Christmas Time

On the 17th of December we had a carol service in school. I was in the choir so I got to sing all of the wonderful hymns and songs. I really enjoyed this as it was my first time singing with the school choir. The day after the carol service we had exams. TY's had Spanish/french, religion, English, maths and irish exams. On the last day of exams TY's had none and Mrs.L decided to arrange for us to go to bowling. On Thursday morning class Cinealtas organised a Christmas party. We all went to the library and sang and danced. One of the girls in Cinealtas dressed up as Santa and gave everyone Kris-Kindle presents. After the party we went bowling at K-Bowl. I wasn't the best at bowling but got better as the game proceeded. After K-Bowl Mrs.L had a surprise for us , she brought us to WhiteWater Shopping Centre where I got KFC.

Irish National Youth Ballet

On Friday the 14th of December all TY's went to the Irish National Youth Ballet preformance of the Nutcracker. Here is a taste of what we saw!

Junk Kouture Deadline

The deadline for out Junk Kouture project was on the 7th of December. We have been working on our outfits since the beginning of September! Our outfit fell to pieces one week before the deadline but we pulled together and created a completely new skirt just days before the fashion show. All our hours of hard work, blood sweat and tears had finally paid off. We spent 6 classes a week doing Junk Kouture - in art , home Ec and design. Today we had the fashion show. Each outfit was worn by a model in each group and they did a catwalk in front of all of the TY classes and some 3rd and 5th year classes. The nerves were at an all time high before the models took to the catwalk but as the music played they began to strut their stuff and show off their outfits. Each outfit was so unique and detailed.

  
 

 

Mexico!

Today Ciara and I had to make our geography presentation. Mrs.McG assigned one country to each pair. We got Mexico. Our task was to sell Mexico to our class and make them want to go there. We talked about tourist attractions in Mexico , culture, food and a lot more. I even made churros to give to the class!

Library

This year our school library was renovated. Mrs.W asked our class to try and encourage more people to join our school library and to design posters to stick on the walls. Our class took this as a challenge and began making posters before Mrs.W had even told us what we needed to do. We had to write book reviews and design eye catching posters. After a lot of hard work the library was a whole new place. Thanks to the Librarian our library is organised and modern. We got new tables and chairs and a whole new filing system where people can rent out books to read!

Gaisce

Gaisce - The President's Award is Ireland's National Challenge Award for young people, the country's most prestigious and respected individual Award programme. It is a challenge from the President of Ireland to the young people of Ireland.
Gaisce works on the basis of a personal challenge set by the young person. You will set your own challenge and agree it with a President's Award Leader (PAL). You won't be competing with other participants, as each challenge is completely individual.The only person you will compete with is yourself. 
Last week I signed up for Gaisce. For my physical activity I chose to do 'Gaelic Football', for my peronal activity I chose to cook and for my community activity I chose to do underage camogie coaching! I cannot wait to finish the goals I have set for myself! 

WhiteWater Shopping Centre-Newbridge

This week we went to White Water Shopping Centre in Newbridge. Here we went to the cinema for a talk about mini company. This time we weren't as lucky as to watch another Skyfall screening but we did have fun! Orla gave us a talk about the type of person you have to be in business.
              
Firstly we started the day by each managing director telling us about their product and how they have marketed it so far. The ideas some people came up with were amazing! Each idea was unique. 
              
After this Orla told us what we would have to do for the report and then we watched a video on how to be assertive. The video high lighted four different personalities clashing at work. The four personalities were 1. Aggressive 2. Passive 3. Passive-Aggressive and 4.Assertive . Sadly I cannot find the video she showed us but it was very informative and it gave me a huge insight into the personalities in business.

