My Transition Year Experience.

There is only like 2 weeks left in school, so that means TY is nearly over :( There is so much I want to say about TY, it has just been such an amazing year for me and my life will never be the same again. If we had our way I'm sure most people would do TY again. TY was definitely an experience, one I'll never forget. Throughout the year i have tried things that I would never even dream of doing, I learned a lot this year and we did a lot more work then any other year in the school! Some things that I have learned and done in TY has changed my perspective about where I want to take my life and what I want to do.

Since the year started I thought from the very beginning that TY was just amazing, even though I got stressed at the end because of the projects which I sort of expected, it has been the best year of my life! I finally know what I want to be when I'm older thanks to my work experiences. But it can be hard in a working environment and I think it's fair to say that I'm ready :)

Ever since the start of the year Mrs. L kept telling us to be blogging about our TY experience and now I know why. When we leave school and in years to come when I think about my school days, I can always just come on to this and read all about it because to me it's not just a blog, it's my memories.

Mrs. L has just been amazing and I want to thank her for all the opportunities that she has given us and she has helped me so much. I was on the fence for so long in 3rd year about whether I should do TY and now I am so glad I did. If I didn't I would be studying to sit my Leaving Cert. whereas in TY we sort of had a year off from the hectic studies and got to learn new skills. Right from the very start Mrs. L has helped me achieve great things and she doesn't just treat us as students because we were all friends in TY even though there was some rivalry going on between Amina and Emnet :) Without Ement we would be nothing.

Throughout the year I have made new friends and I just know we will be friends forever thanks to TY for the tasks put in front of us. I have done so many things in TY and I just can't put them down because they were just amazing, like Carlingford, I mean before that I wouldn't even dream about hiking up mountains but I did. I can take all of these memories with me thanks to Mrs. L and to all the other teachers who pushed us for the entire year to do the best of our ability. Without them we wouldn't have all this knowledge, I always thought that teachers taught because they had to but know I know it's because they want to and I admire them for that. Cheers Guys :)

I will keep all of my TY experience in my mind and on my blog forever and I wish every year in school was like TY because it is just a once in a life time experience.

Amina and Emnet on La Glas.

Beady Bits Mini-Company

Amina on La Glas.

Class Amina meeting Oisin MGann.

Cheescake and the Queen

Yesterday in school apart from doing our religion test we were also cooking. I was going to be making Light Strawberry Cheesecake which I'm not a big fan of but what the hell. I was actually in Pastoral Care which is like SPHE and Ms. KB said we were going to watch the Queen instead because she was coming to Ireland for the first time and it was the first time a royal monarch came to Ireland since we got our independance like 60 years ago or something. So it was a really big thing because it was history. The bell went and some people said including Stephanie that we refuse to leave untill we see her get off the jet. We did anyway we saw her and she even wore green :D we left after that because when we got to Home Ec we were late and we asked Ms. McA could we watch her like live on RTE Player and she said yes, so while we were cooking we were watching the Queen take a tour of Dublin and meet Mary McAlease.

We made our cheescakes anyway and we had to come back at like 4 to collext them because they had to set, but when I went to get mine it wasn't set because I had a lot of ingredients so it was a big cake. When I got home I put it in the fridge for like the rest of the night and today it looks fine.

Here are some pic of what my cake looks like:

Religion Test

Yesterday in religion we had our test, but it wasn't really a test because Ms. KB already gave us the question so that we could prepare for it; good woman yerself :D Anyway we were all given like an A3 piece of paper and we had to divide it into 4 sections, 1, 2, 3 and 4 and in them we had to choose 2 films that we watched during this year and sort of describe how there's conflict in them. In the first section, you had to put like key moments of the films and how they showed conflict, in the second section you had to put words that came to your mind when you saw the films, in section 3, you had to pick a symbol from each film and say why the director chose this symbol and why. In the forth and last section we had to put collage of pictures that represent the movies so I got loads of pictures of the movie and some other ones and just stuck them all on. By the end of class my poster looking deadly :P

3rd Last Week in School

We are now into our 3rd last week in school and people are starting to realize that this years nearly over :( All in all that's not getting people down because we have got our TY night in like 2 weeks and that's what we are all looking forward to. We have already started planning what jobs people will be doing, we are doing dancing and singing and much more. But we still have tests ahead of us. On Monday that was the deadline for us to hand in our end of the year history projects, I was really happy because I worked so hard on it and was proud of it but some people forgot to print it off and they all know who they are :L Nothing really happened on Monday apart from working on our religion exam which Ms. KB gave us the question to on Friday i think, so we had this class to figure out what we were going to put in it. I think I spent the whole class listening to Siobhan as she was explaining it to me :)

