Springtime Means Spelling in Scoil Mhuire Springtime truly means spelling in Scoil Mhuire! Over the past fortnight, pupils from 3rd to 6th class have been competing in class rounds until two representatives remained from each room. On Wednesday 18th February, we gathered in the Halla Mór for our Spelling Bee finals. The younger classes competed in the morning, with 5th and 6th class taking to the stage in the afternoon. After a few warm-up rounds to steady the nerves, the competition began!
The stage was set for the Class battles
🌟 Third Class David, Jack, Harry and Martin impressed everyone with words such as capture, telescope, ancient, courage and nervous. Harry won after correctly spelling curious. Well done! 🌟 Fourth Class Charlie, Eve, Iarla and Michael confidently tackled words including authority, typical, permission and serious. Charlie claimed victory with the word brilliant. Congratulations! 🌟 Fifth Class Derik, Joe, Maya and Eoghan worked through challenging words such as perimeter, ambitious, determination and intercept. A huge congratulations to Maya, who won for the second year in a row — a fantastic achievement! 🌟 Sixth Class Elsa, Keelyn, Luke and Nathania delighted the audience with impressive words like melancholy, inevitable, vigilant and resilient. Luke was crowned sixth class champion. Well done!
Each winner received a €10 voucher for the village bookshop, and every pupil who reached the class battle rounds earned a Homework Pass in recognition of their achievement. The atmosphere throughout the day was full of excitement, applause and encouragement. Well done to all who took part — we are very proud of you all! And with that, our busy bees can return to their hive — enjoy the midterm break!
Our lunchtime book club has resumed on Wednesdays and we couldn’t “bee” happier to be back! A warm welcome to our new members from Third Class and a cheerful welcome back to our returning book lovers.
In September, we had a fun vote to choose the name for our club this year, and the winning choice was “The Book-Loving Bumble Bees.” To celebrate, we let Chat GPT design our very own bee-themed mascot, and we think it’s absolutely adorable! Now, our hive is all abuzz with excitement for the reading adventures ahead.
🐝 Buzzing Into New Stories
This October, our busy bees dived into Grimwood: Five Freakishly Funny Fables by Nadia Shireen. The story follows fox siblings Ted and Nancy, who flee the city for the woods — only to discover it’s full of weird and wonderful animals. We watched a video of the author and illustrator herself talking about her quirky characters, and even took part in a draw-along of the adorable Ted. It was a hive of creativity and fun!
November’s Nectar of New Reads
For November, we’ve started Mary’s Hair by Eoin Colfer — a short and funny story about a little girl who decides to cut her own hair! After that, we’ll be listening to the audiobook of This Morning I Met a Whale by Michael Morpurgo, a beautiful story about a young boy named Michael who discovers a talking whale in the River Thames. The whale asks Michael to deliver a powerful message to the world about protecting our planet — a theme that’s sure to get us all thinking.
It’s shaping up to be another ‘bee-lightful’ month of reading, friendship, and fun discussions and activities. Just like last year, we’ll also be making some submissions to Moycullen Matters magazine, giving our Book-Loving Bumble Bees their first taste of being published writers — how exciting! Everyone from Third to Sixth Class is welcome to join — just pop into Room 14 and the hive will welcome you! 🐝📚
This year, our pupils have achieved something truly remarkable through the Accelerated Reader programme — together, they read an astonishing 148 million words! That’s an incredible increase of 50 million words compared to last year, showing that our school’s reading culture is stronger than ever.
🌟 Word Millionaire Readers
(Over 1 Million Words Read) Congratulations to the 35 dedicated pupils who each read over one million words this year — what an amazing achievement!
Aedan O’Reilly, Allie Collins, Ameya Dipin, Aoibhí Ní Fhatharta, Ben Kelly, Charlie Byrne, Charlie McDonough, Danny Coyle, David Barry, Éabha Mitchell, Elsa Flood, Ferdinand Kosak, Finn Woodman, Hannah Daly, Harry Walsh, Henry Walshe, Iarla Mulligan, Jamie Grant, Joseph Mulkerrins, Kaia Griffin, Katie Dixon, Laoise Ní Ghríofa, Leila Smith, Liam Rodgers, Lua Collins, Luke Hosty, Máiria Murphy, Nathan Noonan, Oliver Bohan, Oran Griffin, Reiltine Valla, Robyn Walsh, Róisín Cleary, Siún Monaghan, Teddy McCann
🏆 Multi-Millionaire Readers
(Over 2 Million Words Read) A special round of applause for these 14 exceptional readers who didn’t just reach the million mark — they soared past two million words and beyond!
Caitlin Walsh, Cara Hegarty, Chloe Daly, Conor Hegarty, Donnacha Clancy, Finn Kelly, Keelin Hall, Keelyn Seuferer, Laura Palmer, Lena Lewandowska, Maya Ferguson, Sadhbh Mitchell, Sienna Curtin, Siofra Mitchell
📖 Accelerate Your Summer!
As part of our Accelerate Your Summer initiative, we’re encouraging all pupils to keep up their reading over the summer holidays. Children can continue to log in and quiz on the books they read by following the link on the school website under School initiatives.
📌 Pupils who show dedication over the summer will be rewarded in September — and could even start the year with a homework pass!
Parents can also use AR BookFinder to:
Check if a quiz is available for a book
View its reading level
Get book suggestions based on your child’s interests and ability
Let’s keep the reading momentum going — here’s to even more words next year! 📚✨
It’s been a lively and creative spring for our Book Club!
Our young reviewers were thrilled to see their animal-themed book reviews featured in the spring edition of Moycullen Matters. This term, the club has also been tackling the big question: Which diary series is better –Dork Diaries or Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Reviews have been written, votes have been cast, and the results will appear in the next edition of Moycullen Matters, due out in early June!
Taking advantage of the fine weather, we held several Book Club meetings outdoors in the courtyard. One of the highlights was creating Potato Pals—potato-based versions of beloved book characters!
As part of the KPMG Junior Juries programme, we explored a brilliant selection of books:
Stitch by Pádraig Kenny
Beanie the Bansheenie by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Steve McCarthy
Na Trí Mhuicín by Áine Ní Ghlinn
Bearradh Gruaige d’Eóinín by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin
Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher
The Dictionary Story by Oliver Jeffers
The Faerie Isle by Síne Quinn
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Irish Lighthouses by David Hare
We used resources and videos from Children’s Books Ireland and one thing that amazed us was to learn that it took ten years for The dictionary story to be written from start to finish!!
A special highlight was an online zoom ‘visit’ from Eoin Colfer and Steve McCarthy, who spoke to three classes about their book Beanie the Bansheenie. It was a fun and inspiring experience for all!
We’ve now submitted our votes for our favourite titles and eagerly await the announcement of the national winner on May 19th.
Well done to all our enthusiastic readers! 📚✨
Mrs E Walsh
Our library vote which received over 70 signatures!!Online zoom with author Eoin Colfer and illustrator Steve McCarthy 2025 KPMG Children’s Junior Juries books selection
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