St Eithne's School Garden

2010-12-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

It's hibernation time in the school garden.

The pond is frozen solid and there is a layer of snow on the ground.

We made sure that we didn't forget about the birds. We put bird feed on our bird table. The ground is too hard for the birds to search for worms so it is important to leave food out for them.

We hope that all the frogs are having a nice sleep in this freezing weather and we look forward to seeing them hopping around in the Spring.

2010-03-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

6th Class Ms Curry's class are taking part in the Agri Aware 'Ingredible Edibles Growing Challenge 2010'. This year, we have been giving a few different vegetables to grow.

Meet our Incredible Edibles and their minders....

Suzie Strawberry is being looked after by Niamh, Lauryn, Carly and Hannah.

Sammy Baby Spinach is being taken care of by Carol, Rebecca, Makayla and Nicole.

Larry Lettuce is being nurtured by Michaela, Rachel F and Ericha.

Ciara Baby Carrot is being looked after by Mary-Kate, Michelle and Rachel K.

Captain Colleen is being taken care of by Kellie and Louisa.

The Garden Wall Gets A Makeover

2010-03-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

2nd and 3rd worked so hard on Arts Day to paint the garden mural

This is what the walls looked like before...

And this is what they look like after...

2009-10-31T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Gardening Club have been busy every Thursday getting the garden ready. They have been painting, weeding, and making new habitat areas.

Since we started to develop the garden last year, lots of new wildlife has come in to make a home in the different areas of the garden. We even spotted a dragonfly hovering over the pond. The more work we do in the garden, the more wildlife we will attract in.

This is a giant Bumble Bee we spotted in the garden.

2009-09-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

September in the Garden

Back in school again and it's gardening time once more. The garden attracted lots of wildlife over the summer. The frogs have grown a lot since we last saw them. The girls in the Gardening Club had great fun today looking at the frogs in the pond. They are very well camouflaged so you have to be patient if you want to see them. Ms. Curry and Lauryn Mulligan saw one frog under logs in the log pile. The frogs will hibernate over Winter so they will be looking for a cozy place to sleep. Frog on 24/09/09

Taddle the Tadpole

2009-05-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Taddle The Tadpole Grows Up in 3rd Class

When we put the tadpoles in our garden pond, we took one out and put it in a fish tank in our classroom. We named it Taddle. We have been taking care of it and watching it grow and develop. We keep black paper around the tank because we know that Taddle does not like too much light. We only take it off when we want to look at him. Taddle has been eating lettuce and fish food. This is the story of Taddle's life...

We have been checking on Taddle every day in the classroom.

27/4/09

Today we noticed that Taddle has grown a bit. We saw a bit of his hind legs. Taddle is dark brown with dirty green bits. His tail is long and transparent.

11/5/09

Today we noticed that Taddle has grown into a small froglet. Taddle has his hind legs. They are so small and cute. Taddle's colour has changed. He is getting lighter in colour.

19/5/09

Taddle is now a bigger froglet. We noticed that Taddle's legs are growing bigger every day. They are massive now. They really look like frog's legs. Taddle is so quick at swimming in the water. He still uses his tail to swim.

25/5/09

Taddle's legs are very big now. His legs are bent like a frog's legs. We think he can swim very fast. Taddle's tail is shrinking. Taddle has his lungs now and he keeps popping his head up out of the water to breath. We can't wait for Taddle to be an adult frog.

28/5/09

The most exciting thing happened with Taddle today. Taddle has been popping his head out of the water much more over that last few days. On Monday, we put a small log into the tank in case Taddle wanted to jump out of the water and play. When we looked into the tank, it was so hard to see him because he was camouflaged. We got so excited today when we came into school because Taddle was crawling up the pond plant onto the log. Taddle is having loads of fun hopping off the log into the water. We had loads of fun too watching Taddle.

When we were cleaning out Taddle's tank, he was jumping around in the container we used to keep him in while we cleaned the tank out. He is able to jump so high. We are going to put him in a bigger tank tomorrow and make two sides: a water side and a land side. Taddle will be able to hop from the water side into the land side of his new tank.

28/5/09

Taddle can crawl up onto the log now. His tail is almost gone.

28/5/09

This is Taddle in the cup we use to keep him in while we clean out his tank. We have to be very careful now because he can hop out very quickly.

29/05/09

Taddle has grown over night! When we came into school this morning, Taddle was sitting on his log. The tail that he had yesterday has almost completely disappeared. We put him into a bigger tank with some pond creepy crawlies and a big stone that he can hop up on. He loves to sit out of the water now.

