Ransboro National School, Sligo

On Tuesday we went to Krazy Kids in Athlone on our schhol tour. There was a pitch black slide and an orange twirly slide and there was a yellow bumpy slide. There was a footaball pitch and a couple of stairs and there was a ball pit. All of them were great fun. Then we had chicken nuggets, sausages and chips. We were full after that. Then we had another play and then we went to Glendeer farm.

By Rebecca and Katelyn (Rang I)

Rhubarb growing in our organic garden

A couple of Fridays ago we did cooking with rhubarb in the kitchen in school. We made rhubarb crumble, rhubarb fool and rhubarb and strawberry fool. We made them because we are in charge of the rhubarb in the school organic garden. Here are the ingredients we used to make rhubarb crumble:

700g rhubarb

35-50g sugar

110g white flour

50g butter

50g castor sugar

This is how to make it: stew the rhubarb gently with the sugar in a stainless stainless saucepan until half cooked. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. Turn it into a pie dish. Allow to cool slightly while you make the crumble. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. To make the crumble: Rub the butter into the flour just until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar. Sprinkle the crumble over the rhubarb in the pie dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the topping is cooked and golden. Serve with whipped cream. It really tasted lovely.

This is how to make rhubarb Fool: the ingredients are

450g red rhubarb cut into chunks

175-225g sugar

2 tablespoons water

300ml whipped cream

Put the rhubarb into a stainless steel saucepan with the sugar and water. Stir, cover and bring to the boil and simmer until soft, which takes about 20 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon until the rhubarb dissolves into a mush. Allow to get quite cold. Fold in the softly whipped cream to taste. We had a great time cooking the rhubarb fool and rhubarb crumble.

By Joshua and Maeve

The Guards came to our school and they talked to us about what they do. We asked them questions about their work. They let us see their handcuffs. They had special uniforms. We went outside to see their van. We saw the place in the van where they keep the robbers. They put the siren on and we were allowed to sit down in the van. It was great fun.

By Lynne and Ellen P

On Monday May May 29th we had an ice-cream party in our classroom in school. Mr. Quinn bought some wafers for the class. He put the ice-cream in the middle of the two wafers. We had a piece of cake from our First Communion with the ice-cream. We watched a DVD called Alvin and the Chipmonks in our class. It was a great DVD and we loved the ice-cream and the cake. During the week we brought in some of our First Communion money for the Down Syndrome charity. We raised €354 and everybody was delighted with how much we raised. Everybody enjoyed the day. It was great.

By Amy

The 1st of June 2010 was a Monday and that is when we do PE. We did relay races using batons and egg and spoon races using wooden eggs and wooden spoons. Mr. Quinn split us into teams. Then we put cones in lines for the relay races. Mr. Quinn said “On your marks, get set, go!” Then we started the races. We had three races. They were all brilliant fun. Then when the baton races were over we started the egg and spoon races in the same teams.  Mr. Quinn said “On your marks, get set, go!” We had to go to the first cone and back. It was great fun.

By Lola and Eilis

A few weeks ago we focussed on electricity. We worked in groups. We started by getting some wires, batteries, a bulb and crocodile clips. Then we made a circuit, starting with the battery and attaching the crocodile clips to the battery and the wires to see if we could bet the bulb to light. All groups were able to get a bulb working once. It was great fun doing this experiment. We also did some rules about being safe with electricity.

By Jack Mo and Leah

We did work in class on history timelines. Mr Quinn brought in old and new cameras. We worked out which one was the oldest and which one was the newest. He also brought in old records and CD’s. We had to work out which was the oldest and which was the newest. It was fun doing this type of history.

By Sarah and Caoimhe O

On the 22nd May Rang II made their First Holy Communion. We had to be at the church at 10.40am. When the mass started we all had to walk up to our places. We were all excited. When we were all finished our prayers we went up for communion with our families. After mass we went to the school to have a party. We had to put on aprons just in case we got our clothes dirty. We sat down at the table and got sweets.When we were finished our sweets we cut the communion cake with Mr. Quinn. It was a brilliant day. On Monday in school we had Ice-Cream Day for Down Syndrome Ireland.

By Jim and Fiona

On Tuesday 1st June 3rd, 4th & 5th classes went on their school tour to Dublin Zoo.

We left on the 7am train. We had two carriages reserved just for us! The train journey took 3 hours.  It was very noisey!

When we arrived in Dublin we got a double-decker bus to the zoo. Some people had to get taxis.

When we arrived at Dublin Zoo we got into our groups.  Then we went to the City Farm. Some of us milked a fake cow. When we squeezed the udders water came out! There was a wishing chair.  The lambs licked some people. We saw a pig that looked like Babe!! When we were leaving the City Farm we saw Squirrel Monkeys.

Next we went to the Reptile House. We saw a Chameleon, a tarantula, a python, turtles and crocodiles.

The Meerkat Restaurant was our next stop. We had a lovely hot lunch. We saw Meerksta outside the window.  Meerkat means ‘lake cat’ as they often live near water.

We were lucky to be in time for the Sea Lion Feeding time.  Danny was a big sea lion who was blind in one eye. There were 3 smaller sea lions as well.  We saw them doing exercises. They were all able to close their doors themselves as well!

We also saw the penguins being fed. Penguins can swim at speeds of 40kmph.  They shed their feathers every year.

We then went to visit the African Plains. We saw giraffes, ostriches, hippos, rhinos, zebras and oryx. Oryx can live without drinking water for months! We had great fun in the playground.

We went on the elephant trail then to see the asian elephants. The elephants we inside eating. There was a baby elephant putting his trunk into a hole in the wall.

When we went to the gorilla’s enclosure there was a baby gorilla and a big gorilla fighting. The big gorilla was banging on his chest. There was not a lot of glass to see in because gorillas like their privacy.

We saw Bornean orang-utans, Sumatran tigers, South American Rainbow Parakeets, an artic fox and a snowy owl from Greenland. There are only 300 Sumatran tigers left in the world.

Before we left the zoo we spent our money in the gift shop. We bought teddy-bears, slinkys, key chains, dream catchers, snow globes and lots more!

We saw the Spire on O’Connell Street from the bus.

We had great fun on the train on the way home. It was a great day!

Spellings Rang I

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Spellings Rang II

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Tables Rang I

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Tables Rang II

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