St Wolstan's TY

Ideas to blog about

2012-02-22T14:00:00.001Z

I came across this Photo Prompts site today on Tumblr by John T Spencer and thought it would act as a good prompt for TY's who have writers block!

Lets see what they can do with this photo?

Over to you TY's!

Photo Credit: Anthony Quintano

Source

Leave your suggestions for the first line of the story as a comment below, or leave a link to your story.

Poems for St Brigid

2012-02-16T12:58:00.000Z

This month TY have been collaborating on celebrating St Brigid. We hope to collaborate further with the Brigidine College, St Ives, Sydney, Australia and learn about the influence of St Brigid outside Ireland. Watch this space......or rather this space http://swtystbridget.blogspot.com/ because we set up a blog to gather all our information together.
We hope the students from St Ives will add pages to the blog as they research the Brigidine Order in Australia.

Meg, Aoibheann and Kate wrote and recorded these poems. Click here for more...

A Trip To Mullingar!

2012-01-27T17:05:00.000Z

On Tuesday the 24th of January all of the TY students set off for Mullingar for the Briery Gap drama competition. A large number of the TY's took part in plays which were called 'Titch Miller', 'Mid-term Break' and 'Concrete Angel'.

Check out what some of the students felt like and what they did.
Aoife didn't take part but got to watch all the plays - see what she thought about them. Eleana took part in the Mid-term Break play and she wrote about her experience on stage and how she felt about the day. Shannon wrote about the day and bringing all our props to Mullingar and about the experience over-all. The TY students won't find out if they got though until next week. So Good Luck to them all.

This is a picture of the stage the TY's performed on at the Mullingar Arts Centre.

Thanks to Ms Guilfoyle, Ms Brogan, Ms Cosgrove, and Ms Bowes for accompanying the TY's toMullingar.

Sarah :)

BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2012

2012-01-18T11:42:00.000Z

On the 11th of January 2012 12 students from TY were off to the BT Young Scientist exhibition.
The entire TY year applied for the competition back in October but it was the 12 girls, within 4 groups, that had the privilege of attending the competition for 4 days.

The titles of the four groups accepted were " Is a fear of spiders a learned or natural fear?", " An analysis of how a communities awareness of their energy use can influence their overall energy output", " Surfs app" and also "The differences in people's perceptions of natural and synthetic scents".

Though the girls did not receive any prizes they said that the competition was an amazing experience and the best prizes that they received were the great new friends, countless laughs and wonderful memories to last a lifetime as well as numerous radio interviews and yes.....even a picture with Ryan Tubridy :)

Leah

Another trip to the Young Scientist Exhibition

2012-01-14T13:23:00.003Z

Happy New Year!

First week of school is over and we are back at full speed. This week ended with a trip to the Young Scientist Exhibition in Dublin, for all TY's and 2nd Year students, where we had 5 Transition Year groups competing.

Watch Alswyn give a very brief interview on RTE News here. http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2012/0111/6news.html# (at about 1.19 in). Great work Alswyn and well spoken.

Well done to all the TY's who entered the competition and are now continuing on with their projects for SciFest later in the year.

Well done also to the many (3,842 I think the reporter says) students around the country who entered the competition and congratulations to those who won categories - inspiring projects indeed.

Storyboarding an issue.

2011-12-20T12:54:00.002Z

In Religion we are exploring the MDG's and for the past few classes class Fódla have looked at MDG No 3 and the issue of Gender by watching the film Desert Flower - the Waris Dirie story.

After watching the film and discussing the issues they had to imagine they were pitching the story to a film maker and draw a storyboard to include what they considered the 6 most important parts of her life.
Below are some of their story boards.

Visit Class Fódla blogs to read their responses to and reflections on the film. Mrs L will be visiting their blogs to assess them! Do you think they did a good job?

Find more information on the MDG's at the UN website here

Find more information about Waris Dirie at the Waris Dirie Foundation website

Awards!

2011-12-15T19:32:00.000Z

TY has been celebrating this week as we have received not just one but 2 awards for our St Wolstan's TY Blog!

The first was on Tuesday, 13th December, when we were awarded the overall winner of Best Project in the Terra Spiders Category (TY - 6th Year) at the Eircom Junior Spiders Award. Sarah K, Leah and Sarah D along with Mrs. L were presented with the award at a ceremony in the Helix Theatre in DCU. The judges said that our use of numerous media e.g. video and our useful information about TY gave them reason to choose our blog.
Next, was the Edublog award for Best Class Blog in which we were voted as a finalist, on Wednesday, 14th December. This is an international blog award and was decided by votes, not judges.

Both awards are very prestigious and all of TY worked very hard on the main blog and their individual blogs so well done to everyone. :)

Sarah K

The Junior Spiders!!

2011-12-13T09:32:00.006Z

So this morning Sarah K, Leah and Sarah D headed off with Mrs.L to DCU Helix for the Eircom Junior Spider Awards.Wish us good luck!!Here's a picture from this morning.

SarahD

Blogs of the week

2011-12-11T09:26:00.001Z

SarahD is doing great work on her blog as is SarahK and SarahM.

Sarah D

SarahM

SarahK

They all deserve more people to read their blogs. Why not pop over and have a read of all their goings on?

