P1 & P2 Mrs McComiskey/ Miss McGurk

Welcome to our class page!

Have a look to see what learning we have been getting up to! :)

Painting modes of transport

Our new WAU topic, 'Movers and Groovers', had Primary 1 and 2 painting pictures of their favourite modes of transport this week. We discussed all the places we might find transport, on water, on the road and in the sky. Then, we came up with so many ideas of different transportation methods, from submarines, to monster trucks to hot air balloons. We had so much fun painting we decided to make two paintings each! One to show our families at home and one to show all our friends in the school community.

The case of the missing cookie!

Together, Primary 1 and 2 thoroughly enjoyed developing their inference skills. On Tuesday, we became detectives to solve the case of “Who Stole the Cookie?” The children worked in Primary 1/2 pairs to search the school for clues, supporting one another with reading and sharing ideas. Using their brilliant detective thinking, they narrowed ten suspects down to one. After a class vote, the majority suspected the postman - and thanks to their fantastic inference skills, the case of the missing cookie was solved!

Bar charts

This week, we learned all about bar charts. We collected data on our favourite fruits by asking everyone in the classroom to choose their favourite, and then recorded the results together as a whole class using a bar chart. We used the information to answer questions about our findings. In Primary 1/2, strawberries were the most popular fruit, while oranges were the least popular. We then created our own bar charts, making sure to use a different colour for each bar. The following day, we recorded our information on a mapping diagram, and each child confidently shared their findings, for example that five friends liked kiwi while only one liked grapes.

Narrative writing

In Literacy, we explored inference by becoming detectives! We carefully examined images and searched for clues to help us decide where a character might be going or what they might be doing. We continued developing our narrative writing by using story starters such as “Once upon a time…” and “There was once a…”. The children also explored how dialogue can be used to share opinions and move a story along. On Friday, we went on a word hunt through our books to discover the different ways authors use alternatives to the word “said” to make their writing more interesting and to help the reader understand how something should be spoken, such as “laughed” or “squeaked.”

Lent

We have had a wonderful week learning about Lent. The children thoughtfully made their Lenten promises, carefully reflecting on what they might give up and how they could give to others during this special season. A highlight of our week was Shrove Tuesday, when we enjoyed some delicious pancakes together! On Wednesday, we attended Mass to mark the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, which was a lovely opportunity for prayer and reflection as a school community.

Safer Internet Week 2026

Primary 1 and Primary 2 have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Internet Safety Week. Throughout the week, the children have been learning about what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is and how it is used in our everyday lives. We explored where we might find AI in our homes, such as in smart speakers, tablets and gaming devices, and discussed how these technologies can help us. The children also talked about the importance of staying safe when using AI and created a set of important safety rules. As part of our learning, we took part in a fun Kahoot quiz and explored some AI images - experiencing how realistic some of them can be. We learned some key rules for using AI safely: never share personal information, never follow advice that could be dangerous, think carefully about the questions we ask a chatbot, always be kind and respectful when using technology, and speak to a trusted adult if anything makes us feel worried or upset. Finally, on Friday we had the exciting opportunity to share our learning with the whole school. We proudly talked about what we had discovered during Internet Safety Week and listened carefully as other year groups shared their learning too. It was wonderful to celebrate our work together and gain an insight into what other classes had been exploring.

Eating Rainbows

For our final WAU topic on colour, we explored the wonderful variety of colours in the food we eat. We enjoyed learning about foods from different cultures and noticing the different colours used in each dish. Some foods were completely new to us, such as Escargot from France – which is snails! – and Wonton from China. We also recognised some familiar favourites, including Enchilada from Spain and Crêpe from France. We talked about the importance of “eating a rainbow” and why it is healthy to enjoy a wide variety of colourful fruits and vegetables. The children especially loved creating their own rainbow fruit kebabs to finish our topic in a fun and tasty way!

