Happy Hollydays!

Last Wednesday all of TY went into town. 'Not again!' I hear you cry? This time it was for a charity collection. We were selling holly badges for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Or as I tried to say it that morning to my neighbour's little sister, the Irish Prevention of the Society for Children Cruelty. I mix up words a lot. We went into a hall in Dublin and were given the badges and collection boxes. We were told where to go, I was with Jayne and we were outside Topshop near St Stephens Green shopping centre. The badges were €2 each, but a lot of people put in lots of change and didn't even take a badge. It was freezing! I was so glad I wore leggings under my skirt, but I could have done with extra socks as well. My feet were blocks of ice. I wore thick gloves too, but my fingers still froze. Not fun. For lunch afterwards guess where we went. McDonald's again! Then we went home.

On Thursday we had our last ever Zumba class :(. Sad face. It was really fun, and the instructor put on Christmas music at the end for the stretches. I think I'd like to do it outside of school, but I don't have any time! And I'm broke.

Friday was our Christmas dress up day. I wore a Christmas jumper and hung glittery gold baubles from my earrings. I got lots of compliments on my creativeness for using baubles. The truth is they were on the kitchen table when I was leaving, so I just grabbed them. Walking to school I had them in my pocket, and now my coat pocket is full of lovely gold glitter. Yay! I love glitter.

I can't wait until Christmas. I'm so excited! I just love Christmas. We put up our tree at the weekend, and now its so Christmassy when I'm watching TV with the tree and all the lights. I am looking for a new phone and a McWilliams sail bag. It's an Irish sailing brand, the bags are made in Cork  out of sailcloth and apparently is practically indestructible. Practically everyone who does sailing has one, and I really want it!

Rathbeggan Lakes and Roadshow in Punchestown

On Wednesday we went to Rathbeggan Lakes, Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath for a Project Maths Trail. We were put into groups of four or so and we each got a clipboard. Then we started off with the activities. The fist one my group got was a nice easy one. It was probability with a deck of cards. I thought it was really easy, I suppose because I play cards a lot in the summer. We also had to balance a beam with weights to figure out a formula, make an octagon out of twine and a few others. Apart from it being it freezing cold (to the point where I couldn't feel my fingers for most of it!) it was really fun.

On Thursday we went to the Kildare Road Safety Expo at Punchestown Racecourse. There were stalls everywhere from the RSA, Drink Aware, the Irish Road Victims Association and many more. There was a ''roll over'' car which simulated a car that rolled over, like in some crashes. It looked a bit scary, even though it rolled over slowly. Then there was a talk from reps from Drink Aware, the HSE, An Garda Síochana and the Road Safety Association as well. There were some videos about the importance of not using your phone and wearing a seat belt, as well as wearing luminous and reflective clothing when out in the dark walking or cycling.

Today in school we had a flash mob! It was for Calamity Jane, which our school is doing in February for this years musical. There was a rehearsal for the launch as well, which is tonight. I'm doing lifts for it with other people from TY.

Schools across Borders

On the 21st of November all of us TYs went to the City West Hotel for a Global Citizenship Conference. Each school group had to make a short presentation about what they had learned so far. Myself, Ailbhe, Karen and Aoife had to present our class's project. It was based on poverty, especially its effects on women and children. After that we watched a play called Burma for One. Darren Irvine spoke with members of the Rohingya community from Burma who are living in Ireland. He also spoke with members of the Palestinian community in Ireland. Then it was lunch time, we had chicken and chips which were yum. After that we went from the main ballroom to another room for the activity hub section. There were reps from Amnesty International, Trocaire, Concern and lots more. We also did a Graffiti Wall where we all drew and wrote our opinions and thoughts.

In English last week we were studying short films. One was an Irish film called Atlantic, which was a bit sad. Watch it and you'll know why!

Trip to town and Zumba!

On Thursday all of us TYs went into got a bus (well 2 buses) into Dublin to go to the National Library, the National Museum and the National Gallery.


