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My favourite space fact- Venus rotates so slowly that one day lasts 243 Earh days, while one year is only 225 Earth days
Hi. My name is Caitríona and I teach 1st, 2nd and 3rd class. Looking forward to getting some ideas for next year!
In County Waterford, there’s a growing focus on looking after the environment, with lots of great local efforts happening. The Waterford Greenway is a fantastic example—it encourages walking and cycling, which helps cut down on car use and pollution. Groups like the Tramore Eco Group are also doing brilliant work with beach clean-ups, recycling projects, and planting wildflowers to support bees and other wildlife.
In the classroom, I would use these local examples to help children understand sustainability in a practical way. Activities like nature walks, planting a pollinator garden, or doing a school litter pick would give pupils real experiences and help them see how they can make a difference.
I’d also invite visitors from the local council or community groups to speak with the class. Hearing from people in the area who are involved in this work makes it more meaningful and helps pupils feel part of a bigger effort.
Seafood is an important part of a healthy diet because it provides lots of protein, which helps our bodies grow and repair. It also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for brain health and can help keep our hearts strong. Seafood has vitamins and minerals like vitamin D and iodine that help keep us healthy and energetic.
In the classroom, this information can be used to teach students about making smart food choices. We can explore different types of seafood and learn about where they come from. It’s also a chance to talk about how fishing and ocean health affect the environment, so we understand why it’s important to protect marine life.
Activities like reading food labels, trying simple seafood recipes, or discussing sustainable fishing can help make the lessons interesting and practical. Learning about seafood nutrition helps students make healthy decisions and think about caring for the planet.
Exploring the lessons and resources provided by The ARC has given me plenty of inspiration for how I can bring STEM into my everyday teaching. What I found especially useful was how the activities encourage active, hands-on learning that’s perfect for younger children. STEM doesn’t have to be complicated—it can be as simple as asking pupils to design a structure using paper or solve a problem using basic materials. These kinds of tasks not only support the curriculum but also help develop important skills like creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking.
The resources also got me thinking about how STEM can be promoted across the whole school. Using the SSE process, we can set realistic targets—such as building teacher confidence in delivering STEM lessons or improving pupil engagement—and work together to achieve them. With a shared approach and good resources to guide us, we can make STEM a natural part of school life.
In Ireland, fish and shellfish farms are mostly found along the west and south coasts, where the water is clean and calm. These farms help people in small coastal towns by giving them jobs, not just on the farms but also in places like factories and transport. This means families can stay living in their local areas instead of moving away for work. The farms also bring pride to communities by producing tasty seafood like salmon, mussels, and oysters, which can be sold in Ireland and other countries. It’s important that these farms are looked after properly so they don’t harm the sea or the environment. When done the right way, fish farming can help both people and nature. It gives local towns a way to grow and stay strong in the future.
Learning about aquaculture and social license can be a fun and simple way for younger students to explore big ideas. Aquaculture means farming fish and other water animals. It helps children understand where some of their food comes from and why clean water and healthy oceans are important. Using stories, videos, drawings, and simple activities makes this topic exciting and easy to learn.
Social license is about people in the community agreeing that something is being done in a fair and respectful way. For example, if someone wants to build a fish farm, they should listen to what the local people think and make sure they look after the environment. This helps students learn about kindness, fairness, and working together.
These topics are great for helping younger students practice sharing ideas, asking questions, and thinking about how their actions affect others. It also helps them understand how we can all help care for the Earth. By learning these things early, children can start to see that their voices matter and that they can help make good choices for their communities and the planet.
Many animals that live around our school are nocturnal, which means they are active at night. These include creatures like bats, owls, moths, frogs, and hedgehogs. They rely on dark, quiet environments to feed, move around safely, and raise their young. Artificial light at night can confuse or frighten them, making it harder for them to survive. That’s why it’s important that our school takes simple steps to protect their nighttime world.
One of the easiest and most effective things we can do is to reduce light pollution. We can help by asking the school to turn off unnecessary outdoor lights when not in use, especially overnight. Using motion sensors or timers on lights ensures they are only on when needed.
Creating a dark, quiet zone somewhere on the school grounds is another great way to support nocturnal species. This can be a corner of the garden or field with minimal lighting, where we grow bushes and trees for animals to shelter in. We might also add log piles, bug hotels, or hedgehog homes to give them safe places to hide and rest.
Planting night-scented flowers is a wonderful way to attract moths and other night-time pollinators. Flowers like evening primrose, jasmine, and night-scented stock bloom or release their scent after dark and provide food for insects. These flowers can also help children explore the idea that not all pollination happens in the daytime.
Our school can also take action by building shelters for nocturnal animals. Installing bat boxes high up on buildings or trees gives bats somewhere safe to roost. Owl boxes can be placed in quiet, elevated spots, and hedgehog homes can be tucked under hedges or behind sheds. Leaving small holes in fences allows hedgehogs to travel between gardens and green spaces safely.
Children can express what they’ve learned by creating posters, stories, poems, or artwork about nocturnal animals. They could also perform a short play or present an assembly to share with others how we can all help wildlife that depends on the night.
Songs about the Night Sky
-“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
-“Catch a Falling Star” by Perry Como
-“A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay
-“Moon River” – A calm, soothing classic
-“Zoom Zoom Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon”Poems about the Night Sky
-“The Moon” by Robert Louis Stevenson
-“Star” by Jane Taylor – Poem behind Twinkle Twinkle.
-“Silver” by Walter de la Mare
-“The Stars are Coming Out”
-“Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” by Eugene FieldArt Activities Inspired by the Night Sky
-Starry Night Swirls – Use Van Gogh’s Starry Night as inspiration.
-Black Paper + Chalk Pastels – Create galaxies, stars, and moons.
-Tinfoil Moon Craters – Make 3D moons using foil and paint.
-Constellation Art – Use stickers or white paint to create constellations.
-Glow-in-the-Dark Starscapes – Use glow paint to make night sky jars or posters