Mrs L :)

More christmas greetings

2011-12-10T21:53:00.000Z

Here is class Banba's christmas greetings video for the Connected Classrooms Christmas Message Exchange project. (http://connectedclassrooms.wordpress.com/)

We are really enjoyoing receiving all the christmas cards and greetings from around the world. So far we have received greetings from Australia, USA, UK, Ireland, Jordan, and Hong Kong.

Here is our christmas tree with some of the cards we have received so far.

More News from TY

2011-12-06T11:53:00.000Z

Thanks to Sarah and Kate for being this weeks newsreaders.

As we said in the News bulletin - Please vote for us in the Edublog Best class blog category

http://edublogawards.com/2011-3/best-class-blog-2011/

We have been Nominated!!

2011-12-01T13:16:00.035Z

Well I think a celebration is in order for our bloggers. Thanks to all who continue to blog because the St.Wolstans TY blog has been shortlisted in the Eircom Junior Spiders 2011.
So on the 13th of December three students and Mrs. L are off to the Helix in DCU to compete against 5 other TY blogs.The competition is judged by judges so no public vote yet.....

We were also nominated for the best class blog as part of the Edublog Awards 2011, the vote is completely up to people voting for the blog they prefer.

You can vote once a day.

Bye.
Sarah D

Off to the Opera

2011-11-29T18:21:00.000Z

Last Tuesday, 22nd November, all of TY went to the Swan Cinema in Rathmines, Dublin. We went there to see a recording of the opera Don Giovanni by Mozart. It was recorded the previous week at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Don Giovanni is a famous opera by Mozart about a womaniser (Don Giovanni) who faces the consequences of his romantic tendencies. For a full synopsis, click here.
Overall, the TYs enjoyed the day out but some did not like the fact that the opera lasted for almost 4 hours. Caitríona wrote a poem about what she thought of the opera and Anita and Aoife expressed their views too.

TYs are studying opera as a module in their music class so now, they will have a greater understanding of the classical art form.

Going global with our greetings

2011-11-20T13:56:00.001Z

We will be taking part in a Christmas greetings exchange project with some other schools around the world. The project is one of the Connected Classrooms projects #ccGlobal projects. (http://ccglobal.ning.com/)

The intention of the project is to:

1) Create a quick artifact (video, animation etc) sharing Christmas greetings from our part of the world.
2) Create a QR code to link to the greeting.
3) Attach the QR code to a postcard and mail the card to the partner schools.
4) When cards arrive at St Wolstans we display and share them.

An online Advent calendar is being created with an image of a Christmas Tree that will have all the QR codes as decorations on the tree so that folk can pick wishes to view from the complete collection of wishes.

Mrs L is sooo excited by this project, I hope TY will get into the christmas mood too :)

We need to get working this week on our greetings in order to get cards to Australia before December 9th, which is when some students get their summer holidays.

This is an example of a QR code and if you scan it with your web camera, Smart phone or iPhone, it will take you to our Christmas Greeting page.

Work Experience Week 1

2011-11-18T19:09:00.000Z

This week, TYs completed their first week of Work Experience. It gave them a chance to gain an insight into the world of work and maybe even opened their eyes to a possible future career.

The Work Experience placements varied hugely - from schools to bakeries to hospitals. Laragh and Alex (along with a lot of other TYs) returned to primary school for their Work Experience. Sarah went to a local courthouse, Aoife went to a very busy hospital and Laura went to Stewarts Hospital which is a centre for those with intellectual disabilities. Caitríona managed to get her placement at the restaurant of renowned chef, Neven Maguire. It was the TY's personal responsibility to get their own placement so well done to everyone.

Work Experience taught the TYs to be independent and use their initiative. They have learned a lot from it about themselves and what careers they are interested in.
Everyone is looking forward to their next Work Experience which will commence at the end of February.

TY News from TY TV

2011-11-11T21:55:00.001Z

More TY News from TY TV.

Thanks to Aoife and Saoirse for being this weeks News Readers and to Courtney for help with the recording. Isabelle and Orla wrote the script before mid term but they never got to record it so we adapted the script today :)

Positively Pulaski want to chat

2011-11-08T20:10:00.000Z

Mrs Forsberg contacted Mrs Leahy recently because they had something in common - their students like to blog!! Mrs Forsberg students are a little bit younger than TY students but they have something in common with TY - they like to blog and everyone loves to see a comment on their own blog. Right?

So Mrs L would like TYs to head over to Mrs Forsbergs 6th Grade blogs at Positive House in Pulaski Community Schools and read their blogs and leave a comment.

Imagine, taking your TY experience even further out of the classroom - all the way to Wisconsin, America!!

http://kidblog.org/PositivelyPulaski/

Here are a few tips from Mrs Forsberg.

Before you blog...

*Remember that blogging is a formal type of writing; it's expected that you use standard English and proper punctuation. (You are representing your class, your school, and your country. :)

*Commenting Etiquette--

Make sincere comments (Make a connection to the writing.) "Nice blog" is not a sincere comment.
When someone comments on one of your posts, it's polite to visit their's back.
It's polite to thank readers for visiting your blog and taking the time to leave a comment.
If someone asks a question in a blog comment, answer it. If you've asked a question on another blog, check back--You just might get an answer!
When you leave a comment on a post and have the option to leave a link, share the one to your blog.

Mrs L :)

Opportunity for TYs to win an iPad2!

2011-11-08T14:44:00.000Z

The Language Village (http://www.thelanguagevillage.com/ are currently running a competition for secondary school students - the winner will be the student who answers the competition question 'Why learn more languages?' in the most original and convincing way.