Sports Day

On the 11th of May 2011 St. Wolstan's had its Sports Day. We didn't know when it started so we all just went to class as normal but we had 2 classes, English then anoher lunch! At 9:05 in history, Amina had our test on the French Wars of Religion which went ok, we really want to do it because it was sports day but we did anyway. At about 12 o'clock everyone went out to the banks during our second lunch to get a good spot. I was with most people out of Amina and we were in a perfect spot; on the edge of the bank where the music was. There was a lot of things to do on the football field including: Shot Put, Relays, Long Jump, High Jump, 3 Legged Race and for the first time we had a slow bicycle race. I didn't really do anything because I'm not a sporty person but I didn do the High Jump which was fun. There was also like a stand where they were selling ice creams, so I had to get one and it was yummy. :) Nearing the end of the school day as always the 6th years had a game of rounders with all the teachers. Every year everybody looks forward to seeing the teachers playing rounders because it is always so funny. We all went home as normal at about 3.30 and kept in mind the funny moments of the 2011 Sports Day. The only thing that was bad about the day was that it was breezy and rainy, but that didn't get anyone down because we all just danced along to the music and had fun and we can't wait till next year :)

Sci Fest

On 10th of May all of the TY's Head off to Tallaght to take part in the sci-fest science competition. I was in a group with Roisin and we sort of adopted Aoife B into our group because her science project didn't get accepted. :(

At the start of the year at the young scientist competition me and Roisin's project didn't get accepted because we were too good :L but we have been working at our project so we got accepted this time. At the young scientist competition only one group got through so this time only one group didn't get through so we were all happy. Me and Roisin we struggling a bit because a few day before we hadn't even got our poster done so we were running around , trying to get it finished on time. We did anyway so we were all happy. On the day of Sci-fest we would be leaving the school at 8 o'clock which was a bit early seeing as the competition started at like 10. But when people arrived at like 7:45 they looked really awake but some others didn't including me because I had to drag myself out of the bed at like 7:30 and got there like just in time. We were only on the coach for like 30 minutes and when we arrived at I.T.T we were told by one of the organisers where we would have our stand. Me, Roisin and Aoife we were in the Staff Room on the second floor. We got a book and a free goodies bag as well. We got like pens and badges and a furry sticker thing :)

When we got upstairs, we were a bit confused because we weren't sure whether we had to share a table with another person or not and the board behind us was shared as well. When we were all settled the like chairman of the competition had all of the contestants from all over Ireland standing around a balcony and he just sort of explained what the plan was for the day and when lunch was. Over the course of the day me and Roisin got interviewed by about 7 judges. Roisin did most of the talking because I get really nervous when I have to talk :P

Lunch was at like 12.30 to 1.30 so we all went down to the cafeteria which was huge and got like muffins and drink and stuff. We then went around looking at the college and some of us got lost including me. We also went to shows in our groups. We had tickets to go to like chemistry shows but we only went to one. In the first one there was 3 guys and they just sort of showed us these cool chemistry experiments. They were setting fire to helium balloons and spilling liquid nitrogen all over the place. It was completely safe unless you actually touched it, but when he spilled it, it changed from a liquid to a gas in like less than a second. It was so cool and he explained everything in so much detail so it was easy to understand things. The picture below shows Liquid nitrogen changing from a liquid to a gas.

When it was nearing the end of the day at about 2, we had to go and take our posters down so we could go to the awards ceremony. St. Wolstans won like 4 or 5 awards and me and Roisin were one of the groups. Our project "How different foods affect the Larynx" won 1st prise in the Physics intermediate category. We were so happy and we got our picture taken in front of everyone and we got two 15 euro vouchurs. We weren't excpecting to win but we were happy we did. All in all the day turned out to be a very good day and I really enjoyed it. Well done to everyone who entered, won and participated from all schools. :) Me and Roisin accepting our prize :)

Count on Me

In music we have been trying to come up with a song that Amina could sing at TY night but we just can't think of anything. We also had a new teacher on the 9th of May, her name is Melissa. Like halfway through music class the other TY class, Emnet cam in and told us the song that they would be singing on TY night. It is called "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars. We listened to it and we fell in love with the song as well, so we asked Emnet could we sing the song with them as a big group and they said yes so that is the song we will all be singing on TY night. Melissa then played the song on Youtube and we listened to it and sang along with it like 3 or 4 times. It is a really good song and sort of reflects how we all got along in Transition Year, a real sort of friendship song. Here have a listen:

