English Day Out

On Thursday the 24th of March all of the TY's were off to town to go to the Yeats Exhibition and to see other museums as well. We left at like 9:30 or something and got on the bus which brought us into town and Ms. B and Ms. G cam with us too. When we got there Amina and Emnet were split up and brought to different places because there was too many people in the one group. So Amina got brought to the Yeats Exhibition first and Emnet went to the Bog Bodies, after about an hour we switched to go to the opposite. The Yeats exhibition was good and we learned a lot about him and his family. After we had been to the Bog Bodies we thought they were good as well and it wasn't like an actual full body just like parts of it so it was a bit disturbing looking at them. Then we went to like this other museum that is right beside the Dail and that was fun as well and after we were given like 90 minutes to go into town to get lunch and stuff. I went with Patricia and we went to McDonalds and after that we went looking at shops and it was fun just walking around town. The day turned out really well and the sun topped it off :)

History, Fun and Music

On the 23rd of March it was an ok day because it started off as normal. I was in History and my teacher Ms. McH wanted me to stick quotes onto a bigger sheet of paper instead of doing work. Not that I didn't want to do work but it was fun because it took up 2 classes and there was a lot involved whether it be cutting, gluing or sellotaping. I was even excused from Spanish because I offered to stay and finish it and she was so happy that she even gave me a good note. Cheers Ms. McH When we went to the PE changing rooms just like any other Wednesday, our teachers Ms. O'C and Mr. L said that our rugby coaches Tom and Ross couldn't make it so we all went outside where our teachers said that we would be playing games instead. The 2 classes were together so it was a lot more fun. We first played this game where there was 2 teams and 2 flags and we had to run to the other teams goal and try to get our flag and bring it back to our side without being caught. It was fun because a lot of people got caught. The second game we played was rounders, and we all love a game of rounders. We all got so competitive and really getting into it and 3 people got hurt because they were trying to run to home point and slipped on the all weather pitch. It turned out to be a good day and made everyone feel better. Next up was Music and we have been learning our song for a couple of months now and we went to join the other TY class in the library so we could work on harmony's. Nobody was really getting into it but me, I love singing that song because it's such a happy song and makes everyone feel better so I just can't wait to sing it on the Music Night next Wednesday. Ms. G and Ms. O'R are really pushing us to make our song sound amazing and they are really good at helping us with the harmony's.

Pancakes & Technology = Great mix

On the 22nd of March 2011 we were going to make pancakes but the teacher didn't even know because we were supposed to be cooking last week but we were in Glasnevin doing our play so we all thought it would be postponed. So seeing as everyone had ingredients she sort of had to :L I couldn't really flip them but I tried and they looked like they were gonna fall out of the pan so I stopped. I was able to make 3 and with simple ingredients they turned out ok :P We didn't even make them on Pancake Tuesday because we were on Work Experience. Hopefully we will be able to make pancakes again because they are so easy to make. As well as that Mr. W has given us another Technology Practical assignment. He gave us a piece of blue plastic about the size as envelope and he said that we were going to be making a car or something out of it. How we are going to do that I do not know but he's the teacher so he must know what he's doing :L So we have started marking out were we have to cut and to make it into the shape we want it and were still not finished and Technology is getting really complicated but I don't really give up because it's so fun making stuff out of plastic. After I finish marking it out I will be drilling holes into it and then sawing it and then filing it so it's not that hard but it just takes so long to do, this could take at least a couple of weeks because we only have like 3 classes a week.

Monday&Music

On Monday the 21st it was sort of a slow day because nothing really happened apart from the usual. Last Friday Ms. McG came into my class during IT and talked to us about 5th Year ECDL. She was saying like what we would be doing and what you can get out of it. It's €150 but Ms. McG was saying that if you did the course privately you would have to pay like €500 so she said that it's better to do it in school. You had to pay a deposit of €50 by this Friday so I brought mine in on Monday and the other €100 will have to be paid in May. We also had Music today and we went to the library to join the other TY class: Emnet. The reason why is because on Wednesday the 30th we will be having our Music night in Woolies, should be a good craic because well of course us TY's are singing Mama Said by Dionne Bromfield. So we were practising our harmony's today and we actually sound really good, ah well we'll find out on the 30th.