Resilience

To conclude our PSHE topic on resilience, Miss McGurk set Primary 1 and Primary 2 an exciting challenge. The children worked with a partner to stack large marshmallows as high as they could. They were then challenged to repeat the task using small marshmallows, which proved to be much trickier! Even though it was difficult at times, the children did not give up. They showed fantastic resilience by persevering, encouraging one another and continuing to try until they achieved their best.

St Brigid's day

This week, we also enjoyed learning all about Saint Brigid. It was wonderful to see so many children bring in their St Brigid’s Crosses and confidently share what they knew with their friends. We discovered how kind and caring St Brigid was, and how she wanted to build a church to help people in her community. We also explored the story of her magical cloak and had great fun investigating all the different colours it could be.

Finding all possibilities

We have extended our finding all possibilities learning through practical work on area. The children were given the important task of creating a blanket for Elmer to keep him warm during the colder months. Working in pairs, they designed blankets to cover Elmer’s body and enjoyed observing the many different approaches taken. Some worked horizontally, others vertically, and some even created an extra blanket just for his trunk!

We then explored measuring area using buttons to cover Elmer. This proved more challenging due to gaps and difficulties with counting, which helped the children conclude that squares are more effective than circles when measuring area.

On Friday, we completed another finding possibilities lesson. The children were set the challenge of using only three to five colours to create as many different block combinations as possible. They showed brilliant resilience and problem-solving skills as they carefully thought about all the different ways the blocks could be arranged. The children also demonstrated excellent self-assessment skills by deciding for themselves how many colours they wanted to use for the challenge.

Narrative writing in P1/2

This week in Literacy, we continued our work on narrative writing. Working in pairs, the children created their own stories, making sure to include key features such as characters, a setting, a problem, and a solution. They also carefully structured their stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

To support their planning, pupils mapped out their stories using pictures, which helped them remember and retell their ideas clearly. The children used randomised settings, characters, and items to get them started, showing great creativity as they used the resources provided to produce wonderful work.

To build confidence and speaking skills, each pair shared their story with the entire class, standing at the front to present their ideas. The children did a fantastic job and should be very proud of their storytelling efforts.

Problem Solving in Primary 1

In this lesson, the P1s developed their problem solving skills. Their challenge was to explore how to share the Paw Patrol pasta fairly between the Paw Patrol characters. This 'hands-on' lesson allowed the children to investigate different ways to divide the shapes so that they all received an equal amount. The children were encouraged to think carefully, try multiple solutions and explain how they knew they had found a fair way to share the shapes.

Week 3 of Colour in the World Around Us

As part of our WAU topic, the children explored rainbows and investigated how they are made. They experimented with mixing primary colours to create new colours, making predictions before testing their ideas like real scientists. The children were fully engaged and loved discovering whether their predictions were correct.

We also explored the book The Colour Monster and discussed how our emotions can be represented through colour. The children enjoyed sharing how different situations made them feel and talking about the emotions linked to each colour, such as green for calm and pink for feeling loved.

Catholic Schools Week 2026

This week, our school community came together to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, reflecting on the theme of holiness in everyday life. Inspired by Pope Francis’s reflections on Blessed Carlo Acutis, the children learned that holiness is not just for a few, but for everyone. We especially loved welcoming grandparents to our Mass on Friday, giving them the opportunity to see our wonderful school and to share in this special celebration with us.

BeeBots

In ICT, the children explored computational thinking through hands-on tinkering with Bee-Bots. This was Primary 1’s first experience using the robots, and they were excited to discover what Bee-Bots could do by experimenting with the different command buttons. Through play and exploration, pupils began to understand simple programming concepts such as giving instructions and seeing them carried out.

Primary 2 pupils confidently supported their younger peers by demonstrating commands and helping to troubleshoot, showing fantastic leadership, teamwork and communication skills. The session encouraged curiosity, problem solving and independence, as children worked together to explore, test ideas and learn through discovery.

