The Galleries of Dublin! :)

On Thursday of last week, we took off into town for the day with our two English teachers Ms B and Ms G. We went in to see a few of the galleries and museums in the city. We went to the Yeats Museum, the National Museum of Ireland and the National Art Gallery.

It was such a great day in Dublin with all of the TY students, especially with the sun shining down on Grafton Street at lunch time! My class, Amina, went to the Yeats museum first while the other class, Emnet, went to the National Museum of Ireland first. The Yeats museum was very interesting. We were given an insight into the life of W.B Yeats. We got to see lots of his belongings and pieces of work which were left behind after his death. The tour guide was also a great help and was very clear so you could understand her extremely well. I feel that this is always a good help rather than someone boring who you cannot hear properly!

After the Yeats museum we swapped over with Emnet. They went to the Yeats museum while we went to the National Museum of Ireland. We went to this specifically to see the bog bodies but we got a small tour of the stone age and bronze age before we saw the bog bodies. The bog bodies were very very interesting. It was incredible to see such detail left in the bodies after so many years.

When we were finished in the National Museum of Ireland, we all went for lunch. We were given an hour and a half for lunch to go wherever and do whatever. We were really close to Grafton Street so everybody headed there to buy food. Most people went to McDonalds. I absolutely despise fast food places like that so I went into the foodhall of Marks and Spencers and I bought myself a delcious pasta salad with a slice of carrot cake for after! :)

Most of the girls took themselves and their lunches up to St. Stephan's Green to sit in the sun and eat. The rest of us stayed around the Grafton Street area and we ended up getting free make-up samples from BT2!

After lunch, we all met back at the gates of Dail Eireann. When everyone was gathered up, we headed for the National Art Gallery. We took the long way around to it, but it was nice and sunny so we didn't mind. In the gallery we were split into two groups once again - Amina and Emnet. We were taken around the gallery to some of the different paintings. Each painting that we looked at was explained to us clearly by the tour guide. It was a really interesting tour. I really enjoyed it.

After the tour in the art gallery, we headed for the bus to go back home. The bus home was good fun. It was a great day out and thanks again to our English teachers, Ms B and Ms G.

Niamh! :D

Picture Sources: daithaic.blogspot.com

roomsindublin.com

houseoflochar.com

Fitness test.. In the sun, after eating Pancakes?! Naaaah! :L

On Tuesday, for PE class we took part in a fitness bleep test. We did this test to help three of the girls in our class with their science project. I didn't mind taking part in it except for the fact that we had to do it outside on the astro and it was really warm outside. Another thing that was making me reluctant to take part in it was because I had just eaten the Pancakes we made in Home ec and they hadn't gone down too well! We started the bleep test anyways. As time went on people began to drop out. In the end there were five of us who were still going. Then there were four.. We were on round 7, so we had been running for roughly seven minutes straight. At this stage I could feel the pancakes. They weren't happy! :L On the third bleep of round 7 I had to pull out because those pancakes really were going to come up! I lay flat on the ground trying to cool down. It wasn't working though because the air was so heavy. I got some water and poured it all over my face.. it felt SO good! When everyone was finished, we got ready for the next class. Next week we're going to be doing another kind of fitness test for the girls as they are testing each type of fitness test to determine the best one! Niamh! :D

Pancake Tuesday.. Well, two weeks later! :L

For pancake Tuesday, we were suppose to make pancakes in our double home economics class. Sadly, we didn't have double home ec that day. Our teacher, Ms McA, told us we could make them the following week. Again, we weren't there for our double home ec class the following week. On Tuesday, we all brought in our ingredients for pancakes. Our teacher hadn't told us we were going to be cooking but just in case she allowed us to, we had the ingredients with us! Class Emnet had their percussion workshop on Tuesday, so there were only a few of us in home ec. We were supposed to move on with the theory for our summer tests but seeing as there was only half a class, we were allowed to make the long awaited pancakes instead! Pancakes are really easy to make, but, for some strange reason, mine and Chloe's pancakes didn't turn out so well in the beginning! We made about four ridiculously bad pancakes. We kept trying and trying until we got them right. In the end, we each got one perfect pancake. This was satisfactory for me! Niamh! :D

