Scoil na Mainistreach Times
March 2015 newsletter
editors this month 4th class
Dates for your diary

Standardised testing will
take place in of weeks commencing 11th May and 18th
May

Swimming commences for
3rd and 4th class on Monday 13th April

Swimming commences for
5th and 6th class on Thursday 16th April

Clothes collection to take
place on Thursday 16th
April.
Birthday Wishes for March go to……
Isaac Hassett, Abbey O’Dwyer, Ryan
Devane, Aoibhinn Finneran, Aoife Hynes,
David Larkin, Cillian Mahon, Melanie Howard, Aisling McHugh, Seamus Fitzgerald,
Orna Moynihan, Eoin Lynch, Ephraim Brotherton, Hannah Clune,
Cora Deane, Orla Dunne, Tomás O’Loughlin, Luka Howard and
Helena Downes.
By Niall Murphy & Evan Maxted
Mathletics
Students in fourth class, both from Mr Lynch’s and Mrs O’Donovan’s rooms are the first in Scoil na Mainistreach
to trial the Mathletics programme. Put simply, it is an online interactive platform where children answer Maths
questions to gain points and rewards. The questions are tailored for the children’s level and ability, are linked
directly to the strands of the Irish Primary Maths curriculum and are presented in both a fun and competitive
manner which the children enjoy. There are 2 basic elements to the platform; the first is one where children play
“Live Mathletics” against children from anywhere in the world and the second is where the children answer specific “Activities” set by the teacher to help consolidate and improve the skills from coursework already covered at
school with the teachers. The children gain points for all questions answered correctly and in fourth class all children will be hoping to achieve a Bronze Award (1000 pts) during the three week trial period. A special congratulations to Oisín McMahon for making it into the Hall Of Fame leaderboard. He was ranked 27 in
the whole of Europe on the 12th March!!!
The Grub Hub
The Grub Hub is a shop that sells healthy snacks. It
is run by the children in sixth class and it opens
every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The
shop concept was created in January and this idea
was the won the Junior Entrepreneur project in
sixth class. The children in sixth have not decided
yet how the profits will be spent. Children from 2nd
to 6th classes can go to the Grub Hub and choose to
buy any of these items;
Nature Valley Bars 80c, Snack-a-Jacks 80c, Water
50c, popcorn 50c, Chocolate rice cakes 50c or Belvita Breakfast Bars 50c.
By Killian Wall, Aidan Mulvey
and Cormac O’Keeffe
Book Review
Name: Skullduggary Pleasant, Sceptre
of the Ancients, Author: Derek Landy,
Book Number: 1 of 9
Age: 9+ , Pages: 371,
Points on A.R.: 10.0Pts
Book Level on A.R.: 4.9
After her Uncle Gordon’s death, Stephanie is left a
house in his will with many secrets. Nefrian Serpine, the first enemy, wants to get to the book of
names and a man is coming after Stephanie, (who
changes her name to Valkyrie) to take possession of
a key. Skullduggary Pleasant swoops in and saves
the day. Then Valkyrie enters the world of magic &
wonder where she meets many new friends, but also
faces great danger.
By Noah Clare, Ethan O’Gorman
and Senan Slattery
Scoil na Mainistreach Times
Congratulations and Sympathies
Congratulations:
Sports Update
I.N.T.O. Mini 7’s – Last week Scoil na Maiistreach participated in the opening round of this girls’ football
competition. The games were held in Clooney pitch
and they began at 11am on Friday March 20th. Scoil na
Maiistreach played Baile na Caillí in the semi-final.
Scoil na Mainistreach got off to a brilliant start scoring
the opening goal but by full-time the scoreline read 1-3
(Quin) to 2-0 (Baile na Caillí). Extra time would have to
be played and Scoil na Mainistreach responded well
scoring a goal and two points in the extra-time period.
In the final Scoil na Mainistreach defeated Clooney
after coming from behind in a spirited come back. On
April 15th the girls will contest the finals.
Basketball – This Tuesday the 24/03/15 the boys and
girls of 5th and 6th classes took part in a basketball tournament in Cratloe. Everybody who took part did their
best and played exceptionally well. The girls played
against Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge and Ballycar, winning
against Ballycar. Overall the girls came joint second in
their division. The boys played the same teams in their
division and they came out top in first place. Well done
to everyone who took part and good luck to the boys in
round 2.
Boys Hurling – The boys played in a 7’s hurling tournament in Clooney pitch. They played Knockanean and
were beaten by 5 points. They needed to beat Clooney
school by 11 to qualify for the final. This they did, but
unfortunately they were beaten by 4 points by Doora.
On Tuesday, the boys played a challenge match against
St Aiden’s from Shannon. 5th & 6th classes won easily,
however 4th class were narrowly defeated.