Piet Mondrian and Primary Colours

In Primary One and Two, we learned about the primary colours as part of our topic “Colour in the World Around Us.” We explored the work of artist Piet Mondrian, who inspired us to create our own artwork using primary colours. Piet Mondrian was an artist from the early 1900s and is well known for his bold use of colour and straight lines.

During our lessons, we learned the correct way to clean our paintbrushes before choosing a new colour. We really enjoyed creating our artwork and are excited to explore colour mixing using the primary colours next week.

Exploring Narratives in Primary 1 and 2

Together, Primary 1 and Primary 2 enjoyed sharing the story Elmer. As part of our work on narrative texts, the children explored key story features such as characters, settings, problems, and solutions. They engaged enthusiastically in discussions, developing their understanding that stories often include a problem that needs to be solved.

The children then used their imagination to create their own story settings. They explored what they might see, hear, smell, and taste in these places. From castles filled with colourful flowers to mountains where they could taste a picnic, the children showed wonderful creativity. Below are images of the fantastic settings they created.

Measuring length in Numeracy

Primary 1 and 2 had lots of fun exploring length this week.The children worked hard as mathematicians, measuring items around the classroom using non-standard units, such as their hands and feet.

P1 and P2 further exploring their new topic, ‘Colour in the World Around Us’.

Happy New Year!

P1 and P2 have begun their exciting new topic, “Colour in the World Around Us”. We launched the topic by asking Miss McGurk questions we were curious about, including “How are rainbows made?”

The children then discussed the beautiful colours they noticed on New Year’s Eve, especially while watching the fireworks. We loved watching the London fireworks display, which inspired us to create our own firework artwork using pastels.

Sequencing ‘Charlie the Firefighter’.

At the start on January, together, Primary 1 and Primary 2 thoroughly enjoyed reading the story “Charlie the Firefighter”. The children have been developing their comprehension skills by summarising the story, using the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when, why) and sequencing events. The children demonstrated excellent listening skills throughout these activities.

A big thank you to Mr Hardy who provided us with lovely Christmas gifts. The boys and girls were delighted. He also kindly carried out a raffle to give three larger prizes to boys and girls in P1 and P2.

3D Fun

In Numeracy this week, we have been working on 3D shapes. We played lots of different games to help us learn about the shapes and their names. We built a house using cuboids and cylinders for Sprout the elf, we sorted pictures of 3D shapes in the environment, we played a spinner game where we had to match the 3D shape with the correct environmental shape, and we even explored the 3D shape faces by printing 3D shapes in playdough. We had great fun and there were lots of giggles!

Santa's Stuck!

We also got involved in a problem-solving task to help Santa! One of Santa’s elves made a mistake and accidentally put some decorations Santa had been working on in the bin. Santa asked us to help him solve the problem. We had to listen carefully to the instructions to make sure we completed the task correctly.

Ditch the Dark

Snow Much Fun in ICT

Snowman In ICT this week, we used Adobe to create our own animation. We picked a snowman and a background and then we recorded ourselves saying a snowman poem. After that, Adobe worked its magic and animated our snowmen to make them talk. We thought this was great fun!

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Patrick.mp4

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Aoife.mp4

Anna.mp4

Building with Cylinders

Money

We explored lots of different coins this week as well. We looked at 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p. We compared and contrasted them to find the similarities and differences to help us identify them.

Cén aois thú?

Mrs Ryan was helping us to learn how ask and answer what our names are in Irish this week.

Fun with Mr Hardy

In PE we completed some very fun obstacle courses with Mr Hardy to help develop our fundamental skills.

Credit Union

On Tuesday, we also had Sean Rodgers from the Credit Union visit our class. He came to present us with a £150 donation towards equipment for our classroom. We have decided to put the money to good use and purchase some great resources to support fine motor skills. Thank you!

Christmas Irish

Mrs Ryan continued to work on Christmas music with us. We have been learning lots of words for things at Christmas, including Jesus which is Íosa, angel which is aingeal and star which is réalta. We also played bingo in Irish to help us practise our numbers as Gaeilge.