Geography Project on Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez was born on the 24th of July 1969 in the Bronx, New York. Her nickname is J.LO and people recognise her all over the world by that name. She was brought up by her Puerto Rican mother and father; Guadalupe and David Lopez and she has 2 sisters; Lynda and Leslie. Jennifer was raised a Roman Catholic. She is an American actress, singer, dancer, record producer, television personality, fashion designer and television producer. She began her career as a dancer on a television comedy called "In Living Colour". After subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in an 1995 action-thriller "Money Train". Her first leading role was in the film Selena, where she earned an AlMA Award for outstanding actress. Since then she has stared in many filsm like; "The Wedding Planner", "Maid in Manhatten" and "The Break-Up Plan". Jennifer came into the music industry following the release of her debut studio album "On the 6" which contained the number one hit single "If you had my love". Her second album "J.LO" was release on the 23rd of January 2001 and the lead single "Love don't Cost a Thing" was her first number one in the UK. Also in 2005 she released her forth album and the lead single fot that was "Get it Right" and that was her second number one in the UK. In 2007 she released 2 albums including her first full Spanish-language album "Como Ama una Mujer", her album was number one on the US Top Latin Chart for 4 weeks. The lead song "Que Hiciste" was the first Spanish video to peak at number one on MTV's Total Request Live Daily Countdown. From the music business she has recieved 2 Grammy Awards, 2 Latin Grammy Awards, and estimated sale of 55 million records worldwide. In 2004 she married Marc Anthony and in February 2008 she gave birth to fraternal twins; Emme and Maximillian. She now lives in Brookville, New York on Long Island with her family and her mother. I also talked about the countries that relate to her and the geography of them. Check it out on my googlemap at http:maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&tab=wl.

Back to school!

On Monday the 2nd of May we didn't go to school because it was a bank holiday so on Tuesday the 3rd of May we were back in school and nothing really really happened apart from doing my car in Technology which was alright because I was just marking out on a piece of like metal. In Pastoral Care we watched some more of Gran Torino and then in Religion we watched the end of it and it was so sad because Walt died to save Thao. :( In Home Ec we were supposed to be cooking but I didn't know anything about it so I didn't really make anything, I just went around and helped people and helped tidy up. On Wednesday the 4th of May we were supposed to be having a history test but because Ms. McH is so nice she let us have it on the following week because she thought that we forgot about the test and we wouldn't be prepared for it. Over the next few days there will be exams going on for the first and second years. I remember when that was me and I would get so nervous about failing but that's all different now, Most people now are just studying like all the time and for the girls doing their junior and leaving cert, I just want to say that you's will do great. I think in the next few weeks I will be doing my exams as well but it wont be like a proper exam, it will be like projects that count for 60% of our overall marks! If only every year was like TY.

Easter Holidays

Over the next 3 weeks I wasn't in school because I went to America so I didn't really have an Easter and not one single egg. I got back a few days before we started back school for term 3 but I slept for most of that. Not really much to say in this post :P

Glendalogh

On the 5th of April 2011, class Amina were off to Glendalogh for a retreat. Mr K. and Ms. KB were going with us. We left at like 9 am and it took us about and hour and a half on a coach. The bus driver was so nice that he stopped of at a shop so we could buy food and sweets. When we got there there was like a lot of buses arriving with like other schools and the funny thing was, there was a bus that contained like old people in like their 70's and Mr. K just went quickly move out of their way even though they were like a mile away and Niamh P just goes "Oh better move quick" and we all just started laughing because they we walking so slow. We then got brought to this field where this lady talked to us about the formation of Glendalogh and then we all did like a form of dancing but she was talking about the sky and the earth and Staphanie was breaking her heart laughing and seeing as she was beside me I started laughing and I nearly fell to the ground because once Stephanie starts laughing, she does not stop. We then went on a walk to like a well, where the lady started telling us about the history of it and people thinking it was holy and stuff. Before we left Mr. K asked me to cut off 60 peices of wool and i asked why because it was so random but he wouldn't tell me. Then I found out what they were for. The was a branch of a tree that was used for people to make wishes by tying a piece of string or wool onto it, but it was chopped down so we were all sad we didn't get to make a wish. :( It was really a walking retreat because we then went off on another walk but this one was just to no where, we then got to like stairs which was weird, we then looked up and it looked like 500 steps and Mr. K was just like "Come on!", We were all soooo tierd and I was like being dragged up this mountain by Mr. K. About 20 minuts later we got to the top and we sort of did a U turn and we headign to go back down the mountain and we were all like "What!" The lady brought us over to the edge of the top and we all just sat on this big rock and told us a story and then she was like the person who founded Glendalough, was like arrested because he was like a priest or something and where we were sitting he was in jail there. Some of us got up in like shock because it was no bigger then a wardrobe. We then walked down the mountain and back towards the starting point to get our lunch, that lasted for like 30 minutes and i had a lovely hot soup. (Yum!) We then went on another walk to like no where and we came across some sheep and we fell in love with them but Mr. K said that Ms. B would not allow us to keep them in the school. (Aww), We then got back on the bus and it took us an hour to get home. We then went into the hall and begged Mr. K to let us get off early because it was like 3:40 but he said no. :(

