Designing a new station for Oranmore

Learning Russian songs

We heard some lovely Russian songs today.  We all learned a little of the TeeMushka (ladybird) song.  Isn't it wonderful to be able to speak lots of languages?  Even teacher is jealous!

More train activities

Our mascot

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

We have a new classroom mascot.  He is going to travel to Dublin and then to Moscow, to represent us in Moscow next week. 

 Five Galway Schools will represent Ireland at the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum that takes place in Moscow from the 22nd to the 24th of March. Clontuskert NS, Woodlawn NS, Attymon NS, Athenry Boys and Scoil Chaitríona Renmore are five of sixteen schools taking part in a unique collaborative, cross curricular project called Keep on Track that connects schools from Galway to Dublin along the Inter City Rail Line. 

WE are one of the schools involved, and our mascot is going to represent our school and our class at this event. 

A launch day will be held in the Radisson Hotel in Galway on June 9th 2011 where schools will present their Project Findings. A Special Irish Rail train will bring all schools involved to and from Galway for the day of celebration. The project’s blog http://www.keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/ is updated by schools on a regular basis. During the Innovative Education Forum updates from school mascots will appear on the blog to inform everyone of the progress of the project in the competition. Read more about this exciting project on http://www.keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/

Finished solar powered train

Teacher has got it working.  The problems were:  The wheels weren't pushed in enough and the wheels needed to  be filed down a little.  It works now, but is not really strong.  It's quite a small motor for such a big train.

We tried out our solar train again today (now that teacher has filed the wheels).  It worked so well.  It worked best with just the engine, on tarmac, then concrete.  It worked ok with a carriage, but was a bit slower when we put on a carriage and the caboose.

Making a solar powered bullet train

Monday, March 14th, 2011
Inspired by our LEGO robotics, teacher bought a make-it-yourself Solar-Powered-Bullet-Train.
The pieces look like our LEGO pieces, but a little smaller.

We started making it today, but ran out of time.  We will finish it tomorrow.

Train booklets

Finding trains at home

Now that we are interested in trains, we are finding them at home, and bringing them in to show teacher and the other kids in the class.  This is a nice train from my home.

Exploring magnets and magnetic levitation

As part of our science exploration into magnets, we looked into how magnetic levitation trains work.  These are not in operation yet, but we explored magnetic attraction and repulsion at one station in our magnetic stations.  The work at this station (and the other stations) can be seen in the pictures below: (clicking on a picture will enlarge it for a better view)

Painting trains

Video of an intercity train

Here is a video we took of an Intercity Galway to Dublin train

Taken at 12:10pm on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Train walk