This is our “School Writes A Story in a Day” project.  Every class in the school – from Junior Infants up to Sixth Class – took part and helped to create this amazing, exciting and really imaginative story!  A special word of thanks to the boys and girls who have drawn pictures to illustrate our story, some of which I have been able to add below.

Our Story – Part I

Once upon a time there was a giant pencil.  He was called the pencil of wonder!  You could pick him up and write big letters and draw pictures.  Everything he drew came to life.  On Wednesday, Noel locked up the school when everyone had gone home.  The ‘Pencil of Wonder’ came to life and started to draw…

He crept into Ms. Griffin’s classroom and he drew a dog. The dog came to life!! The dog ate Luke’s banana and Ms. Griffin’s apple. Then he ran up the corridor with Freddy, the teddy from the toy box.  The I wonder what the ‘Pencil of Wonder’ will draw next?

In Ms O’Dwyer’s room the Pencil of Wonder drew on Freddy the Teddy and brought him to life. Freddy started writing about all his adventures in our copies. Suddenly a parrot flew in to Senior Infants room, grabbed the pencil with his mouth and perched himself up on it. He began to sing ‘The Happy Song’ because he had heard Senior Infants practicing it in the hall. Then Freddy joined in and they both went to Mrs O’ Neill’s office to show her their ‘Happy’ dance.

She was shocked!

The Pencil of Wonder drew a crocodile with sharp teeth.

The crocodile jumped off the whiteboard, grabbed the money bag from Ms Spillane’s desk and he ran to the office.  When Catherine saw the crocodile she jumped out the window.  The crocodile dressed up like Catherine and became the new secretary of the school.

The teachers were too afraid to go to the office and sent the children there instead.

Then magic pencil decided to draw a pair of big, round, glowing eyes.  First it drew one pair, then it drew another.  Soon it had drawn eyes on every wall of the building!  When Ms Fitzpatrick came into school the next morning there were 200 pairs of eyes staring at her!  She screamed and ran away – the eyes chased her.

Mr Duggan arrived into his classroom and ‘The Pencil of Wonder’ had drawn an 80’s disco dancer named Diva. Diva was sitting in Tami’s chair and Tami had to sit on the floor. Mona heard all the noise and came into the room wearing a colourful wig. Mona then challenged Diva to a dance off which Mona won easily. What a mover! Diva stormed off in a fit of rage..

The ‘Pencil of Wonder’ stormed into Ms Watson’s room. He threw his blue dancing shoes at Lydia. Lydia danced to Gangnam Style and suddenly the whole class went out of control! Ms Watson rang Mrs O Neill for help. Mrs O Neill came crashing into the classroom on a bulldozer and grabbed the ‘Pencil of Wonder’.

Mrs O’ Neill got really cross and sent the magic pencil out to the yard but he sneaked into Mrs Mc Mahon’s Classroom. The ’Pencil of Wonder ’drew arms on all of the boys and girls Bainne cartons.  The cartons started to race around the classroom doing handstands and cartwheels.  All of the children ran after them but they couldn’t catch the magic bainne.  Then the Milk started to chase the children!! They tickled Mrs Mc Mahon and all of the boys and girls laughed. Next, the Bainne cartons grabbed the magic pencil and they drew a million dollars and all of 1^st class went on holidays!!!!

The ‘Pencil of Wonder’ flew into Ms Murphy’s classroom on a hot air balloon. It flew all around the classroom crashing into baskets. It knocked Ms Murphy off her chair. He drew more balloons and put all of the children into the hot air balloons.

They were going to go to LEGOLAND. Ms O’ Farrell – The darts champion of the world – threw darts at the hot air balloons bursting them all.

All of the balloons were knocked out of the sky.

 The Pencil of Wonder was getting tired but he still could not be stopped!  He drew the Three Bears – Mammy Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear going for a picnic in the woods.  The Baby Bear ran off because he wanted to look for an apple tree and he found a hole that went through the world and into outer space.  His belly was rumbling with the hunger that he ate a piece of planet Earth and quick as a wink Baby Bear turned into an alien. The alien bear was still hungry so he got the Pencil of Wonder to draw a rocket ship.  Then he went to the moon to eat some cheese. Unexpectedly at the moon he found his best friend baby hare who, went missing last summer!

The two friends flew home but they were still STARVING…so they started to eat all of the things they could see in Rathpeacon school.  They started off by gobbling up all of the children’s scrapbooks which boys and girls had worked so hard on over the years! They were particularly fond of the pages at the start especially the photos of when the children were in Junior Infants. However, they decided that all the ink and paper was giving them a headache so they moved on to the Equipment Room.

Baby Bear and Baby Hare started throwing all the bean bags and hoops into one corner.  Then they used Mr. Duggan’s i-phone to turn on the “Bleep Test App” and started running around the hall out of control!!  BUT…the giant pencil drew a giant spider and a baby spider who went on the rampage. (Baby Bear and Baby Hare were both terrified of spiders so they crept away quietly).  The Pencil of Wonder drew a giant swimming pool out in the yard and the spiders started practising synchronized swimming for the Spider Olympics which will be next in the school next year.

While the spiders were practising for the Spider Olympics the “Pencil of Wonder” was up to no good in Mr O’ Donoghue’s room. The pencil first drew 15 monkeys who decided it would be appropriate to dance to the Cha Cha Slide. He then drew a Spanish matador and a very large bull. The matador was only a beginner and soon the bull was running around the class out of control. He first struck Nicole who had to be flown by helicopter to the hospital.The bull then burst into the bathroom and knocked Lucy head first into the toilet. Needless to say, she was not happy.

The bull set his sights on Gearóid. He ran aggressively at Gearóid, but Gearóid avoided the bull and he ran straight into the wall. His horns were now stuck and he was unable to free himself. As this was all taking place the “Pencil of Wonder” drew 19 formula one cars. Led by Max the class drove out the school gates without permission and headed for the Aquadome in Tralee for swimming, sweets and ice-cream!

The pencil then turned and headed for Mrs. Kenneally’s class the door was locked so the pencil drew a key and came into the clasroom.  The Pencil of Wonder drew 22 tall, bulky, hairy sumo wrestlers.  Sixth Class had a huge brawl with these wrestlers. To try and calm everything down, the magic pencil drew One Direction. Everyone stopped to hear them sing. Some of the girls even fainted with excitement!! However, some of the children in the class weren’t very happy with the music and started to boo the band. One Direction agreed to leave if Kelvin could beat Harry in a hair flick off.

The crowd went silent as the opponents faced each other. Harry went first and with a flick of his head his hair swished, cutting through the air. The crowd gasped in amazement. Now it was Kelvin’s turn. He stared at Harry with a steely look in his eyes. The crowds sat on the edge of their seats as Kelvin’s hair danced through the air. The crowd roared and chanted Kelvin’s name. He had won!!! One Direction started to cry and refused to leave.

Mrs O’ Neill was called down to the class to sort out the situation. She called for back-up on her phone and Miley Cyrus came in on a wrecking ball….. knocked down all the sumo wrestlers and threw One Direction out of the class.

The “Pencil of Wonder” was buried under the wreckage and the school was able to return to normality once again.

THE END!