Summer feeling, without a doubt! :D

On Wednesday, we had one of the best days yet this year. You won't believe that we didn't leave the school! We were in school all day long, but it really didn't feel like it! The sun was shining for the whole day and the heat was incredible, considering it is only March! Our double class of P.E and lunch time is what made the day feel so summery. For double PE on a Wednesday, we usually do rugby with two coaches from Barnhall R.F.C. They couldn't make it this week though so we did PE with our teachers Mr L and Ms O'C. We were outside on the astro pitch for the double class. We played a game called "Capture the Flag" for the first class and then we played rounders for the second class. Both classes, Amina and Emnet, were together for the whole double. This was another huge advantage to such a great PE class because the two classes are usually separate for other activities in school. It was really nice to mix with them. After an amazing double class of PE, we were all absolutely ROASTING! Lunch was straight after PE so we all decided to make good use of the lovely day by sitting outside in the courtyard. It was really good fun and very enjoyable. We only had two classes after lunch, which were both good aswell. Wednesday really was a good day in school! Niamh! :D

Cutting Radishes.. and fingers! :/

On Monday, we did an exciting Science experiment. We were testing the reaction of the enzyme in radishes at different temperatures. We had to use safety goggles and plastic gloves, as usual. The reaction of the radishes with hydrochloric acid, washing up liquid and buffer created foam. The higher the temperature, the more foam created and the faster it rises up the graduated cylinder.
To begin with, we had to chop up the radishes into small pieces. Chloe had that job. I had to get the liquids for making the reaction.
When I had all of the liquids measured out and ready to pour, I was just waiting for Chloe to finish chopping the radish. For some very strange, completely unexplainable reason, I decided to just grab the pieces she had already chopped while the scalpel was still chopping the rest of it.
What happened next?! My finger went straight under the scalpel.. the rest is history! Nah, I'm just messing! MY finger is still intact with a small cut on it.. nothing to panic about!
Note to self: DO NOT put your finger under a scalpel again!

Niamh! :D

La Glas.. Another successful day of FUN! :D

On Wednesday, 16th of March, the annual La Glas was held by the prefects in the school. Each year group was, as usual, given a theme for dressing up. Transition year were given the theme of "Aer Lingus". In the beginning, when we heard what our theme was we weren't too pleased. We didn't know what to do for this theme.

However, we made a fine aul job of it in the end! :L

On Tuesday night while we were waiting to go no stage and on the bus journey home we all chipped in our different ideas to produce another great performance! A few girls dressed up as cabin crew, two girls + Ms L dressed up as pilots, one girl dressed up as an air traffic controller and everyone else were passengers - business people, tourists etc. Myself and Davina dressed up as Batman and Robin. Now, I know what you're thinking; Batman and Robin?! What on earth has that got to do with Aer Lingus?!

Well, here's how it went:
Leah had made a cd with different background sounds on it. The first was an announcement bell, like in the airport. When this sounded, all of the passengers lined up and one of the cabin crew members checked tickets and passports etc. Then, a warning sound went off. Two of the cabin crew were under cover terrorists. Everyone jumped down onto the ground screaming, while the terrorists tied up the three pilots. While all of this was happening, myself and Davina were hiding behind the crowd. Then, all of the passengers made a "Sssshhh" sound and they pointed towards where myself and Davina were hiding, making the crowd turn to look! The theme tune to Batman came on and with that, Batman and Robin jumped into the centre, saved the pilots from the terrorists and tied up the terrorists!
It was such a fun act to do and we had the judges of the parade laughing the whole time, along with everyone else! I think everybody really enjoyed our act.
Before the parade of classes though, there was an Irish dancing performance. Me, being an Irish dancer, was asked to dance. Anyone that was dancing lined up and took their turn to do a step. Again, everybody enjoyed thaat also. For the last ten minutes of lunch everyone danced around to ceili music enjoying themselves and the Irish culture.
It was another fantastic day, especially for us TYs with our outstanding performance!

Niamh! :D

An audience with an age gap! :)

