Ransboro National School, Sligo

We made clowns out of card. We had to colour them. Then we had to neatly cut them out . We also had to get two of the same coins and stick them onto the hands of the clown. Then we tried to balance the clown by the nose on our finger. We also tried balancing it on the rim of a teacup. We even tried balancing it on our nose. The way it works is that gravity is pulling it down and the lower towards the ground you put it, the easier it is to balance because the gravity is pulling it down. We enjoyed doing this experiment very much.

By Sophie Leigh and Caoimhe B

We used the 10,000 Science Facts app on our iPod Touches to find out interesting facts for Science Week. Here are some of the things that we found out:

• A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber
• Singapore means “City of Lions”
• A 1,200 pound horse eats about seven times its own weight each year
• A banana tree isn’t really a tree. It’s a herb.
• One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet
• Four million children die each year from inhaling smoke from indoor cooking fires that burn wood and dung
• Egyptians invented the potter’s wheel, the scissors, toothpaste, the key the clock, metal pipes and the calendar
• 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second
• By the year 2012 there will be approximately 17 billion devices connected to the internet
• A dragonfly can fly at 25mph
• If a T-Rex tripped while running the fall could probably kill it
• Blood is such a good stain that native Americans used it for paint
• A baby echidna is called a puggle and is smaller than a jellybean
• A raisin dropped into a glass full of fresh champagne will bounce continuously up and down non-stop
• Archaeopteryx was a small creature with feathers that could fly and shows that birds are descended from dinosaurs
• Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb and he was scared of the dark
• Americans eat more bananas than any other fruit, a total of 11 billion a year
• 107,000 is the number of gallons of water an average residence uses every year
• A snake can eat a deer in one bite and survive a year without eating
• Christopher Columbus introduced pineapples to Europe
• 15 million gallons of wine were destroyed during an earthquake in San Francisco in 1904
• A baby rabbit is called a kitten
• A baby oyster is called a spat
• A queen bee may lay as many as 3,000 eggs in a single day
• 10% of all human beings ever born are alive at this moment
• A litre of vinegar is heavier in winter than in summer

Picture by Ciara L.

Our class listened to the story of the salmon of knowledge.Heres what it was about.Fionn Mac Cumhail was only a young boy when his father was killed in battle. His mother sent him to be reared by 2 wise women who lived in the woods in the Slieve  Bloom Mountains in county Laois. The wise women taught him how to hunt wild animals in the forest.They also taught him to protect himself with a shield and how to use a spear and sword.They taught him most of the things he needed to know in order to become leader of the  fianna. Fionn grew strong and brave and he was good at many sports. He could run quicker than a hare. He could strike a wild duck with a stone from a sling. However he also needed to know twelve books of poetry by heart. So the wise women  decided to send Fionn to a famous poet called Finnegus to learn poetry. Fionn left his home in the mountains and went to live with Finnegus. The poet lived beside the River Boyne in County Meath.Here Fionn learned much wisdom and was taught many poems and stories. He also learned how to write poems. Finnegus had spent seven years trying to catch the salmon of knowledge in the River Boyne. It was said that the first person to taste this fish would have the gift of knowledge  and would be wiser than any other person. Early 1 morning Finnegus caught a large salmon. It was beautiful and shone like silver.He knew it must be the Salmon of Knowledge.

Picture by Caoimhe O.

He brought the fish to Fionn and asked him to cook it.Finnegus told Fionn to light a fire and to roast the salmon over it. He warned Fionn not to eat any of the fish because he knew that the first person to taste the magic fish would be given the gift of great knowledge. As the fish was cooking , Fionn noticed a big blister on it’s skin.He burst the blister with his thumb. The fish was very hot and some of it’s skin stuck to Fionn’s thumb. The hot skin burned his thumb.Fionn then put his thumb in his mouth to stop it from hurting. He forgot about  the warning of Finnegus. Fionn brought the salmon to Finnegus when it was fully cooked. When Finnegus looked into Fionn’s eyes he immediately he knew that Fionn had received the gift of wisdom and knowledge from the fish. “You have tasted my Salmon of Knowledge”, said Finnegus, “I can see it in your eyes. I have waited for years to catch this salmon and be the first person to taste it”. “I only put my thumb in my mouth because I burned it and I wanted to take the pain away2, said Fionn. “I am very sorry”. Finnegus was sad but he forgave Fionn because he knew that Fionn had not disobeyed him on purpose. “You now have the gift of knowledge and you will be able to foretell the future every time you put your thumb in your mouth”, he said to Fionn. Fionn was now a wise, brave warrior. Soon afterwards, he left Finnegus and was chosen as leader of the Fianna. We enjoyed this story.

By Leah and Joshua (Rang III)