By Oisín McMahon, Sarah Manley and Emer Hynes
To the Banna Ceoil who came 2nd in Féile na hInse under
the expert guidance of Ms Costello, to Damien Guilfoyle, Ava Duggan, Tara Stritch and Aisling Egan who
came 1st in the Community Games Céilí Dancing in
Sixmilebridge, to Conan Fennell who came 4th in Community Games swimming, to David Larkin who came 1st
in a Tae Kwon Do competition, to 6th class who took
part in the Science Fair, to Saoirse Lyons in the Spelling
Bee representing Quin School, to Cora Dean who came
4th in Community Games swimming, to Adam O’Neill
and Kyle Hawton who came 1st and Áine Dempsey and
Eloise De Sousa who came 2nd in Agallamh Beirte in
Féile na hInse, to Jack O’Neill who came 1st in Munster
Championship for running, to Aidan Keating, Jack
O’Neill, Dannan Fox, Orna Moynihan, Sam Scanlan,
Róisín O’Mullane and Eimear McGee who go through to
the Munsters for Community Games tag rugby, to
Shauna Daffy who came 2nd in swimming for Community
Games, to Lucy Leamy and Zara Kirby who came 2nd in
the Community Games talent show, to Éabha Brennan
who came 3rd in the talent show, to Joyce Fitzpatrick
who came 3rd in the talent show, to Sarah Manley and
Ellen McSherry who came 2nd in the Community Games
project section, to Eoin Lynch who won gold in modelling and drawing and came 2nd in modelling in the County, to Aoife Hawkins who won a gold medal in Gymnastics, to Keellin Clune and Amelia O’Dea who won ballet
medals, to Rachel Rusk and Chloe Leamy who came 1st
in the Community Games Drama and to Ellen McCarthy
and Lilly Dinan who won a gold medal for singing Frozen
in the Community Games talent section.
Sympathies:
Sympathies go to Rian and Alex Madigan on the recent
death of their grand-uncle, Christy, sympathies also go
to Méabh and Lauren Wall on the recent death of their
grandmother, Helen Wall.
By Rachel Daffy & Molly Sheedy-Cusack
Scoil na Mainistreach Times
Celebrating St Patrick’s Day
At the Ennis parade there were many clubs and music
groups including Ennis Rugby Club, Ennis XXX Club and
our own Quin Tae Kwon Do Club. The parade started
at 11am and the weather was not bad on the day.
Darragh Molloy, Rachel Daffy, Molly Sheedy and Amy
Howard from 4th class were just some of the students
from Scoil na Mainistreach who took part in this parade. The parade in Tipperary Town started later than
the Ennis parade, starting at 2pm in the afternoon.
Among those taking part were a kick-boxing group,
plenty of music groups and there was the William Clan
Rugby Club. There was also the Aarvale Rovers G.A.A.
club. It was a beautiful day for the parade in Tipperary
Town. We surveyed the children in our class to see
which parades were popular. These were the results;
Limerick – 1, Ennis – 13, Dublin – 1, Shannon – 2, Tulla
– 1, Feakle – 1, Killaloe – 1, Killarney – 1, Tipperary
Town – 1 and some people did not attend a parade.
By Darragh Molloy & Cillian O’Gara
Write a Book Project
This month Mrs O’Donovan’s fourth class entered
the write-a-book competition. We all got to
choose our own topic. The topics varied from
cook books to fairy tales, and from sports books
to myths & legends. We firstly had to write a
draft, which we showed to our teacher to edit.
When the book was edited we typed it up and put
in pictured and drawings. It was a really difficult
challenge, but well worth it in the end. Mr Clune’s
and Mr Clohessy’s classes also entered the competition.
By Clara Griffiths, Ephraim Brotherton
& Fionán O’Sullivan
Acrostic Poem for Easter
Happy Easter
A day to play
Playing in the fields
Passing the Ball
You and I can play
Easter time
A day for fun
Super fun for you and me
Tasty Chocolate
Exciting Easter Egg hunts
Rabbits run around the field
By Niamh Toher, Amy Hawton and Isaac Howard
Easter Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients (serves 8+)
85g butter
85g caster sugar
1 lemon (zest)
170g plain flour
½ tsp mixed spice
50g currants
1 egg, beaten
You will need:
biscuit cutters
Method
Preheat oven to 190'C/375'F/Gas mark 5
Cream butter/margarine and sugar until pale
Add lemon rind, then fold in flour, mixed spice, currants and
enough egg to bind mixture to a stiff dough
Roll out biscuit dough to approx 1cm thick and cut out bunny
shapes or circles (you can squash these into ovals and call
them eggs) with biscuit cutters
Put on greased baking trays
Jokes/Riddles
What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No eye deer
What do you call a cow that eats grass?
A lawn mooer
What do you call an underwater substitute football player?
A submarine
By Sarah Considine-Kelly and Eoin Lynch
Re-roll any leftover dough to make more biscuits
Bake biscuits for 8-10 minutes until golden brown
Sprinkle with extra caster sugar when still hot, then transfer to
a wire tray to cool
Or wait until cooled and decorate with icing and mini eggs
By Aoife Hawkins, Ellie McSherry and Amy Howard