Sea Life Bray

This month I've been learning about Oceans and Seas using various internet resources and this book and then I completed a quiz on Kahoot which my mum created based on the book. 
On our outing day, we drove to Bray to visit Sealife and as it was pouring rain it was the perfect day for it.  It was my first time to visit the marine sanctuary and education centre which is on Bray Seafront.  There is a scratch-quiz for children to do while touring the exhibits which is good for encouraging children to read the information posts.  I got to touch a Starfish in the touch pool which felt far more spikey than I imagined it would!  There is a great variety of sea creatures including jellyfish in a cool light display tank, turtles, squid, lobsters, stingray, sharks and some recognisable 'characters' from kids movies such as Nemo!  My favourite creatures were the seahorses which were so cute.  There are feedings on the hour and a tour guide explains some interesting facts about the fish she is feeding.  The guides were really friendly and available to answer any questions along the route.  I really enjoyed the visit and would definitely recommend a visit to Sealife.  We had a lovely coffee and a muffin in Fimbees café next door and Bray Seafront is perfect for a walk or beachcombing.  You can walk around to the harbour to see the swans or up Bray Head or along the Cliff Walk towards Greystones.  The DART station is a stone's throw away and the train journey to Bray in either direction is particularly scenic.

Fake News

Today, in English, I'm learning about Fact vs Opinion, Media and Fake News. 

I did a Fact or Opinion worksheet followed by watching a MediaWise lesson video.  I learned about different types of journalism and sources and how to fact check an article.

Then I completed the linked activity worksheet comparing two news articles for authenticity.

I compared an article about the effects of screen time on children published on www.evoke.ie and another in the Irish Independent newspaper.  It was interesting to see how much more dramatised the Evoke article was, using click bait headlines.  "Doctors warn that too much screen time is like heroin to kids".  The Independent's article was much more balanced and studies quoted were referenced by the author.

I learned that April 2nd is World Fact Checking Day.  I found this lesson very helpful for identifying fake news from real news.  I'll be sure to put these skills into use in the future.
Don't believe everything you read! 

The video below explains the MediaWise programme by www.safefood.eu:

Frás na Seachtaine

                         This weeks phrase of the week is Míol Mór Gorm

Translation-Blue Whale

New Book - Stories for Boys who Dare to be Different

I love the Rebel Girls books which celebrate women who have achieved at a high level or made a difference to the world.  It's only fair that a book has been published to highlight the boys too!  Stories for Boys who Dare to be Different by Ben Brooks has a great collection of characters from sports, writers, scientists, singers and more.  I  definitely recommend it.

April homeschooling

My homeschool classroom poster for April

As well as my usual English, Irish and Maths, I'll be working on these themes in April.

My Trip To Barcelona

                

Hola!

Today I am going to be talking about my trip to Barcelona in Spain. It was my first time in Barcelona and I really enjoyed it. We did a lot of cool things including going to Park Guell, the Gaudi Cathedral, Camp nou, The Blau Museum and Terrassa, along with exploring Barcelona City by foot.  My sister Katie is living in Barcelona working as a Teaching Assitant for 6 months so she was our tour guide.  She recommended a great app called MoveIt to help us find our way from place to place.

Park Guell

Park Guell

My sister, Katie, and I at Parc Guell

In case you don't know about Park Guell I can tell you it has some amazing gardens and mosaic buildings.  I loved the gardens and thought they were really beautiful.You have to pay in to see the mosaic buildings but I saw some of it from a distance and they
looked amazing. You can also go into a museum of the house
Gaudi lived in which we did and it was so cool. I would definitely
recommend it. Get tickets for Park Guell Here                                                                                                              

Sagrada Familia Cathedral
This church is probably Barcelona's most famous building and it was designed by architect, Antoni Gaudi, who worked on Sagrada Familia until his death.  Building began in 1882 and it is estimated that it will be completed by 2026.