Musical Cube

In Numeracy this week, we have been learning about the cube. We played a musical game where we got to dance to the music. When the music stopped, we had to say the name of the shape Mrs McComiskey was holding. This game helped us to revise spheres from last week but also learn the name for a cube this week. We now have our tables named after shapes too. We hope this helps us to revise 2D shapes as we have a triangle, circle, square and rectangle table.

Sketch-A-Song

In ICT this week, we continued some work on digital audio. We used an app on the iPads called Sketch-a-Song to “draw” a tune. We had great fun doing this and loved listening to all the different instruments.

Munching Mike

This week P1 learnt all about Munching Mike. Munching Mike likes to eat things that are magnetic. We used a magnet to explore lots of different materials to see if they were magnetic or not. If they were magnetic, we fed them to Munching Mike and said “mmm,” his sound.

WALK, WHEEL AND CYCLE

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to have a visit from David from Walk, Wheel and Cycle Trust, who came into school to talk to us about road safety and the benefits of active travel for both ourselves and the environment. We loved his bike called ‘Buzz Fivegear’ which could even fold up for easy transport.

Blending Fun

This week in Literacy Primary 1 started to learn how to blend sounds to read words with 3 letters. We worked on blending sounds containing the letters s, a, t, p, i and n. We played lots of fun games to help us, including matching games, car games and jigsaw games. This takes a lot of memory skills to blend and read words, so we also played some memory games this week too.

Alphabetical Order

P2 also started to explore non-fiction books. We began by looking at the contents page and learning the purpose and features. We then started to explore the glossary and index page but decided we would learn about alphabetical order first. We hope to explore all of these in more detail next week

Have a look to see some of the fun things we got up to with Mr Hardy this week! :)

Odd Sock Day

On Monday it was Odd Sock Day. On this day we wear odd socks to celebrate how we are all different and that is what makes us all so special. This year the theme of Anti-Bullying Week was ‘The Power for Good.’ We discussed how we have the power to show kindness to others, but also we have the power to stand up for others if we see someone not being kind.

Number Sequencing

In Numeracy primary 1 have been working on sequencing numbers and finding the missing number within a sequence. We have also been learning about numbers after a given number. We had a special After Hat to help us learn about this too. We enjoyed taking turns to wear the hat. Primary 2 have been working on missing numbers up to 11.

Gaelgie24

In Irish this week, we continued to work on learning our Christmas songs. Tuesday was Gaelgie24, which is a day where we encourage the children to speak as much Irish as possible. We tried really hard to speak Irish all day. We said hello and goodbye in Irish. We said please, thank you and excuse me. We said ‘anseo’ to let Mrs McComiskey know we were here during the register, and we even played some games in Irish to learn about the colours. It was a busy day but a day full of fun.

Woolly Hat Day

We were thrilled to join Mourne Stimulus Day Centre for their ‘Woolly Hat Day’ on Friday, 7th November. A huge thank you to everyone who supported this wonderful event!

Noisy Nick

This week was a very busy week back to school after Halloween. Primary 1 have been revising Impy Ink. They have also been introduced to Noisy Nick. We even banged our hammers like Noisy Nick and made lots of noise!

Pictograms

We also created a pictogram this week using Just2easy to show our favourite colours. We talked about the most popular colour and least popular colour, among other things, when discussing the results.

What time is it?

This week Primary 2 have been learning about digital and analogue clocks. They played a matching game to match the correct times together.

Visualisation

We also had a letter this week from Julia Donaldson. She added another character to the story Room on the Broom and asked us to visualise the character, thinking carefully about the adjectives she used to describe the character. We then had to use playdough and other materials to make the character. We are going to send out pictures to her and hope she adds them to her book.

Halloween Treats from Mr Hardy

Thank you to Mr Hardy for the wonderful Halloween gifts. We really like doing PE with you every week.

