September 2004

Hello I’m Luke. I’m one of the editors for September and October. I’m twelve years old and I have two brothers. My favourite subject is art. Everyone here is going to try to keep the website really good, so sit back, look around our site and enjoy!

Hi I'm Ryan, I am twelve years old. I'm in sixth class. I'm one of the editors. I have one brother and one sister. My favourite subject is art. I was born in America. I hope I do a good job on the website. My favourite food is chicken nuggets and chips.

1st & 2nd Class have been learning how to write a simple poem about "WHITE" (and other colours). Here are some of the poems.

Here is a tale from Old Ireland. 3rd & 4th Class have been learning about it in their History lessons.

Ugany the Great had two sons. Their names were Leary and Corac. When their father died Corac became King and Leary was very angry. Leary always wanted to kill his brother since then. He wrote a fake letter to Corac saying he had died. Corac forgot about all their fights and went to visit the body. He brought his son Ailil and his grandson Maon. As Corac bent over

Leary he suddenly rose and stabbed Corac and Ailil. Maon survived but was shocked by what he saw. Leary became King. Maon was raised by the King of Fermoy and made friends with his daughter Moriath. When he grew up he was sent to his grandmother in Gaul. Maon and Moriath never forgot each other. Moriath wrote a song about Maon and persuaded her. Father’s harpist to go to Gaul with it. At the French court the harpist played Moriath’s song. Maon was filled with memories and his voice returned! Immediately he vowed to get that untrustworthy Leary and set sail to Ireland with warriors. It was a winning battle and Leary died. Maon was King and was known as Labhra Loingsigh as he could speak again. He and Moriath then married. As King Labhra did one bad thing every year. He had long hair covered with a hood. Each year a barber cut his hair and he would kill him after. One year he chose the son of a poor widow to cut his hair. The widow in horror pleaded with the King not to kill her son. Labhra said he wouldn’t kill her son. The widow had to promise her son could keep the secret. Her son promised to keep the secret. The boy became sick and his mother went to a druid.

The druid said he had to tell the secret to the first tree he should see. The son told a weeping willow. He soon recovered. Soon after the kings harpist needed a new harp. They cut down the same weeping willow. They made the harp and it was played at Labhra’s hall. The harp sang out “Labhra Loingsign has ass’s ears”. Labhra stood up and showed his ears. That was the end of killing barbers who cut his hair.

Finn Mac Cumhaill asked Gráinne Mac Airt to marry him but at their party Gráinne fell in love with Diarmuid, one of Finns warriors. Gráinne wanted Diarmuid to take her away and she put a spell on him to do this. Diarmuid was in trouble whether he went with her or not. The couple left Tara and crossed the river Shannon. Finn and his men tried to track him down but Diarmuid was too smart for them and many of Finns men died.

Grainne and Diarmuid finally got married and got permission to stay in a forest on the condition that they did not touch the fruit that grew there. Gráinne became pregnant and wanted to eat the berries. Diarmuid killed the ogre to get them and Finn came after them again. Aonghus settled the row between Finn and Diarmuid. Diarmuid and Gráinne stayed together and had more children but meanwhile Finn was secretly planning to get revenge.

Finn knew when Diarmuid was born, it was said that he would be killed by a boar. One night he brought Diarmuid to hunt a boar. Diarmuid fought with the boar but was left dying himself when he managed to kill the boar with his sword. He asked for a drink of water from Finns hands in order to save his life but Finn refused until Oísín, his son threatened to kill him. However Diarmuid died before Finn got the water to him, and so ended one of the greatest Irish love stories.

Oisin was no ordinary child. He was a very big baby at the age of nine months. Every day Oisin drank a barrel of milk. Finally Finn decided that fresh fish might satisfy his young son. He set off early next morning after making a rod for himself with a wolf’s tooth as a hook. On his way he passed a gloomy haunted place called Geata na Spioraid. An ugly old cailleach greeted him and seemed to know his business. She crackled that shark was the only fish that would satisfy Oisin's legendry appetite. She gave him something wrapped in catskin for bait. Finn took the bait and started to fish.

After a while something caught the bait and pulled Finn into the dark waters. Finn had hooked a mermaid who was raging with him and brought him before the queen. She had three sharks with her. The queen told Finn to kneel down kiss the floor and say why he was there. Finn told her of his attempt to catch sharks as the cailleach told him. The queen knew that the cailleach was a bad mermaid and was condemned to walk in the big world losing her tail as a punishment.

