The class of 5th and 6th went to the 1st and 2nd classroom to help them with adding and subtracting money.We started by making groups of two euros,one euros,50c,20c,10c,5c 2c and 1c . We then had to work with them while they tried making the amounts of money they were required to make. They were then asked to add the amounts that were on the sheet . Once finished the sheet we wrote down sums for them to try which were a little more challenging. Once finished the sums we were sent back to our classroom again.We hoped they enjoyed our visit to the classroom. We certainly did! 
​By Thomas 5th Class

We also completed group projects. We made fact files of fictional people on the Titanic and included letters and background stories of them. We also drew portraits of them.

Congratulations to our girls' team who came runners up in the Mayo F.AI. 5 a side soccer tournament which was held in Milebush on the 25th April. The girls demonstrated an excellent display of skill and exemplary teamwork. Following the tournament they were presented their medals in school. Well done girls! 

Well done to our Boys' team also who also competed in the Mayo finals. They put up a great fight and demonstrated great teamwork on the day!

We would like to say thank you to Paul Beirne and all at F.A.I. for organising the tournament. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are already looking forward to next year' competition.

Showcase Day
On Tuesday evening the 13th of February, 5th and 6th class in Miss O’Brien’s room, launched the company Brilliant Bookmarks. All of our parents were invited to the official launch.
First our Storytelling team, Caolan, Jessalyn, Sinead, Alannah and Rianna, presented a PowerPoint about our company Brilliant Bookmarks to the parents. Then we sent the parents over to the ‘shop’, where the Sales team sold the Bookmarks.
We told the parents how much each bookmark cost to make and what profit we made by selling each bookmark then we told them how much they cost.
1 bookmark= €1.00
3 bookmarks= €2.50
 Almost all of the bookmarks sold out when the parents started to buy them. The most popular varieties were the Ballyhaunis, Mayo and The Eastern Gaels bookmarks. The least popular were the fish and the aliens but we hope that they will sell to the younger pupils.
By Caolán and Jessalyn 6th Class

This year we have been working towards achieving our 7th D.P.S.M. Award of Excellence. We are very  committed to promoting Science and Mathematics in Bekan N.S. This is a whole school attempt. Different classes chose their favourite Science experiments over the course of the year and these are the activities we will share with you. We hope that you enjoy viewing our application, as much as we enjoyed participating in D.P.S.M. awards. 

5th and 6th Class are really looking forward to their school tour to the Aillwee Caves.  This will take place in June!

Example 1 PowerPoint Presentation- 4th, 5th and 6th Class
:As you can see from our blog Bekan technology plays a very important role in Bekan N.S. We create all of our own PowerPoint presentations. We have also created these for our Junior Entrepreneur business ideas . Please take time to view our website so you can see how technology is embedded in our everyday learning! 

Example 2- Khan Academy- 5th and 6th Class
The children of 5th and 6th Class are participating in an in-class competition in Khan Academy at the moment. Children complete this during Maths class and it is also used as a homework activity.

















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Example 3- Literacy Lift Off- Junior Infants - 2nd Class
Junior Infants to Second Class use laptops daily during Literacy Lift Off. They practise their phonics and their reading skills.on a specialised computer programme.

​Building a raft
In school we entered a competition and we had to build a raft.
We had 20 elastic bands and 50 lollipop sticks.
We had 30 minutes to build our rafts.
 It had to hold as many marbles as possible in water.
Firstly, we had a class competition and then we chose the winning groups to represent
Bekan N.S. in the final.
 Thomas, Aaron, Charlie and Jack were on one team while Patrick, Caolán, Michéal and Senan were on another team
The competition took place in the McWilliam in Claremorris
There were lots of other schools there.
We didn’t win but overall it was a great day.
By Callum and Aaron

We had to use lots of Maths in our experiments. eg we have to measure liquids -capacity, measure flour- weight, egg drop- distance. We also had to create excel sheets for our JEP project.

5th & 6th class Science Fair
On the 24TH of April, 5TH and 6th Class invited 1st class to our science fair! We were split into groups of 2-4 people and we came up with different science experiments such as Vinegar Volcano, Magic milk / Butter, Slime/Oobleck, The Bubble Show ,Magnets , Lava Lamps and Dancing liquid !
The 1st Class children were split into groups of three. They then went around to the different stations. They were amazed to see such exciting, but educational, experiments. Not only did they have fun, but our class had just as much fun teaching them! We would definitely take part in a Science fair again!

​Marketing Team
 The first job we had to do was to choose questions for the research survey. We  then had to analyse them.
The majority of children voted for animals bookmarks and club and county colours bookmarks. We conducted the survey and when we gathered the survey sheets we returned to the classroom and tallied the results. We made a pie charts showing the results of the survey for the different classes and we presented these to the class.
We found out the cost of all of the materials and began production.
 
By Ava and Simon 

This year, on Internet Safety Day, the 6th of February our class teacher told us about the pros and cons of the internet. Some of the pros can be:
Websites such as Google or Wikipedia which can help people find out things they don’t know or advise people what to do in certain situations
Using social media to stay in contact with old or existing friends
Or using websites such as Tripadviser or Trivago to easily and quickly find the lowest prices for a variety of hotels
Although there are also many cons of the internet and some of these are:
Many websites can be run by bad  people such as hackers who might have made a website to look like a bank’s website and maybe able to get your ID passcode or other personal details
There are also people on the internet who say they are people who they aren’t and can take advantage of children, teenagers and even many adults if they aren’t careful
These examples are only some of the many reasons we should all be careful online and don’t say or do things we might regret in the future.
​By Rianna 6th Class

For the second part of our J.E.P project, six groups presented their projects to 3 dragons. Their names were Mr. Keane, Mrs Mc Donagh and  Katie Concannon.
Everybody got in to six groups and made Powerpoint presentations of their creations. Every day the different groups worked together to plan what they were creating.
To prepare for the Dragons every group practised their PowerPoints and made prototypes of their products. They practised speaking out loud in front of the class and teachers.
When the Dragons arrived everybody was excited and then presented their products to the Dragons . After presenting their products we let the Dragons have a few minutes alone to discuss their chosen product.
After a brief discussion, the dragons then said that Brilliant Bookmarks caught their eye and that Brilliant Bookmarks would then be the Bekan NS Junior Entrepreneur idea.
The whole class then came together and decided that we would make bookmarks of animals , aliens , county colours , team colours and mythical creatures.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the dragons.
The Story Telling Team- Sinéad,  Jessalyn, Patrick and  Caolán