Bunny & Puppy’s Adventure

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Once upon a time a young girl called Lisa had found a bunny and a puppy. She named the bunny Puppy and the puppy Bunny. One day her mother got very angry. Unfortunately she took it out on Puppy and Bunny.

When I got up the to feed them the next day, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I had grown to love them. I went up to my mam and dad’s bedroom and told them I couldn’t find Puppy and Bunny anywhere. They said “They’ll turn up”. I called and called and told my friends to look for them,  but after a few days I started to worry so much I couldn’t get to sleep at night. I put up posters everywhere.

Meanwhile Puppy and Bunny had walked towards the sea. They walked and hopped. When they got to the little seaside village of Stradbally, they were passing a little shop when a big ship started sailing in. It was a pirate ship. The pirates took Bunny and Puppy on board the ship. The dog and the bunny were put in a cage and fed but what they didn’t know was that the pirates were fattening them up so they could eat them. They couldn’t get out so they ate and ate.

On the pirate ship was a cat. The only reason they didn’t eat the cat was because he ate the mice. The cat didn’t like his job. His name was Ginger. One day Ginger said “if I leave ye out will you bring me with ye?”

Of course they said “yes”, so the cat let them out, but as they were getting off the boat one of the pirates saw them he called out “They’re escaping.” All the other pirates woke up and they caught them. They put all of them in the cage, even Ginger, against his protests. There was loads of mice in the ship from then on. They couldn’t get out.

One day a pirate named Black Beard opened the cage to get the Puppy out, but when he put his hand in the cage a dog bit his hand, hard, he jumped back and shouted OW.

Lisa got so worried that she had gone to every town she could think of except for Stradbally so one day when she heard on the news that Stradbally had been invaded by pirates and that they had seen them taking a dog and a rabbit. She got really worried when she heard this, she got such a fright that she jumped off the chair and on to the floor.

One day Ginger, Puppy and Bunny were sitting in their cage and a mouse walked by. Ginger jumped up and said “Let’s ask one of those pesky mice to get us out”. The mouse that was passing said “I’ll do it if that cat doesn’t eat me or my family”. Ginger jumped up and said “Yes yes I won’t eat you if you leave us out.” The mouse whose name was Mousy said “OK”. There was a loud click and the door of the cage swung open and all of them jumped out. “Can I come with you?” said Mousy. “Yes”, said Puppy. Then the pirates went back in to Stradbally.

Lisa was waiting at the beach when she saw the pirate ship. She was so exited Therer was a sudden rush of fear. What if they are dead? Then out came Puppy and Bunny a cat and a mouse. Ginger and Mousy went back with them too, and they all lived hppily ever after…even my mother.

I got this image on google images.

Artist in My School Project

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Pupils and staff with Miranda Corcoran, March 22nd, 2013

Pupils and staff with Miranda Corcoran, March 22nd, 2013

On Friday last (March 22nd, 2013), a six-month-long “Artist in My School” programme came to a wonderful finale at Our Lady of Mercy School in Stradbally. The artist in question is Miranda Corcoran from Bunmahon. She worked with pupils from Junior Infants right through to sixth class on a weekly basis since September last, and the results of their work have been placed on permanent display at the entrance to the school. Working on a brief to create a piece around the theme of Irish legends, much discussion with the children eventually narrowed it down to two pieces that they are learning about this year: The Salmon of Knowledge and The Children of Lir.

It is true to say that the children have benefited greatly from this experience. Teachers have commented that it has given them a greater sense of confidence in their artistic abilities and this also transfers directly to other classroom work. According to school principal, Pádraig de Burca, the benefits will be long-lasting. “I have seen the project grow from an idea to what we have on display here today.  It is true to say that every child has learned and developed their skills and their enjoyment of creative art, and this permanent display will have a long-lasting benefit to our school and the pupils who created it. It is their legacy, and will be here long after them”

Speaking to a large gathering of pupils, parents and members of the wider community, Miranda Corcoran thanked the children for their enthusiastic participation, their ideas, and their help to one another during the course of the project. “Towards the end of the project I noticed how the pupils seemed surprised at how all their ideas came together so well in this vibrant artwork. It seems to have given them a huge sense of pride and it certainly is a great achievement by them. Many different techniques were learned along the way including silver leafing and mosaic. They worked really well as a team and as time went on their skills and confidence grew.”

