​On a warm autumnal evening last Friday the students of Redwood NS senior class room went on a history tour down the Golden Mile to find out the history of different schools of Redwood throughout the years.

First we went to the Redwood Catholic Church. The church was built by Cornelius O’Brien in 1850. It was built from limestone and now holds a Mass Rock.

After that the National School was built in 1939. Redwood school educated 5 priests which are: Frs. Guinan, Deeley, Bugler, Kirwan and Houlihan.

Next we thought that the house of the Bailiff was there. We were looking for the initials of John Daly who was a blacksmith in the area.

The family of the Glennons played a part in the War of Independence. Jimmy Glennon was interred on Spike Island and his brother John played a major part in the Modreeny ambush.

Then we moved on to Deerpark  which was used for hunting.

Next we found Kilmurry, the second building of Redwood NS which was built 1926, now lived in by the Deeley family.

We kept on walking and we found Redwood House. The house closed in 1920. There were 15 rooms and 2 stories. The school mistress occupied 2 rooms in the house. Three were for the steward of Mr Trench and 1 was a classroom for the pupils. The remaining 9 were locked up.              
           
The first Redwood Castle was built by the Normans a long time ago and then it was burnt down in Cromwell times. It was rebuilt in 1979.

The journey was long but I really enjoyed it.

By Ava Houlihan✌
5th Class
​Redwood NS

 The Christmas Show was on Thursday 12/12/19,it started at 7 pm. The senior room did djembe drumming (really nice drumming teacher Mark Jerome ) for the younger room as they walked up the aisle for their play Whoops a Daisy Angel. Their play was basically songs and dancing. Next it was our turn with the Rambling House written by a really nice lady Anne Marie Hough . FINALLY!!!!! Sean Nós dancing (amazing teacher Olive Kilgannon) time, the junior went first (again) with their dance. Now time for our eight routine after that's done the other half of the room did the same dance. Next up 4th class did a little dance. Boys time to shine with the brush dance. Girls had to do the brush dance with hurls. Thank God that's over. After all of that we played multiple Christmas songs on the tin whistle. After a round of applause, Michelle gave Anne Marie a thank you card and a bunch of flowers. That's the play over so everyone went up to the school to get sweets and cakes. I went home at 8:57. It was a really ,really, really fun night.

On Thursday the 12th of December it was the night of the Christmas show. 
To start the show the Senior room performed some  djembe  drumming- they were taught by Mark Jerome. Before the drumming ended the junior room walked up the aisle to perform Whoops a Daisy Angel. 
When it finished the senior room performed the Rambling  House directed by local play write Ann Marie Hough 
When the rambling house was over and got an applause 
It was Sean nos dancing.
First the first eight danced, after they had danced it was the next eight they did the same routine as the first eight after they  finished.
4th class choreographed a Sean nos dance by themselves after they had finished.
The boys did the brush dance.
Then the girls performed the brush dance to but this time they used hurls, now 
all the Sean nos dancing  was all finished 
Close to the end they did some Christmas music- there was tin whistle, guitar, piano and the violin.
Then that was the end of our Christmas show 2019



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The red panda is a relative of the giant panda. The red panda is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas, central China, northern Myanmar. The Latin for red panda is Ailurus Fulgens. Ailurus means cat and Fulgens means fire coloured or shining.
The red panda weighs 4.5 kilograms to 9 kilograms. They have large round heads and short snouts with large pointed ears. Their coats are reddish brown although their faces are mostly white with reddish tear tracks running down the side of their face. Red pandas also have retractable claws. They have long bushy tails for balance.
Red pandas share the giant panda’s high altitude forest habitat.  They spend most of their lives in trees even sleeping aloft. Red panda’s territory is roughly one square mile.
Red pandas eat bamboo shoots and leaf tips. They can be herbivore or omnivore. They forage for rats, grasses and fruits. Sometimes they will eat eggs, insects, birds and small mammals but mostly bamboo.
Red pandas are solitary except for breeding season, which is from January to April.  New-born red pandas are born with thick buff grey fur. They are born with their eyes and ears closed, they open after 2 to 3 weeks. The babies remain hidden for 7 to 10 days. They eat solid at 4 months old. When in distress they use a high pitched whistle. They have grown up at 18 to 20 months when driven away.      
Fun facts:  The first red panda fossil was found in the United Kingdom. Red pandas are endangered. It is estimated at fewer than 10,000 are alive.
By Kate Houlihan 14/2/19
                                                                                                                                      
   

​Pandas are black and white bears and they live in China.
They eat 99% of bamboos. Also they are omnivores. This means they eat plants and meat. Most panda’s habitats are in the wild. They are found in thick bamboo forests, high up in the mountains of central China.
The pandas size is between 1.2m and 1.5m. They weigh between 75kg and 135kg.
Female pandas give birth to one or two cubs every two years. Cubs stay with their mothers for 18 months before venturing off on their own. Baby pandas are born pink and measure about 15cm. They are also born blind and only open  their eyes  six to eight weeks after birth.
Sadly these beautiful bears are endangered, and it’s estimated that only  around 1,000 remain in the wild. That’s why  we need to do all we can  to protect them.
By Cian Rushe

​The Skeletal System
 
Bones protect, give structure and movement and produce blood cells in the bone morrow.
 
