

St Laurence's National School, Chapelizod
A co-educational Church of Ireland School under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin
Costume Designing






















Painting Experiment January 2025
Experimenting with painting and drawing on wet and dry brown paper, noting the differences and watching the process of the materials interacting with the paper in different states.




Six Bricks December 2024
Making and Extending the Pattern with Six Bricks




Christmas Aistear Activities December 2024
The Home at Christmas Time, constructing a Christmas living room and making Christmas items with playdough


Printing with 3D Shapes October 2024
Making prints with 3D shapes to discover what 2D shapes their faces are.



Playground Soundscape October 2024
The Junior room pupils performing a soundscape based on sounds we heard in our playground environment.



Exploring Length November 2024
The Junior Class were given he challenge of making a bed for teddy from paper which would be just the right size. They had to consider that it should not be too long, too short, too wide and too narrow. It was wonderful to see the different approaches that the children took in achieving their goal!



Superhero Drawings Oct 2024
Inspired by the story of 'Ten Little Superheroes' the children created their own little superheroes to represent themselves and we made a numberline from 1 to 15. The younger children practiced their counting skills in figuring out how many body parts and costume parts they had.


2D Houses Oct 2024
The Senior Infants Class made 2D houses using various shapes and colours


Design & Construction
Junior room pupils working on the skills of design and construction, collaborative play and oral presentation while constructing a doctor's surgery.




Maths in the Environment September 2024
Using our maths eyes in our environment, the children in the junior room made collections of objects they found and counted them to make a numberline from 1 to 15.









Self-Portraits September 2024
Junior Room Watercolour Self-Portrait Painting








Mask Making
Procedure following for Mask making inspired by Picasso's faces


Planting in the Junior Room
The children in the Junior room have been busy planting beans, which can be eaten, and China Asters, which will grow into lovely colourful flowers. We also have potatoes growing in a bag of Revd Ruth's compost and strawberries which are already beginning to flower.












Junior Room Bird Identification and Care
In the junior room in January and February, we did lots of work on Environmental Awareness and Care. With so many beautiful trees and bushes around our school, we can always hear lots of bird song and particularly when the children are working very quietly! We thought it would be nice to learn about the garden birds who visit our school grounds and be able to identify their names from their appearance and even from their call. The children observed images of birds and just like the artist we studied called Robert Bateman, they created their own painted birds, really focusing on the colours, patterns, shapes and lines they observed in the photos they looked at.
In taking care of the birds, we also made some bird feeders to help out the little birds when the ground gets cold and hard and food may be difficult for them to source themselves.




Pancakes
'Ag déanamh pancóga' was our theme for Gaeilge in the junior classroom prior to Shrove Tuesday so we put all the phrases and vocabulary we had learned to good use in making delicious pancakes in the classroom. We even shared some with the senior room! We heard lots of expressions of 'Is maith liom...' 'Is breá liom....' agus 'Is aoibhinn liom...'!!



St Brigid's Crosses
The junior room pupils made their own interpretation of St. Brigid's crosses. We listened to the story of St. Brigid's cloak and learned about what a kind and generous person Brigid was.


Clay Candle Holders
In the junior classroom, we worked on making coiled pots from clay. The children really worked hard with their fine motor skills to roll out coils, create a structure and smooth the surfaces to build little pots, attaching stars and painting them to hold their nightlights.





Making Wreaths
Painting decorations for wreaths which our Parent Association will make and sell to raise money for our school.

Magical Handprints
We explored and investigated how different materials and substances would react when they were mixed together. We discovered that sometimes, there was no reaction but bread soda and turmeric had a magical reaction! We painted bread soda on our hands mixed with water and made handprints. When they were dry, we painted over them with a green paint solution without any exciting results but when we painted with turmeric mixed with water, ta da! Magic reddish handprints appeared!
The science:
Turmeric is a natural pH indicator. When it’s in contact with something alkaline, it turns red.



Polkadot Pumpkins











Finding Shapes in Houses


We observed houses around our school and drew the shapes and lines we saw. We then translated this into clay, forming shapes and inscribing lines to make little houses of our own.




Stabilising Houses
The children were trying to figure out how to stabilise the pigs house so that the Big Bad Wolf wouldn't knock it down


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Flowers March 2023
For the month of March, The Flower Shop is our Aistear and SESE theme in the junior classroom. The children made some beautiful flowers from playdough which they imagined they would like to sell in our classroom florist!