I learned what each personality means:
1. Aggressive- making an all-out effort to win or succeed
2.Passive- Accepting or submitting without objection or resistance
3.Passive-Aggressive- a person who seems to agree to people around them on face, but is actually responding with passive resistance.
3.Assertive-  confident and direct in claiming one's rights or putting forward one's views

       

The Simon Community

            





          This year in religion we are writing and preforming our own dramas. In my group we chose the topic 'War'. Roisin and Orla are writing the main body of the script and the rest of us are helping change it around and spice it up in school. I think it is coming along very well and it will be really good when we are finished writing it! The other group are doing their drama on 'homelessness'. As part of their preparation for writing their play they needed inspiration. Mrs. O'S a teacher in our school does volunteer work with homeless people and decided to hold a talk about 'The Simon Community' for all TY's.

      On Thursday the 22nd of November , Mrs.O'S kindly held a talk about the Simon Community in our school library. We all went down to the library at the start of the day and a power point had been set up by Mrs.O'S. We sat down and she gave an introduction highlighting what she would be talking about during the presentation. 
      She described firstly how she got involved with the community. The Simon Community were looking for artists so she decided to get involved. Her task was to go to a house that the Simon Community had provided for a group of men and create a work of art on a huge canvas. At first , she said the men weren't too keen on the idea , they didn't know where to start. One day she left the canvas in the house and the next morning when she arrived it had been covered in different colours of paint. It turned out that one man had done this to start it off. All the men needed was a bit of inspiration. 
         Soon afterwards all the men were involved writing poems on the canvas and sticking on things that were important in their life. A lady in the house that Mrs.O'S had died just the year before she did this project with the men , so they stuck on a tiara and a wand in memory of her. There was also many other houses taking part in this task and in the end they has many wonderful , unique canvas'.
          She also took part in a task that involved each member of the household to describe something they treasure and love dearly. I have attached a video with all this information above. Hope you enjoy!
           The talk really inspired me to want to care for other people in the future and get involved in volunteer work! 

 
 

Choir - Les Choristes Caresse sur l'océan

 


This year I joined the school choir. Each Tuesday at big break we meet in the music room and practice , we also practice after school for a competition at Wesley College later on in the year . We are currently learning a french song which is challenging but fun. Here is the link for the song we are learning!

A Week in St.Wolstans

This week we did our drama in Religion. Roisin wrote a scene of our drama about War. For our drama we have to describe the effects War has on different people. This is a fun task because we all bring our ideas together to form one drama. Each girl has an assigned role and we are working hard to get a script together so we can rehearse!
              
For History we had to research the story behind why Friday the 13th was considered to be 'unlucky' for some people. In my research I found this:

On Friday the 13, 1306 the King of France had the Knights Templar disbanded and burned at the stake.These Knights were the ones to guard the Holy Grail.

 Christian Origins

The fear of Friday the 13th stems from two separate fears -- the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears have deep roots in Western culture, most notably in Christian theology.

Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle w­ho betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive.

Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start. 

Are you one of the many people who believe that Friday the 13th is unlucky?..

Catch the Cyberbully

This week Mrs.L told us how to 'Catch The Cyberbully'

Junk Kouture Update

Nature Theme:

Unfortunately the leaves on our skirt went mouldy and dried up so we had to begin the whole skirt again , we collected new leaves and are now continuing to PVA glue the on to preserve them.Because it is only weeks away from the deadline of our outfits to be completed we decided to make a 5 week plan. If we stick to our plan our dress will be finished on time.I am sewing feathers onto the back of the top now for an 'owl' affect. I have already sewn the feathers and stuck the felt on the front. I think this week our dress is finally coming together. 

Skyfall Surprise!

On the 8th of November our TY year went to the Odeon cinema again in Naas for a mini company talk. When we arrived there was a lot of hustle and bustle. After a half hour of settling down and chatting with our friends we were informed that the meeting was cancelled due to an emergency that occurred that morning. We all fell silent as we thought we were going to have to go back to school but to our surprise the cinema allowed us have a free screening of the new James Bond movie - Skyfall ! The cinema filled with cheering and everyone was so excited! We watched the film which was amazing! I love action movies and James Bond is a classic! After the screening we got free gift bags (with popcorn , sweets and fizzy drinks) Overall the day was phenomenal! 