4/06/09

Taddle the Frog is gone to a Big Pond in the Sky

We are so sad that our favourite living creature has died. After the long weekend, we returned to school to find that Taddle had passed away. We don't know why he might have died. He had lots of food to keep him going. Maybe the water got too hot for him from the sunny weather. We buried Taddle in our Wildlife Garden and we will put a little stone on top to remember Taddle. We are so happy to have all the great memories of watching Taddle grow and change over the last months. We miss him already and are very sad that we didn't have a chance to put Taddle back out into the pond where he belonged.

We say goodbye to Taddle the Frog

Now, for some happier news.....

The other tadpoles in the pond have nearly caught up with how big Taddle was and have started to grow their front legs. They are all healthy and growing fast.

St Eithne's Wildlife Garden

2009-04-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

St Eithne's Wildlife Garden
The Story So Far
2008 - 2009

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This is what the garden looked like before work began on transforming it into a Wildlife Garden.

Ms Curry's Dad and Ms Heffernan's Dad helped out with the digging for the Native Hedgerow and the raised beds.

The girls in the after school 'Gardening Club' and the girls in both Ms Curry's class and Ms Heffernan's class kept the garden free from rubbish and weeds.

We planted sunflower seeds inside in the classrooms and, when they were big enough, we transferred them out into the garden. They grew so tall, even taller than John the Caretaker!! When we came back after the Summer holidays the sunflowers were starting to die so we left them in the garden for snails and other creepy crawlies to eat.

When we returned to school after the Christmas holidays there was a lot of work to do in the garden. In February, the garden got a complete makeover when Andrew Fleming (The Education Officer with the Wildlife Trust) and volunteers from a local company called Experian located in Northern Cross Business Park helped with heavy digging and the installation of the pond, among other jobs. Ms Curry had drawn a plan for the garden and it looks very like it now in real life. Thank you to all the volunteers!

Work done so far

The Wildlife Pond has been installed and soon we will be watching frog spawn growing and changing into frogs.

The Wild Meadow area has been dug and the seeds have been sown so watch out for the colourful wildflowers and grasses over the next few months. Rebecca Wall in 5^th Class and Abigail Smith in 3rd Class gave the idea for the shape of the meadow patch in a competition. Well done girls.

Shrubs and trees have been relocated to make room for our Wildflower Patch and our Butterfly Garden.

Before

During

After

This special Creepy Crawly Area with log piles and insect houses is a new home for lots of wonderful insects and creepy crawlies just waiting for us to examine them. This is where 4th Class have started to plant our Butterfly Patch.

A new bird table and bird feeding poles are part of our Bird Feeding Station.

There are six raised beds in the garden in which classes can plant fruit and vegetables. 5th Class did great work painting the beds in bright colours.

Fruit bushes have been planted too so keep an eye out for some yummy fruit.

2nd Class had fun planting herbs in the Herb Patch. Lavender, Lemon Balm, Rosemary and Parsley were planted. The girls loved the smells from the herbs. More herbs will be planted after Easter.

Funding so far:

St. Eithne's Parents' Association were very generous in donating 300 euro towards the garden.

Woodies DIY in Coolock were also very generous in giving 100 euro worth of tools and garden supplies.

Heritage Council of Ireland have given a grant of 1,000 euro which will be given when the garden is completed.

All donations are extremely welcome and worthwhile as can be seen from the photographs. Look out for a chance to 'Sponsor An Area' which will be available soon.

The Tadpoles Arrive!

2009-04-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today was so exciting...not only was it the day of our Easter holidays but it was also the day that the tadpoles arrived and were put into our garden pond. Andrew Fleming (Mouse) brought the tadpoles to the garden and 2nd Class, 3rd Class and Ms Heffernan's girls put the tadpoles into the pond using a strainer, while the rest of the school watched during yard time.

Some of the girls named their tadpoles (I wonder if they will know them when they are frogs!!). We are not sure how many tadpoles we put into the pond but we are looking forward to lots of them making it to become big frogs. They have a long journey of about 12 weeks to get through first. There are also some other creatures in the pond like Water Snails and Beetles. We put some pond plants in so that the tadpoles can hide from other hungry creatures.

Bird's Nest in the Garden

John the Caretaker found this bird nest in one of the shrub bushes near the garden. It is a blackbird nest and has four eggs. John keeps an eye on the eggs and will let us know if any of them hatch out.