This involves creating a blog post on www.thelanguagevillage.com that not only addresses the question but is also dynamic, interesting and enjoyable, using any media of the students' choice.

For more information go to:

http://www.languagesinitiative.ie/component/content/article/213

I wonder will the iPad tempt any TY student to enter?

A History of Celbridge

2011-10-30T15:46:00.000Z

On Wednesday, 26th October, Tony Doohan came in to talk to TYs about his book on the history of Celbridge. He is the principal of a local primary school so a lot of us were happy to see him.
He presented a slide show of images of past and present Celbridge and had a story to accompany each picture. We all found it really interesting to learn so much about where we live. It turns out Celbridge is one of the most historic towns in Ireland, which shocked most of us as Aoibheann explains here. And Sarah talks about some of the facts we found out here. Who knew the man who named New York came from Celbridge?

'A History of Celbridge' by Tony Doohan is available in local bookstores and businesses now.

http://www.facebook.com/AHistoryofCelbridge
historyofcelbridge@gmail.com

Hannah likes to write

2011-10-25T13:16:00.000+01:00

Hannah has been writing about her Creative Writing class with Ms Ward. Read what she has to say here

http://hannahsplaceboblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/creative-writing.html

TY News from TY TV

2011-10-20T22:00:00.001+01:00

This is our first attempt at our TY News programmes. Through trial and error we will surely get better! Maybe next time we will add a bit of background music and we can work on the background screen too!!

Thanks to Rebecca and Aoibheann for being our first newscasters.

Juno and the Paycock

2011-10-20T21:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, all the TY's went to Dublin on an English Trip. We went to see the Yeats exhibition and then went to the National Museum and National Library. At 2 o' clock we went to the Abbey Theatre to see Juno and the Paycock, the play that we read in English class. I really enjoyed it.

Isabel seem to have enjoyed it as well. Read her blog post here.

Martha didn't understand Johnny's character until she saw him on stage. Read her post here.

Eleana

We took part

2011-10-19T21:09:00.000+01:00

I am delighted to see so many TY's actually remembered to write a blog post last Sunday for Blog Action Day.

Here is a list of their posts. Perhaps readers will leave comments for them?

Eiru

Elaina http://eleanastyblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-east-african-famine.html

Eimear http://eimearelephants.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-food-glourious-food.html

Martha http://marthabradyty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-dayfoodnom.html

Laragh http://laraghty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Catriona http://tienies.blogspot.com/2011/10/bia-oh-mamma-mia.html

Sarah M http://sarahlovesirishdancing.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-on-food-home-baking.html

Niamh Mc http://sniamh.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-love-you-food.html

Isabelle http://isabellety.blogspot.com/2011/10/dinner-time-for-some.html

Kasia http://kasia-ty.blogspot.com/2011/10/vitamins-vitamins-vitamnis.html

Alswyn http://alswyn.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-2011-food.html

Elizabeth http://elizabethty.blogspot.com/2011/10/food.html

Laura W http://whelanlaura.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-food-glorious-food.html

Grace http://gracexx.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Aoife O http://aoifeoneillty.blogspot.com/2011/10/do-we-all-take-food-for-granted.html

Banba

Claire http://clairety95.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-fooood.html

Sally http://sidekick-sally.blogspot.com/2011/10/eat-until-you-cant-see-your-feet.html

Ellen http://perryyy.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-is-cool-oh-yeah.html

Fodla

Sive http://sivefitz.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-glorious-food.html

Niamh http://niamh23.blogspot.com/2011/10/gone-off-food.html

Aoibhaeann http://aoibheann-apples.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Sarah http://sarahlikessmarties.blogspot.com/2011/10/getting-lucozade-shakes-and-scrambled.html

Louise http://louisetransitionyear-louise.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-dayfood.html

Lisa http://lisalikeslettuce.blogspot.com/2011/10/extremely-hot-sauce.html

Sarah B http://sarah-sausages.blogspot.com/2011/10/whats-obsession.html

Elaina http://elaina-ty.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day.html

Aoife http://aoifelikesapples.blogspot.com/2011/10/nom-nom-blog-action-day.html

Laura http://laurasmyth1996.blogspot.com/2011/10/mcdonalds-mcdonalds-kentucky-fried.html

Aisling http://aislinglovesaustria.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-food.html

Blog Action Day 2011 #BAD11

2011-10-16T09:53:00.002+01:00

Today is Blog Action Day. Yesterday I was redecorating my kitchen and didn't get to have lunch because 1) I was busy painting and 2) the cupboards were all covered with splash sheets and I couldn't get to the fridge. By 5pm I was very, very hungry. I did not enjoy the hungry feeling and could not wait for food.

I woke this morning and remembered it was Blog Action Day and World Food Day. I started my breakfast with a lovely cup of hot clean water and then had some cereal. I turned on the TV to check the news and watched an interview with a representative from the Red Cross on Sky News. I scribbled down these statistics:

There are 13 million hungry in East Africa today.
They spend 80% of their income on basic food.

It's only been an hour or so but already I want a cup of tea and my toast to finish my breakfast routine. How wrong is this inequality? I could not imagine having to go without food everyday. The Blog Action Day focus on food has made me think.

In St Wolstans we deliver a Development Education programme in Religion with the help of Self Help Africa and Mr Patsy Toland, so I turned to the Self Help Africa website for some inspiration.