The names Bond , James Bond.

Camogie

Well so far in camogie we have had three matches. We train  every Thursday for an hour after school with Mr.L.Training is really fun because all girls from different G.A.A. clubs get to play together , for example most of the girls are from Celbridge but there are some from Ardclough , Straffan etc. Last week we had a match in UCD , the college was so big and it was fun to see 'college life'. We went to DCU for an open day. The open day was for TY's- 6th years. Firstly we went to the dressing rooms and got changed for sports. We went out to the astro then and did skills with some of the members of the DCU camogie team. We played 7-a-side matches against other schools after that. At 12:30 we got a packed lunch and relaxed for a while. To our surprise Michael Murphy (Captain of Donegal) and Paul Flynn (Dublin Player) were there. They were former DCU members. They came over to us and we got photos and autographs! After the skills and meet and greet we got a tour of the college , it was so unusual seeing the college life. The college was huge and it seemed so daunting at first! Overall we had a great day!

Occurrences in October

Gaeilge (Irish):
In Irish we made two PowerPoint presentations , worked on our vocabulary and  we did oral work. We each made a one slide presentation on a different type of profession. I was assigned a professional sportsperson. For this I had to explain what such a professional entails. I also had to make a PowerPoint about sport in my life and in my area. I found this fun to do as I am a sporty person! Working on oral work in class is definitely improving my way of putting sentences together in Irish. I'm not quite a confident person when it comes to having to speak Irish aloud , but every time we do it in class I feel I am improving. (Even though it is slowly)

English:
In English we made a 'mood board' and we are analysing lyrics from songs in poem form. Ha ha! We're using lyrics from meaningful songs such as 'Viva La Vida- Coldplay'. We also made a PowerPoint on a still scene from our favourite movie. We decided to make a mood board at the beginning and then again at the end of TY to see how our interests change over the year. To make our mood board we all got a blank A3 sheet and designed it however we wanted with images , quotes , anything we wanted to. I really liked making mine because it got me thinking about everything I love and allowed me to be creative. For my favourite movie I chose 'Life is Beautiful'. This is an Italian film with subtitles. It's such a great film so I loved examining a scene from it in detail.

Maths:
In maths so far we made posters either on a mathematician or maths in sport. I chose to do a poster about how maths is used in Camogie. Doing this I found out a lot about Camogie I didn't know. I had no idea that so much maths was used in the sport! We have also done some Differentiation , Algebra , Pascals Triangle , Indices and integration. Today we learnt Cryptography which was also very interesting.

P.E.: 
P.E. is one of my favourite sports , so far we've done orienteering , the skateboard game , high jump , discus and camogie!
(The Skateboard game is a game whereby you and your team have to go from one side of the hall to the other with a skateboard and a rope. Thing is you can't touch the ground or pass the line on either side of the hall unless you're on the skateboard!)

Religion:
In Religion we completed our MDG presentation and presented it to the class. We each got put into groups and were given a goal each. Our goal was to 'Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women'. Doing this project I found it very moving and shocking at some on the statistics we found out. We discovered that 1 in 5 women in Ireland have been abused in some way shape or form by a former or current partner. Living in Ireland this was astonishing to hear! At the moment we are looking into different Drama's we can do to send out a meaningful message about war/homelessness.

Careers:
In careers we have filled out interest tests and found out what type of work suits our personality we have also done a lot of work to do about what careers we would like to pursue in the future.

Science:
In Science we did Chemistry in September and now we are doing Biology with Mrs.B in October and November. We are doing Botany and have dissected flowers and plants. We have also looked at them under the microscope to see the interior parts of plants.

History:
In history we have done functions of government through the centuries , Right wing and left wing government and a lot more about government in England. We have also been assigned a project on either the government and how it has changed in one country or how the functions of government have changed over time.