Music workshop

On the 31st of March, we were going to have a music workshop and was so looking forward to it because it would be really fun and someone was coming in as well. Only thing was seeing as one of my brackets came off my mam had organised for me to go to the hospital to get it put back on so I had to leave right before the workshop started so I was dissappointed that I missed the Music Workshop and I didn't even get the bracket put back on my dentist just cut the wire and kept the bracket. I'm sure we'll have another day where I can be there for a music workshop.

Music Night

It's the 30th of March, the day on which our Music Night is on. The pressure is on because we have to make this performance brilliant because all of our parents and friends will be in the audience. We had music class today aswell so we went into the hall to practise again and we sounded really good so that put us all in a good mood for the rest of the day. When I got home, I had 4 hours untill the show, so I went to bed and then practised the song again no doubt when I woke back up at about 5 I had dinner and then got ready for the show. The teachers said wear nothing too low cut or short so I wore my favourite black dress and a cardigan and pumps. I was wooried about one thing, I had just got braces on that day and was worried that my mouth would be too sore to sing but we were going to find out. We had to pay for tickets if we wanted to see the whole show, most people out of my class didn't but I wanted to see all the acts. We were in the second half so me and my mam saw all the acts in the first half and I have to say , the talent that my school has is just amazing, there was people singing, dancing, playing instruments etc. And everyone was amazing. When the TY's were up I had to walk on the stage first but I was grand even though I have as much confidence as a squirrel. We sang our song, I was grand and everyone clapped afterwards. There was only one problem, while I was singing one of my new brackets fell off.

School in Spring

On the 28th of March we were in Music class and we went to the hall because over the past few weeks we have being rehearsing for our Music Night we were will be singing "Mama Said" by Dionne Bromfield. We are all very excited and can't wait to sing in front of our parents and friends. Ms L. was there in the hall with us and helping Ms G figure out where we would be standing and how to project our voices. There was other groups practising before us, like a jazz group singing and dancing and Ms. C W. was the choreographer and they were brilliant so we couldn't wait to see them perform on Wednesday Anyway we'll see how our song turns out on the night.

Talk about Bicycles

On the 25th of March 2011 all TY's had to go to the Demo Room at 9:05 for a talk about bicycles instead of Science and Technology. It was actually really interesting how other countries use bicycles every day because their roads are too narrow for 2 lanes of traffic. We also learned that if use bicycles we are helping ourselves as well as the planet. I can't remember the guys name that did the presentation but he was from the Kildare County Council. I think people like him should come in and tell us the importance of changing our routines to help the planet.

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.

Movement Workshop

Today we had a movement workshop with Ian. The guy who came in before to teach us how to move on stage but this time he thought us how to fight on stage. My class came in late because we didn't know that we were having a movement workshop. When we got there he was already doing something with Emnet, in one of their English plays there is a big fight scene so Ian was there to make sure that no-one actually got hurt when we were doing the play. It didn't really concern my English group, who are acting out the scenes of the Poem "But you Didn't" by Meryl Glass, because there is not a fight scene or a violent scene in it. But it was still good to be there and see how can fight on stage for like future plays that we will be doing.

