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Tidy Town's Poetry Competition
Our class had two winners in the recent Tidy Town's poetry competition -
Tara and Luke. Well done to both of them! Here are their poems:
E Ennis is a place with not a speck in sight
N Not to be passed, day or night
N Never just think it’s a normal town
I It has everything so don’t be down
S So it’s going to be great, come on down & don’t be late.
O Over and back every day
U U’ll never get tired of the same old thing
R River and trees of every sort, lots of fun & lots of sports
T There’s festivals, playgrounds and everything too
O Only thing you need is a friend or two
W When and where, you need to be there,
N Nothing is better than our clean crystal care.
by Tara
ENNIS – Imagine that,
The fantastic views and very friendly people;
Free art, brilliant education, cosy houses and yummy food;
Ennis, Ennis, and Ennis -
I can’t get it out of my head;
Sad and happy dramas, and entertainment,
I have an idea –
Let’s go to Ennis !
by Luke
My Mastermind Experience
Last Sunday, I featured on Junior Mastermind on TV3. It all began last March when I applied. My friend Dan also applied. The next stage was an audition in Athlone. Both Dan and I got through to this. The audition was 25 questions and a chat with the producers. I got 19/25 questions correct, which I was fairly happy with.
A few days later a quick phone call told me that I had gone through.
As another month whizzed by, I suddenly found myself walking past St. Stephen’s Green, on my way to the filming in the Royal Irish Academy on Dawson Street, Dublin. First we were left to get to know each other. I quickly befriended Cian Smart. Then we had our rehearsal and chatted with the producers and our host, Nora Owen. Then the filming began. I have never been as nervous in my life as I was then. After my specialist round on Apollo 11 I had 13 points. After the general knowledge round I finished in 2nd place with 21 points. That’s my Mastermind Experience!!!!
BY LIAM M.
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Munster Schools Swimming Championships
On Sunday 7th October 2012, I , Elise, went to represent our school in the Munster Minor (Primary) Schools Swimming Championships. The Championships were being held in the University of Limerick pool. I entered two events, the 50 meter Freestyle and 50 meter Backcrawl.
That morning I was quite nervous. When I got there my nerves started growing even more. I was constantly shaking. There were hundreds of children there from different schools in Munster. Unfortunately, I had to wait a while before I actually swam.
Then my first event, the 50 meter Freestyle, was up. I stood up on the meter high block, my heart pounding eagerly against my chest. I crouched down into a diving position. The buzzer blew and all ten of us competitors dived in wanting to get the best start. In mid-air the thumping of my heart suddenly stopped and I raced as fast as I could. I was glad the pool was only 25 meters long. That meant that it was only there and back, 2 times 25 meters. On last length I hit the wall hard, making sure the Omega time keeping boards recognised something had hit them so that my time was recorded properly. I got out of the pool and my mum told me that I got into the finals! I nearly screamed out loud. I was so delighted!
The Backcrawl event was different. This time I started in the water. I got into position. The buzzer blew again and we were off. There was a voice in my head saying “Go! Go faster Elise!” I hit the wall. “You got into the finals!” I looked up. A lady was standing over me smiling.
The finals were nearly the same but, somehow I went faster and came 3rd in both events. I came home with two Bronze Munster medals and I got through to the All-Ireland School Championships, which will be in March in Dublin. I was overjoyed. Wish me luck!
Elise receiving her medals in UL - well done indeed !
Building Bridges
For the past 4 weeks, an art teacher has been visiting us in our classroom. Her name is Kathleen Moroney. She is a well experienced artist with lots of skill in ceramics and has been very patient with us. When Ms Moran first told us we were getting an art teacher, my face lit up with excitement. That is because art is, and always will be, my favourite hobby. It is a five-week programme.
We started to search for some information beforehand. The first time she came in she showed us pictures of all different types of bridges like arch, suspension, cable-stayed and beam bridges. She told us bridges come in many shapes and sizes. Kathleen also showed us a few pictures of clay mines and bridges. She has had loads of experience making art in many different places, including China.
You start off with thinking of ideas in your head and then, when you have got that done, you have to draw it lightly out on an A4 page. After that, we turned them into 3D pictures with paper. We used black strips of paper and started bending them in such ways that we could never have imagined. This was the hardest part as it required a lot of imagination and creativity but you also had to be careful not to tear the paper as it was fragile and you needed a delicate touch. We were really excited about it.
When we were all finished, Kathleen showed us how to make a bridge out of clay. A lot of us didn’t get the hang of it, including me. The next time, she gave us instructions to follow and it has worked out pretty well. She came in with ‘slip’ which is glue for clay and it worked perfectly.
On the third week we built pillars out of the clay and had to make them look perfect and moist. Kathleen told us that the pillars that hold up the bridge have to be thick and hard to support the structure of the bridge. They were very fragile so we had to be careful. She guided us through the basic things like sticking the clay together and then we went off on our own. It took a lot of effort but we all managed to produce an amazing and unique bridge each. She got a bit of a shock that our work was so good. Kathleen let us feel and experiment with the clay and she also gave us helpful tips for working with clay. She has shown us new ways to use clay and to use whatever is available. So, hopefully, after this, we’ll be able to make more sculptures out of clay for the time we have left in primary school.
I really enjoyed the fourth week because we went freestyle, decorating and structuring our bridge. We have decorated them with many things including golf tees, lollipop sticks, wooden beads, matchsticks and pipe cleaners. Then, when it’s finished, you would paint it and your mission is complete. I’m looking forward to next week to painting our bridges
Doing this project with Kathleen was very enjoyable. She has been a great support to us. The best thing that we’ve done was to make bridges out of clay because everybody’s came out different and fantastic. It has been a slow and memorable process but we got here in the end. Thank you for this great experience. I will build a real bridge when I grow up.
With contributions from every pupil in Ms. Moran’s 5th class. |