Here it is - It starts with a seed.

@blogactionday11

#BAD11

#WorldFoodDay

Work experience

2011-10-15T08:43:00.000+01:00

A few students are still looking for work experience placements after mid term. Here is a spreadsheet with some placements held by previous TY students. It has contact names and details and also a brief report about what the work experience involved.

It might help those struggling with finding a placement.

Work Experience placements

Remember, Mr Corcoran and Ms Hughes are there to help.

I will make the file public in November so you can all add your November placements and that might help some students for next March.

Mrs L :)

Can We Fix it for our Friends?

2011-10-11T20:11:00.000+01:00

Last week St Wolstans held their annual Fun Walk to coincide with Friendship Week.

Each class performs a song and dance on the theme of Friendship and the whole school gathers in the tennis courts to watch. After each class performs they head off on a 5 km walk.

I had the pleasure this year again of judging the dances and it was a great day - such fun and happiness throughout the whole school.

Here is Claire's post about the day and a few photos included. Enjoy :)

Can We Fix It?

Catriona posted some videos on YouTube here:

Fodhla dance

Banba dance

Eríu dance

Class Fodla in Kazza's Car

Mrs L :)

Blog Action Day 2011

2011-10-04T12:38:00.000+01:00

Last year TY took part in Blog Action Day in October and the theme was WATER. All we had to do was register and join bloggers all over the world by writing a post about water.

This year's Blog Action Day 2011 coincides with World Food Day, so BAD's topic this year will be FOOD.

Food is something that we all share in common, but is distinct to each of our cultures. The way we produce, distribute and consume food is crucial to our shared future, and the unhealthy imbalance of food scarcity in developing world and food over-abundance in the developed world is unsustainable for us all.

Blog Action Day 2011 will be an opportunity to open the conversation about how food impacts all of us – individually and globally.

The big event is only a few days away. I am hoping that TY will take part again.

To kick things off register for Blog Action Day 2011 by clicking the link below:

http://blogactionday.org/register-for-blog-action-day/

Mrs L :)

Geography projects

2011-09-27T12:26:00.001+01:00

There are only 4 weeks left until mid term and I am hoping that my TY Geography class will have finished the research for their Around the World Virtual Trip by then.
After mid term they should be ready to make their presentations in class and to submit their Fact File for assessment.
Here is an example of what last year's class presented. Siobhanb was going to travel to Poland.

Siobhan had lots of photos in her presentation and talked us through each slide.

http://siobhanb.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-geography-presentation-poland.html

50% of TY Christmas Assessment will go towards their Factfile and 50% towards their classroom presentation.
In the Factfile I will be looking for facts obviously, a geography focus on each country (places to see etc) and a well presented project. It does not have to be printed, a scrapbook will do just as well.

For the classroom presentation I will be looking for depth of knowledge about yopur chosen country - so I will be asking questions! I will also allocate marks for a well designed PowerPoint presentation and for delivery - so be confident!

Good luck
Mrs L :)

Commenting on blogs

2011-09-25T11:13:00.000+01:00

I thought I would post these posters so TY will post good comments during our Quadblogging project.First poster is from classes 2KM and 2KJ @ Leopold Primary School

and the next poster is from Mrs Edwards classes at Geeky GrammaMiddle School

So a good comment is always polite, starts with a greeting, starts or contributes to a conversation, and ends with a question which could keep the connection / conversation going.
Mrs L :)

Thurstable High School

2011-09-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

Our quadblogging project starts this week. Mr Kilvert sent me a link to his new Geography Dept blog.

http://geographydepartment.wordpress.com/

Watch out for some new blog posts from Thurstable High School and don't forget to post a comment to their blog.

Mrs L :)

Quadblogging

2011-09-14T11:51:00.002+01:00

West Jefferson High School is one of our partners in the Quadblogging project this term. Their teacher is Ms Burton, an English/Language Arts teacher from New Orleans, and her students are in 9th grade. They are new to blogging, just like us in St Wolstans!

Here are the addresses os their blog and wiki:
Class Blog : http://msvrburton.edublogs.org/
Class Wiki : http://msburtonisonline.pbworks.com/

Why not check them out? Mrs L :)

Quadblogging

2011-09-04T09:50:00.000+01:00

We will be taking part in a Quadblogging project this term. I am looking forward to TY making global connections through their blogs. Here is a video to explain it.

We will be in a quad with 3 other schools

- Thurstable School in the UK with Mr Kilvert http://mrkilvert.wordpress.com/

- Oak Hill Academy in the USA with Ms Ritter-Guth (no blog address yet)

- West Jefferson High School with Mrs Burton http://msvrburton.edublogs.org/

I am still waiting for our Quad Coordinator to contact me but I am very excited about it all. I hope the TY's are as well!

Mrs L :)

Ideas for blog posts

2011-09-04T09:30:00.000+01:00

This week TY's created their own blogs and have agreed to post at least one blog post a week. I know after a time some will eventually think they have nothing to blog about so I am posting a link to 52 types of blg posts to give them ideas. Not all of the ideas will be relevant to them but surely they will get some ideas :)

52 Types of Blog Posts

Mrs L :)

IT skills survey

2011-08-30T13:10:00.003+01:00

Can all TY's please complete the following surveys?

These are to help me determine your IT skills levels.

