October 2003

Halloween

Halloween is on once a year on October the thirty-first. All children dress up like spooky children. They all go around to houses, getting sweets by saying trick-or-treat. It is called trick-or-treating. They play games: snap the apple is one, you tie a string on the apple and stick it to the ceiling and put money in the apple, and you tie your hands behind your back. People wait till its dark to go trick-or-treating. There are bonfires again that usually happens, people get tyres and sticks and they put a fire on. It usually happens on a hill. It can take a long time to eat your goodies.  

Dillon, Lorcan and Ryan

Transport Survey, October 2003

This survey was done on the 10th of October by pupils in sixth class. The results were given to Mrs. Fennell, and 2nd class helped to turn them into a chart which you can see here. In 3rd and 4th class 15 pupils come to school by bus, 8 by car, and 2 pupils walk to school. We will do results next month.

by Kevin and Alix, with a bit of help from 2nd Class.

Our Junior Infant Class 2003

A Little Dog

Today I saw a little dog,

Who was after killing a very big hog.

I jumped up with a fright,

And then the dog was out of sight.

I ran home, I told Dad,

He said "Are you sure you're not gone mad?"

I told my mum, she had just been sacked,

She said "You're definitely gone cracked".

I’ll show them I will,

But first I must pay my computer games bill.

  by Joseph, 4th Class  

Environmental Hat and Poetry Competition Prize Winners

Some of the people in our school entered a Hat and Poetry Competition held by the County Council. We had seven prize winners from our school.

The winners of the Environmental Hat Competition are: 1st under-7 Rae-Anne, 3rd under-7 Nicola, 1st under-9 Jack and 2nd under-12 Louise.

The winners of the Environmental Poetry Competition are: 1st under-7 Evie, 1st under-9 Lorcan, and 2nd under-9 Brandon.

They went to Modeligo on the 30th of September 2003 to receive their prizes for the competition.

The prizes were: 1st place, a plaque and a voucher for 25 euro. The prizes for second place were a plaque and a voucher for 20 euro, and the prizes for third place were a plaque and a voucher for 15 euro. The school won the overall prize which was an over-head projector because we got the most prizes. We got a certificate as an award for getting the Green Flag in 2003.

by  Bernadette, Alix and Aoife.

My Family

My family is the best family in the whole world. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters, and 1 dog and 1 puppy. My dad plays football with us every night. My mammy helps with my homework. She plays with me as well as daddy.

by Mary-Kate

Ballinameela Community Centre

The Ballinameela community are raising money to build a community centre. It is already under construction beside the school. They are also reseeding the old G.A.A. pitch.

Selling Tickets

Members of the community have gone to places around the country and county selling tickets for quads which will be placed in a raffle. They have gone to such places as the Dungarvan Show, the Clonmel Fleadh Cheoil, the Tallow Horse Fair and the 2003 Ploughing Match, and more. They also have a mini lotto (tickets 2 euro each). The prize will be 300 euro and if not won there will be a further 150 euro added on.

 We have made this into a Powerpoint Presentation. Click here.

My Pony  

I have a pony. Her name is Jilly. She is four years old. She is grey. She won rosettes at our local show. I like to ride her. I show jumped her in Ballyrafter  and I won a plaque.

Jilly Bean

My pony Jilly is a lovely filly

I ride her every day,

She likes to trot she likes to jump

But sometimes gets her own way.

One day we cantered down the lane

We had a lot of fun

She bucked and kicked and played some tricks

But I managed to hold on.

Ever since then she knows whose boss

And behaves very well.

My Dog

My two dogs are called Freddy and Dandy. Freddy is a golden Labrador and Dandy is a Jack Russell. They are very playful and friendly even though they sometimes bark at strangers. They sleep in the hayshed and always stay around the yard during the day.

by Laurence

Mini-Sevens'

On the 23rd of September we played the Mini-Sevens' in Abbeyside. In our group we had Abbeyside, Ardmore and Carriglea. Our first match was against Abbeyside and it probably was our hardest match, but we won. We played Carriglea next, and we had a convincing win over them. In our last match we played Ardmore. It was a tough match but we came out on top, and so we qualified for the semi-finals in Lismore. 

The following week we played our semi-final against Ballymacarbry. It was a very close match and it had to go into extra-time. We won by a few points in the end. We went into the final against Tallow. We were in the lead at half time. They tried everything but we won in the end. It was the first time the school won the mini-sevens. Breda Cleary presented the plaque to Tom Curran.

by Conor, Evan and James

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

My New Puppy

My new puppy is 6 months old and his name is Prince. He is a Papillion. He is very small and cute and white in colour. I feed him every morning with special puppy dog food and water and then I let him outside for a run around and a play with our big dog. He is an Alsatian and his name is Fardy. Prince sleeps at night in our house in his own basket with a cushion in it. He likes to play with the baby’s toys and tear them up if he can. I play with him everyday. I love playing with him.

