beautiful dresses. Laura, the coordinator from CRA la Serrania is a Fallas Mayor this year.
We visited the famous market in the centre of town. Here they sell fresh food. We had some amazing fresh smoothies!
Next we walked up 200 steps to see the view from the bell tower at the top of the Cathedral.
Afterwards we went to the city square where the Masclèta takes place! AMAZING! What a noise! We will post a video next week and you will see exactly what it is like!
After the Mascléta we went for dinner. We are traditional Spanish food including paella and Arroz negro (black rice) made with squid ink. Everyone was very adventurous and tried lots of new things like squid and snails!
We are now on our way to Barcelona on the train. We will stay near the airport tonight as we fly early in the morning. Can you tell us some of the things you have been up to in Clontuskert this week?
We are looking forward to seeing you all again next week!
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Larry agus an foireann Comenius.
Bhuel, conas atá sibh go léir inniu? Larry anseo arís!
Bhíomar suas go moch ar maidin arís. We packed our bags and got ready for a hike to Aqueducto Romana de Pena Cortada.
Some of us stayed at Calles school and had a tour of Calles with Susanna from the town hall.
Susanna showed us around the two churches and explained about the Virgen de Los Desamparados. Can you find out more information about this Saint for us?
In May they have a special festival and the people of the town paint the roads with special designs. Check out the flamingo dancer here.
We loved this fountain with the frogs!
We also visited the village park where I did some great exercising on their exercise machines.
We visited the classes in Calles school and met the junior class and their teacher Marisa.
The rest of our group went on a hike to the Pena Cortada. It was a long hike and we are getting great exercise here. Can you find out the history of the Aquaducts at Pena Cortada and let us know what you have found out?
Next we visited Losa del Ospibo. We had lunch and then went to the handball alley where the professional team from the region showed us how to play handball. The handball is very similar to the game we play in Ireland. However the adults use a different ball to the GAA Handball. The ball they use is smaller and is made from leather. When they are playing international matches they play with the same ball as we use. Check out the photos of us playing.
Lotsa del Ospibo School:
Now we are travelling to Valencia city where we will stay tonight. Tomorrow we will experience the Mascléta as part of the Fallas festival. Can you find out about Mascléta for us?
Check out Valencia’s soccer stadium here:
Congratulations to everyone on the Spikeball team who qualified for the All Ireland yesterday! Well done! We are delighted that you did so well! Gooooo Clontuskert!!!!!
We got some presents of oranges today from the Mayor of Lisa, we are looking forward to finding room in our bags to get them back to Ireland!
Dia dhaoibh go léir!
Larry agus an foireann go léir anseo!
Today was our first day in Chulilla and Sot de Chera.
Check out our breakfast this morning.
In the morning we travelled to Sot de Chera school.
They have just 9 students in Sot de Chera school.
We performed some Irish songs, dancing and played tin whistle for the students.
In Sot de Cheraw school they have oranges growing in their yard. They are the nicest oranges we have ever tasted. Caitríona from Green Schools is right. Food tastes so much better when it doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles.
With the senior students we went to visit Sot de Chera Adventure Centre.
There we got to walk across a balance bridge and then we zips-wired across the trees! Woohoo!
Next we made some fossil art with Monica the instructor.
Then we had an archery competition. We learned how to hold the bow and arrow correctly. Can you find out the Spanish words for bow and arrow for us?
Afterwards we travelled back by bus to Chulilla where we had lunch in the school lunch room. There are 13 students in Chulilla.
They brought us on an amazing walk to the suspension bridges at Los Calderones. Check out some of these amazing photographs. Can you find out some information about these bridges? When were they built and why?
This evening we have tapas for dinner and we will explore the village here in Chulilla. Tomorrow we visit Calles school and Losa del Obispo school. The four small schools are in what’s called a federation. This means that the schools have one Principal and Board of Management and they all work together.
Can you find out more about school federations in European countries for us?
Go dtí an chéad lá eile!
Larry agus an foireann COMENIUS.
Dia dhaoibh a gcairde,
Larry anseo!
D’éiríomar go moch ar maidin agus chuamar go dtí an aerphort.
We were up at 03.45 this morning and now we are boarded on our Ryanair flight to Barcelona. Can you work out how long it will take us to get there?
Will there be a time difference?
Feicfimid sibh níos déanaí!
Larry, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Graßmann agus na leanaí go léir!
Dia dhaoibh go léir!
Larry, do chara buan anseo. Bhuel, táimid ag imeacht inniu go Baile Átha Cliath.
We are off on another Comenius adventure. This time we are going to visit our partner schools in Valencia.
Today we got the bus to Dublin from Ballinasloe as we fly at 6.20am in the morning. We are flying to Barcelona and from there will make our way to Valencia. Can you work out for us some options for going from Barcelona to Valenica?
Check us out in Ballinasloe! Slán a gcairde go léir!