Thanks
Mrs L :)

Survey 1 - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WBND2WW

Survey 2 - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WH7WCGQ

Bonding at Carlingford

2011-08-28T11:03:00.002+01:00

TY will be going to Carlingford Adventure Centre for two days teambuilding and bonding activities on 12th and 13th September. I thought they might like to check it out :) http://www.carlingfordadventure.com/

And here are some previous posts about adventures at Carlingford

http://stwolstansty.blogspot.com/search/label/Carlingford

A new year

2011-08-13T10:22:00.003+01:00

There are only two weeks until TY 2011/2012 return to school now. I have been updating the calendar (--------> on the right hand section of the page ---------> ) with what events I know TY will be doing over the coming year. I know there will be lots more events added to it when we get back to school so make sure to check the calendar often.

I'm looking forward to working with my 3 TY classes next year - Banba, Fodla and Eirú
Mrs L :)

Are you happy to return to school?

T.Y Reflection collection.

2011-05-31T18:01:00.001+01:00

TY Reflection collection

Wordles about TY

2011-05-23T19:00:00.003+01:00

Patty came to class today to conduct a focus group for her research on blogging. She had a Wordle - a Word Cloud - of this TY blog.

The word cloud showed that WENT was used the most in the blog along with TY, GROUP and COMPETITION.

Here is the link to Wordle - why not make your own Word Cloud and post it on your blog?

http://www.wordle.net/

One thing about me and TY....

2011-05-21T12:29:00.005+01:00

Are you glad you did TY?

Add your thoughts to the wall here or click the Post A sticky tab below.

Why blog?

2011-05-20T06:58:00.002+01:00

Hmmm, I wonder do TY agree?

Sci-fest.

2011-05-18T17:59:00.000+01:00

Leah tells us about the T.Y’ trip to Tallaght last week to take part in the sci-fest competition.

"A couple of days ago we went to sci fest it was an experience. We arrived early enough because we had to leave at 8 and when we got there we saw a lot of projects. My group was in the physical sciences category and we were put into a lab with a few other groups...we felt very important. Then the judges came around and analysed our projects which was fun but after our third judge we were getting tired and Hungry! After lunch we went to a few lectures i went to one on alcohol."

Read the rest of Leah's post to find out all about the sci-fest competition here.

T.Y reflections.

2011-05-17T17:13:00.000+01:00

Some of the transition years have been writing some reflections on their T.Y experiences.
Read some of their reflections .

Aoife.

Niamh.

Siobhán.

Kellie.

Niamh.

Summer tests!

2011-05-10T15:06:00.001+01:00

TY will be doing their summer tests in class this year.

Mrs KB and myself have decided to have our Religion summer test as a form of workshop next Tuesday at 3.20. Here is the test so you can all gather your resources and thoughts:

Using A3 paper (supplied by teacher) and the Visual Verbal Square methodology, compose your personal response(s) to films studied on the theme of conflict. This year we watched the following movies:
Sometimes in April
Hotel Rwanda
Once Brothers
Gran Torino
Pursuit of Happiness

You will create your poster in class. This week gather your thoughts and images for your poster. Please bring glue, markers, and anything else you want or need for your poster.

Good luck!
Mrs L and Mrs KB

Grading blog posts

2011-05-09T19:09:00.000+01:00

I've just come across this blog post from Janet Lynn Johnson who teaches at The University of Texas at Dallas.

http://www.mediarhetoric.com/blog/grading-a-blog

Now I know Dr Lynn Johnson teaches at 3rd Level but I thought she had some intersting points that I could consider when I'm marking the TY Geography blog posts.

What do you think I should grade them on?

Book Reviews.

2011-05-07T21:56:00.002+01:00

For the past few weeks the T.Y’s have been reading different books and writing book reviews on their chosen book for their English classes. All of the books that the T.Y’s have chosen to read have come of the 2013 prescribed texts for the leaving cert. Some of the books that the T.Y’s have been reading are : My sisters keeper, 1984, Never let me go, Wuthering heights and The great Gatsby.

Read some of their book reviews.

Aisling

Alison

Saidhbh

Louise

Siobhán

Geography projects

2011-05-07T12:30:00.025+01:00

This week TY have been frantically finishing off the latest Geography project that I set a few weeks ago. The task is to write 5 blog posts on the geography of a subject of their choice. The project also includes the creation of a a Google map with 5 pins about the topic and shared with me.

The project will be the end of year assessment for TY Geography. I am looking forward to reading them all. I will be reading about Music, and more Music, Food, Manchester United legends, famous Women Throwers, Irish Actors, Mc Donald's, Life saving, Horses, the history of printing, Karate, and even Mass Murderers!

Mrs L :)

Irish Autism Action

2011-04-13T18:57:00.001+01:00

Well done to all the TY's who gave up their time to help. Great work.

Aoife tells how it's done......

"Last weekend a number of TY's volunteered to help raise money and awareness for Irish Autism Action. Steph had graciously agreed to
co-ordinate the whole event and she was extremely successful. The bag- packing took place over two days with numerous time slots. I went bag packing from 6 to 8 on Friday evening. It was fun and I felt good that we were raising money for such an great cause, however I was slightly stressed at bag- packing as I am very clumsy and was afraid I would break all the eggs in people's bags! But not to worry, it went off without a hitch and by the end of the day I had developed a sufficient system on how to pack a bag best! Overall we raised €1,600 for Irish Autism Action. I was thrilled with the amount raised, hopefully it will go to good use and help alot of people. Why not show your support for Irish Autism Action and like their page the next time you are on facebook! "

All your hard work was very much appreciated by Irish Autism Action girls. €1000 takes one child off the waiting list for diagnosis.

