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.