Halloween Lollipops

We continued to explore instructions this week. One of our highlights was making Halloween Lollipops! Of course, we thoroughly enjoyed eating them too! We’re looking forward to writing step-by-step instructions on how to make these spooky treats soon.

Halloween counting

In Numeracy, Primary 1 met Fiona Five! We’ve been working on counting up to 5 and identifying sets of objects that match this number.

Halloween crafts

This week we following instructions to make pumpkins!

Math's Week

We had great fun on Friday afternoon when P5 came to our class with games they had made for us. There were some amazing games! Well done P5.

Irish

This week’s Irish learning took place outdoors, with lots of movement-based activities. The children learnt the words for left and right, and how to say “open the door” and “close the door” in Irish.

2D Shapes

Both classes played lots of 2D shape games to make learning fun and engaging. P1 helped the Mayor of Shape City rebuild after a storm by recreating buildings using 2D shapes and feeding the shapes the correct shape food. P2 made shapes using Geoboards, lollipop sticks, matchsticks, pipe cleaners, and string, thinking carefully about the number of sides and the length of sides to ensure accuracy.

Police- People Who Help Us

On Friday, the Police visited our school as part of our topic on People Who Help Us. We really enjoyed learning all about their important role in keeping our community safe. The officers talked to us about the different parts of their job, and we had the chance to ask lots of interesting questions. We discovered how they help people every day and learned more about the equipment they use and the ways they keep us safe.

Peter Puppy

Primary 1 met Peter Puppy for his birthday and celebrated with pass the parcel. When they opened the parcel, they found some sweets which they enjoyed sharing with P2.

Instructions

We also began exploring instructions this week. We learnt what instructions are and played Miss Bossy Says to help understand bossy words. We compared instruction texts to identify important features for successful instructions. We found that instructions often include pictures, time words, numbering, bossy words, and they tell you what to do.

Month of the Rosary

In Grow in Love this week, we celebrated October as the Month of the Rosary. Each child had the opportunity to make their own single-decade rosary bead set. On Tuesday 7th October, we took part in a global campaign to encourage one million children to pray the Rosary for peace. We joined together in prayer, using our handmade rosary beads to pray a decade of the Rosary as a class. Some children even took in their own Rosary beads from home too.

Time to have fun

Primary 2 have been recapping the number 8 and also revisiting how to tell o’clock times. We played a fun matching game where we had to match the o’clock picture cards with the correct word cards.

Sorting Fiction and Non-Fiction Books

Doctors

In WAU, we learned about doctors and took turns recounting a time we remembered visiting the doctor. To help structure our writing clearly, we practised using time words such as first, next, then, and finally.

Tommy Two

This week in Numeracy Primary 1 learnt about number 2. We met Tommy Two who lives in Ten Town and spends his time helping King One. We learnt how to write this number and how important it is to draw from ‘his hands to his knees and then straight across’. We made Tommy Two Towers and then we put animals in groups of two.

Square Art

Primary 1 and 2 explored squares this week too. We learnt that squares have 4 sides that are all the same length. We used squares to make some square art. Could you make a picture only using squares?

People Who Help Us- The Post Office

In WAU this week we continued some work on the post office. We finished our artwork and then posted it home. P1 wrote their names on the envelope and P2 wrote their names and their address. We each stuck on a stamp too. We then walked to the post-box to post our letters. We even seen the postman too.

Restart a Heart

This week we also took part in a special event called ‘Restart a Heart’. We explored how medical professionals can help us and how we can help others too. We used our teddies to help us learn about CPR.

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People Who Help Us

Watch the video to see what we created using Paint on Just2easy. We then made an eBook to showcase our work with a short video to say what each person does to help us.

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Irish with Mrs Ryan
This week we were delighted to see Mrs Ryan back to help us learn Irish. We revised the colour words in Irish this week. We even read a story called, ‘The Little Brown Book’.