First up my class went to the National Museum to look at Irish Bronze Age jewelry and Bog Bodies. The gold necklaces were called  Lunulae. The tour guide described how they might not have been worn by people as they were never found with people, but in rural areas. One theory is that they were put on statues, as the edges are quite rough. There were also ear spools that looked like circular boxes, some with beads in them. They went into a stretched earlobe and would rattle as the wearer moved. They looked pretty painful to me! next we went to look at the Bog Bodies exhibition. We looked at three, all of which had no legs. Only one had a head, but it was perfectly preserved.

Next we went to the W.B. Yeats exhibit in the National Library. It was a display showing pictures and documents from throughout his life. It was really interesting to learn all about his life. It had a timeline of events running all around the room, with interactive screens to find out more.

Then it was lunch, so we all walked down to Grafton Street to eat. (That rhymes!) I went to McDonald's with some of my friends. Then we went to the Disney store! It was so cool, I had never been before so I was very excited. There were princesses and Mickey Mouses and more. We also went to Dubray Books, where I bought a book called Fuse. It's the second in a series, I read the first, Pure, over the summer. On the way to our designated meeting area (!) I got some gelato (Italian ice-cream) from a Gino's stall. White chocolate and caramel yum yum!

After that was the National Gallery, where we looked at some paintings by Jack B. Yeats like The Liffey Swim. We looked at one by Pablo Picasso as well, one by Vermeer and one by an Italian painter who I can't pronounce or spell his name! It was really interesting.

Today, Friday, we had Zumba! Usually my class has it on a Thursday but we missed it because of the trip yesterday. I hadn't done Zumba before as I was at a talk last week. It was tiring but really fun! i really enjoyed it.

Talks and Science!

Last Monday in Junk Kouture the teacher helped me and Aoife design a pattern for the top of our outfit. It's a strapless design and should look really good made out of woven maps. On Tuesday I was in Naas General Hospital. Not because I was sick, don't worry! I was there for talks on Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy. They were really interesting and I got a good insight into the careers. On Wednesday for work experience I was in Naas hospital again as it was the OT staff meeting. On Thursday afternoon I was in Naas for a talk on Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics. That was really interesting as well.

This week is Science Week. On Monday we went to IT Tallaght for a practical display about science. The man who did the display is The Juggling Scientist, but didn't do any juggling for us, though I did see him on the news on Sunday night. It was really interesting. It was called Xtra-Ordinary Science, and was all about huge discoveries made by different scientists like Galileo, Robert Boyle (who is Irish!!!!) and many others. We learnt a bit about pressure from potato guns, from a normal sized one to a super size potato gun made from a copper pipe. It made a huge noise and shot across the room, I think it gave us all a fright. And he literally went out with a bang! He put a balloon on the table and asked 'What is in it?' Naturally as it was floating we all assumed it was helium. He said it could be helium, or it could also be hydrogen. After talking a bit about different gases he tested the balloon to see which gas it was. He said if it was helium that putting a flame to it would make it pop, and if it was hydrogen it would make a larger pop noise. We all got a bit worried when he put on these ear protectors and lit a candle on a long stick. When he held the flame to the balloon it popped with a huge bang and a ball of fire! You could actually feel the whoosh of hot air rushing out from the balloon as it popped. When I told my brother that we saw an actual fiery explosion today he was really jealous, as the most exciting thing that happened to him that day was that he had a maths test. Ha! My day was well better!

All this week I have rehearsals for Little Shop of Horrors, as I am in the Clane Musical Society's November production. The show is next week, I can't wait!

Halloween!

After the dress up day on Friday the 25th of October it was midterm at last! The dress up theme for TYs was villains. I was Darth Vader, from Star Wars. Some people were robbers, the Joker and lots more. It was my friend Claire's birthday that day, so we brought in sweets, buns and cake to have at lunchtime, on top of all the sweets we were having in class for parties.