Katie and I at Gaudi Cathedral

                                                                                                           

Me at Camp Nou

Camp Nou 
Camp Nou is it is the Stadium of F.C. Barcelona. When we went to the stadium we did the full
tour which included the museum,the pitch side and you go up         
into the stand. It was amazing and it is definitely a must if you are
into soccer like me. My Dad and I watched the Barcelona vs Roma game in our hotel room later that same day.  Unfortunately they lost 3-0.
Get tickets for the tour here

The Blau Museum
I did a project about architect, Herzog de Meuron before my trip so I really wanted to see Museu Blau which he designed.  It is a distinctive blue box building suspended over the path.  My favourite parts were these tunnels lined with angled metal through the roof when you looked up, you could see the sky.  It was like a kaleidescope.  It's really cool.

Terrassa

We visited this lovely town to enjoy a relaxed day walking around, drinking coffee and looking in the shops.  Find out more about Terassa here:

http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/page/568/terrassa.html

Terrassa

I really enjoyed my four days in Barcelona with my Dad and sister, Katie.  There is so much to see and do in this city.  It was my first time to eat Tapas and I really loved the croissants dipped in chocolate in the local cafes for breakfast.  I would definitely love to go back again to visit Barcelona.  Lots more photos going up on my Instagram now.

I'm back to normal homeschooling again and I'll be writing more blogs about the work and activities that I'm doing soon.                                                                                                   

                                                                                                     

My New Vivofit Jr 2

Hi there,
Today I am going to be talking about my new Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 watch which is a fitness watch that was made to encourage kids to do more exercise. I have had this watch for a week now and have found it very useful. It has loads of cool features on it as well as all the features a normal watch would have, these are some of its features:

• A step counter
• A fitness counter (which tells you how many minutes of exercise you have done that day
• A chore list were you can earn coins by doing chores around the house
• A system were you can cash in coins to earn for rewards
• A sleep counter 
• An app which can give you detail on sleep, activities etc.
• A game were you can only move level when you have done your 60 min of activity each day
• An alarm system 
• It is completely water proof so you can actually swim in it
• It has up to a one year long battery
• It has a timer/ a stopwatch
• A two minute challange

and you can have all your families watches attached to the one device.

They also have a range of  different bands which you can see here: The minnie mouse bands  The captain america bands and The star wars bands.  You can get the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 app here for apple users and here for android users, you can also buy the watch here on the official garmin website

#bekind

Hi there,

Today I'm going to be talking about the #BeKind campaign, which is inspired by the book "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio. 

Wonder is the story of a boy with a disfigured face who gets bullied a lot because of what he looks like.  My favourite quote from the book is "You can't blend in when you were born to stand out."  The book has also been made into a movie.  Watch the trailer here:

The #BeKind campaign is asking children around the World to CHOOSE KIND.  Here are some small ways we can all show kindness:

• Smile
• Hold open the door 
• Be on time
• Compliment others
• Strike up a conversation 
• Bite your tongue
• Check in with your loved ones
• Use your manners
• Be kind to someone you dislike

Engineers Week

Hi there,
As you probably know it was Engineers Week last week so I decided to do a little experiment/challenge using spaghetti and marshmallows. The challenge is to build the tallest structure possible in a set time using only spaghetti and marshmallows.  Afterwards, I had to perform the 'earthquake' test on a tray of jelly.  This is what happened...

Now that I've done it I think it's your turn - my challenge to you is to build a spaghetti and marshmallow contraption and then send me your photos through my contact area on the right 👉 of the page. I'm looking forward to seeing your attempts and Good Luck 😊

Fras Na Seachtaine

The phrase of the week is An Rud Is Annamh Is Iontach

Translation - The thing that's seldom is wonderful

The Big Snow

Hi there,
In case you didn’t know Ireland has just experienced it’s biggest snow fall since 1947 and I am going to be talking about how much it impacted my family and I. To start off with I had a great time in the snow but there are of course other things that were a nuisance, such as;

All the shops were closed ☃
Our water stopped working for two days 💩
Our heating stopped working 😨
We couldn’t drive on the roads for a few days🚗
It was very awkward to go outside due to all the clothing I had to wear

However having said all that it was the best fun ever. I spent hours sledding with my friends, had a lot of snow ball fights and built a massive snowman ☃❄🌨

This is how snow forms:Snow Formation   This particular snow storm was called Beast From The East because the cold wind originated from Siberia.

All wrapped up

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Chillin' - literally!