We Made Rockets February 2023







Science Week in the Junior Room November 2022
Science Week in the Junior Room November 2022














Junior Classroom Treat June 2022
Junior Classroom Treat June 2022

Boat Designing May 2022
Boat Designing May 2022


















Active School Week - Ballet & Yoga May 2022
Active School Week - Ballet & Yoga May 2022




Active School Week - Orienteering May 2022
Active School Week - Orienteering May 2022





Butterflies March / April 2022
Butterflies March / April 2022



















Shadow Puppets March 2022
Shadow Puppets March 2022







Junior Room Percussion Instruments March 2022
Junior Room Percussion Instruments March 2022



Matisse Inspired Art January 2022
Matisse Inspired Art January 2022

Odd Sock Day November 2021
Odd Sock Day November 2021

Science Week 2021 November 2021
Science Week 2021 November 2021






The Construction Site - Science Week 2021
The Construction Site - Science Week 2021






Treehouses - Mixed Media Art November 2021
Treehouses - Mixed Media Art November 2021






Different Families Same Love October 2021
Different Families Same Love October 2021





Making Playdough Pizzas October 2021
Making Playdough Pizzas October 2021











Osmosis October 2021
Osmosis October 2021



Role Play September 2021
Role Play September 2021



Making Pizzerias September 2021
Making Pizzerias September 2021





Sign Language June 2021
Sign Language June 2021















Junior Class Art Exhibition of Paintings Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe May 2021
Junior Class Art Exhibition of Paintings Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe May 2021















Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Paintings May 2021
Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Paintings May 2021










Junior Room Stick Sculptures in the Park March 2021
Junior Room Stick Sculptures in the Park March 2021






Next Stage Theatre School March 2021
Next Stage Theatre School March 2021







Positive & Negative Space in Artwork March 2021
Positive & Negative Space in Artwork March 2021




Reading Together March 2021
Reading Together March 2021



Book in a Box March 2021
Book in a Box March 2021










Creative Schools Workshop December 2020
Creative Schools Workshop December 2020








Art in the Junior Classroom November 2020
Art in the Junior Classroom November 2020




Science Week 2020 November 2020
Science Week 2020 November 2020










Camouflaged Elephants
We had the most fun Art Class in the Junior Room this week. We discovered all about camouflage and made the most wonderful artwork. Click below and see how we did it.....





Easter Egg Hunt
All the children had loads of fun searching the school for their paper Easter eggs. Some of the pupils even solved riddles to help them find their hiding spots! Their reward for finding their egg was a delicious chocolate egg! Many thanks to the Parents’ Association for providing both the paper and chocolate eggs. Do you recognise any chick or bunny below????



Beanstalks
The pupils in the junior room planted broad beans and designed beautiful castles in the clouds for the beans to grow towards. Hopefully with lots of care from their owners, the bean stalks will reach the castles in no time!


Egg Creatures
The junior classroom made tiny creatures to go inside their eggs..we had birds, monsters and all sorts!




Na Muca Beaga
We had great fun this month learning the story of Na Muca Beaga. We told the story with stick puppets and also used masks to make a little film version of the story re-told by us as Gaeilge. See our little snippets here!

Those were the days...
We examined some wonderful objects that people used to use in the past but we no longer use. It’s amazing what people can find in their houses! Some of the children brought in an old bike lamp, an old telephone and an old phone and MP3 player.



The senior room pupils helped the junior room pupils to use the 'I can animate' app on the tablets. Using the rockets and backgrounds that the juniors made themselves, they created fabulous animations.

Our Planets.... in song
We learnt this wonderful song which teaches us about all the planets in the solar system... Do have a listen....

Teddy Bears in SPACE.....
We had a teddy bears' picnic in space! We learned so much about space and the planets throughout January. We made space passports and also helmets to protect us on our journey. We saw the planets and the sun when we went to space and it was wonderful because we knew so much about them!






Lift off................. We've landed.....

Junior Room Bake-off.....
The Junior Room had a wonderful baking afternoon on Thursday, 18th October. They prepared delicious biscuits for baking. Having been baked overnight, they were returned to the school the next morning for decorating. Not too sure how many biscuits made it home for tasting, but I am sure if you didn't happen to try one you would agree they were absolutely delicious!

Step 2 - add the eggs and stir.... hard work....

Step 4 - Cut shapes with cookie cutter...


Finished - some of the most scrumptious cookies!
YUM YUM!!

Step 1 - mix the flour and butter....

Step 3 - Roll it out...

Step 5 - Baked overnight they are ready for decorating the next day...