After school I went to Claire's house and we had a party! Woop woop! Rebecca made a purple and pink castle cake, complete with glitter and towers! It was so amazingly delicious. 

On Sunday morning I had to get up at 7:30, just like a school day, to go to Waterford. For another anniversary mass, this time my nana's. All of my family on my dad's side were there. After the mass some of us went to the Ramada Viking Hotel for some brunch, which was nice. Then my family went to our nanny and grandad's house to chill for a while. We met our cousin Sam there, he's the same age as Brian so they were able to play with each other, while I hung out with my grandad's boxer Max, who LOVES to drool and shed hair all over me. Lovely. At about 6 we went to our other cousins house for dinner. The adults had Thai and us kids had Dominoes pizza yum yum! We were there for ages and ages, talking about how the weather was 'cat', as they say in Waterford! Everything is cat in Waterford, especially the weather. On Monday we put flowers on my nana's grave, she would have really liked them as they were pink and white. We went home again after that.

Monday night I was in Sorcha's house for a movie night, we watched the Hunger Games and ate lots of sweets, just practicing for Halloween! Tuesday me and the girls went to Liffey Valley to go shopping for stuff to wear to Time, which was on Wednesday. I have to admit, it was leaving it a bit late but we did all get sorted. I bought a really nice black and white stripy dress, fab! Some of us bought masks as well, and glitter spray for our hair! On Wednesday we all got ready together and glittered ourselves up, ready to go.

Next day was Halloween! I was so excited, and so glittery! I was dressing up as a pirate, Jack Sparrow style. I put some plaits in my hair, with beads, feathers and ribbons to decorate. With a few piratey tattoos (fake of course!) and an old school shirt, I was ready to go around with my new brothers, Harry Potter and Scream. My vampire neighbours were there as well, and a six year old mob member, a Headless Hat Man and two witches. We went all around the estate, and then back all the lads went to our house and sat around the fire outside. Us girls went to our next door neighbours house and watched Stardust, absolutely amazing!

On Friday me, my brothers and my dad went to Liffey valley to get Cian a new SIM card. Turns out you have to top up your credit every 160 days or your number expires! Who would have known that? After we went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, which was really funny. We went home and had pizza. At about 7 o' clock we went to a friend's house for a bit of a party. Lots of my brothers friends were there. There were five girls and thirteen boys, so we were a bit outnumbered. Lots of fizzy drinks led to thirteen very hyper boys aged 6-12, who though it was ''funny'' to jump and launch themselves onto the sofas when people were sitting there. Not cool. We all stayed there until two o' clock in the morning. Nothing on Saturday or Sunday, which was a well needed break. I planted flowers in the front garden.

Junk Kouture is going well, me and Aoife have a pattern for the top, and really all we need to decide is what to do for the shoes and headpiece. I'll try to post more often, I've been a bit all over the place with posts. Bye for now!

Grease is the word...

Haven't written a post in over a week now.....Oops! I have been busy though, between geography projects, Junk Kouture, and being in Waterford over the weekend.

For our geography project we were each given an island from around Ireland. We have to research the attractions, accommodation, access, activities, amenities and population. I got Inis Meáin, one of the Aran Islands.

At the weekend I was in Waterford. My cousin Harry turned 1 so we went to his house for a little party. My auntie made a really nice chocolate teddy bear cake, with a smaller one in the shape of a number 1. We gave Harry his cake in his highchair, and he smeared it all over his face and hair. Not a pretty sight! That night we went to Grease.My cousins school De La Salle College were doing Grease as their musical this year. It was really good, and I enjoyed it so much. After that we went to their house and had crisps and sweets. The next day it was my uncle's memorial mass. We went to mass with my nanny and grandad, all my cousins and aunties and uncles. After that we went to O' Donnachas restaurant for dinner. I had plaice and chips, it was so nice! After that it was back up the motorway as I had a rehearsal for 'Little Shop of Horrors' with Clane Musical Society. I was only a little bit late so it wasn't too bad.

