Nuachtán Bhríde

Our school magazine online

The Moon.

T he moon is the only natural satellite that orbits the earth.It is the brightest object in our solar system excaptfor the sun A lot of planets have moons.Saturn has at least eighteen moons.The moon is bigger than pluto.The moon orbits the earth every twenty nine and a half days.The also has its own axis From earth we sometimes think we can see a face on it.But this is caused by its dark patches.The dark patches are caused by the mountians,plains and craters.The largest crater is Bailys which is three hundred kilometrers wide.Some scientists thought that the craters and mountains were caused by the volcanoes.But now they think it was caused by metoerites crashin into it when the solar system was formed.

By Jason Lynam

Date 1/12/2004

ART WITH MRS.FALLON

We go to Croghan N.S. Co Offaly.Our art teacher Mrs.Fallon brings us in to her room or sometimes she comes out to our room. She is very good to us,and is very good at art.We made lots of nice stuff with her.We make all kinds of stuff such as flowers and drawings we enter lots of competitions under all ages.

By Aidan Comer

and Johnny Brickland

ST BRIGIDS GAA CLUB CROGHAN

St Brigids are raising money for their "all-weather pitch." The all-weather pitch is going to be an attraction fot the whole County. It is going to cost 185,000 EURO. They were given 80,000 EURO as a grant from the National Lottery. They have to raise about 30,000 EURO bewteen now and Christmas. The way they raised this 30,000EURO was they had a Fashion Show and a Tribal Contest. Their target was 25,000 Euro. On the 12th November they had a Fashion Show. It was a great success. There was a wine reception and Eden was playing at it. Tickets were needed and they costed 25 EURO. Nine shops took part. They were McGreals,Savanagh,A+A Bergain,Reiss,Carrolls Menswear,Emales,Dermot Hall,Mary + Marie and Classy Cloggs.There was Childrens wear, Menswear and Ladies Wear. All of these shops are in Edenderry. The Fashion Show was in Killeens and started at 8pm. There was also a Tribal Contest. They split Croghan into three tribes. They named them the McCaille's,Blue Street Blues and the O'conor Failes. They had activites from the 12th of November to the 20th of November. Each tribe got 10 pts if they won an activity. The activites were tug of war,drinking comp, donkey derby, relay race, cooking comp,darts,quiz,cards,racket ball,talent show,turf cutting and slow bike race.The finale night was on the 20th of November. The ROSE OF TRALEE attended it. The finale night told the three tribes how many points they got and which tribe won the overall. Each tribe did a talent show. The McCaille's did Grease, the Blue Street Blues did Father Ted and the O'Conor Failes did the Full Monty. Over all the O'Conor Failes won. Not forgeting that each tribe had a King + Queen. The McCaille's King + Queen was Winnie Fox and Joe Galvin. The Blue Street Blues King and Queen was Frank Moran and Breda Malone. The O'Conor Failes King + Queen was Brid Hannon and Ray Scally.

THE HIGH KING + QUEEN OF CROGHAN IS RAY SCALLY + BRID HANNON

By Colleen Molloy + Niamh Moran

29/11/04

Offaly Our County

County Offaly is in the province of Leinster.It has a area of 771 square miles .It is surrounded by Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Laois, Tippeary, Galway and Rosscommon.The River Shannon forms its western boundry.Offaly has some lovely scenerys such as Kinnity Castle,Croghan Hill, Slieve Bloom Mountains ,Grand Canal,Bog of Allen, Clonmacnoise Monastery ,River Shannon and St.Patricks Well.Birr and Tullamore are famous for their hurling and football grounds.The capital of Offaly is Tullamore. Tullamore in irish is Tulach Mhor. Which means the big hillock or mound. Peat bogs supply fuel for electric power stations. Offaly are very good at football and hurling. Uibh fhaili means the descendants of Failghe a prince of Ireland in the 2nd century.

Reported by Shannon Rafferty and Niamh Conway

30/11/04

 

 

SWEET FREE DAYS

We now have four sweet free days in school. Monday to Thursday we are not allowed sweets,crisps and fizzy drinks. Friday is the only day that we are allowed bring sweets to school. This should improve our health and our teeth.