Lá Glas

On Wednesday we had our annual La Glas, it's usually the day before St. Patricks Day. On like the Monday we were told that we have to dress like air hostesses and tourists. So I decided to wear my schoolbag really high and wear suncream on my face and wear sunglasses. Most people did that as well but Ruth and Chloe dressed up as pilots and they looked great; Ruth even had a pilots hat and shades. A lot of people came in dressed as tourists and everyone just looked really cool. It happens we were in English and Leah from the other TY class came in and said that her class was going to come in to get pictures of all the TY's. We then all started laughing because Ms. L walked in and she was wearing a suit as if she was a pilot and it was so funny because of the way she walked into the room. We took loads of pictures and at one stage Ms. B had to take pictures on like 8 cameras. We were all so excited because Leah and Ailbhe had planned a little scene that we could act out in the courtyard. We were in Irish and Leah asked could 2 people volunteer to be Batman and Robin, Niamh P and Davina sort of, volunteered to be them. :L

A few minutes later they arrived back into the classroom all dressed up and the whole class and Mr. S could not stop laughing because they looked so funny.

I couldn't wait to go out to the courtyard and for everyone to have fun but we had to get past double rugby first, that was a downer for some people but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. Near to the end on of our instructors Ross showed us the weird dance thing they do in New Zealand before a rugby match. We sort of bribed him into seeing as he is from there. When the bell rang we all ran to the3 courtyard to get a place so we could see everything. My friend Jeanne came along and sat beside me and when I told her that my class were in the ceili she just started laughing. When everyone was outside there was about 5 people who were going to do some Irish Dancing and Karen was 1 of them so we were all cheering her on. The music was very load and me and Jeanne were right beside it!

There was 6th years in control of the mic and music so they introduced all the years and the representatives came walking out and showing off their costumes to the judges. The judges were Mr. S, Ms. H, Ms. W, and Mr. O'C and they were all smiling when they seen everyone who took part. When they called the TY's we all just got up and started walking around acting like people in an airport, nobody knew what was going on but that was the fun of it. Seeing as Ms. L was the main pilot she was the one who got tied up by the bad guys and I could see the judges faces and they couldn't stop laughing. In the end everyone was cheering and we were all so happy that we pulled it off.

After everyone got up and started doing some Irish Dancing and then Mr. S and Mr. O'C came over and took me and Orlaigh's hand and started dancing with us, it was so funny and Orlaigh was laughing because I was in bits laughing and then the funny thing was that Mr. O'C tripped over a schoolbag and he was pulling me down as well but we got back up and kept dancing and laughing. All in all it was a funny day and the TY's got 8 Easter eggs so we spilt them between the 2 classes and got 1/4 and egg each. :L

Glasnevin

On the 15th of March, all of the TY's went to Glasnevein to perform our English plays for the Holy Faith drama competition. We left school at about 10:30 on a tour bus. :L Everyone got so excited because usually we go on a coach. Ms B and Ms G went with us to Glasnevin and would be staying with us for the whole day because we weren't due to come back till 11 pm! Some people didn't want to go because of the time we were coming back at but I didnt' think that was fair on the rest of the group. But we didn't let that get us down. It took us about 30 minutes to get to Glasnevin and when we got there we were greeted by Sister Susan, who used to be the chaplin at our school. When we got into the place it was the hall of another school and we sort of interupted another group while they were doing their performance. We had hours to practise so we were all brought into like a glass corridor where we were told that we could leave our bags and stuff for a while. At about 12 or something, we were all allowed to walk down to the shops to get food, it was a very long walk and downhill so we all knew that once you walk down a hill you have to walk back up the hill. When we got to the shops we all just sort of got food that would keep us going for a few hours and after walking back up the hill we got back and most people were sitting outside, so we joined them and ate our food there. We all heard banging and knocking from windows about us in the school and when we looked we saw in nearly every window students looking out at us. They even wrote on a sign "Why are you's here?", we all just laughed sitting on the ground staring up. While we were practising our plays, we were told that we need to cut them because they were too long and in my play every scene is sort of vital to explain the story. All of the people who were doing But You Didn't went behind the stage and even though there was like 7 of us we couldn't move a muscle because it was so small and you were cramped to the wall behind these big board things. So much was involved backstage because Ian was there as well and he said he was a stagehand, so he was in charge of getting tables and chairs on and off stage along with like 2 other people from St. Wolstans. After all of the St. Wolstans plays were over we planned on getting everyone on stage and lighting candles in memory of Margaret Aylward seeing as it was her 200th birthday. When all of the schools had performed a speaker from the Holy Faith awarded each school with an award. There was 4 schools there: St. Wolstans, a school from Clontarff, one from Finglas and one from Glasnevin. So one award was given to each of the schools. I think Siobhan accepted our award because most of us were dressed as men so it would look odd. :) We were also given a book about Margaret Aylward's life or something, I haven't actually read it but I do plan on reading it because it seems so interesting. People slowly began to leave and a lot of people approached us and told us how good our plays were, so we were pleased to get a good review and even some of the nuns came over to us. Before we went I personally thought that these nuns would be in the whole black and white wigout but Mr K told me that they don't wear them anymore. (scarlet) I guess that's what I get for watching too much Sister Act :) Mr K and Ms B cam along to see our plays and stayed at the end untill we were all like heading off to our tour bus. A lot of us stayed behind and helped stacking chairs at the back of the room. We then headed off back home to Celbridge and it only took 30 minutes but it felt like longer because we were all so tired, I think I was like half asleep when we arrived at Esso. My dad was there waiting for me so I didn't have to walk home :) Maybe next time if people organise a trip, try not make it 11 hours long.