Read more of Aoife's blog here.
Mrs L :)

Party Payback

2011-04-13T18:48:00.000+01:00

Niamh tells more ....

"Earlier on in the school year, just before we broke up for the Christmas holidays, class Emnet prepared a lovely breakfast for all of us in class Amina. We were very thankful for what this breakfast and so we decided to make it up to them this morning.
We did this by inviting them to our "Easter Feaster"! :)

Read the rest of Niamh's post and find out all about the "EasterFeaster" here. Lots of lovely photos of food too!

Mrs L :)

Green Heroes

2011-04-07T19:08:00.002+01:00

Congratulations to Green Hero Mini Company who won 3rd prize for Quality in the TY Get Up and Go National Finals today in Naas.

Amina on Retreat

2011-04-07T18:49:00.003+01:00

Read some of the TY's posts about their retreat this week, and see some of their photos at the blog posts below.

Chloe

Eimear

Aoife

Niamh C

Steph H

Thanks go to Mr Kerrigan and Ms Kavanagh Bracken who accompanied class Amina on their retreat in Glendalough.

Gaisce hike

2011-04-05T19:44:00.001+01:00

A group of TY's along with Ms Hughes and Mr Kerrigan headed off to Wicklow at the weekend to complete their Gaisce hike.

Why not read some of their posts.

Aisling

Siobhan

Saidhbh

Leah

Ailbhe

Well done to all the students who completed the hike and a big thank you to Ms Hughes and Mr Kerrigan for giving up their weekend. It is much appreciated by us all.

Mrs L :)

Mia and her therapies!

2011-04-04T18:17:00.001+01:00

Mia was at Peamount.....

"For my work experience I went to Peamount Hospital in Newbridge, I was in three different departments they were

1.Physio Therapy

2.Speech and Language Therapy and

3. Occupational therapy

I also went to the Audiology department to get information on what goes on there.

Monday:

On Monday I went to human resources to find out what department I was going to first, the head of human resources Pat brought me down to the rehabilitation center where i was introduced to my first supervisor Ann. she introduced me the the many physio therapists I would be working with and basically following around! :D

I was put with Elizabeth, she was working in care of the elderly so I went to two wards with her St. Ciarans and St.Patrick's. There she did maintenance therapy which is basically maintaining the range of mobility achieved by patients during the initial physio the undertook after the accident of stroke. This involved light exercise and some assisted walking and stretching.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday I was in the Speech and Language Department. Everybody was really nice! In the morning I was with Aoife and she gave me an over view of what is done by a speech and language therapist, she showed me some films they were really informative and interesting. Then I went to a meeting in St.Brides which is the neurological ward where the nurses, doctors, physios, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and dietitians would discuss each patient and how they were getting on. Later that afternoon I went to a chat group with post stroke patients and that was really good they were all doing so well! it really showed the long term work of a speech and language therapist!

Wednesday:

On Wednesday I was back in the physio department. I was with Sunni she let me follow her around and see all of her patients, I also observed in the gym which is where the out patients and some of the other patients go for physio. I got a half day so i was allowed to go home after lunch!:D

Thursday:

On Thursday I was in Speech and Language Therapy from 8.30 to 12 I went to a meeting on the FIM-FAM this is a way of assessing patients abilities I found it really interesting and I had fun in the practical bit. I went down to St.Brides ward later that day and meet some of the patients everybody was so nice and they all let me sit in on there talks with my supervisor. Just before lunch I went to the Audiology department to meet with a member of the staff who talked me through what Audiology was and how it works I found it really interesting because I had no previous knowledge of the area. It is definitely a career to think about! After lunch I was meant to go to a news group with Aoife and Sinead but it didn't go ahead because some of the people were missing. instead I went around with Sinead to some of her patients. I really enjoyed the day!

Friday:

On Friday I went to the Occupational Therapy Department. In the morning I went to a breakfast club with some of the patients from St.Brides I got to loads more practical work such as helping the patients put their aprons on, cutting off crusts on their french toast and helping them eat and drink . I found this really fun and I really got to chat with the patients it was really fun! Lather that afternoon I went to a gardening club where the patients got to replant seeds and grow their own vegetables they really enjoyed the experience and i got to plant some seeds of my own! :) After lunch I was allowed to watch an assessment take place it was good and I got to see other aspects of the job. Then the best part of the week came next I got to help with a baking/ cooking class it was really really fun! I had a great time with the patients we made simple queen cakes they tasted great and we all had a chat with a cup of tea! It was a great way o end the week! :)

I had a really good time in Peamount Hospital everybody was lovely and I would recommend it to anybody! :D

Great account Mia, well done.

Read more of Mia's blog here.

Mrs L :)

Ellen and the babies.

2011-04-04T18:02:00.001+01:00

Ellen really enjoyed her work experience....

