Mrs. Conneely’s 1st, 2nd & 3rd Class represented the school at FIRST LEGO League Explore 2024 today in the Clayton Hotel in Galway.
The students had a wonderful day and were very excited to display the projects and robotic inventions they worked on this year under the Masterpiece theme.
The event was organised by Galway Education Support Centre with Director Liam Mitchell as Master of Ceremonies. Medtronic sponsored the event and our students were delighted to win super LEGO prizes for their robot dancing on the day! Thanks to LearnIT who trained the teachers this year.
A special thanks to Mrs. Conneely who led the project in Clontuskert and Mrs. Dolan, Mrs. Feehily and Ms. Sanchez who helped the class in their preparations.
Congratulations to Mr. Gohery’s Class who presented their robotics work on FLL Explore Cargo Connect today at a Virtual Expo with Galway Education Support Centre. It was wonderful to see all of their ideas and creativity being presented to a county-wide audience. Comhghairdeas libh go léir!
From the 2nd to the 7th of February we hosted the French Primary Inspectorate and Professional Development Service from Nantes. (Départementale Education Prioritaire- IEN Circonscription 1er degré- Departmental Priority Education – IEN Constituency 1st degree)
They visited Clontuskert to observe teaching practices particularly in the field of mathematics.
During their visit, we had the opportunity to
-exchange and discuss math teaching practices in Ireland and France
-give new insights into different teaching methodologies and approaches we use in Clontuskert
-pick up good practices especially in the subject of mathematics
They especially focused on teaching problem solving, numerical systems and mental arithmetic.
On Monday our French visitors were hosted by Dr. Deirdre Butler in St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra and Mrs. Murray led a lesson on robotics and showed how this field seamlessly integrates with real-world math.
On Tuesday the inspectors and trainers were guests of Richard Ryan, Microsoft DreamSpace Lead in DreamSpace at One Microsoft Place. There they explored hands-on mathematics and problem solving with a STEAM approach to Hacking STEM. They learned how to code using Microbits and were shown how this relates to the field of math and can be incorporated in a primary classroom.
On Wednesday they visited Clontuskert school and were extremely impressed with our differentiated approach to the teaching of mathematics and especially how formative assessment is built into our everyday classes and used for and as learning. We showcased our Team Teaching approach to various strands in the mathematics curriculum and showcased our work in robotics and how that feeds into math problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking.
Congratulations to our four teams from 5th and 6th class who were award winners at the first ever World Robotics Olympiad to happen in Ireland!
The teachers in Clontuskert were all delighted with their work over the past two months as they became independent, self-directed learners organising their workflow on OneNote, setting their own tasks and ensuring that they were ready and prepped for Saturday’s event. Their construction and coding skills were enhanced through robotics and they expanded their confidence through presentation of their work on the day.
The WRO was organised by Camden Education Trust and sponsored by SAP. The students and parents had a wonderful day and were extremely proud to see the students display their work. Comhghairdeas gach éinne!
Today we celebrated Microsoft Showcase School status in Clontuskert. We originally achieved this status in 2015. To date, we are the only primary school in the Republic of Ireland to have achieved this award.
The day began with a visit from Adam and Jamie with the Wriggle Roadcaster. Every student from Junior Infants to 6th Class participated in Minecraft for Education and Sphero coding classes.
At 1.00pm in the school hall, 3rd and 4th class presented the schools’ work as a Microsoft Showcase School speaking about OneNote, Flipgrid, Skype in the Classroom and LEGO Robotics.
Guests of Honour included Richard Ryan of Microsoft, Ireland, Dr. Deirdre Butler of St. Patrick’s College, DCU, Kathleen O’ Connor; retired Principal of Ballyadams NS, Co, Laois, Aengus Byrne of Birr Community Secondary School, Fr. Michael Finneran; Chairperson Board of Management, Stephen Scannell and Elaine Bleahen as outgoing officers of the Parents’ Association and Joe Roberts of Teleflex from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Today the children from 1st and 2nd Class had a great day at the FIRST LEGO Junior 2019 ‘Mission Moon’ in the Salthill Hotel in Galway. They worked very eagerly in the build up to this day on models, designs, Core Values and research.
Congratulations to all pupils. We are very proud of you all. A special thanks to Chad Baldi from NASA for Skyping us and answering our endless questions! We hope to skype him again next term to give feedback on our project and learn more about the Mars Rover that he is working on.
Thank you to our senior students for sharing their engineering skills and knowledge and especially to Clontuskert’s dedicated staff for supporting our students in their work.
During the FLL Junior Expo, two students from the school spoke on behalf of the team to Paul Sneem who MC’d the event. They were filmed and their interview was shown live on screens around the event for everyone to see.
Thanks to everyone at Galway Education Centre for organising and supporting this amazing event.
Connacht Tribune 27th January 2017
Built for Success- Clontuskert win Best Presentation Award at All Ireland FIRST LEGO League Robotics Competition 2017
Today, some of our students were invited to Garbally College for the launch of the Galway, Science & Technology Festival 2016. We got to see how important Science & Technology are in the world today and to see how science & technology in the classroom can lead to great things in the future. We watched the Science show which was great fun and we learned lots, we can’t wait to try out some of the experiments on our friends. The 2nd, 3rd and 6th class represented our school brilliantly by exhibiting their Junior First Lego League projects.
Thank you to all involved!
Science Week takes place from 13-20 November 2016<a href="http://clontuskert.scoilnet.ie/blog/2016/10/18/students-and-writers-of-the-week-2/win_20161014_094807/"
Science & Technology Exhibition NUI Galway-Sunday November 27th 10am – 6pm. www.galwayscience.ie