 

By Thomas Mooney and Charlie Hayes

09/02/05

 

Litter

 

The school would get very dirty if no one picked up any papers after them. If students throw their leftovers from their lunches on the ground and not in the bins they would be inviting mice and rats to attend school with them. The school would be very unclean and unhealthy to attend if no one would be bothered to clean or tidy it.

By Emily Bryan.

4/2/2004.

 
Cumann na mBunscol
Sports Corner.

2004 Groups

This year we will be trying to defend our title in Division 3. The other teams in our group are, Ballinagar, Boher, Cloghan, Rahan and Rhode. We have some difficult matches ahead but we will do our best.

updated 27-1-2004
Our living Sculpture
Three people came to our school to help make a hut out of willows.Their names were Lynn,Paul and Marianne.Their conpany is called Greenmantle.The day the Greenmantle people came was on a wensday20/3/01,.It was very cold so we put on our coats.The people were very nice. We all had a great day. we will soon have pictures to show. They will be coming back next year to make sculptures and baskets .Lynn and Paul are from Tipperary and Mariannes is from Denmark. 
Reporters Micheal and Sharon

Co-operation in school

On the 8th may 2004 5th and 6th class entered a competition called co-operation is cool. We wrote about our local area Croghan. We drew pictures and took photographs. after we completed our project we brought it to Portlaoise to get it judged. There where many other schools with really good projects. After two weeks of fun and learning we came third in Laois and Offaly. We had a great time and we would love to do it again.

By Niamh Hannon

and

Niamh Moran

Mini Sevens Football.

Mini Sevens Football this year was a great year for Croghan school. The first test was in Rhode as we played Cappagh, Rhode, Walsh Island and Cloneygowan. We won all our matches and went to Durrow for the County Final. The teams playing were Croghan,Clara,Edenderry and Rashina. In our semi final against Edenderry we won 2-7 to 2 points. Clara were in the Final after beating Rashina. At half time Clara were ahead by 1 goal. In the second half we upped our game and won the game. Our captain Cian Donohoe lifted the cup and we were the Champions.

Donal Hickey and Cian Donohoe

 
 

First Communion 2005

The First Communion this year is on the 22nd of May 2005.

Offaly GAA

Sports Corner.

Offaly footballers played Cork in a great game at O'Connor Park. The game ended as a draw but Offaly put in a good preformance to get a draw when a win for Cork looked definate. Niall McNamee, James Coughlan and Colm Quinn put in good preformance. That means Offaly are now off the bottom of the table. They still have to play Donegal, who are bottom of the table, and Dublin

By Donal Hickey and Cian Donohoe

Date 06-12-2004

 

 

 

Life on the bog.

Life on the bog was very hard for people in the old days. My great grandfather and people like him would earn a living by selling turf to people who needed it. They would sell it to the ESB to make electricity. They would clean off the bog and get it ready for the month of April so they could start using the slean to cut turf. They would have a person cutting with a slane on the high bank of the bog and on the low bank they would have a person catching the turf and wheeling it off with the wheelbarrow or bog bogie. They would spend about a month or two cutting the turf because it took a while. They would make bog holes and in each bog hole there would be about ten boards of turf. When they finished that and the turf was windrowed it would take about a month to dry before they could draw it home. It would take them above a week to draw it home with a donkey and cart. Now a days its much easier to work on the bog because they use machinery. They would use a digger to load the hopper with peat and it could maserate the peat. When they have that all done they spread it out in rows on the bank. When it drys they would use the turf turning machine and turn the turf . They would load it on to trailors and draw it to the clamp, and then they would draw it home.

 

 

By John Delaney 9/2/04.

 

Native Americans

The native Americans inhabited the land of America for about 12,000 years, before Christopher Columbus and the white settlers arrived from Europe in the 1800s. They put natives into natural reserves and took over their land which was sacred to them. There were battles over some land between the natives and settlers. The settlers brought many new diseases with them which the natives died from because they had no immunity build up to such as smallpox and measles.