Technology:
In Tech we have made key-rings , have begun a clock and are now working on an F1 in schools competition. http://www.f1inschools.ie/  This is a competition that allows secondary level students to show their technical skills. They are given the opportunity to design an F1 formula car. Their main aim is to create a generation of world-class innovators.
Geography:
In geography we have watched a video on tsunami's and have done a virtual trip around the world project. We each had a €12000 budget and had to travel to 6 counties (2 third world , 2 second and 2 first world countries). This project was very painstaking but I finally got it completed!  I have also been given a project on Mexico to do with Ciara and a scrapbook to do on my original PowerPoint (Virtual Trip Around the World)

Spanish: 
In Spanish we have watched a Spanish film called 'El Bola' we have also learnt a lot more vocab and verbs. We wrote about our favourite  films in Spanish .

Music: 
In music we are learning how to play guitar and piano. We learnt how to recognize when the chords change and we sang a good few songs. Personally my favourite is 'I say a little prayer- Aretha Franklin'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKkWj2WpWM

Mid-term

Mid Term Break October 29th –November 2nd 2012

This mid-term I did a lot of work on my projects. I worked on my Junk Kouture project , finalizing the front of the skirt. 

I also worked on my geography project , I spent one whole day making factfiles for each country I was going to in my Virtual Trip around the World.  

I researched information about how to make an App for mini company and explored different skills in the sport of 'Gaelic Football'.

Ghouls in the House!

Click this link to see a slideshow of Class Síocháin's spooooky Zombies!
http://animoto.com/play/Hxd61gDQy1ChPVqmszp4VQ

Ghouls in School

Halloweeeeeen!

Today we had to dress up as Zombies. Each year got assigned a dress code.
1st years were Witches
2nd years were Pirates
3rd years were Heroes and villains
TY's were Zombies
5th years were clowns
6th years were Harry Potter

Landed with Projects

It is said that 'TY is a year where projects are plentiful' and to my surprise this fact is true. I have been landed with so many new and exciting projects I didn't know where to start. Jumping from a year of tough study in third year to a more independent way of learning in TY is quite difficult. Sometimes I feel myself thinking 'I wish I had an essay or some exam papers to do'. Almost immediately after this crazy thought enters my mind it soon leaves. I then remember all the projects and fun thing's that TY brings with it. 

       TY is also said to be a 'doss' year but I disagree completely , although it has only been eight weeks in I feel that this year is more intense than last year. Last year everything was simple , do homework , study , exams. This year we are set with tasks such as Sci-fest , Junk Kouture , Geography Virtual Trip Around the World , History/English/Religion PowerPoint's , Spanish/Science and maths posters. Most of the work we are set is independent based and teaches us to be very organised and punctual.

            I have done so much work already in TY. I have chosen to visit France , Madagascar , Peru , Croatia , Mexico and Australia for my Virtual Trip around the world in Geography. This is a slow and time consuming project as you have to explore each country and find out a lot of information about each. I have also completed a PowerPoint about Millennium development goal 3 - To promote Gender Equality and Empower women , for religion and a PowerPoint exploring my favourite scene in a movie , for English.I made a poster for maths about the importance of maths in sport (camogie). I also made a poster for Spanish and science , about the summary of my favourite movie in Spanish and about gold in Science.

Junk Kouture

Junk Kouture is an all-Ireland competition for second level students, where they are challenged to create High Fashion Couture outfits from old every day junk.

           For Junk Kouture I am in a group with Corrie and Rosie . The theme we chose for our piece was 'nature'. For the first few weeks we designed our outfit.We decided to make a skirt out of leaves , a top with an owl design, a tree house head piece and many more accessories .

          This task seemed daunting at first but now we are a few weeks in it is becoming more realistic. So far we have made our skirt from chicken wire ,paper maché and leaves. Corrie dried the leaves with kitchen towel and heavy books leaving them for a week or so to fully dry out.We carved chicken wire into the shape of my waist. We next paper machéd the chicken wire which took a few weeks. We then PVA glued the leaves onto our skirt.

          Next we began to make the top we are still in the process of this. We have decided in using felt and rope and various other materials for our top. I am very excited to see the finishing product of all our hard work , I will keep you posted!
              