"For my second week of work experience I went to The Purple Penguin Creche and Montassori in Oldtown Mill. I really enjoyed the week and didn't want to leave when it was over! The Creche is divided into different rooms and the children are put into
each room depending on their age. There are two baby rooms for babies under two, the wobbler room is for chldren between two and three, the toddler room is for three year olds and the Montessori is for children aged four and up.
There is also an after school room to look after children up to ten years old. Both of the baby rooms have sleeping rooms next door where the babies sleep during the day, and there is also a kitchen where the cook Peggy cooks meals for the children. At the back of the Creche there is a huge playground. The creche is really well organised and the parents of the children are given sheets at the end of everyday describing what the child ate, how long he slept for, when their nappy was changed and and other things that happened during the day.

Each day I was in a different room, on Monday I was in the baby room and the wobbler room, on Tuesday I spent the day with the toddlers, on Wednesday I went back to the wobbler room, on Thursday I was with the babies again and on Friday I was with the wobblers and the toddlers. I didn't get a chance to go to the Montessori because there was three girls on college work experience up there. I learned a lot while on work experience, like that working with so many young children is really really hard and how to properly look after children. I really really enjoyed this week but I don't think that I would like to work in a creche as big as the Purple Penguin. Its extremely stressfull with all the little kids! "

Sounds great Ellen.

Read more of Ellen's blog here

Mrs L :)

A truly musical night - Hayley tells all

2011-04-01T15:45:00.002+01:00

Last night the Music Department held their annual Music Night. All TY's took part singing the song 'Mamma Said' by Dionne Bromfield.

We had lots of choreography and harmony parts too and had lots of practise time before hand. Everyone seemed to
enjoy it and I know we had great fun preforming. I am also a member of the school choir and we also preformed last night. We sang the song which we sang for the Wesley Inter school Music Competition 'To a Wild Rose'.

We were the first act to preform. I also was asked to dance with four other girls in the year. At first we were not sure if we would have the time to create and perfect and dance in less than a week but when we came together and got down to it, it all came together very quickly. We danced while a girl sang 'Memories' from Cats and another girl accompanied her. They were both extremely talented.

It was a very busy night with the costume changes but it was great fun preforming. All the acts were extremely talented and I extremely admire the soloists for having the courage to get up on their own and sing or play and instruments. Thanks to Ms Gilsenan, Ms O Reilly and Ms Ward for all their help! Hope it was a good night for everyone else!
Hayley xox

Read more of Hayley's blog here.

Jabba Jabba Jembe - Percussion workshop

2011-03-31T20:49:00.001+01:00

More Jabba Jabba Jembe. This time, class Amina.

TY Friendship - by Aoife

2011-03-31T18:05:00.003+01:00

To TY

Our last few months,
We'll never forget those laughs.
From Carlingford to Carlow,
Mini Company to English,
Dressing up or down,
Making friends
and
being insane,
toward music night
then grad night.

Our work experience
and experiences for life,
from screaming running with a rugby ball
to trying to keep us quiet in music class.
Learning new things,
taking on challenges.
Making us who we are,
opening our eyes.
Getting to know others a lot better.

So to TY,
thanks for what you've brought.
and what you'll help do in our years ahead
No matter how much competition between the two classes
it was all fun
glad that you were the year I went in with TY :) <3 Aoife

Awards all round

2011-03-30T20:53:00.001+01:00

Today a photographer came to school, he thought he was only there to take one photos of TY....he was there for an hour! We had winners galore :)

Well done TY.

Oops, just noticed I spelt Hakka with a K :)

Chloe is dancing.....with Sean???

2011-03-29T20:09:00.001+01:00

Mr S taught Chloe and the TYs some Irish dancing.....

"Mr S our Irish teacher taught us some Sean Nós dancing. Sean Nós is a type of Irish dance. It is completely different to the traditional Irish dancing. Traditional Irish dancing has a more strict posture where as Sean Nós dancing is more
free flowing and more of freestyle. It involves basically stamping of the feet and moving your arms with your feet. He taught us a few steps which he had learnt. It was very easy to pick up and you could add your own personal dance style to it. It was really fun and also interesting because I had never seen Sean Nós dancing before. "

Here is some video, but we'll have to get some of Mr S dancing maybe?

Read more of Chloe's blog here.

Road Safety talk

2011-03-28T19:53:00.003+01:00

Stephanie can't cycle to school.....

"This morning, we had a talk about cycling. A man came in and explained a bit about cycling and why we should cycle. We should cycle as its better for the environment, better for our health and doesn’t cause traffic congestion, which has been a big problem. He told is that in the Netherlands,
people always cycle everywhere, in ordinary clothes. He showed us a video and it showed women cycling in heels, and people cycling in the cold, rain and without helmets. He explained that this is the norm in the Netherlands and they have much better cycling facilities, where-as here in Ireland, it’s much more dangerous, as a lot of main roads, don't have a cycle path present, which means cyclists have to risk cycling on the road, which is extremely dangerous.

He told us that people in Ireland have a lot of excuses not to cycle such as: It’s too cold, it’s too wet and it’s too dangerous. I suppose these points are very true, but we should still find the time to cycle, in our local area, where it’s safe to cycle.
The speaker showed us a bar chart of people who cycle in Ireland - the result: 2%. He then told us how many people cycle in the Netherlands, and it said 49% cycle.
Next week in school is cycling week, and people are encouraged to cycle to/ from school. I would if I lived closer and owned a bike :L"

Read more of Stepanies blog here.

Zoe wants to be a vet

2011-03-27T13:57:00.005+01:00

Zoe enjoyed her last work experience.