The natives respected nature and only killed what they needed. They would eat buffalo and use the hyde to make maccassins which were a type of shoe and they would also make clothes from the buffalo hyde. The tongue of the buffalo was eaten as a delicassy. They used teepees to live in which was made from hyde and the frame was made the bones of the buffalo too.

There was 300 native american tribes and they spoke 200 different languages.

They beleived in spirits and the most powerful ones were the thunderbirds which ruled the upper world.

by Martin Hannon

02/02/2004

 

St.Brigid's G.A.A 50th Anniversary.

The St.Brigid's G.A.A. are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1954. Their first championship match took place in Daingean against Daingean. They lost this match but since then they won Intermediate Championships in 1984, 1990 and 1997, and two junior championships in 1968 and 1978. Last year in May Croghan had their official opening of their grounds.

By Tierna Hannon. 28/1/2004.

Croghan School.

Croghan school was built in 1963. The school is 40 years old. We have a main school and two prefabs. Mrs. Doyle and Mrs.Butler teach in one prefab. Mrs.Bolger and Mr. O' Rourke teach in the other prefab. This year the school was painted.Croghan Hill is in front of the school. It is now an extinct volcano.Pope John Paul flew over Croghan Hill in 1979 on his way to Clonmacnois. We celebrated the schools 40th anniversary this year. We got a crest on our school jumper this year.

Dean McCabe 28-1-2004.

 

Halloween

Halloween falls on the 31st of October every year. Its a good time for children because they get to dress up in costumes and go around from door to door trick or treating and no one knows who you are. Its also a good time for adults because they could let off fireworks and have a big bonfire in a safe place. Kids enjoy Halloween very much because when they go out trick or treating they get sweets and lots of other treats.

14/12/04

By John Delaney and Matthew Harney.

Horses

Horses are powerful and graceful animals. For thousands of years irish people have used horses for transport and for work on farms and buisnesses back in the 1800.Horses were used for nearly every thing because there was no cars trucks lories vans tractors or jeaps so horses did all the work for all of them.But now a days we have machinery and we just use horses for pulling carts and maby treesbu thats only the working horses.We use the race horses for running and showjumping.After racing or working the horse has to be taken care of.After for instance I scrub the horse down with a body brush and a dandy brush. After every few strokes I have to clean the horsehairs from the brushes using a curry comb.Then I get the bridle.This is a kind of harness you put on a horses head.The bridle is attached to the reins that I use to control the horses head.Then I place the bridle gently over the horses head and ears making sure the horse has the bit right between the horses teeth.I then throw the reins over the horses neck.Then I put on my jodhpurs, boots, riding jacket riding hat and the crop.Then I go on the horse.

by Matthew Harney

23-2-2004
BUDGIES

Hi my name is Johnny Brickland and with me is Aidan Comer we are going to tell you about Budgerigars. Buderigars is the correct term for Budgies,Budgie is just a short name for Budgerigars.We will start by telling you were Budgies come from ,w

 

ell the come from south Australlia.The first step is how to keep your bird.You will have to keep your bird with lots of company ,so you will have to get at least two budgies.You must remember whatever kind of bird you get,you must play with them every day.You must keep your birds food holder clean and full.Before you buy your bird make sure it gets to know you first. We will give you some advice,

  • Never let your bird fly free outside.
  • Never ever kiss your bird.
  • Wash your hands after handling your birds/cage.
  • Always handle your birds very gentley.
  • Teasing your bird is very cruel,and will frighten your bird or kill it with fright.
  • Dont feed your bird from your plate or a plate.
  • Never ever hit your bird

THE AVIARY

Birds love to fly around in an outdoor aviary. There are interesting sounds and things for them to watch. If you build an aviary with a weatherproof shelter for your birds to roost in at night.The large flying area called the flight should by partly covered with plastic to protect the birds from wind and rain.You can put many birds in a aviarya .