Mini Company Competitions

I forgot to say that on the 3rd of March all of us TY's were heading off to Clane GAA where we would take part in our TY mini Company competition, well one of them. My team was sad because we didn't get a board to stick things onto like about our mini group but that didn't stop us because when we go there, we got 2 tables in a good place. We set all of our stuff up anyway, we put a pink sheet over the tables, put some clear christmas lights on the tables and then put our beads on it along with our charity ribbons and baloons. We 'borrowed' the box that the boards come in off another group and stuck our things on that. It turned out great and worked just as well. We managed to go for a walk around to see the other mini companies and we had a lot of competition. Some of the other people were from Clane and Dublin and other places like Naas. It was only in the last like 10 minutes of judging that a judge finally came to us and asked us about our group, it wasn't that bad and he was really nice, bad thing is.....we didn't get through in the competition but it's ok because we had a lot of fun doing the mini- comapny and have enjoyed doing it right from the start. After our Transition Year work experience we only found out on the Sunday before we went back to school that on Monday we would be split up and going to another competition. Seeing as my group didn't get through we had to split up and join another group. 4 of the other groups that didn't get through in the first competition had a second chance to get through. I joined Real which was a online book where it would show girls how to apply make-up, style hair and make their skin look more natural. So for the groups that didn't get through the first time went to the Red Cow in Dublin and for the groups that did get through they went to Naas. When we go there we had to set up the board where we out things about the group and pictures of different things. We spent the whole day there and it was fun because we got to go around and ask other groups about their product. We spent 1 hour going around and talking to other groups, 1 hour in another room taking about our product and 1 hour for the judges to go around and interview us about our mini company. Ms L was with us for the whole day while Ms E and Ms L went to Naas with the others. In the end from about 2-3 the judges revealed who got through to the next round and who won a trophy. Real won a 2nd place trophy but sadly they didn't get through to the next round. It was a fun day all in all but me personally, I'm just glad that we don't have to go to another one of these competitions because they really take a lot out of you and you get stressed about trying to impress the judges.

