Bridges
A bridge is a structure to cross an open space or gap. Bridges are mostly useful for crossing rivers, valleys, or roads by vehicles but people have also used bridges for a long time for walking.
There are six different types of bridges: 

• Cable-stayed bridges
• Truss bridges
• Beam bridges
• Arch bridges
• Suspension bridges
• Cantilever bridges.

​You can design and build any one of these kind of bridges but you will need to tell me why you chose this type of bridge.

There are other types of bridges and some contain elements of a few of the above ones so feel free to get a little creative with your task.

​Some things to consider 

• Where will the bridge be situated? Different types of bridges are more suitable to different types of terrain. It might be a good idea to find an image on the internet of a place that needs a bridge and then try to build the bridge you think would be most suitable.
• Materials: What materials are you going to use. You might need to raid the recycling bin to gather materials over the coming days. This is best done after you have decided what kind of bridge you would like to build.
• You’re bridge needs to be strong (and not just pretty). Make sure it can support some weight. If you have a toy car and it can hold it up then you are succeeding. Can it support more than 1 car?
• Do a Google search for Children’s bridge building projects for ideas of the kinds of bridges you could build.
• Remember that this isn’t a competition to build the biggest bridge. Go for design and strength rather than size.
• It’s ok to also build your bridges digitally in something like Minecraft but remember your bridge also needs to support the laws of gravity. There are things you can do in Minecraft that simply won’t work in the real world.

This is a video the Multi Class made a few years ago showing some of the bridges they built in Minecraft. 

The latest project tasked to the children in 5A is to design and build something that will glide, float or fly (or a combination of these) over as great a distance as possible. 
There are a few main possibilities for this. One is to create something that will glide over a distance like a paper aeroplane. This is usually done by throwing the object where it will land when it will run out ion power. The second option is to create something that will float (helium balloons are a great place to start but it will also need to move forwards). The final option is to make something that will fly using its own power source. This source could be something like air but there could be other possibilities. 

We have discussed the difference between flying and falling gracefully so simply throwing an object like a ball won’t cut the mustard this time. :) They have been told to expect failure and this week have we have been looking (and laughing) at the many many attempts people have made to make flying objects over the years. 

We will be testing them once all the projects are in and I’m really looking forward to seeing what ideas the children come up with. As with all science projects I would like them to record their ideas, designs, modifications, failures, etc.
There are also some great designs available online that use a variety of everyday items such as elastic bands to generate the power to fly but they should also try to come up with their own ideas. The videos below are a great place to start. It’s a 3 part video about the engineering behind making a paper aeroplane and the concepts of Lift, Drag and Gravity are well explained in them.​

Well done to everyone in 5A for their amazing Science Fair experiments and displays. It really was a wonderful day. You can watch the highlights in the video below.

The Schools Annual Science Fair is only a few weeks away and the children will be asked to start thinking like a Scientist over the next few weeks. This year we are trying to go as paperless as possible in the classroom and we are encouraging all classes in the school to do likewise. In the past all of the information on the Fair was sent out on paper but this year I have set up a separate website. The website is available at the link below and includes all the information the children will need to begin their projects. This is an event where we encourage parents to assist the children as much as possible and it's a wonderful way to get curious about all sorts of things.
CETNS Science Fair

Mia made this beautiful tree while learning about the Cherry Blossom Tree. We're hoping she will show us how in the coming weeks so we can make some of our own.

This week we got to plant our very own tree. It's a Native Irish Spindle. For the time being it will be spending its days with us in the classroom before being planted on the school grounds when it's a little bigger.

This year National Tree Day is being celebrated on the 3rd of October. In 5A we will be preparing for the day by learning about different trees. The children will be researching some of the different trees that grow in Ireland and preparing a digital book showing all the have learnt. We will be using Copyright free images in our book as part of our lessons on learning to use online resources correctly but the children are also encouraged to try and take some photos themselves of their chosen tree (if you can find one nearby). We are also hoping to plant a tree on the school grounds on the day itself. The children can began the process by researching some information on their chosen tree. I've included some links below to help the children get started. I have also shown them how to access the World Book Online for free. This is done by first accessing the www.scoilnet.ie website and then finding the link to the World Book Online. It's a fantastic way to research for a project and they should find many uses for it in the coming months and years. There is also a quick video on the parents page showing how to do this as well as a video explaining something called a Creative Commons Search. I will be explaining this in more detail over the coming weeks as we begin our first project of the year.
Scoilnet
Tree council
Ask About Ireland
DK Findout