Poland

A couple of days ago all of TY's received a permission slip about our 5th year trip. We are all jetting off to Poland, well not all of us, only 40 people will be picked to go. It will be a 4 day trip and we will be able to see the goods and the greats of Poland. It should be fun but this sort of fun comes at a price. The total cost is like 530 euro, so it is a bit of a stretch but I will not be going because I am going to America in like 7 weeks. My mam said that the money is not the problem the time when the money has to be paid. I will be away so I can't go but I'm fine with that because I didn't get picked for the 2nd year trip to France but my family brought me instead. So I asked her and she said that we can go to Poland next year. So for the people that do get picked, they will be going in October of 2011 ove Halloween Mid-term. I don't know what teachers are going but 5 of them are. Over the 4 days the people that go will be partaking in the following activites: --3 hour guided tour of Krakow including the Old Town Square, University District, Wawel Hill, Kazimierz & the Jewish Quarter, Shindlers Factory. --Free time to explore the Old Town and shop at Krakow plaza. --Excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. --See the birthplace of Pope John Paul; Wadowice. --Visit the Wieliczka Salt mines. --Visit the Galicja Museum. --3 hour session at Park Wodny Waterpark. There seems like that is a lot of things to do in 4 days but it should be fun.

Oisin McGann

Today we had a workshop with a writer called Oisin McGann. It lasted for 2 classes so we missed Spanish, I was so sad because I had done more homework than anyone else :( It was more of a talk than a workshop but it was good anyway. My class was first (because we are simply the best) and we all had to go to the library after registration. We all sat in a circle so that Oisin could all see us. He seemed really nice. He introduced himself to us and started talking to us about writing and about how writers come up with their ideas. He said that writers write down all of their ideas in a notebook and that they will always have one at hand. After he told about when a person is writing a story that they stop and that it can be hard when they are trying to think about how the story goes. He told us us that he looks at something ordinary and turns it into something magical. He gave us an example by looking at a shoe, and it was my shoe. (scarlet) :P He started to make up a story of a shoe that they had teeth and it hides in your cupboard until night and then it crawls up the stairs. It crawls into your room and under your covers and then it bits your foot and sucks all the blood out. It was a weird story but I enjoyed it. It was good to see that a writer could make up a story like that on the spot in front of like 20 of us. He also got really into the story by being very enthusiastic and shouting a lot :D After that he started talking to us about how we use language and they way that we speak. He started talking to us about the time he went to different countries. He said that he didn't have a strong Irish accent and that people can tell that you're Irish by the things that we say. He said that we would say things that people from a different country might not understand like; "If you give it some wellie, you'll be sucking diesel" I would never say that but people wouldn't understand it if you said it. Coming near to the end he then started drawing. He drew us a picture and even signed it for us. It was a really good workshop and he was really funny too. I would really like it if another writer came to us and talked to us.

Look at his website: http://www.oisinmcgann.com/blog/

Class Amina and Oisin McGann and the picture he drew us. :)

PE

Yesterday we didn't get to do PE. We weren't able to because the mocks were going on in the hall and it was raining outside so we couldn't do it in the rain. So instead all of the TY's went to the Demo room where we watched the rugby match between Ireland and France that was on over the weekend. Mr. L tried to make it seem like it was educational and that we could use what we saw when we were going to play rugby in PE and it didn't really help :D

Sometimes in April

In religion we have doing some work on a film called Sometimes in April. We have been going through what a genocide and an American genocide is to help us prepare for the movie so we could understand it more. We started to watch it but unfortunately the bell went. Here is a small clip of the movie:

Croke Park

Yesterday all of the Ty's were brought to Croke Park, the home of Irish sport. We went to school and did schoolwork until like 12pm and then we got on a bus and about 30 mins later we arrived at the stadium. I was there before with my family so it was nice coming back. The first thing we did was watch like a 20 minute clip of preparations that are made before a big match of either, hurling, Gaelic football or camogie. It was really interesting and just to see the amount of effort and the people that take part in making the match a safe environment for the players and the public. I learned that so much goes into a match and they don't do any of the work lying down. After that we were brought on like a tour around the stadium, so we went out to the edge of the pitch, we weren't allowed on it because there is like pipes underneath it to make it grow and stuff. :D We were also brought to the players changing rooms and the place where they go after matches. It was really fun and we learned a lot about who founded the GAA. I thought it was better to be brought somewhere and actually see the place rather than just reading it out of a book. The tour guide explained everything so well so we understood everything, the teachers seemed impressed because we actually enjoyed learning :D Ms McG and Ms McH were the teachers that came with us and they seemed to really enjoy it too. I asked them whether or not they had been before and Ms McG said that she saw U2 and Take That there once but never to see a match. They were with us the whole time so they learned things aswell, because I even overheard them talking and one of them said "Did you know that?, I didn't know that" (that's rich coming from a teacher)! Later on we were brought to the very top of the stadium, the highest seats in the whole place...... NEVER AGAIN!!! Walking up, you couldn't see but when you turned around you felt physically sick, because you were up so high, I didn't mind it but it was just so steep that made me really nervous about tripping. We were able to have about 20 mins to go around the interactive part of the museum, I didn't though all I could think about was getting food. Food was D-lish! I will definitelly be going there again no matter what the price.