A FACT

There are other birds like the cockatieals,canaries and the finches these birds are very easy to look after. Only some experienced birdkeepers keep wild birds such as the bird of prey like the Halk or Eagle.And there are people even keep raceing pigeons.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PET

you will have to get to know your bird .If you hold your bird as much as you can but carefully your bird will start to

trust you .If you study your bird and watch what fantastic things the do

by

Johnny Brickland And

Aidan Comer

23\3\2004

 

 

 

 

Hygiene

You must brush your teeth twice a day or else you will end with no teeth. Always have a bath or shower twice a week. Keep your hair clean. Use any shampoo to wash your hair. You also are supposed to clean out your ears. Have a bath or shower after sport or you will become smelly and sweaty and germs like to live in warm wet places. You must wash your legs and feet.You must clip your teo nails or else you will get an ingrown teonail. You must change your socks and underwear every day. Remenber cleanleness is next to godleness.

Reported by Dean Mc Cabe.

18/3/04/

 

Speech and Drama

This year Croghan National school are doing drama. Our drama teacher is called Leony. We have it every second Thursday. She taught us about posture.Leony is very good.She has done dance moves with us.She has done good games with us.Once she told us to do an T.V.advertisement of anything we wanted.We play games like wink murder.It only costs us two euro every session.We love the drama.We hope she stays for a good while.She is really really fun.There is one more game that is,musical statues.She thought us to be confident and not to be shy or embarrassesd and just enjoy yourself. She goes to every classroom in the school.Even though Croghan school isn't a big place it is still good without the huge space.

Reported by

Aoife Hannon and

Sheralee Rice

26/11/04

 

CROGHAN HILL

A long time ago on Croghan Hill.ST.Patrick jumped from the top of Croghan Hill to the well at the back of the hill. St. Patrick's horse left a horse shoe mark on a stone. Croghan Hill has a graveyard at the side of it. There was a movie made in the graveyard and Croghan Hill was in it. The movie was called this is my Father. Croghan was once a volcano. It is now an extinct volcano. It is the highest landmark in the Bog of Allen. ST.Brigid received her vail on Croghan Hill from then on she became a Nun.

BY Dean kennedy

and

William Molloy

13/12/04

 

Linking with other schools

Our teacher Mr.Hickey went to Denmark at the end of September. He went there to link with other schools.He went from Ireland to Denmark by aeroplane and then from Copenhagen to Nyborg by train. There was thirteen other countries there.He went to link with other schools which means we can talk to other schools in Europe. Our teacher Mr.Hickey linked with three schools.They are in England,Denmark and the Czech Rep.This is a project called BUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS CULTURES.The 6th class of 04 will not be able to join in this project but the class of 05 will.They will be able to e-mail,write and send packages to them and they will send packages to us and videos. They hope to get up and running in September 2005.

By Niamh Moran and Johnny Brickland

13/12/2004

EBS/INTO Handwriting Competition 2004.

This year Croghan N.S did very well in the EBS/INTO Handwiting competition. In Mrs. Fallon's room Sean óg Cocoman came 2nd and Dawn Hannon came 1st. In Mrs. Greene's room Donna Brickland came 3rd and in Mrs.Doyle's room Coleen Molloy came 2nd. In Mr.Hickey's room Melissa Moran came 1st and because of the standard of handwritng in the whole school Croghan N.S got overall handwriting school in Offaly. This was achieved because of all the hard work Mrs.Fallon and the other teachers put in through out the years. All entrants who came came 1st will go though to the national final in Dublin.

 

Confirmation 2005

The 5th and 6th class of 2005 will be making their Confirmation on the 10th of may in Rhode church. There are twenty-six in Croghan and we're not sure how many are in Ballybrian or in Rhode. It will be great. We had our Enrolment cermony on the 6th of December 2004. Again the same classes were joining in that too. The school principals of the schools are Mr. Hickey of Croghan, Mr. Darby of Ballybrian and Mr. Downey of Rhode. There will be great celebrations on our Confirmation day. We hope it will be a great success. We got a book called My Confirmation Year. In it are prayers, pictures and activities. We get to write about our life at this time. We are looking forward to our Confirmation.

Reported by

Niamh Moran

and

Niamh Hannon

13th December 2004
Homepage