She challenged Finn to race her sharks back to the cliffs and gave him ten minutes of a headstart. He had only gone a short way when he heard the sharks coming. Finn aimed his rod at the sharks eye and blinded him. The second shark got the full force of Finns boot and slung back and the third shark was hammered by Finns fist. He finally made it home. When he got home he had no fish and his wife was cross and Oisin was so hungry. He headed off to Mac Giolla Meidhre of Gleann Draoi and bought six kerry cows. There was no more trouble in the house and Oisin grew up to be wise and goodlooking and all because of the Kerry cows and Finns journey to the watery land of the mermaids.

My dog is a nice dog. He doesn’t bite; he is a nice little fella. His name is Satee. When I come home I race him all the time up the drive. Sometimes he wins and sometimes I win. I like my dog.

Which is which?

A sea-picture made by Marie and Helen using PaintShop Pro.
Another seascape, by Fiona, Brandon & Tom.
A picture made by David, Jack, Meabh and Joseph. They are in 5th Class. What is it exactly?
A picture created by Lee. He is in Junior Infants. Micheal and Robert in Second Class scanned it using a Scanner.
Rinne Ailbhe é seo. Tá sí i rang Mrs. Fennell.

Here are some notes the navigator uses to tell the driver what kind of corner is coming up next.

A pigmy shrew is the smallest mammal in Ireland. The gestation period is 21-22 days. The pigmy shrew feeds continually through day and night. It’s preyed on by Owls, Foxes and Stoats. It eats insects such as woodlice and beetles. Its muzzle is long with whiskers. A Pigmy Shrew has very poor eye sight. It has a good sense of smell. If two Pigmy Shrews were in a tin one of them would eat the other one. A mouse looks like it but it isn’t a mouse. It has long sharp nails. You can tell if it’s a baby by checking if it has hairy tail. The Pigmy Shrew died in our chicken’s water trough. A Pigmy Shrew lives in old grass and leaves.

This lady lives in New Guinea. Micheál was learning about this in "The Kingfisher Children's Encyclopedia." (Copyright)

We went on holidays. The hotel was good. There was gums inside. We went to a water park. The pool was good. I love holidays. We had a good time.

One day I went to France. We went to a water park. There were big slides. There was a pool with waves. There was a diving pool. Afterwards I got ice-cream and i went back to the campsite. There was a playground and lots of tables.

Me and my family went to France. I went to a pool. I got ice-cream. i like France. I saw robert. We had fun. I went to the playground with robert and Cian. We went on a trapeze. it was fun, and I like it.

Mise Ellen.

Tá mé i rang a dó.

Tá an lá go deas.

Is maith liom rang a dó.

Ellen, 7

When Setanta was young he always dreamed of becoming a member of the Red Branch Knights. He went to Emhain Macha to train at the Macra, a special training school for young warriors. One

day King Conor Mac Nessa was invited to a feast at Cualann’s house and Setanta was invited to come along. Cualann was a smith who made spears for the warriors. His work was famous all around Ireland so it was a great honour to be invited to his feast.

One day Setanta was playing hurling with his friends and he said he would go to the feast when the game was over. When he got to the house of Cualann he knocked on the door. He was about to shout when he heard a growl. He looked over and there was a hound guarding the door. The hound made a jump at Setanta but Setanta, with all his strength, shot his sliotar down the dogs throat. It fell down and died. When Cualann saw what happened he was glad that the boy was okay but sad that the dog had died. Setanta said that he would get a pup from the hound and train it to become a guard dog. But until the dog was trained Setanta said that he would stand in for the hound and guard Cualann’s house. From that day on Setanta was known as Cú Chualainn, the hound of Cualann.

Na Fianna were an army of heroes. They were the army of the

Ard Ri, High King. Finn Mac Chuaill was their mightiest leader. If a man wished to join Na Fianna he had to pass many rigorious tests. A warrior was armed with only a stick and a shield had six spears thrown at him from nine ridges away, and he had to run through a wood without letting these catch him. A warrior had to leap a pole as high as his head, he had to run at full speed under a rod as high as his knee. They had to read twelve books of poetry and read stories about Irish people.