Yesterday we had a meeting with a woman from the Kildare Enterprise Board about Mini-Company. She asked us about our idea and what our plans were. Our group is called 'Cake Couture' and our idea is a baking kit with recipes, cupcake cases and decorations.

Road safety, work experience and the Fun Walk!

On Tuesday the 8th of October we had a talk on Road Safety. It was a bit scary hearing all the statistics about how many people are killed, but even more so about the amount who are injured after crashes. We were shown documentaries made about people whose lives were drastically affected by crashes, it was sad to hear families talking about loved ones who were killed. We also did a theory test! I got 33 out of 40, unfortunately I needed 2 more right to pass :(

Work experience was on again on Wednesday, it was really interesting and I felt I learned a lot.

The annual Fun Walk for anti-bullying week was on Friday. Each year group gets a colour, and each base class comes up with a dance and song about friendship or anti-bullying. TYs were yellow, first years were pink, 2nd years purple, 3rd years green, 5th years blue and 6th years black and white. Our class used the theme of exclusion through the ugly duckling, who looked and acted different to the rest of us. Eventually mother duck (or Ms. O' R, our tutor) gave out to us and we danced together to 'We're All In This Together'. The other TY classes were minions from Despicable Me and taxis. Then some of us manned the road crossings for the actual walk, after the walk we went back to the school. We got a drink and danced to some music put on by the Prefects and went home happy.

Maps, maps and more maps!

Junk Kouture again today, and me and Aoife were really getting into the swing of things. We punched holes in the top of the folded maps, and glued them together to create one MEGA-PLEAT! Then we strung old ear buds in the holes, Ms. H said it looked really good BUT......She had some old beads that weren't being used, and would we like to string them along with the pleats? So we took out the wire, and started to re-string the pleats with the beads. We're hoping to weave maps for the top of the outfit. I think it will look really cool and different, and hopefully everything will go OK, with no major disasters in the future!!!!

We got some inspiration from this dress we found a picture of on the internet, thanks to Ms. H. I can't wait to do more work on the outfit, I'm looking at putting a circular fan onto a hairband as a headpiece. Work experience again this Wednesday, can't wait!

Work Experience and Pádraig Pearse

So Wednesday was my first day of work experience. I went to an occupational therapist in the clinic in Celbridge. I was nervous at first, but the OT was really friendly and put me at ease. My day was very interesting and I gained an excellent insight into what an OT actually does.

The main building

Today, Thursday, we went to the Pearse Museum in St. Enda's Park, Rathfarnham in Dublin. I thought it was really interesting and I enjoyed the trip. We learnt a lot about the school Pádraig Pearse set up with his brother  and some of the history of the house.

Junk Kouture and Millennium Development Goals

So I finally got somewhere with me and Aoife's idea for our Junk Kouture design. Junk Kouture is a fashion competition where you make an outfit from recycled and electrical items. We want to make a dress out of old maps. I made two circular fans at home, and we are working on a pleated skirt. Hopefully it will all work out OK, Ms. H is a great help in class. The first idea was to make a skirt out of paper mache and make it into a sort of globe, but that wasn't working out very well. This is much easier, and will hopefully look really good as well.

In religion we have been working on powerpoint presentations about the Millennium Development Goals. These are a set of 8 goals made by the United Nations in 2000 I was in a group with Karen and Aoife. Our presentation was about the 6th Millennium Development Goal, To Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases.

Last workshops :(

So on Wednesday we had our last day of workshops :( as work experience is starting next Wednesday.

First workshop was with Brenda and Kate from BK Inniu where we walked the red carpet in our high heels again! They talked about skincare and make up as well, and we got to do our make up which was fun. They also helped us find whether our skin tone was warm, cool or neutral.