On Tuesday, 15th of March, the two Transition year classes spent the day and most part of the night at the convent in Glasnevin, Co. Dublin. We went to the convent to take part in the "Margaret Aylword Drama Presentation". Margaret Aylword was the founder of the Holy Faith Sisters in the 1850's.
We used the four English dramas that we had already performed earlier on in the year for this drama presentation. We were lucky that they didn't have to altered too much to suit the event and the audience.
We had had a dress rehearsal the week beforehand with our former chaplain, Sr. S. Sr. S is also a Holy Faith Sister and is now based in the convent in Glasnevin, which is why our school has such a strong connection with the Holy Faith Sisters in Glasnevin.
We left the school at break time on Tuesday morning, with bags, props and actors in toe! We boarded the bus and took off, knowing that we'd be returning late that night. Everyone was excited.
When we got to the convent, we were greeted by Sr S. It was great to see her smiling face once again. We went into the convent grounds and were guided to the school hall. There was already one of the other schools there practising on stage. We had to wait our turn for our first rehearsal on stage. While we waited we chatted quietly amongst ourselves and watched the other rehearsal on stage. Soon, it was our turn to practice. The first rehearsal didn't go soo well, with props being slow to be brought on etc. Fortunately, we had plenty of time to get it right as the show wasn't starting until 8 o'clock in the evening.
After the first rehearsal, we were allowed to leave the convent grounds to go and get food in the shop or coffee shop. When we came back, we sat in the school yard, eating, talking and having fun. We were called back in after a while to get ready as our next rehearsal was a full dress rehearsal. This rehearsal went quite well. Everyone was more prompt and more confident. There was still one slight problem though, we weren't talking loud enough on stage and considering there was going to be an older audience to before, this wasn't good! Voice projection improvement was needed!
We headed outside with the man from our drama workshops. We walked away from the surrounding buildings, onto one of the pitches. Here, we practised projecting our voices! It went well. The fresh air made opened up everyone's mind and all of us were feeling a lot better and less stressed and less nervous.
We were then informed that we would be getting pizza for a bite to eat. Everyone was so happy about this. When the pizza came, there was even more excitement because it was from the one and only, Dominos! My favourite! We sat around the whole and munched away contently. After the pizza we went out for a walk one last time.
This time, we met a Holy Faith Sister on the grounds. She asked us would we take her dog, Chinky, on a walk for her. We were more than happy to do so. So, off around the grounds we went with Chinky amongst us all. We had great fun and laughs before we went back in to get organised.
Everything was set to go, we just had to wait for our audience! We got dressed up and done up in plenty of time so we wouldn't be rushing at the last minute.. as usual! At about half seven the hall was filling up quickly. The nerves began to kick in. Our present chaplain, Mr K and our school principal, Ms B both came along to watch and support us. There were four schools performing. Our school was third to go on stage. While we waited, we planned what we'd do for the annual La Glas theme day which was taking place the following day, Wednesday. We got that sorted out pretty handily.
Our time came to go on stage. Everything went extremely well on stage. Our projection was great according to a few of the nuns that were talking to us afterwards. At the very end of the drama presentation, when all four schools had completed their performances, one of the Holy Faith Sisters got up on stage to thank and congratulate us all. As a token of their appreciation for our great performances, we received a fabulous piece of genesis for the school and we each received a book about the life of Margaret Aylward.
We cleaned the hall and gathered our belongings. At about a quarter to ten we headed for the bus. The bus journey home was good fun. We talked about the day and how well everything had gone for us. It was a really worthwhile day out and ,yet again, another great bonding day.
Thank you for all your hard work and effort Ms B, Ms G, Ms C, Sr S and Ian.

Niamh! :D

"Get up and go" - Minco Competition! :)

Today, we took part in another mini company competition. This time the venue was at the Red Cow hotel in Dublin. We were competing with both Kildare and Dublin schools. There were only four groups from our school this time. The other groups were taking part in the final of the competition from the last day in Clane. Their competition was held in Naas.

Our mini company teachers, Ms. E and Ms. L had to accompany the girls in the Kildare final, so our TY coordinator, Ms. L, kindly accompanied us to the Red Cow. We didn't start off on a great note, with no bus to take us to the venue! The competition was starting at ten o' clock so we needed to be there for half nine at the very latest. Unfortunately, we didn't get on the bus until half nine which meant we were going to be rushing to get our stands ready for judging.
Despite this 'kerfuffle', we got there safely and we got our stands set up on time for the judges. Our groups were divided into three. Two A's, two B's and two C's. The A people were the first to be interviewed, while the B people went around to other stands and the C people went into another room to talk about the development of their mini company. This rotated around over a period of three hours so as everyone got a chance to do each task.

At one o'clock, we took a break for lunch. This also had to be rotated as two people had to be at the stand the whole time. The rotation worked well for our group. After lunch, the categorical prizes were given out. There was a first, second and third prize in each category. They were called out in reverse order. My mini company group came second place for the innovation award. Some of the other groups in our school won prizes as well. After these were given out, the four businesses through to the national finals were called out. "Green Hero" from our school made it through to the final.

