The blossom appeared earlier than normal on our cherry tree this year and was a signal for us to go and look for buds opening all around the garden. There were loud shouts of delight from Saorla when she discovered a ladybird on the cordelyn! All soon joined in the search and the awe and wonder that this little insect initiated always makes me stand back and once again appreciate the beauty of our natural world! Saorla had discovered a real gem and the search for ladybirds took up the remainder of the morning.As we had been looking at the life cycle of the ladybird earlier in the day, seeing him in its natural habitat,made work in the classroom come to life!

We have been so lucky this year as shortly after the cherry blossomed ,the pear and apple trees blossomed. Talking about insects pollinating plants also came to life as we observed butterflies and bees flitting from plant to plant “exchanging” pollen and the blossoms then turning to fruit! Another wonder which open the eyes of the children to all that is happening in the natural world around them!

As these children have such respect and love for all these tiny invertebrates that are so vital to our ecosystem, I decided that we would make a wormery! They were intrigued at how many came to the surface by pouring soapy water on an area on the lawn! We then made the wormery using sand and clay and finishing with leaves and then the worms. A few days later there were shrieks of excitement when we examined the wormery and saw how they had mixed the soil and sand and pulled the worms down!The children just love worms! They can now see that the worms have a job to do and hopefully will understand in time how all of these creatures are intertwined in balancing life on earth!!

During our darkest month,January,the children and I visited and discovered the amazing animals that live in the continent Of Africa! There was great excitement in the classroom when each child arrived in with their wonderful projects! And we learned so much too: all about Lions from Domhnall and Louis, the Rhinos from Frankie and Arlo,the zebras from Lucy and Ella, the Mandrills from Fionn,Water Buffalos from Tom,Cheetahs from Wren and Oscar,Meerkats from Michael,Elephants from Hugo( with real photos from his Mum and Dads honeymoon!),Ostriches from Saorla,Giraffes from Emily,Gorillas from Kate, Monkeys from Oliver and the Hippos from Jake!!It has ignited our imaginations to a great big world out there which we are all eager to discover and most importantly to protect!!

As Wren visited Australia for Christmas and has been telling us all about her adventures, we decided to visit Australia during February!After looking at the animal basket for Australia,the children once again picked the animal they wanted to study!! Hugo was first in the next morning with his Tasmanian Devil and Fionn arrived that afternoon with his Thorny Devil! What very strange animals on this far off Continent,we certainly are learning so much from each other!! Tom was next with his Kangaroo and Saorla with her Dingo! This morning Oliver brought in his Kiwi from New Zealand. A most unusual bird with hair and no feathers so naturally enough, he cant fly!I cant wait to learn more about these very strange animals! Meanwhile,we have lovely stories about our Australian animals in the classroom .

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Spring is in the air!Just like the little lambs romping around the fields,the children are ready and eager to run and play outside again!January was particularly wet and cold but over the past few days,there has been a break in that awful weather and we are outdoors again.Climbing trees in the orchard,playing “old fashioned” ball games like “Banana banana who has the ball”and little walks down our lane! Its all a big adventure as nature unfolds its secrets and awakens once again!We have looked at the buds on the trees and the children can now identify the sycamore,beech and ash!Our first spring flowers are appearing and we eagerly wait for more to awaken from that long winter sleep.All are captivated by the “frogs story” as they make their way back to their pond for mating.Soon we will plant our seeds for the garden but for now there is plenty to do both inside and outside the classroom!

Winter seemed to last for ever this year and the children and I talked on a daily basis of the battle between Winter and Spring.We watched patiently for signs outdoors,the first leaves on the blackcurrants,blossom on the cherry,garden birds nesting and of course the long awaited arrival of the swallows.At last and over a month late, Nature burst into bloom and we knew that once again we could rejoice at the wonderful rebirth of life on earth!