A work experience workshop was next from Mr. C and Ms. H. They told us what to do if your supervisor was out, or if you break something in an office. They said to be honest at all times, as someone would find out anyway in the end what had happened. We also spoke about what to wear for work experience, which varies from place to place. I found it very useful.

Last was Denise from Positive Parties who did a workshop on rapport. We talked about how not to introduce yourself to someone and the right way to introduce yourself as well to build up good rapport. We did fun and silly games as well to keep up the positive atmosphere in the room.

I'm going to miss having workshops, but I'm really looking forward to work experience. My first slot is with an occupational therapist, I can't wait!

Róisín :)

Carlingford!!!

On Wednesday 11th September, we got our Junior Certificate results. It was nerve-wracking waiting in the hall to get them. I was really happy with my results, seeing as I didn't study very much.

On the 16th, Monday, we left at 7 a.m. to go to Carlingford in Louth. Nobody was happy to be up so early. When we got to the adventure centre, we were sorted into 2 big groups. Then we figured out who was going in which room, and after that we got ready for our first activity.

http://www.carlingfordadventure.com/

My group was doing Team Challenges first. We were put in smaller groups of about 10 for this. We had to complete challenges in a certain amount of time to get gems. At the end the team with the most gems wins. I had great craic with this, it was hard to keep working as a team the whole time. I felt I got to know some of the girls better through this.

After this we went back to the centre for lunch, sausage rolls and chips yum! The next activity was Laser Combat. We put on camouflage all-in-ones and walked up the mountain to the forest and the laser zone. I was on the blue team, we had Ms. O' C on our team, the reds had Mr. K. our team won King of the Hill twice.

After dinner we had a night line walk in the forest which was fun. We went back to the centre and some of us went to the chipper or Chinese for some more food! In my room we stayed up talking for ages. Mrs. Leahy had to wake us up in the morning.

Our group went kayaking in the morning after breakfast which was fun, but very cold!! After lunch we did archery, body zorbing and communication breakdown. Body zorbing is where you have a zorb ball over your body but your kegs stick out the end. We all bashed into each other and rolled down the hill. For communication breakdown we were in a dark maze and we had to get out together. The first person had to tell us whether they were turning left, right, going straight or moving up or down a level. I enjoyed it.

The view from the pier onto Slieve Foy, Mourne Mountains.


Then it was back to the bus with all our bags to go home to Celbridge. While I had a great time, I was glad to be back in my on bed again.

The next day we had some more workshops. We did Laughter Yoga with Denise from Positive Parties. That was a bit strange. We also had a class in deportment and etiquette, we had to walk up and down a red arpet in high heels! The third workshop was head massage, that was really relaxing.

On Thursday we went to the Moat Theatre in Naas for a talk from the Kildare County Enterprise Board about Mini Company. It was very helpful, but I enjoyed going to McDonalds afterwards more! We got back to school at lunchtime. Friday was a normal school day.

A bit delayed....

Last Wednesday (4/9/13) we had workshops. Our first one was a massage workshop. We learned how to give a shoulder massage and relax to release stress. Next up was a Positive Party!

http://positiveparties.com/

We sang songs, played silly games and had a great time. We also learned about perception and first impressions of things.

In PE we had the beep test, which I did not enjoy very much (I don't like running) but I did pretty well for me, I think. In Religion we started research for our group projects on the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs. These are a set of 8 worldwide goals to try to achieve by 2015.

I'm a bit anxious about getting the Junior Cert. results on Wednesday, but all the work is done so I can't change anything now!

The Banana Song!!!!

Back to school again!

So I had my first few days of Transition Year, and so far so good! On the first day we were put into base classes; Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest, Tereshkova, the first woman in space and Cornaro, the first woman to gain a degree. I'm in Cornaro. A few of my friends are in my class, but it's nice to be mixed up again, like in first year. Still getting used to my timetable, I can't wait until work experience starts every Wednesday. My first slot is with an occupational therapist. So excited!!!