 There are two categories of bones. Axial bones keep you upright. Appendicular bones give you movement.
 
The bone in the skull is called the cranium. It is for protecting the brain and also is a large bone forming the structure of the face.
 
The ribcage is used to protect the lungs, liver and heart. The ribs are in pairs, they are connected to the vertebrae and the ribcage although the ones at the bottom float, they are only connected to the vertebrae. Arms and legs are very similar in structure, they both have three bones. The three bones in the arm are called ulna, radius and humerus and in legs femur, fibula and tibia. The femur is the largest bone in your body.
 
Joints keep your bones together, joints are very small. Ball and socket has full circulation in your arms and legs. Hinge joints can move in two ways up and down example: elbow and knee.

​ You can keep your body strong by drinking milk eating healthy and staying fit.                                             
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The skeleton is made up of bones, which we use for protection, structure, movement and they produce blood cells in bone marrow.
 
Bones can be split up into two categories; Axial bones – bones that keep you upright such as the spinal column and hips – and Appendicular bones - -bones that help with movement such as the arms and legs. When a baby is born they have 270 bones but that number decreases to 206 when the adult reaches the age of 21.
 
Your cranium, otherwise known as the skull, is one large bone that protects the brain and helps form the facial structure.
 
The ribcage protects the lungs, heart and liver and can be seen in pairs of twelve on each side. Some ribs are fixed – fixed ribs are connected to the sternum and the vertebrae – while floating ribs are connected to the vertebrae only. The spine contains thirty-three vertebrates which run from the base of the cranium to the top of the pelvis. The spine holds the body upright and protects the spinal cord which carries nerves from the brain to other parts of the body.
 
Arms and legs have a similar structure to them. In the arm, the bone at the top is named the humorous, and the bones further down are named the ulna and radius. In the leg the thigh bone (longest bone in the body) is called the femur, and the two further down the leg are called the tibia and fibula.
 
The pelvis, also known as the hips, connect the torso to the lower body together. In your body, there are joints, the two main types of joints are the ball and socket joints, and hinge joints which are in the shoulder and pelvis, and hinge joints in your knee, elbow, wrists, ankles and knuckles.
 
To keep your bones healthy and strong, you must eat calcium rich foods, and get enough vitamin D which you receive from the sunshine.
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Niamh Patterson, 6th class, 29.1.19.  

The origin of Halloween and traditions go back to ancient Celtic festival Samhain- Gaelic for summers end.
November 1st  was once called All Hallows Day so October 31st was called All Hallows Eve which over time shortened to Halloween.

During Samhain superstitious country folks would disguise themselves with animal skins and masks made from sailcloth or linen. In costume they would go out side and make noise in effort to ward of evil spirits 

Before the modern pumpkin lantren, turnips were used. In ancient Ireland, revelers would hollow out large turnips, potatoes and beetroot and carve them into demons faces to frighten away spirits
   

​ On the 14th June Redwood N.S. travelled to the Cistercian College in Roscrea also known as the Fun Academy. We went by bus and left school at 8:30am. While on the bus I                                                    felt nervous but also really excited.
 
When we arrived we put our bags in a dressing room, then headed outside. First we were told that we were doing orienteering, there were 14 questions on the paper that we had to find. We were all given a different number to find first. Caoimhe and I started on number 9. Some of them were hard to find but we got there in the end. We finished joint 2nd.  A few minutes later a sheepdog came over and we started to pet him, we named him Gucci.
 
We then moved onto the army obstacle course. We were put into teams and our team came in 3rd place. In the course there were tyres, a net you had to crawl under, hurdles, a palette and a black plastic bag you had to crawl under too.
 
Next we ate small lunch and got dressed for swimming. The pool was freezing and wasn’t enjoyable at all. The water was misty and there was debris around the edges. When we were in the dressing room getting into our clean clothes Isa started to cry, she had red cuts on each of her toes and they really hurt.
 
In the afternoon we got a little bite to eat and then started another game it was called multi-ball, there were four teams green, red, orange and colours. Every team had a bench and every player had a number. If the instructor held up a soccer ball the game was soccer but if he held up a tennis ball the game was uni-hockey and if he called out your number, you had to run out and play that specific activity and hit the other teams’ benches. The colours team won by one point.
 
Next we made egg rockets, we were given 2 sheets of paper, 10 strips of sellotape, 5 straws, 2 balloons and 1 egg. The main point of it was to save the egg from cracking. A while later we had big lunch. I was full but we went out on the water slide, it was brilliant craic. I got soaked the first time I went down but after that we got to jump off of the top of it and then slide down. Finally, we did the night line, we had to place blacked - out goggles on us. Then hold onto a rope. The instructor told us a story while we followed the rope. She told us about all of the animals in the forest. Then some man started tickling our heads with leaves.
 
Overall the day was great and I had so much fun. I was sad to leave but I would definitely recommend it to another school. I hope we can return to the Fun Academy next year and have more fun. I am very happy with how the day turned out and how exciting it was.
 
Niamh Patterson
5th class
Redwood National School
15/6/18
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