Work Experience in Scoil Naomh Brid

On the 7th of March 2011 it was my first day working in Scoil Naomh Brid. It was my old school so I was a bit nervous. Before I went to sleep on Sunday night I got everything ready meaning my clothes were laid out and I had my bag ready, so when I woke up I wouldn't be spending ages getting ready and wasting time looking for things. I got up at about 7:30 and I planned to meet up with Stephanie and Alison at 8:45 at the top of our estate. So I got ready and wore like a long black dress, flat shoes and a cardigan and was out the door by 8:45. We met Karen on the way as well, even though we did have to wait for her for like 10 minutes. We got there and made our way into the school where the new reception was. We spent a few minutes talking about how excited we were and then when the bell rang our old principal; Ms Pierce came over to us and started talking to us about what we would be doing. She put me and Alison with the senior infants, Stephanie was with first class and Karen was with the 2 junior infants. My teacher was Ms. Brady so I was happy because she was my actual teacher in senior infants, so it was nice being with her for the week because we already knew each other. The first thing she did was introduced me to the class and all the children were like "Hi Lauren..", she then told me to trace like wooden shapes and then cut them out. That took me about 2 hours because there was so many. We then had like lunch in the staff room but we had to leave our classes earlier than the other teachers. So we would get there about 10 minutes before the bell rang for lunch and we had to leave when the other teachers cam in because there was not enough room as it was for the actual teachers. After lunch Ms. Brady gave me about 20 pages that had small pictures that were jumbled up and the children would have to put them in the right order. These included Snow White and The ugly duckling, etc. I put so much effort into them because she said that she would laminate them so that she could keep them forever, as she says. Put by leaning hard on the pencils, I started to get tired and my hand got sore, so I decided to only go light on them. During the next few days I was still colouring the pictures, it literally took me about 4 days to finish them because there was so much detail in them. Ms. Brady would ask me to do other things like bring things to the office and help students with their work but I was mainly colouring at the back of the class. It was so funny because even though I was getting involved with the class by saying a prayer with them, I also had to dance with them because the children asked why wasn't I dancing with them, so I had to. :) I felt like i was a giant dancing with little midgets and they were all looking at me seeing how to like to the dance and I hadn't got a clue. On Tuesday it was Pancake Tuesday, so everything was all about pancakes, me and Alison were asked by my 5th class teacher to supervise her class while she took about 5 at a time down to the staff room to make pancakes. The power one has when supervising 11 year olds. :) Then after lunch I was asked by Sive a Junior Infants teacher; whose second name is unpronounceable, to help make and hand out pancakes to junior infants. We had about 4 packs of pancakes that had like 10 in each so we had plenty, the children would then form 2 lines where they would come up to either me or Sive and we would make them a pancake (my line was sooo much longer :] ) On Thursday I now had about 4 more pictures to do and I chose to laminate the ones that I had done already. When the page was laminated the picture that had about 5 small pictures, I then had to cut them out so they were like learning cards that Ms. Brady could show to the class. Later on in the day she then asked me to help the students paint a paper plate that had the centre cut out which was going to be used to make St. Patricks Day hats. That took hours!!! One by one the children came to the table at the back of the room where I was and put a t-shirt on over their uniform and got them to paint one side of the paper plate. I know they are 6 but they took so long to paint it and I sort of had to hurry them along so everyone got to do it. It was about 1 when I finally chose to do the last 15, 2 at a time, because they go home at 2. When everyone got theirs done I had to paint the other side of the 30 paper plates, so I just sort of quickly painted them and I got them all done in about 20 minutes. :L On Friday I was sad because it was my last day, throughout the whole day I was making paddy's day hats. I was using a sheet of green card which had been cut in half and trimmed at the end so when you folded it around a girls head it made the end bits stick out. I then put a green paper plate on it and then stapled it together, then the children had coloured in pictures of a shamrock and a buckle so I stapled them onto the hat and then some string to keep it on their heads. It took a lot of work and effort to put 30 of these things together. I didn't get to finish them all but the teacher said it was ok. After spending a week with my old teacher in my old school, has made me think about what I want to be when I'm older, a helper in a class not a teacher, I don't know how they do it day in day out. I wouldn't have the patience to be a teacher but I just wanna say thank to everyone who made us feel welcome and helped us throughout the week :)

Mid-Term (projects)

We are now back from our mid term and back into hard work because we have about 3 projects to do and I haven't even started. I am in a group with Niamh O'Reilly so we have to both get information about New Zealand because that was the country that we had picked. In Art we had to pick an artist or sculptor that was from New Zealand, we planned on getting like an A3 piece of paper and putting pictures and biography of both an artist and sculptor. It turned out ok because we descussed it on Monday when we got back from Mid- Term and on the Tuesday we got the information and the paper. We had a double Technology class and our teacher Mr. W was out and we had a sub so we did our project in that class by sticking things on to it and including a lot of pictures. Turns out we got our Art project all done in that class and at break we just went into the art room to leave the poster there. We both felt great because that was one of our projects out of the way, now it was onto the other two. Our Home Economics project was the hardest because we had to have so much information in it, unlike the art one where we just had pictures. Niamh got information about the food that people from New Zealand eat and the history and I did like climate and geography. I think it was about Friday that we actually had all of our information on New Zealand and we put it together into a folder and gave it to our teacher Ms. Mc A in Home Ec. Great, now that's two of our projects out of the way and finished. And the last project I'm on my own because it's the end of year history project where we can literally choose any topic from any time in history, let it be the reformation or WW2. I have chosen to do my project on the London Blitz (1940- 1941). It should be a fun topic because I have a real interest in history and no one else is doing this topic. The project doesn't have to be given in until like May so I've got months. But I better get started because the project needs to be about 5 pages long and should include NO pictures. I was really sad about that because every project I do, let it be art or english I always include a picture even if it's small. I plan on not just doing it the lazy way by getting information on the internet, but I'm going to go to the library in the next few weeks to take out some books on the Blitz.