It was also time to make our annual trip to the zoo!So ,taking a gamble with our weather ,we agreed on a date in early May!!And luck was with us.The sun shone and it was warm!!A very excited group of children and parents left Sligo on the train ,the first train trip for many and it was very exciting. As always,picnics started before Ballymote and the journey flew as children chatted and played together whilst parents mingled getting to rekindle or start new friendships. On arrival in Dublin,we hailed taxis for the zoo and within a very short time were at the “best place ever”!! On our way to the picnic area,we were greeted by some of the S.American rain forest  animals,the white faced saki,the sloth ,lion tamarin and squirrel monkey!!As the children had just finished their projects on S.America,it was wonderful to see the real animals !There were yelps of delight at discovering  yet another animal. which they all “adopted” as “their own” from project work on the continents.

The children were delighted to have the peacocks strutting amongst us whilst we ate our picnics and admired their magnificent plumage. Children just love the reptiles so the new Zoorassic World was our first stop. Stan,the life sized replica of T.Rex was a big hit.There were also real reptiles to see which are part of Dublin’s Zoos project in breeding endangered species.

I have been visiting Dublin Zoo with my school for nearly 30 years and it never fails to amaze me. New conservation projects and  international breeding programmes for endangered species are just some of the wonderful things that are happening there. It gives children an appreciation and a knowledge about animals from all over the world and opens up a wonderful world to them,allowing them to see and respect living creatures.

Our day continued in a very leisurely and relaxed way with a very happy group of little children who shared their magical awe and wonder at all they experienced with us. What more could one ask for?It was one PERFECT DAY.

It has been a long ,cold and wet Winter but we have had great fun on our journey around the globe discovering the animals of the Continents.In January we “traveled to Africa” and the children chose an animal which appealed to them after we had discussed and looked at the animals of Africa! We all enjoyed the wonderful projects which each child did on his animal along with his family.

February saw us land in South America which was very appropriate as the children had shown great interest in the rain forest and were already expressing concern at the destruction of this habitat by all of us! We have a beautiful book on the rain forest and so projects were chosen once again.

Iseult arrived in the very next day with her “toucan” project! She told us that he likes to eat other birds eggs as well as frogs and insects!David arrived the next with a most impressive tarantula project ! He can live up to 30 years and has trip wires leading to his web where he injects his prey with venom!!Harry told us that there is no such thing as a black panther! He is a black jaguar with a melenistic gene!!Anna  had a great diagram on her project(the jaguar) comparing the spots of the S. American jaguar with the African leopard and cheetah!! Both she and Harry told us that they are great swimmers!We learned from Ella that the howler monkey is the loudest animal and also the laziest monkey!Saorla told us that a group of spider monkeys is called a troop! Sienne did her pink river dolphin with just a little help and we learned from her that he is pink because his blood vessels are just beneath his skin! From Sonny we discovered that  the harpy eagle female is twice the size of the male and they are king and queen of the rain forest!!  Umi s beautiful scarlet macaws live in the under-story and is in grave danger of becoming extinct with forest destruction. We were most amused to hear from Wren that the tapir would weigh 10 Wrens and he is shaped like a pear!! Edan did a lovely project on the llama and he is related to the camel! Rosa told us that the capybara is the largest rodent,a herbivore, very sociable and he landed in Cork recently on a ship from S. America containing fruit! Oscars Goliath bird eating spider is the largest spider in the world . Even though he has 8 eyes,he has bad eye sight but  leg span of 30 cm and eats frogs,lizards and snails! Finally,Michael arrived in just before we moved to Australia with the long awaited anaconda!He is the worlds largest snake and non venomous. He prowls around in the swamps and marches of the Amazon jungle where he kills by squeezing his prey!

We learned so much from the fabulous projects and all enjoy telling and showing them to all who visit our beautiful classroom.Another big “Thank you” from all of us to the best Mums and Dads!

There are still a few places for  the afternoon session in September 2018.The class runs from at 1 pm- 4 pm. Please contact me on 0861036207 if interested.