Mini Company

Odeon Naas:

On the 21st of September all TY classes from St.Wolstans went to the Odeon cinema in Naas. We went to the cinema to receive a talk from Orla about mini company. There were three other schools at this talk too. We learnt all about what mini company is and how to go about finalising our groups and our ideas. Some groups shared their ideas and even showed us a sample of a wooden plaque they were going to sell. Seeing how far ahead the other groups from other schools were gave me motivation to get to work. We made a group consisting of Alanna , Katie , Lauren , Orla , Orlaith , Sarah , Corrie and Myself. I was voted the managing director for my group. Brainstorming ideas was pretty difficult , it must be hard to believe but for a group of 8 we didn't have much ideas. We spent a week brainstorming ideas. At the end of the week we met up as a group and came up with the main ideas we were going to focus on , these involved toys for kids with ADHD , waterproof iPod speakers and a wireless phone charger. The task at hand seems quite daunting but I cannot wait to get stuck into it.

 

September Synopsis

Science:
So far in science we have done experiments and started to brain storm ideas for projects to enter in Sci fest or BT Young Scientist. Two of my favourite and most interesting experiments were making 'volcanoes' and 'brass'. To make volcanoes we used the method of neutralisation. We mixed and acid (vinegar) and a base (bread soda) to make carbon dioxide gas and an 'eruption'. To make brass we used a copper coin. We turned the  
coin from a copper colour to silver to gold!
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/buildavolcano.htm
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/goldsilverpenny.htm




Technology: 
In Tech so far we went over the safety rules in the tech room and are in the process of making key rings and clocks. I have completed my key ring and am filing my clock at the moment. This is my first year trying out tech as a subject and I am really enjoying it. I thought the practical work would be 
extremely difficult but it turns out 
it is fun and rewarding.

Junk Kouture:
At the beginning of TY we were told we had to take part in Junk Kouture. The task seemed quite daunting at first but once we got in our groups and got stuck in it became enjoyable. Our group chose to make a 'nature' based outfit. We decided to make a skirt out of leaves. We paper pachéd the skirt using chicken wire as our base and stuck leaves on top using PVA glue. We had to dry out the leaves before hand , flattening them in layers with kitchen towel and books which took a very long time. We still have a long way to go but we hope it turns out well in the end.

'Lend me some sugar , I am your neighbour' - Hey Ya : Outkast

Friendship Week - YELLOW

This week was friendship/Anti-bullying week in our school. Anti-bullying week is a week in school where our main focus is on friendship and to try and stop all bullying that may or may not be occurring. The aim of this week is to bring everyone closer together and to minimise bullying. Every year we have an annual 'fun walk' where each year is assigned a colour.

     First years - Pink 

     Second Years - Purple 

     Third Years - Green 

     TY's- Yellow 

     Fifth Years - Blue

     Sixth Years - Black

 Each base class has to come up with a theme based on the colour they are assigned and have to create a 2 minute routine for the day of the fun walk. On the day of the fun walk each class has to preform their routine based on friendship and the judges pick the best from each year. Our colour was yellow we decided to make a dance routine and dance to 'Hey Ya - Outkast'. Even though our class didn't win I think we all really enjoyed the excitement of the day and all wanted to preform again! It brought us closer together as class Síocháin. For the walk our class were chosen to help direct the traffic and guide the students , this was also really fun and at the end of the day we got cans of coke/fanta/7up and danced in the yard.

My costume:

 

Before

After

Workshops

Workshop Wednesday

On Wednesday we had our second lot of workshops. We were divided into our class groups and each sent to a different location. Our first workshop was with Mrs.H , she thought us about work experience and what to do in the work place. Here we learnt different safety rules and how to treat members of staff. 

         Our second workshop was with Austin again and we learnt about all of our various personalities. There was the red group which were fiery and determined , the blue group were planners , the green group were caring and the yellow group were loving and jolly. I was put in the yellow group.