Dia dhaoibh a gcairde,
Bheul, go raibh míle as ucht na trácht inné. Inniu táim ag an Excel do BETT Technology Conference. Can you work out how I got here from Liverpool Street station?
Thank you for your help yesterday with getting from Cardinal place (Microsoft HQ) back to Liverpool Street.
This was my view on my walk to the station this morning. Do you know what this building is called? Can you find out any information about the building? Who designed it? When was it built? What do you think of its shape?
At BETT Sir Bob Geldof was the opening keynote speaker. He spoke of the power of education to transform lives and how important it is to ensure that girls across the world are educated.
Next the English Secretary of State for Education, the RT Honourable Nicky Morgan, MP spoke.
Nicky Morgan grew up in Surrey. She has been MP for Loughborough since 2010 and lives there with her husband, Jonathan, an architect and Loughborough councillor. They have one son, Alex, who is six.
She studied law at Oxford University before becoming a solicitor, specialising in Corporate Law. Before replacing Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Education and becoming Minister for Women and Equalities, she previously served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Women (2014), Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2013 – 14), an Assistant Government Whip (2012 – 13) and the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to David Willetts, Cabinet Minister for Universities and Science (2010 – 12). (Info from the BETT app)
Next I went straight to the LEGO stand. They have some exciting news for this year. There is a beta app of the EV3 software in production at the moment and it will be released to the general public in April. Check it out here.
They also have a new Maths product for the younger student called MoretoMath. Mrs. Murray tried out the software and it looks great. There are brilliant lesson plans for teachers with lots of fun problem solving opportunities. We met Matt Parkes while we were there and he gave Mrs. Murray some presents to bring back to you the students in Clontuskert.
Next we went to visit the Microsoft stand. While there we met Barry Corrigan who is the Microsoft Expert Educator Fellow for Northern Ireland. He is doing amazing work in his school, Millennium Integrated Primary. Read all about it here: www.milleniumips.org
At the Microsoft stand we saw Julia Kenyon; BBC Earth marketing director for the new film Enchanted Kingdom. This film will be out in the cinemas soon. It is narrated by Idris Elba and is a 3D film of the amazing naturescapes of Africa. The crew broke many boundaries of film and in fact are the
first ever to do 3D filming under water. A primary school in England called Broadclyst were involved in developing project based learning resources to go with the film. These are available for free to download on the Windows App Store. We will have to check that out when we get home.
Amazingly you can also book a Skype call with the directors from the film at
Education.skype.com
Scan this QR code to find out more.
What do you think of the Minecraft set at the Microsoft stand? Amazing!
We saw this cool new tech that works with any projector to make ANY surface interactive. The product is called Bird. They are hoping to be in mass production soon. How we would love to try it out!
We also saw these cool balls called SPRK. You can program them to move or use a remote control with them. Can you imagine the fun in class with them?!
Next we heard Anthony Saltico at the BETT arena. As vice president of education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector organization, Anthony Salcito works with education institutions and partners globally to embrace technology to optimize learning environments and student achievement.
Salcito is the author of several education focused blogs, including Daily Edventures (http://dailyedventures.com/) which highlights the inspiring stories of many education thought leaders, school leaders and educators from around the world. The blog has been recognized with several education industry awards, including ‘2013 Dean’s List: 50 Must Read Higher Education Technology Blogs’ and ‘TEACH 100’. Salcito is also the author of the Education Insights blog acknowledging technology in Education and Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to learning. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoftuseducation/.
Mrs. Murray is wondering if it would be a good idea to get this in Clontuskert? It’s a bike that powers the photocopier when it is cycled! What do you think?
We will finish our post with some pictures from outside the BETT arena:
Mrs. Murray loved meeting her old friends, Tom Jackson, Kirsten Panton, Kevin Marshall, Steven Duggan and hearing Kirsten Wetherby yesterday. She also enjoyed meeting Microsoft Expert Educator, Gareth Shaw and Microsoft Expert Educator Fellpw, Barry Corrigan. She looks forward to lots more adventures in education in the future!
Mrs. Murray and I are in Stansted now waiting for our flight. Can you work out what flight we are getting? Is there more than one option to get home to Galway?
We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
Le gach dea ghuí,
Larry agus Mrs. Murray.
Dia dhaoibh go léir,
Larry an Leipreacháin anseo. Inniu táim anseo i Londain don Microsoft Western Europe Expert Educator le Bean Uí Mhuirí. Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh go léir i gCluain Tuaiscirt ar fheabhas. Conas ar éirigh sibh leis an snámh ar maidin?
So, Mrs. Murray and I are based at Cardinal Place today at Microsoft HQ. We came from Liverpool Street this morning. Could you work out two routes for me to get back to Liverpool Street today. You can choose the underground or a walking route for me? I might be able to walk looking at the weather forecast in London today. Check it out here.
Could you find out the forecast for me for tomorrow please? Am I better walking or taking the underground tomorrow?
