Work Experience 1 - complete!:(

After 10 weeks of work experience every wednesday, our first work experience placement had come to an end. Some people might be relieved that the time in the first placement has ended but thats not the case for me. I was so sad on wednesday when I finished. For my work experience I went back to my old primary school, Scoil Naomh Bríd. I was so excited going back and seeing how the school had changed since I had been there and believe me...It has changed a lot. For example there now is not one blackboard in the school. They have all been replaced with interactive whiteboards! The big change is the extension. The extension was built the year after we left the school and I hadnt been in the new building at all. I had really high expectations going back and was hoping that I would really enjoy the experience. My expectations were of course met and I really enjoyed my time at the school. I was really sad to leave because you do become really attached to the class that you had been helping out in, and Im really going to miss them alot.
Eilíse:Dxx

Naming our Junk Kouture!!

Since the start of TY we have been taking part in Junk kouture. The deadline is coming up next week and the outfits are starting to look like something that could be worn. Its amazing to see how something that was someones junk can be turned into an outfit. Our idea was inspired by music. At first we decided to just use Cds but soon changed the idea and decided to use tapes, manuscript, and earphones as well as the Cds. Its taken a lot of time and effort to make the outfit and unfortunatly our time is coming to an end at the deadline for this project is tommorrow. I think everyone is under alot of pressure to get the outfits finished but we will have to work fast. We are almost finished but we still hav to make a necklace and also secure some pieces at the top of the dress! Everyone is getting excited for the fashion show which will be held on monday!
We spent a lot of time debating over a name for our design. We wanted to have a name that represented our theme of music. In the end we came up with 'Forte Fashion'!:)
Eilíse:Dxx

Catching up (part 2):)

Mini-company

On Thursday the 8th of november ,we went to odeon cinemas in naas for our second mini-company workshop. We went in and sat in the cinema with three other schools and waited for our lecturer to come in and give us a talk. After waiting for 45 minutes for the lecturer to come, another woman from the enterprise board came in and told us that our lecturer  was rushed to hospital earlier that morning.The good news was that they gave us a free showing of the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. It was an amazing movie. And when the movie was over and we went out the doors we were all handed a bag filled with goodies.

History

In history, we have been learning about the functions of government. we were given an assignment where we had to show the change in the form and functions of government has changed in a country overtime. The country that I chose was Great Britain. I chose Great Britain because I thought it would be very interesting to research. Great britain have a government different to that of Ireland and by doing this project I learned a lot about a monarchy and the role of monarchy.

Religion

In religion at the moment we are creating dramas about inportant issues in the world today. we got the ideas for the drama from doing our projects on the millenium development goals. The class has split into two different groups. one group is basing their drama on homelessness and the other on the effects of war. I am in the group doing the effects of war. Our drama is going to illustrate the effects that war has on not only the soldiers fighting in the war but also on the family of thoses involved. We will be entering a drama competition with our dramas.

English

In our english class with Mrs W. we are doing a powerpoint of our life journey. We have been given a list of topics and have to pick 3 from the list. I have chosen to do friendship, self-actualisation and love. We have to get images, quotes, and music to go with the topics that we choose.

Music

So far in music we have done singing and also learned the guitar which I have really enjoyed.However at the moment we are learning how to play the piano. This is a good and bad thing. Its good because I already know how to play the piano quite well. The bad thing is that we are learning things that I already know but hopefully it will get more interesting soon.
I will blog again soon!:)
Eilíse:)xx

 

Catching up!;)

 

It had been a while since I last blogged so I'm just going to catch up on everything that has gone on in the past few weeks.

Technology:

At the moment in tech we are getting ready to enter a competition. The idea for the competition is to build a formula 1 car. There are six people on my team and our team name is rapído y furioso. I am the resource manager which means I am in charge of finding materials and equipment that is needed to complete the project and to keep track of time.

