|
Today a marine biologist named Luana from CuriOcean came to visit us and deliver a Marine Mammals Workshop.
CuriOcean aims to raise awareness on marine conservation issues and share the information with schools. Luana Jungmann is a Marine Conservationist and Environmental Educator, who has travelled the world to discover different cultures and dealt with a variety of marine conservation topics. The Marine Mammals workshop gave an overview on Irish marine mammals, their importance, threats and current research. It allowed the students to gain an insight into a marine mammals researcher's typical day, about marine mammals, the acoustics behinds dolphins communication, photo-identification and how to response to a stranding. It was a very informative workshop and great fun as the children engaged in many activities. As part of the Amber Flag initiative, the Amber Flag Committee in conjunction with the Parent’s Association held a fundraiser for Pieta House with a pancake morning.
The morning was very enjoyable and a great success. Many thanks for the generous contribution from pupils and their families with €87 raised in total. All monies will be donated to Pieta House. Many thanks to the Amber Flag Committee and the Parent’s Association for their hard work.  We at Cloonlyon are delighted to announce that Mr McGuire has been selected to participate in an exciting project!
The European Schoolnet (EUN) have recruited eleven teachers from all over Europe to join the “Aerospace in Class” project. Mr McGuire is one of two teachers in Ireland to have been selected and will be travelling to Brussels Friday week for an intensive workshop. The “Aerospace in Class” Project is about integrating STEM1 resources from the Airbus Foundation Discovery Space in classes for 8- to 12-year-old students. The project is committed to bringing together the products and people of the global aerospace company Airbus to help address the challenges of today's society. It focuses on empowering young people for the challenges of tomorrow. The Airbus Foundation Discovery Space is a digital portal for aerospace exploration, connecting students, parents, and educators across the globe with professionals in the field, bringing today’s research and technology to life. European Schoolnet (www.eun.org) is coordinating this project. EUN is the network of 34 European Ministries of Education, based in Brussels, which aims to bring innovation in STEM which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics subjects. Mr McGuire will have a lot of work ahead of him as he coordinates this European initiative within his classroom and school setting. There will be lots of online meetings, reports, consultations and much more. We are very fortunate as a school to be benefiting from Mr McGuire’s involvement in this project and cannot wait to begin! We will keep you updated throughout so keep an eye on our schools web pages. This week for science we completed a scientific experiment about animals in polar climates. We wanted to find out how animals in these regions stay warm - they don't wear warm coats and woolly hats like us! We found out that these animals have a layer of blubber or fat under their skin which keeps them warm in the icy cold water and from the cold winds.
We used a cooler full of ice and a plastic bag that was filled with cooking fat (to represent the blubber) to test if this really does help with the cold.  Children wore a latex glove so not as to get too cold from the ice and water. Placing their hand into the cooler we noted how quickly our hands started to get cold from the icy conditions. Once everyone had a turn at this, it was time to test the blubber!  We used cooking fat to represent the blubber and by placing this into a plastic bag we were able to make a pocket to place out hands in. When we placed this into the ice the children noted how it took much longer to feel the cold if at all.
This showed them how the animals in polar regions cope with the cold icy conditions all year round. |