Week 7th-11th of Feb

This week in school the mock examinations have started, so we now have our lunch earlier, I like it a lot better because we are usually starving by about 12 o' clock. The 3rd years are all in the hall and the 6th years are upstairs in like room 28 to 32. I remember when that was me last year and I was so nervous about failing it. People are taking it really well because unlike last year the 3rd year are not oging around saying that they were going to fail everything. This year people are not really taking an interest in whether thay to good or not. I have all of that to look forward to in 6th year when I will be doing the mock for my Leaving Cert. :O Also today I had my metting with Ms. H because Mr. C was at a meeting, it turned out really well because she just asked us about what we are planning to do when we leave school and what subjects we need to do to get into a certain college. He gave us the sheet today which we have to fill out about what subjects we would like to do for Leaving Cert. I am thinking about choosing Boilogy, Geography and Home Ec because I will need Biology and possibly Home Ec to get into a hair and beauty college. I want to choose History for my 4th option because I enjoy the subject and wouldn't mind getting that instead of Geography.

Another Day at the Company

Today in Mini-Company, we made more bracelets but people have sort of stopped buying them because they have already got bracelets. A lot of people are still buying the Action Breast Cancer Ribbons though. We came to a decision that we are still going to make the bracelets but we are asking Ms. B whether or not we can go to primary schools to sell our bracelets there. It could work because our bracelets are very colourful and it might attract the children :P

March Work Experience

I got my Work Experience for March like 2 weeks ago. I was really happy because it was something that I really wanted to do. I will be working in my old primary school; Scoil Naomh Brid. I went to that school for 7 years so it will be nice to go back to see where I spent my early years and to see some of my old teachers. I got the idea from loving being with children and sort of taking care of them. I want to be hairdresser when I leave school but if that didn't happen I would want to be like a child carer or a minder. I sent my old principal Ms. P an e-mail saying that I wan interested in doing work experience there so a couple of day later she e-mailed me back saying that I could, I was so happy and excited. So about 2 weeks ago I went down to there after school due to us having a half-day. When I arrived there, there was a whole new building attached on to it. I still saw it as the 'prison' I went to as a kid. It brought back a lot of memories like where I use to play and sit for lunch. At this point i was actually tearing up. As I walked inside I went to where the principal's office was but I ran into my 6th class teacher, Ms O'D and said that the offices had moved. She even asked me who I was, when I told her she was shocked and she said how much I had grown up :) Anyway I saw the principal and she signed the confirmation sheet so I was happy that it was sorted and I can relax now and I can't wait to go back and work alongside some of my old teachers for a week. Should be fun :)

Web Committee

Me and my friend Aisling wanted to do something in school, like join a club so Last Monday we went to the Web Committee just to see whether we would like to go to it again. When we got there, there was mostly 6th years, nerves kicked in. Ms. McG and Ms. W are the teachers that run it. I have heard from another girl who goes there that the two of them are really fun and let you have fun there. Me and Aisling just walked around just looking at what the other people were doing and they we updating the school website. Ms. W came over to us and asked whether we would like to do our first sort of mission. We said ok and asked what it was. She wanted us to go down to the kitchen where the 6th Years we having sort of a little party because I think they won a Maths competition. So I took a list of the girls names so that we could congratulate them on the website. Aisling took a piture of the group of students and Ms. B and Ms. L was there aswell so the picture turned out very well.

School Stuff

At the moment me and Niamh O'R. out of Emnet, (my cooking partner) are desciding what we should do for our second dish. We had already descided that our country was New Zealand so we have already made our sweet dish; Raspberry Friands which were yummy, so no we have to make something that can live up to them :) We came to a descision that we are making a traditional New Zealand hambuger called "Hambuger with the lot". Should be fun and easy to make. Next week on Thursday I have a meeting with Mr. C. about what subjects I want to do for Leaving Cert, it'll only be like 15 minutes long so it wont be that bad, I just hope I get the subjects I want.

Projects in February

In TY so far, we are doing a lot of projects. This term we were given our History project which is part of our Summer Test. We can do our project on any topic, so I'm thinking about doing my project on the rise and fall of Hitler. Which means I have to write/type a five page essay on his life. In Geography we have to do a tri-fold brochure on a disease found in a 3rd World Country. I think I'm going do mine on Malaria in Africa. It will be an interesting topic to do because it is so common.