After the prize giving, we had to pack away all of our stuff and clean up after ourselves. We had a really good, fun and enjoyable day out. I think Ms L did too, especially because she isn't a mini company teacher, so all of this was pretty new to her! :)
Thank you Mrs L for taking us out.

Niamh! :D

Back to primary school I go! :D

On Monday, I began my second week of work experience for transition year. This time, I'm doing my work experience in Aghards National School. This is the school I attended during my primary school years.

I chose to go to a primary school for this week as I wanted to do something different to my last work experience and I also wanted to get an insight to primary school teaching. Before I went into the school on Monday morning, a primary school teacher wasn't ranked very high on my list of possible careers. However, after the first two hours of being there, it shot right up the list!

I've always wanted to do something medical, but, after spending three days in a primary school (not as a pupil!) I'm kind of, sort of, liking the set up of primary teaching. The career has a lovely environment attached to it. I love helping people, especially younger people. I'm so thankful that I did transition year because I can now see that I would be suited to a teaching job.

This week is a very busy week in the school as the annual readathon assembly was taking place. It is a really good week for getting experience because there is loads to do around the place. On Monday, I was given my timetable by the vice-principal. My timetable was quite varied. I was helping decorate the hall for the assembly, I was helping the junior classes with shared reading, I was supervising classes while the teacher was out at a meeting and I was on yard duty etc.

I was kept busy throughout the whole week, which I loved. All of the teachers were very friendly to me, especially the ones that had taught me in previous years. I thoroughly enjoyed my week of work experience in Aghards, more so than my first week of work experience back in November.

Transition year is a great opportunity for people to do work experience. It has really helped me in deciding what I would like to do when I leave school.

Niamh! :D

Picture Source: schooldays.ie

"Sometimes in April"-The Rwandan Genocide.

On Friday, 18th of February, the last day before mid-term, we watched the movie "Sometimes in April". This is a movie about the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. There are two words I can think of to describe this movie. Those two words are horrifically devastating.
As I watched this movie, the feelings that went through me are indescribable. The movie makes you both sad and angry.
Unfortunately we only had three class periods to watch the movie so we didn't get to watch it to the very end. We finished it off in religion class when we came back after mid-term.
As a follow on from the movie and as a case study on genocide, we are doing interviews, taking notes and writing blogs. The interviews are with the characters from the movie who survived the genocide.
Watching this movie has made be reflect hugely on war and conflict, especially in the developing world, where they really cannot afford it. I would loved to have been there, in 1994, to try and help stop the genocide. I would have done anything to prevent such devastating scenes. Unfortunately though, I am only one person. However, I would like to do some campaign in an effort to prevent genocides happening today. It may not happen with the click of a finger, but hopefully, someday, I'll get around to doing it.
I would recommend the movie strongly, just so you too can see what happened in Rwanda in April 1994.



Niamh! :D

Picture Source: en.wikipedia.org

Minco Competition! :)

On Thursday, 3rd March, we took part in our first mini company. The competition took place in the Clane Gaa Club hall. The competition was only inclusive of schools in the North Kildare district. There are nine mini company groups in our school.

We left the school first thing on Thursday morning. The bus journey was not long at all. When we got to Clane we only had a short amount of time to set our stands up, as the judges were starting at ten o' clock. It took us a while to get our board set up as our board was one of the older ones, which aren't as straight forward as the new ones. Luckily though, we had some of it prepared from the day before in school, so it was just a matter of clicking all the boards together and designing it with our posters, pictures, information etc.

The teachers had to leave the hall when the judges came in to the hall. Each group had an interview with one judge. It was quite nerve wracking when we were waiting for the judge to come around to our stand. A female judge interviewed us. When she came around, we each introduced ourselves and explained what our mini company was, before she started asking us questions. We had a good interview with her. We were able to answer all of the questions well with no hesitations.

At the very end of the judging, we were asked to start packing up our stands and equipment before they announced the companies that had been short listed for the kildare Final. We got everything packed up and put back on the bus in matter of minutes. We came back in to hear that six groups from our school had been short listed. The final decision was going to be made later that afternoon and an email would be sent to our teachers informing them of the judges final decisions. My group wasn't one of the groups that was shortlisted from our school but we were still happy with how well we had progressed with the company.

We got back to school just before lunch. Lucky for us, the school was off at lunchtime for a staff development day, so we got to go home after a few minutes.