We have been learning a huge amount here at Microsoft HQ today from various world experts. This is the agenda for the day.
For the Speedgeeking session Mrs. Murray will be speaking about using the Chekhov Story Author App in the classroom. She will showcase the Story created by 4th class yesterday as Gaeilge! Clontuskert is using Chekhov to improve Irish literacy standards and fluency in the classroom. We are looking forward to developing its use across the classroom in the future. Well done!
Go dtí amárach,
Don’t forget to leave some comments below!
Larry an Leipreacháin agus Mrs.
Murray.
Learn about how we create our School Newspaper above. This film was made by Microsoft Partners in Learning.
Clontuskert Tribune newspaper is researched, written and edited by the students themselves.
Click on the links below to read each edition.
Please note student nicknames are used as per our school’s Internet Acceptable Use Policy.
September 2014:
Clontuskert Tribune September 2014
Today the first Board of Management meeting took place in the school. Please see below for the Annual Report to the Board outlining activities that happened in Clontuskert over the past school year.
St. Augustine’s N.S. Clontuskert staff and students would like to thank the community for their help and support this year. 2013-2014 was a wonderful year for the school. Some of the events that took place in the school over the year include:
Parish Links:
• Various masses in school including Welcome Mass in September and 6th class Graduation
• Visit from Bishop John Kirby in December
• Catholic Schools’ Week in February
• Grandparents’ Day during Catholic Schools’ Week
• First Holy Communion in May
Parents’ Association:
• Annual Fun Run
• Anti Cyber Bullying Workshop with Brendan Smith (DERI Galway)
• Spring Clean in school for National Spring Clean
• Open Day in school for new students
• Subsidised school buses to various events
• Money raised from Fun Run to aid implementation of new literacy programme; Jolly Phonics and future painting of the school
School Activities:
• European Day of Languages with German teacher Ms. Janna Maerz
• German language classes for all students
• FIRST LEGO League Robotics Programme (11-16 year olds) Competition in Radisson, Galway.
• Junior FIRST LEGO League Robotics Programme (6-9 year olds) Presentation in Radisson, Galway.
• Student vegetable garden
• Built a willow outdoor classroom with Kay Synott (Heritage in Schools)
• Comenius Project with schools in France, Spain and England
• Four students travelled to partner school in France; St. Gilles Croix de Villes, with Mrs. Murray and Ms. Byrne, for a week as part of Comenius Project SHAPE (www.stage.scoilnet.ie ) Next year four students travel to Spain.
• Presented project on flooding at Galway Science and Technology Festival in NUIG.
• Created film for Reel Life Science.
• Took part in Mathletes online competition. 5th class student represented school at Connacht Finals.
• Health Promotion Committee with Ms. Colette Baynes.
• Healthy Breakfast in School organised by 5th and 6th class.
• Three 1st and 2nd class students represented school at ExcitED Digitial Learning Festival in Dublin Castle where they presented Junior Robotics work. Invited on stage with Head of Education Europe, Dr. Rene Lydiksen.
• CraftED Art Programme run in school by Ms. Eimíl Scott.
• Christmas Concert in school.
• Attended Music in the Classroom with RTE Orchestra in Salthill.
• Online ePals with Lannoye Elementary School in Wisconsin, US.
Workshops and Visitors to the school:
• Coding classes with Mattie Kelly
• Filmed by Microsoft Partners in Learning for podcasting, filmmaking, newspaper editing and blogging. Work shared on Microsoft site.
• Dr. Anne Dolan (Mary Immaculate College) visited to learn about our work in Geography
• Events in school for Maths’ Week, Engineers’ Week, EU Robotics Week, EU Code Week and Science Week.
• Science Workshops with Jane Shimizu for Galway Science Festival
• Canine Buddies Dog Handling workshop with Carmel Marzouk and Councillor Dermot Connolly
• Ballinasloe Fire fighters, Joe and Jamie Ward ran Fire Safety course in school
• Tony Ward, Frank Ward, Nicola Kelly and Aoife Dolan visited with Senior and Intermediate All Ireland Camogie Cups
• 6th Class Transition Programme with Helen Butler (HSE)
Sports:
• All Ireland Silver Medallists Spikeball (Primary school volleyball)
• Handball training with Peter Mulryan
• Hurling training with Kevin Molloy and Ray Duane
• Swimming in Kingfisher Ballinasloe
• Soccer
• Gaelic Football
• Rounders
• Community Sports Day
• Sean Nós Dancing
• Ceilí in school
Awards:
• Digital School of Distinction. First school in East Galway
• Third Green Flag (Water Conservation)
• Eighth Discover Primary Science and Mathematics Excellence Award
• Clontuskert Tribune Online Newspaper shortlisted for Eircom Junior Spiders Award. Fourth year school shortlisted. (Won in 2013) School invited to Google HQ, Dublin
• Three students awarded Write a Book Awards
Find out more on www.clontuskert.scoilnet.ie and follow on Twitter @clontuskertns