By Mary-Kate

Hallowe'en

One night I was trick-or-treating. It was great fun, and I was tired when I got back. I like trick-or-treating. It is fun. This year I am going to be a clown. Last year I was a witch. I was asleep at my nanny's house on a chair. I got lots of sweets. The next day I got my sweets and then I ate them.  

By Rae-Anne  

The Archivist  

An archivist came to our school on the twenty-ninth of September. Her name was Joanne Rockwell. She brought documents and minute books. Documents and minute books are a type of archives. Records are archives too. Tthe records come in lots of different forms such as parchment, paper, bound volumes, maps, plans, photographs, sound recordings, film and electronic records. The archives are very delicate and not replaceable. The archivist has to look after them very well, so they check the humidity and the temperature. If there is too much moisture or to little moisture it could damage the archives.  Before putting an archive into storage Joanne has to check it to make sure it is not infested with bugs that eat the archives, like paper-eating bugs and computer viruses, things like that. On the old archives there are sometimes seals on them; seals are pieces of wax. Sometimes they have the family crest on it. This is for people who couldn’t read or write. It was like a signiture so they would know it was their’s. If you want information about something you should go to the Waterford Archive Service in Dungarvan or to the Waterford Archive Service in Waterford city.

By:     Luke, Jack and Michael        

Dungarvan Brass Band  

On the twenty-sixth of September the Dungarvan Brass Band came to our school. Five of them came in, but there are sixty-five of them in the band altogether. Their names were Tara, William, Neil, John and Sean. They played the James Bond theme, the Yellow Submarine and the Can Can. There was an open night for the Dungarvan Youth Band. The ages are eight years and upwards. You can play the tuba/base, cornet/trumpet and the euphonium. The Youth Band are preparing for a competition in Clonakilty. The Brass Band has played in competition in Belfast, Dublin, Paris and all over the world. Some people were allowed to go up and play some of the instruments. They showed us what each of the instruments sounded like on their own, and told us what they were called. They only had fifty mouthpieces, so not everyone was able to play. Mouthpieces cost fifty euro each. We were able to guess what songs they were playing. And we joined in for the Yellow Submarine, and hummed along for the James Bond theme. A girl in our class has started the Youth Band. We all had a great day. 

By Jenny, Louise and Lisa

My Dog   

My dog is called Rocky and he is a fox terrier. We got him last year, when he was 6 weeks old. He is a good watchdog and barks when people come to our house. We also have a cat and Rocky and the cat are best friends. Rocky always bites things and often steals teddies and slippers. Rocky is good FUN. His birthday is on the 12/09/02.    

Micheál

Planting Seeds

Cian and Michael spoke this story into the computer in Mrs. Fennell's class, and we typed it up.

Paintings by the Infants

The School Goldfish  

Our school have recently bought four gold fish thanks to Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Fennell. There were separated into two classrooms. Two

fish went to junior Infants and senior infants.  Two went to 3rd class and 4th class. The 3rd and 4th class called their fish Speedy, because he was always swimming around the place so fast.  The other fish was called Bubbles because he blows a lot of bubbles. In junior and senior infants they had “Name the fish competition”. There were loads of entries like Tyson, Nemo, Ciara, Jenny, Splash, Flipper, Jason and much much more. They finally decided Nemo after the movie and Splash. The fish have a lovely tank. They have things in it to swim around and have fun. They get fed everyday. The whole class swarms around them and each person gets it in turn to feed them. They have a list of names of whose turn it is to feed them in 3rd and 4th class. Fiona has fish at home and she brought in the food to feed them. The whole school love the fish.  

We will get a photo and put it here soon.

by Jenny

Mrs Crowley

Mrs. Crowley (Miss McDonnell as she is better known) is our Speech and Drama teacher. She comes to the school every Monday between 12:45pm and 3:00pm. She helps us to do school plays. We do a play every 2 years. 5th and 6th class a are  doing a drama exam in 2004. Every year there is not a play, 5th and 6th class have a drama exam. This year we are doing it about everything spooky. There are 32 in our class, so we will have to do the exams separately, so 5th will be doing their exam separate to 6th class.

by Bernadette, Aoife and Alix

 The Football League

In the Football League the teams play nine players aside. We are in the C division in our group. There is Glenbeg, Coolnasmear, Tourneena and Stradbally. So far we have won all our games. The closest match was against Tourneena, but we won by a single point. All the other games we won easily. We also played Clashmore. It was a great match and in the end we drew. We will play them again after Halloween. Also to add to our confidence we are Mini Sevens Western Champions. At the moment we are on a roll. Our team is: in goal Kevin, the backs are John, Tom, John and Tony, the mid-fielders are Jim, Evan, and James. Our forwards are David, Stephen, Conor, Shane, Lorcan and Colin. Hopefully our success will continue for a good while to come.