Miranda Corcoran is co-owner of The Art Hand, an art school based near Bunmahon.  They have over 40 young students who take part in classes on a weekly basis. They also run an outreach programme for schools where they usually undertake specific art projects.

Back in June 2012 Miranda won a Wonderwoman of Business Award. The Awards were established by The Women’s Enterprise Network to celebrate outstanding women in business in County Waterford. The staff, parents and pupils at Our Lady of Mercy in Stradbally fully endorse her skill and enthusiasm and wish to thank her most sincerely for her magnificent work here since last September. Miranda can be contacted at www.theArtHand.com

 

The Children of Lir

The Children of Lir

 

The Children of Lir

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Extract from talk by principal, Pádraig de Búrca to pupils and parents on March 22nd:

I want to welcome everybody here today. It’s a dreary miserable morning outside, but inside there is beauty, creativity and inspiration. This beauty, inspiration and creativity began back in September 2012. I spoke with my staff and we decided to approach Miranda Corcoran to work with us. We had no real idea of what we might do, but we wanted a dominant piece of mural art for the school. For the first three sessions, Miranda worked only with Mrs Crowley, Mrs. O’Riordan and myself. We narrowed down our ideas. We decided the porch would be the place to use. We wanted it to be linked to schoolwork in some way. We wanted it to be a piece involving every pupil in the school. The journey from these ideas to what is on display today is nothing short of remarkable. Your child will have told you about the lessons themselves. Your child will have told you about the sense of excitement, the sense of achievement and the sense of pride.

I feel that we have been very fortunate to have had Miranda Corcoran in our school every Wednesday since last September, for a number of reasons. She has been a breath of fresh air. She has awoken a level of creativity in each child that they may not have known was within them. She has inspired us. I mentioned to Miranda a few weeks ago that I had noticed a very positive art impact in the quality of artwork within my class. Miranda was not at all surprised. There is always a strong spillover effect when confidence and creativity are abundant, she said to me.

I want to comment on the circular disks already unveiled around the entire porch area. It was our original intention to link these to both main pieces by using decorative Celtic Art. In, fact the boys and girls learned quite a bit about Celtic design, and we were in the process of preparing and painting / decorating each piece. However, something wonderful happened, and the change happened not because of the adults. The change came about because of the freedom to discuss that is within these children…the freedom to offer suggestions knowing that they will be acknowledged, the freedom to be brave and take a risk. When I think about this, I am proud to be a teacher, because much of this freedom is what life really is all about. In the end, we changed tack. One large disk depicts the school crest.  Each of the remaining disks contains a word that represents something within our school that the pupils picked out as being important. They hit the nail on the head. Here are the words: Play, Fun, Teamwork, Confidence, Creativity, Faithfulness, Inspiration, Friendship, Community, Gratitude, Peace, Knowledge and “Le Chéile”.

What more needs to be said?

Living In Stradbally

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My name is Emily. I am 11 years old. I am in fifth class in Our Lady of Mercy NS. My teacher is called Mr. de Búrca. He is the principal of the school. I have one sister called Róisín and two brothers, Eoin and Fionn. I also have a dog called Diver.

I live in Stradbally Co. Waterford. It is a very nice place to live. It has two beaches. One is called Ballyvooney and the other is called the Cove. The cove is a lovely sandy beach and Ballyvooney is a beautiful rocky beach. It is fun to watch the waves there on a windy day. I enjoy going to the beaches in Stradbally. They are a great place to get fresh air.

The parish priest in Stradbally is called Fr.Condon. He is very friendly. He knocks very loudly on the door of our classroom so that we know that it’s him. He is often seen whizzing around in his black Toyota Yaris, going to and from mass and visiting the people of Stradbally.

In the village, there is a GAA club and a soccer club. There is a shop and and two pubs. There are three primary schools and one preschool.

Soon we will have a new playground  for the children of Stradbally. It will be a great place to play and have fun. I am really looking forward to the opening of the new playground.