Junk Kouture:

We do our Junk Kouture project in home EC. and art classes, so that gives us six classes a week. At the moment we are on the way to the finish. There are only minor things left to fix on our dress and we just have to finish the accessories. We are having trouble coming up ith a name for our project but I'm sure we will come up with something. We also still have to figure out what we will be doing for hair and make-up. Our deadline is the 7th f December but the school fashion show will take place on the week of the tenth.

Geography:

We are coming near the end of our first Trip around the world powerpoint. However we have been put into pair and given a country. The country that I got is Kenya. The project involves selling the country as a unique travel spot. The presentation has to be 6-8 minutes long.

Fun Walk!!:)

On the fifth of october, the time came for the annual st wolstans fun walk. This is where every year gets a different colour and the people in the year have to dress up and wear that colour. Then every class had to make up a dance and perform it for the rest of the school. TYs got yellow as their colour and my class, síocháin dressed up as lego. We did our dance to hey ye by outkast. We had our dance ready and we were all pretty confident about the performance. Unfortunately, it did not go completely to plan. The music started late so we all got a bit confused and we were all doing the moves differently. We didnt really mind though because our class was picked to mark the path of the actual walk and help everyone to cross the road safetly. When we got back from the walk everyone got a can of coke and we all danced out on the tennis courts. On monday morning everyone waited for Mrs. S. to announce the winners from each year but when she did, luck was not on our side and we lost. however congratulations to class cinnealtas who did win.

Eilíse:Dxx

Carlingford- best trip ever!!:D

so the day that all TYs were all so excited about had finally arrived! on Monday morning all of us got up and ready to leave for carlingford adventure centre at 6.45 at the petrol station in the village. even though everyone was tired from getting up early no one slept on the bus because we were all so excited! we got to carlingford at about quarter to nine and got divided up into our bedrooms! then the whole group was split in two and my group went to our first activity which was laser combat!
Laser combat was amazing! everyone was dressed in army overalls and we were all given a big laser gun! we then walked up the mountain to the area set out for the laser combat! The walk up to it almost killed me and i was exhausted by the time we reached the laser combat zone! it was so fun! we were split into two teams, blue and red, and we played three different games. the first game was called annihilation. the aim of the game was to kill everyone on the opposite team! i was on the red team and to be honest luck was against us and we lost the first two games. however our luck changed when we played the next game which was like capture the flag but with teddys instead of flags! we won that because we got two out of the three teddys! the we played king of the hill were the red team had to defend a castle and the blue team had to attack it! we won that game to! and then we played another game of  annihilation. it was so so fun!
we then went back to the centre for lunch which was chips, beans and sausage rolls and were sent back out straight away for kayaking! this was so fun as well even though it was lashing rain when we started and it made my arms really sore! it was still so good! it was two or three to a boat. we kayaked over across the lough and stopped at a waterfall. the story behind the waterfall was that if you put your head under the water for ten seconds that an extra day would be added onto your life. after that was done we headed back to the pier and got changed and went back to the centre for dinner!
after dinner was eaten we headed back out for our night activity called night line. we went back up to the laser combat zone and got in a straight line. we were then blindfolded and had to walk through the forest while holding onto the person in front of us! the purpose of the exercise was to gain trust between each other.
on tuesday morning we were woken up bright and early by Mrs.L and had about forty minutes to pack our suitcases and clean out the bedrooms. we then went off on our next activity which was high ropes and zorbing.l we were split into three groups. my group went zorbing first! i have to say it is probably one of the best things that i have ever done!:D zorbing is when you and another person are straped into a big plastic hamster ball and pushed down a hill! it was so scary getting ready to go but when we were rolling down the hill it was so, so, so fun!!:D Then my group moved onto the high ropes which was so scary!
Then we headed back to the centre for lunch and had chips beans and really nice chicken!! after lunch we headed back out and off to the challenge course. this is where we all split up into groups ten people and do a load of games to win gems! at the end of the 2 hours the team with the most gems wins! and MY TEAM WON!
then it was time for us to get back on the bus and go home!:( after we all got home we wanted to go straight back!:) it was one of the best trips that i have ever gone on and i think alol the TYs got alot closer!
Then although everyone had alot of bumbs and bruises we all had to be in school on the wednesday but it was ok because on wednesdays we have workshops. firstly we had a workshop from Mrs H. on work experience as we will be on work experiencve every wednesday starting next week! then we had a continuation of the personal development workshop from two weeks ago! this time we played a game where we found out our personalities! i am a blue observer! then after lunch we had a continuation of the positive party workshop which was really fun.
then today we had a workshop in naas for mini company and had a random stop in lidl on the way home!
Here are some videos of our carlingford experience:







