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.