 

 

Stradbally is kept tidy by the Tidy Towns committee.Stradbally is a great place to live and I love living here.

The Snownan

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I made a snowman.

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I love the snowman.

but something is missing.

Two eyes, a nose and a smile.

But still something is missing.

He just won’t smile.

What’s wrong snowman?

I hugged the snowman.

Then he began to smile!

Do you want to see him?

Of course you do!

Here he is!

by Ava in First Class

The Great Famine

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The Great Famine started in 1845 and ended around 1850. More than 1 million Irish people died and about 2 million people emigrated.

Men, women and children were starving to death in their mud cabins. Some people were so weak and sick they couldn’t even bury members of their family that had passed away during the famine.

In September 1845 a new disease called ‘Blight’ attacked the potato crop in Ireland. The smell of rotton potatoes was everywhere. Over 70,000 people died of starvation.

In the summer of 1846 more people were getting hungry and the disease spread. People started to sell all they had left, to get money for food and rent. The weak and starving people ate whatever they could find like, grass, nettles and sometimes even hegdehogs. Many more people died. Some died on the roadside. Most were found with grass stains on their mouths.

 Workhouses

 When the workhouses first opened, very few people visited. As the food was disappearing, many people started to dislike the workhouses. The poor, starving people were given food and rooms in the workhouses. Parents hated being separated from their children. Many people were dying and there was not enough coffins to bury them in.

My Celtic Diary

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Monday 24th

Dear Diary,

It’s Monday morning. For my breakfast I had porridge. After my breakfast I did my chores. I milked the cows and the goats, I fed the pigs, cows, goats and the sheep. My dad was gone for a battle. The other week they discovered iron, and they made iron weapons for fighting and iron tools for farming. They used the iron weapons for Battle today, and since we had iron weapons we won!!!!!.

We didn’t have to live the lives of nomads anymore. We finally could settle down in one place. It came to night time. Before we went to bed we fed the animals, but one of them was missing!!. We knew one of the other Celts had stolen our cow, so we decided to steal it back in the morning.

Copyright armchairgeneral dot com


The Great Famine 1845 – 1850

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Mr. de Búrca told us that a man was going to come in to talk to us about the famine. His name was John. The next day John came in and he told us about the workhouse in Dungarvan which is now an eye-clinic. He explained that the boys were trained to put the soles on shoes (have a close look at the machine in the picture above) and the girls were taught lace-making and embroidery. He also said that 200 girls were sent to Quebec in Canada. They were all around my age, older and younger.

John told us lots of people died or emmigrated. Around one million people died and another one million emmigrated. The main food at that time was potatoes and when blight attacked the potato plant, there was no food to be eaten.

The famine was called the Great Famine because it was so long. There was a group of people in America called the Choktaw Indians who sent Indian corn to Ireland, but eating this also killed many of the Irish people because they could not digest this properly.

The workhouse had lines of hundreds of people dying or dead outside. Even inside the workhouses they still died. All they got to eat was one bowl of soup each day.

Some landlords owned the houses that workhouses were made from and they just evicted everybody and made it all into an area to farm animals.

Written by E.R, 4th class, December 2012.

Historical artifacts

The Great Famine, 1845. We learned about the workhouse in Dungarvan.


Robot Pupils

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Yesterday was nearly the last day of my life. I had to supervise the juniors and seniors classes because their teacher, Mrs. Crowley, went home sick. They might have sounded harmless but they were far from it.

I walked into the classroom with my best friend Emily. They were working quietly, but when I accidentally banged the door they all stopped working and looked at us with their big red eyes. We knew at that moment that they had turned evil. They got up off their chairs and  attack us. We tried to open the door but it was jammed. What could we do now? We tried to put soap on them from the sink in their classroom but the soap ended up on us. We thought that they were vampire children but they were robot children. The robot children got sharp pencils and started throwing them at us. Then they tried to throw paint at us. I shouted so people would hear me but nobody did.

They were coming nearer and nearer to us. It was really frightening. Suddenly there was a knock on the window, it was the sub-teacher. The robot children ran straight back to their seats. Emily and I made a promise that we would never go into that classroom again.