The Celts

The Celts lived in Europe from 800Bc - 100 AD. They used iron because they realised iron was more powerful than bronze. Using tools made from iron they cleared land so they could settle in one place, they ploughed the land and planted crops. The Celts used iron to make their weapons too because they could easily defeat enemies who used bronze weapons.

The Celts grew in numbers and moved to capture different parts of Europe. They reached Ireland around 2600 years ago. The Celts spoke their own language and lived in tribes. Grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins lived together in clans. The most important in each clan were the warriors.

The Celts wore warm clothes to protect them from the cold, damp climate. The Celts got their food from growing crops or breeding animals for their meat. They also fished and made bread and used cows milk to make cheese and butter.


Most Celts lived in Ring Forts. Inside the fort was a small village. The floors were made of mud. There were hidden passages in these forts called souterrain. The Celts usually hid from their enemies in here. Celts also lived in Crannógs. Crannógs were man made islands in the middle of a lake. There were stepping stones leading to the Crannógs, only Celts living in these Crannógs knew where these stones were.

In art we made a Crannóg. Using paper, clay, paint and match sticks we all made a round, mud house. Gary made a tall, round watch tower. We then painted a muddy floor and a lake on to a piece of cardboard, using clay and lollipop sticks we made a high wall. We then made a farm using play dough to make plants and animals and lollipop sticks as fences. It is now sitting in the corner of our classroom.
                                                                       By Kyle Mc Aree
 
 

                   Our Debating Team

Our Class took part in a debating competition. On the debating team were our chairpersons: Shannon and Kyle, researchers: Dylan, Cónal, Oisín and Óisin, timekeeper: Hannah and our speakers: Úna, Ciara and Gary.

The whole class helped by asking questions, giving their opinions and researching. We had to do lots of research and we wrote brilliant speeches. We competed in two debates , we proposed one - All children in 5th and 6th class should own a mobile phone, and opposed the other - People should not own pets. When practicing for the debate the whole class helped by asking questions during the crossfire round, Ms Beagan had some very tricky questions.

As well as researching our side of the motion we also had to research points the other team might say, this helped with the crossfire round. There really was a lot of work and effort put into debating. 

The debates were very intense, the teams we competed against were very good. Our speakers were brilliant when giving their speeches. They spoke clearly and with fierce passion, they were also quick on their feet during the crossfire round.

The whole school are very proud of our debating team.
                                                                               By Shannon Mc Mahon

 

                       Maths Trail

Our class had lots of fun making and taking part in our maths trail. To begin we were put into groups, I was in a group with Úna, Óisin and Deimante. We were given a worksheet and were told we would be making up the questions for the trail. It was important that we thought of lots of different types of maths questions.

Each group were given a set area of the yard when making up questions. We made up lots of questions on division, multiplication, length, width, addition, subtraction, angles, shapes and prime numbers. The teacher put all the questions together into a maths trail workbook.

The next day we had our trail. Thankfully it wasn't raining and the weather was nice. Each group started in a different place to give us space. The teacher rang the bell, we had twenty minutes, we went like rockets. We were all running around the school whispering questions and answers to our team mates like little mice. Then the teacher rang the bell, the time was up.

It took a while for Ms Beagan to correct all the maths trail workbooks but finally, Ms Beagan had a winner. It was my team! Our prize was sweets and lollipops. It was a lot of fun and we worked well as a team.
                                                                                      By Estelle Lambe


  

             Currency From Around The World

Our class studied lots of different currencies from around the world such as the US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Thai Baht, Vietnamese Dong, Irish Punt, Cambodian Riel and Lithuanian Litas.
We learnt there are actually many types of dollars, we looked at the US Dollar and Australian Dollar all the notes and coins are different and they have different values but they both use the symbol $.
We were very surprised by the value of some of the other currencies. One euro is the same as 4,594 Cambodian Riel or 24,146 Vietnamese Dong. One euro can you believe it! We could easily be millionaires.
Ms Beagan told us she could buy a bar of chocolate and a packet of crisps for 20p using Irish Punt in Ireland in the 1990's. Óisin Mc Elroys granny told him she could get bread and a pound of butter for 5p in the 1960's.
Deimante showed us some Lithuanian Litas, she explained to us that Lithuania changed from Litas fo euro in January this year.
It was very interesting learning about different currencies.
                                                                                  By Oisín Burke

                  Our Trip to the Peace Link

On Monday the 17th of November 5th and 6th class visited The Peace Link. We went on a bus. We were all looking forward to what was in store.