Rain

"Rain rain go away, come again another day" The rain is really starting to affect me because it's really bringing me down. The rain also weirdly affects how I behave in school :( If it is raining when I'm in school, I will be in a bad mood for the day, don't know why though. I just wish it would go away because its supposed to be Spring and it's bringing everybody down. :(

Spanish Presentation

On Thursday 3rd of February 2011, I made my Spanish Presentation to my class. I did my project on this that you can do when you go to Spain. I spent about a week looking up things on the Internet; statistics and stuff. I ended up doing like visiting the Royal Palace, beaches, taking part in Bull Fighting and the Tomato Festival, etc.

I was so nervous about making the presentation because I haven't got a lot of self-confidense, but that is what TY is all about, improving self-confidence. So after making the presentation, I thought it went well, and I learned things about Spain that I didn't know before so I was really happy.

It was like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. :)

Subject Choices

OMG, I don't know what to do because next week Mr. C is giving us the sheet that we have to fill out saying what subjects we want to do for Leaving Cert. I honestly haven't even decided so I better hurry up. I did have two subjects in mind; Geography and Biology and I still have to choose 1 more. So I ran through all the subjects, Religion- I don't want to do because I think it is really hard. History- You need to be good at writing essays because there is a lot of that involved. Technology, Art and Music- You need to have done it for Junior Cert, which I didn't, I did Business and Home Ec. which leaves them 2 subjects; I didn't really like Business at junior cert level because there was a lot of new words and different techniques to adding up accounts. Then there was Home Ec, I wasn't bad at it but vice versa I wasn't good at it either. So I am thinking about putting Biology first, Geography second, Home Ec. third and History forth just in case i don't get one of my other subjects, at least I'll have something to fall back on. I hope I get all the subjects I want. :)

Music Class

Over the last couple of weeks in Music class we have been put into groups and given a genre of music. My groups in acoustic and in it there is Karen F., Davina J., Orianna McF., Siobhan B., Lauren T. and me. We had descided to sing the song "The man that can't be moved" by the Script, but we don't know wether that is it perfect song to sing so our song has yet to be descided.

We have also been working on another sort of Music project, where all of the TY's will sing a song on TY night in front of parents and teachers :O The song that we will be singing is "Mama Said" by Dionne Bromfield.

I'm really looking forward to it because it is a happy song which is really catchy.

Careers Interest Test

On the 3rd of February we were in Careers and Mr. C told us to go on a website called http://www.pathfinderlive.co.uk/. It asked us hundreds of questions about different jobs. I found that I have an interest being a choreographer and like a child carer and a midwife. So I was happy with the result. And it knew exactly what i wanted to do when i leave school. :)

Irish Dancing

Today in Irish we went to the hall with the other TY class and did a bit of Irish Dancing. It was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it because it was a break form school. We all did dances and we were in groups of 2 and 4. We danced for most of the class and at the end there was about 3 people from the 2 classes and they danced in a circle on their own to show us their amazing skills. They were actually very good and I enjoyed it. We should have more of them type of Irish classes.

Grand Torino

Today in religion Ms. K.B.was out so Ms. R was supervising us instead. It was really fun because we got to watch Grand Torino. We are about half way through the movie now and it is actually really good. at the start it was really sad because we found out that the old man (Clint Eastwood) was at war and his wife died. I can't wait to watch it again because I really want to find out what happens and how the story ends.

Maths Quiz

Today during maths we went down to the hall to have a quiz. It was really hard. It was a mix of both classes; Amina and Emnet so we were in groups of like 6. I wasn't really that much use to the people in my group because they were all smart and I didn't know how to do any of the questions. In the end my team won because we had the most counters on our maths cards so we won a bar of chocolate each. So I halfed my with Bebhinn and it was yummy.