Later on Thursday evening, the message was passed on from one girl to the next about the groups that got through to the final. We had four groups from our school; The Spoover, Knot a Problem, Baby Cakes and The Just Desserts.

I am really delighted for these groups as they are all four amazing set-ups. I wish them the very best of luck in the Kildare Final on the 14th of March.

Niamh! :D

Dress Rehearsal! :)

On Wednesday, we had a full dress rehearsal of our plays. We got the last two classes off lunch to do this.
We have been entered into the Margaret Aylward drama competition. Sr S came back to the school to take a look at all of our plays to see if they were suitable for the competition. I think she was quite happy to let all four plays go forward into the competition. We ran through each play quite briefly just so that we had enough time for Sr S to get a taste of each one.
I feel we performed our play "But You Didn't" very well, considering we havent been practicing it since the Briary Gap competition in Mullingar.
The Margaret Aylward competition is taking place on Tuesday 15th March in the evening time. Hopefully we will do well in this competition.

Niamh! :D

Italian Desserts! Delicious! :)

On Tuesday, myself and Chloe cooked our final dish of the Italian cuisine project. We had already made our two savoury dishes before the mid-term. We had to make a sweet dish. The dish we chose to make was quite quick and easy to make so we were able to make another dish along with it.
We made a Tiramisu and Struffoli. They were both so simple and easy to make. Struffoli are basically fried balls of dough covered in a honey and sugar syrup. We didn't like the honey and sugar combination as it was way too sweet. Instead, we melted chocolate and pour that over the struffoli.
The tiramisu was made in about ten minutes. We dipped sponge fingers into espresso, combined the ingredients for the cream topping, put it on top of the espresso sponge fingers, sprinkled it with chocolate and minstrels and let it set in the fridge.
The two dishes were delicious!

Niamh! :D

Poland, here I come! :)

On Tuesday, 1st March, the draw for Poland took place in the hall at lunchtime. Ms K.B, Ms L and Mr K were all present.
Forty names were pulled out of the draw for going to Poland. Along with these forty names were another fifteen to go onto the waiting list. My name got picked out of the draw as one of the forty people who definitely got a place. I was in shock when I realised my name had been pulled out. At first, I didn't even hear my name being called because I never get picked for anything! I'll never be able to say that again! :L
A good few of my friends have been chosen to go on the trip as well. There are also some of my friends on the waiting list, which will hopefully mean that they will get to come along too.
The deposits have been paid.. so, next stop, Poland!

Niamh! :D

John F. Kennedy!

On Monday, 28th of February, we had to make our final decision on the topic we are going to research for our end-of-year history project.
I was finding it really hard to decided what to do because there is such a wide range of historical topics that are really interesting. In the beginning I was going to do something about the GAA. I then changed my mind to studying a person in history. I narrowed my options down to Micheal Collins, Eamon De Valera and John. F. Kennedy. I struggled big time in trying to choose one out of the three. I was interested in studying each of them. There is so much to write about each one of them.
I eventually went to my history teacher Ms. McH to ask her for some help in picking. She told me that she has read books on all three of them and if it was her, she would choose to write about J.F.K. I decided to go on her decision, giving that she is a leaving cert history teacher!
So, now I am researching all about J.F.K and I am really happy with this decision. He had a very interesting childhood and a more interesting life as soon as he was inaugrated as President of the United States.

Niamh! :D

Picture sources:

De Valera-irish-family.net, Michael Collins-irish-family.net, JFK-showbiznewsblog.com

Cross Country - Leinsters!

On Thursday, 17th of February, the Cross Country Leinster Championships took place in Santry, Co. Dublin. We had three teams running from the school. The maximum number of girls on each team was six. We needed three girls to score for points-first three home. The first three teams in each race qualified for the All-Ireland Chaampionships. Also, the first fifteen individuals to cross the finish line, qualified for the All-Ireland Championships.
none of our three teams qualified but we had a great achievement with one of our second year girls qualifying for the All-Irelands as an individual.
The weather was nice but it was freezing cold out. The track wasn't in great condition because of the rain we had had a few days beforehand. This made all of the races very difficult.
It was a great day overall, each team and all of the individual runners had plenty of support from the other girls along the side of the track.
This was the last cross country race of the year for most of us, apart from our All-Ireland qualifier. The Santry schools competition will begin the week before Easter. Training for all events in Santry is ongoing at the moment after school everyday. Our school always does very well in Santry, so fingers crossed that we do just as well or better this year!

Niamh! :D