Sammy Snake

This week in Literacy Primary 1 met Sammy Snake. They went outside and practised walking over his letter on the ground. Then they came back inside and practised his letter in sand, on the iPads and using the clearboards. They also learnt his sound this week and made special Sammy Snake hats. We enjoyed singing all Sammy Snake’s songs this week too.

Numicon Exploration

In Numeracy this week Primary 1 have continued to explore Numicon shapes. This week they made Numicon Towers and also played a game where they had to remember what the shape looked like and try to replicate it using Numicon pegs without looking.

Flashlight Letter Hunt

Primary 2 have been recapping on the sounds m,o,c and f. They played a game where they had to use the ‘flashlight’ to find the letters.

Circles

This week we began to learn about circles. We read a story called Callie the Circle, then went on a circle hunt around the classroom. Finally, we had a circle picnic where we all sat in a circle and tasted lots of circle-shaped snacks. We had lots of different treats to enjoy, from banana slices to cookies and chocolate buttons.

Numicon

Primary 1 explored Numicon shapes and used them to make pictures using overlays!

Letter Formation

Primary 2 went outside to recap the letter formation of r, u, d, and h. Mrs McComiskey drew these letters on the ground using chalk. We then took turns racing around the letters, following the correct formation pattern. This was really helpful as it encouraged us to stop and think about the direction our pencil would need to move. We then went inside to practise these letters using a carousel activity. We moved around stations including sand, whiteboards, magnetic boards, rainbow writing, marker writing and a game on the iPad.

Numicon

Primary 2 worked on making number bonds to 5 using the Numicon baseboard. They then explored recording these number sentences on their own! Well done P2!

Number 5

Primary 2 went outside to practise writing number 5 using the correct pencil formation strokes!

Once I caught a fish alive

This week, our Primary 1 pupils had a fantastic time diving into the classic nursery rhyme Once I Caught a Fish Alive. To bring the rhyme to life, the children used a fishing net and toy fish to act out the story, sparking lots of laughter and imaginative play.

Through this hands-on activity, the children developed their early storytelling skills, practiced counting, and explored rhythm and rhyme in a fun and memorable way. It was wonderful to see their excitement as they “caught” fish and sang along together!

Listening Fun

Primary 1 started the week with a special Listening Walk around the school grounds. With ears wide open and curious minds ready, the children tuned in to the sounds all around them — from the cheerful ring of bicycle bells to the familiar voice of Mrs Sloan chatting with her class.

This activity helped our young learners develop their listening skills and awareness of their environment, while also encouraging mindfulness and observation. It was a lovely way to explore sound and connect with the world around them.

We’re proud of how engaged and enthusiastic the children were — their excitement was truly infectious!

The Dot

We read a story called ‘The Dot’ this week. This story taught us that when we are learning we have to ‘give it a go’ and ‘never give up’. Primary 2 even explained that it taught us to preserver, recalling their learning from last year! Well done P2. We then created our own ‘dots’. We hope to make these dots into a beautiful rainbow display for everyone to see.

Developing our Gross Motor Skills Outdoors!

Just2easy

We also started some work on Just2easy this week using the laptops. We explored the paint software. Primary 1 explored changing colours using the paintbrush and the paint bucket and Primary 2 explored adding ‘stickers’ to their artwork.

Class Rules

We also talked about our class rules this week. We discussed them together and took pictures of ourselves acting out each rule. These are now displayed in our classroom to remind us of the important things to remember every day. Have a look at the pictures to see if you can guess what our class rules are.

The Dot

Letter Work

Primary 2 have been focusing on revising the sounds s,a,t,p,i and n this week.They revised the Letterland songs and actions too.

Numbers to 5

In Numeracy Primary 2 have been revising numbers. We practised number formation of numbers to 5 on the whiteboard. We matched puzzle pieces with pictures of objects to the correct number. We counted pictured and put a peg on the total number. We sang number songs too. We had great fun revising this week.