Home Ec/ Art Project

Since like last week we were assigned a project that involves two subjects. It is a cross between Home Economics and Art. In Home Ec. we are assigned a partner and we have to choose any country in the world. We then had to look up recipes of food that are eaten in that country and whatever we choose we then have to cook it. It is over the course of 3 weeks so we have to cook 2 savoury and 1 sweet dish. Last Tuesday just gone me and Niamh O'R picked to do New Zealand so we made a sweet dish which was called Raspberry Friands which is like fairy cakes with raspberry's in them. It was easy and quick to make because it only took about 20 mins to make them. After taking them out of the oven we saw that they had turned out beautifully; nice and crist, we then sprinkled icing sugar over them to finish them off :) Next week we are thinking about making like a chicken dish but it hasn't been descided. We better do it quick because we are cooking it on Tuesday. After we cook the 3 dishes we then have to either make a PowerPoint Presentation or like a folder which would include our recipies, a little about the country and like things that you didn't know about that counrty. On the other hand in Art we have to make like a poster or a mood board, which will include things about the country. We are going to write a little about New Zealand's culture and weather and most importantly we have to talk about a famous or unknown painter or artist from that country. Our teacher Ms. O'H said that we should include a little about his life; like biography and things that he painted/sculpted etc.

Movement workshop

Today we spent about an hour doing a movement workshop where this guy, Ian cam in and he told us we were going to be doing different poses and possitions for drama. At first I didn't know what it had to do with drama but then I found that it was how you move on stage and stuff. We did things in like a big circle and then we did things in a group. It was fun because we got to different things and see how fast we could do it. So it was pretty fun.

Mullingar

On Tuesday all of the Transition Years were off to Mullingar, in Westmeath to perform our English play based on the poem, "But You Didn't" by Merryl Glass. We left the school at about 9.10 am and we were on the bus for about an hour, so it wasn't that bad. When we got there is was about 10.40 and there was only us there so we didn't have to perform the play in front of people; we liked that idea because we were so nevous. We managed to do both plays without messing up or forgeting lines. In the play I was like a army general so I had to wear a suit , and it looked so cool because my mam put like badges and chains on it to make it look army like. Afterwards we were able to walk down to the town so most of us went to McDonalds. It was so good and then we went back and we saw others schools perfomr theirs; there came all the way from Donegal, and they were really funny. We got back to the school at about 3.59 so that was grand.

Technology

In technology this week we finished our clocks that we made. They look so cool because they are green and the have got a red centre piece, mine is a star. We had to saw out green plasic to make the shape, we had to make it really smooth. We then heat the plastic so we could bend it, after that we made our centre piece, we glued it to the clock. After that we just sort of finished it off by putting stickers on it , I got my stickers to look like the numbers; 3, 6, 9 and 12 on a real clock, and then I put on like the hands of the clock and a battery pack. It look so cool and I can't wait to bring it home to show my mam what I made. :)

17th - 21st of January

I don't think a lot happened at the start of this week. :( It was Stephanie's 16th birthday on the the 18th so we spent the whole day singing "Happy Birthday" to her ..............in ..........every...........class :) She got a tattoo for her birthday and I think it is so cool, it is a peace sign and a love heart blended together to make a treble clef. She already has her next one planned! On Wednesday we got to have a half day due to school planning so we got off at 12.40, it was grand because I had planned to go down to Scoil Naomh Brid ; my old school, to ask the principal whether i could have permission to do work experience there in March. It was grand because she said yes so I don't have to worry about waiting till the last minute. We also had another half day on the Thursday because there was the Ty and 5th Year Parent Teacher Meeting, so again we got off at 12.40. My mam didn't go to the meeting because my little brother was sick.

BT Young Scientist Exhibition!

On the 14th of January 2011, all of the Transition Years and the Second Years were off to the RDS in Dublin for a Science and Technology Exhibition. In St. Wolstans we had two groups that were accepted into the competition; one from TY and one from 5th year. It took us about an hour to get there but when we did there had to be about 400-500 people there! Girls and boys from schools all over Ireland and age 10-18. We got in there and it was really hard to get around because there was so many people and you didn't really get to see the projects due to people pushing and shoving you. I met up with some of my friends and we walked around and the first thing we went to was the Robot Wars, which was pretty fun because we got drenched. We managed to find our way around so that we saw everything. It was so fun because people were giving away things left, right and centre; I think I got about 50 pens and 20 pencils along with highlighters, etc. Other things that we got were Frisbee's and badges. We then went outside where we could get either Eddie Rockets or a cup with chocolate and marshmallows so we went for the cup of chocolate. It lasted the whole day and we got back to school at about 3 and we tried to get Mr. Dooly to let us go home 20 mins early but.........he said no :(

Exam Results

Over the last few days we had been given back our christmas exam results and I didn't do really well but I did try my hardest, so that's all that counts. It was grand because we only have 5 exams so it wasn't that bad because we only had to study the small amount of stuff we actually learned. It will be a lot harder in 5th Year because we have more exams and they will be a lot harder.