When we arrived we got off the bus and went inside. The building was very modern. We met the staff and they told us to go into one of the rooms. The instructors names were Stephan, Cathal and David. They gave us an introduction and told us all about the great things that take place at The Peace Link.

Then we were split into groups, we got to mix with other schools. My group were given an art activity first. We made parachutes. After art our group played basketball, the basketball court was huge. We practiced bounce passing and chest passing, we had a hoop shooting competition and finally we played a game of basketball. Next we went to the running track for athletics. We had to run around the track, David showed us lots of stretches to warm up our muscles. We also got to sprint using the sprinting blocks, to cool down we walked around the track.

We were tired and hungry after all this. We went inside and ate our lunch. When we finished eating our lunch we went outside. Some of the parachutes we made were dropped from the roof by Stephan, they flew!

It was then time to go home. We got on the bus and headed back to school. We had a fantastic day.
                                                                                        By Amy Lambe
   

Henry Moore Sculptures

Henry Moore was born in 1898 in Yorkshire. He loved sculptures even as a young boy. His mother Mary Baker was very encouraging and played an important part in his career.
In 1919 Henry joined the School Of Fine Arts. He found his real inspiration in the sculptures on display in the British museum in London. This is where he made his decision to become a sculpture.
Henry specialised in bronze sculptures. He made a lot of sculptures of people joined together. Henry's most famous sculptures were of a mother and child joined together. An example of one of these sculptures is the Rocking Chair No.2. This sculpture is of a mother and child holding hands. the mother is balancing her child on her knees playfully. This sculpture is made of bronze and mother and child are connected like all of his sculptures.
When we were recreating his sculptures we completed many tasks before we got to our finished product. First we went out to the pitch. In pairs we had to pose for photographs in different positions, we had to be connected to each other in each pose.
We then printed our photograph. Looking at the photograph we drew the outline of our bodies using charcoal. This gave us a clear image of the outline shape. 
Next in our pairs we made flat models of our charcoal drawings using play dough. As inspired by Henry Moore the bodies must be connected.
When we were confident with our flat models we began making 3d sculptures using modelling clay. It was difficult to keep our sculptures from falling over and from falling apart, but we eventually got them perfect.
                                                                                    By Ciara Mc Caffrey 

Below are some photographs of our work.

Africa

Africa is one of the seven continents in the world. It is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The longest river in the world, The Nile is in Africa. Other rivers include the Congo, the Zambezi and the Ubangi. The largest lake in Africa is Lake Victoria.

The highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro. The Chagga people live on the southern slopes. The largest desert in the world is in Africa, it is called The Sahara. About 40% of Africa is covered in desert.

It is estimated that about 1.1 billion people live in Africa. There are 54 countries in Africa. The largest of these countries is Sudan, the largest city is Cairo in Egypt. There are over 1000 different languages spoken in these countries including Arabic, Zula, Swahili, French and English.

Poverty is common in Africa. Famine is killing children and adults everyday. The main cause of famine in Africa is drought. Because of lack of clean water and many people weak with hunger disease can travel fast for example Ebola. Many families live in mud huts and walk for miles for water. Support agencies such as GOAL!, Trócaire and Concern are trying to help these people. 


There are many different tribes in Africa. They all have different traditions. The largest ethnic group in Tanzania is the Sukuma. The Nayamezi are the next largest ethnic group in Tanzania, they live around Lake Victoria.

These tribes were our inspiration for our art work. We could either make a mask or a necklace. We coloured the background a dark colour, brown or black. This reminded me of the desert. Next we decorated our piece using bright colours. This made me think of the bright sun and sky. Our pieces looked beautiful and they made our class feel like we were an African tribe.
                                                                                    By Úna Boylan

Below are some photographs of our finished product.