        Our last workshop was with Denise at Positive Parties , here we learnt how to channel positive energy going into the world of work where you are the 'new kid' . Being the new kid on the block was terrifying but Denise thought us how to be calm and enjoy ourselves. Cannot wait until our first day of work experience!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Positive-Parties/165977886762319?fref=ts 

C a r l i n g f o r d 2 0 1 2 - Best two days of my life

TY Bonding session - Carlingford, Louth

Where to begin? My trip to Carlingford was simply the BEST.It is an understatement to say it was amazing , it was so much more than that! I woke up at 6 o clock to be ready for the bus at 7. We met at the local garage and all went up to Louth on the bus. Excitement was at an all time high , as tired as we were , we were still able to belt out the tunes on the bus. Time on the bus flew and we were there within no time.

            We all scurried out of the bus to get our suitcases and go to the adventure centre . As we walked through the village I felt as though I had entered a fictional village , like 'Harry Potter'. We went to the 'mint' (volleyball court) and were assigned our rooms and groups , told the rules and about the fun activities  we would be taking part in and met the instructors. Everyone was obsessed with the instructors from the moment we saw them! There was Chris , Andrew , Erin , Leslie , Luke to name only a few. 

            We ran to our rooms to check them out , they were like dorms with bunk beds. First of all we went to the beach to go kayaking , I was so excited , I'd never been before. We got set and put on our wet suits, helmets and got our paddles. We set out to sea haha and met at a tunnel , all the kayaks were dragged onto the shore line and we climbed in the tunnel into the waterfall. At the waterfall we had to put our head under the water for 10 seconds and we would all live one day longer , so the myth says anyway. It was so cold it gave my brain freeze! We then headed back to the shore line and played games. Afterwards we went pier jumping and I was so happy with myself when I jumped off the big pier because I'm afraid of heights! 

high ropes

              When we finished with the beach we got changed and went to the high ropes these were also a challenge for me because I had to overcome my fear of heights once again. The task was for four people to climb a telephone pole like structure and stand on a pizza box size platform, that was the scariest thing ever. When I came back to earth and stood on the ground I was the happiest I had ever been haha! We then went Zorbin , this was so fun we got attached to a huge orb and rolled down the hill.

Chris- Zorbin'

                Later that evening we went on a blindfolded forest walk then we all hung out in our rooms for a while and around the centre in the lounges. We listened to music and socialised with everyone , it brought our TY year so much closer together! Mr K brought us to the Chinese down the road and I bought a 3in1 it tasted delicious , we had already been given chicken and chips for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner but I still got stuck into the 3in1. We had to go to our rooms at 11 and we chatted for a while and then fell fast asleep after our eventful day and we had a busy day ahead of us.

Leslie - Challenge Course

                 We all woke to the sound of Mrs.L's voice saying it's morning girls time to get up. I hoped up out of bed and got dressed , packed my bag and had brushed my teeth by the time the others had just about managed to sit up in their beds! We packed out bags and put them in the storage room , then went to breakfast. When breakfast was finished we broke up into our groups and our group went on the challenge course. We had to do as many tasks as we could in the given time to collect gems and which ever group had the most tasks at the end won , our group tied with another and got 25 gems. The instructors said that was a new record! woo!

               Our last activity to do was to go to the forest and do laser combat. This was the best craic ever we were all dressed up in our suits with head pieces and a gun and had to shoot the other team without getting killed. We were all running around the forest shooting one another hiding under forts in huts. When this ended we knew it was time to go home and we were all down in the dumps. We said our 'thank you' and 'goodbyes' and left the centre , some of the instructors followed us out and waved goodbye as we left. none of us wanted to leave we wanted to stay forever! 

          The road trip home was literally everybody talking about how amazing and wonderful Carlingford was , we all just moaned at how we wanted to go back and never wanted to leave. We arrived home and everyone went back to their houses straight to bed we were so exhausted!

Overall Carlingford was the best two days of my life.

http://www.carlingfordadventure.com/