Eilíse:Dxx

Sighs of relief!:D

finally the time that everyone was worried about came and out junior cert results were given out!:) everyone was really nervous while we waited in the school hall for the envelopes to be brought in! to be honest the waiting was the worst part! when i got my envelope i didn't want to open it straight away but when i saw everyone else opening theirs and i couldn't help myself!! i was so delighted with my results and to be honest i don't think anyone was really disappointed!:)
next week is jam packed with activities for the TYs!! first of all on Monday and Tuesday we are going to carlingford adventure centre in louth!! i cant wait! i have been before so i kinda know what to expect! everyone is really looking forward to it!:D on Wednesday we have a day where we will have a continuation of two of the workshops that we had last Wednesday(positive parties and social development) and also a workshop on work experience! then on Friday all of the TYs are heading to naas for a workshop about mini-company!:D as you can see TY is a very busy year!:D
Eilíse:Dxx

Junior Cert. Results Day!!

Almost 2 weeks into TY and its been great! I really like my new class and i have gotten used to it! The time has come for us to get our junior cert results. We have been given a late morning and only have to go in for half an hour to get our results at 12.30!!! Everyone's really nervous but to be honest i just want to get them out of the way!!:) Especially because next Monday and Tuesday all of the TYs will be in carlingford!! I cant wait!:) I have been there before and its so much fun! I cant wait to try all the challenges with my classmates!!
Eilíse:Dxx

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!:D

Its only a week in and the projects are already building up. In religion we have been put in groups and have been given one of the 8 millennium development goals. We have to research the goal as a group and present it to the rest of the class in a couple of weeks. We have also started our 'Trip around the world' for geography. We must pick two first world, two second world, and two third world countries and find out things about each country and things you can do there. In Home ec. we have started to make our outfits for junk kouture. On Monday we were also introduced to the Bt Young Scientist exhibition. We have to come up with a project good enough to get accepted into the competition. this alone is proving difficult!! I have no ideas at all of what to do because there have been so many projects done before and coming up with an original idea is going to be hard!
Since work experience this year is happening on a weekly basis, we have no classes on a Wednesday. This gave a perfect opportunity for all the TYs to take part in some workshops!!:D We had workshops on etiquette, social development and positive thinking. For etiquette, the two instructors taught us about Personal Health and also how to present yourself in different situations! In social development, we had to share our most embarrassing moments with the class and in positive parties we had to share a positive memory and we learned how to anchor those memories!! all in all it was a really fun day!! The instructors will be back in two weeks time to finish the workshops! At the moment the J.C. results are looming and I think everyone just wants to get them out of the way!!:)
Eilíse:Dxx

First Ever Blog!!!:)

Hi to anyone whos reading! This is my first blog so im not really sure what to write, but hopefully my blogs will get better as the year goes on. It's only been two days and i'm already loving TY!! We got our class groups yesterday and I am in Síocháin:) It's kinda weird not being in class with the same people as in first to third year but I'll get used to it soon enough. Anyway part of TY is about making new friends. Today we had our first Home ec class and were told about a project we will be doing called Junk kouture. In groups of 3 we have to make an oufit, including matching accesories, out of recyclable materials. Im looking forward to getting started on this project and the other projects coming up in the next few weeks!:)
 Eilíse:Dxx