"For our second work experience placement I went to Anglesey Lodge Equine Hospital in the Curragh :) I wanted to go there because I love working with horses and I am interested in becoming a vet also.

My friend Laura also went to the same placement as me in the same week :) I was really nervous on the first day as I honestly didn't know what to expect but
I was excited too :) Laura and myself traveled to the Curragh by car-sharing everyday my dad would collect her on the way every morning and Laura's mam would pick us up and bring us home.

We had to be there at 8am every morning and went home at around 5pm although most days we didn't go home until about half 5 as we might have been helping with a procedure or something.

When we came in each morning we had to leave our bags in the lunch room then head off and start to replace the bins in surgery and the scanning room.

Then we had to groom the horses in the stables. Throughout the rest of the placement we helped the vets out with surgeries and in distributing medicine to the horses. Overall I really enjoyed my work experience week. I could see what it was like to be a vet and I could really see myself doing it :)

My favourite part of the week was when there was a little baby foal who was just born and it was too weak to look after itself and couldn't stand for long or anything, we were sitting by his head as he was lying on the floor and he began nuzzling at our fingers and then tried to suckle on them, it was soooooo cuuute!!!! We could see his little tongue and could feel him sucking it was the cutest thing :) This obviously meant he was hungry so then we had to hold the mare while the vets lifted him up to suckle :) This was the highlight of my week and I reeealllllly enjoyed it :) "

Great report Zoe, well done.

Read more of Zoe's blog here. Visit Anglesey Lodge Equine Hospital website.

Bog bodies, Yeats and Eimear!

2011-03-27T13:24:00.009+01:00

Image Source - Tate Gallery© Estate of Jack Butler Yeats

Eimear wrote a great post about the TY English trip to Dublin to see the Yeats exhibition and the Natural History Museum.

"We headed off to the William Butler Yeats exhibition first. We were greeted by a tour guide who brought us through the colourful displays and cases which make up the exhibition. Everything was colourful and designed beautifully, from the stands themselves to the
contents of the cases, so things were catching my eye every way I turned.

We got an insight into Yeats' life, as we sat in reconstructions of his home and places he visited often, such as the Abbey Theatre. I learned that the "Butler" part of his name is actually not from either of his parents, but a distant wealthy relative after whom Yeats and his siblings were all named, with the hope that some day he would give them the financial support their parents could not offer them if they needed it.

Next, we went to see the bog bodies! Once again we were greeted by a tour guide, who brought us through most of the ground floor of the museum. We saw beautiful jewellery from ancient Ireland, that I recognised from my junior cert history book, but they were so much more intricate to see up close. We also saw a massive boat (everything had been found in various Irish bogs) which was made of an oak tree! I would like to see how they rowed in those! Finally, we went into the room where the actual bodies were. I was excited to see them, as we had heard so much about them! The first one was not exactly as I had expected, it's skin was so worn it could have been part of a leather hand bag! And strangely, it's hair was almost perfect, all of it still on his head. It was the weirdest thing. They were so well preserved that they didn't seem like thousands of years old! Another one had been decapitated, but he had these huge perfect hands. They even looked soft to touch! The guide said they believed he was a king, as although he was in his twenties or thirties when he was killed, he had never done a days work!After an interesting morning, we headed out into the sunshine in search of some lunch. We decided on a picnic in Stephen's Green. It was such a beautiful day, I think it was safe to say it was the first day of summer - it was the first day I fully lay back on the grass this year :) In the afternoon, we went to the Jack Butler Yeats exhibition in the art gallery. I had never even heard of him before the tour, but he is actually a really famous artist! He was a very versatile artist, with a range of styles incorporated into his vast collection of paintings. At first I preferred his realistic paintings, but in hindsight I think that was because they were very lifelike and easy to interpret. However after we saw his more emotional paintings which appeared initially to be a blur of paint and I realised they were so much more than that, I decided I actually prefer those because I could look at them all day!

Overall we had a really interesting day and the sun just made it even better :)"

Wow, you did so much in the one day Eimear. Your blog post with all the lovely images is very nice.

Aoife has advice for new TYs

2011-03-26T19:02:00.001Z

Aoife wrote a really good post giving advice to any student going into TY next year, I thought it important to put here so the 3rd Years will read it.

"What's So Good about TY?

As Mrs. Leahy has directed future transition year students to explore our blogs and gather more information about the whole TY experience I decided that I would make a post dedicated to
giving information about TY that I would have found useful before beginning TY.

Firstly I would start to organise work experience now, I know it seems crazy to start so early but you will be kicking yourself if you don't get the placement you want. There are some placements that are really hard to get and the places fill up so quickly such as Hospitals, Vets, Radio stations etc. I would strongly advise applying now or even making a list of places you could go to and writing up a draft email/letter. I would also recommend picking a placement that allows you to experience a career that you would actually consider pursuing when you are older. Some placements may seem really fun but if you are not interested in it for your future it will end up being a waste a time. I personally choose two work experiences that I was considering as a career and I found it so helpful. The idea that I had of some jobs were so unrealistic and it allowed me to see what it is really like. I now know that I definitely do not want to be a primary school teacher after doing work experience, which is really helpful as I don't know how I would have decided without the experience and may have ended up in the wrong career choice.

I would also advise to work hard and steadily throughout the year. It sometimes seems easy to fall off track and get lazy as you don't have the constant pressure of tests but the projects that you are assigned are just as important and doing them the night before really doesn't work and you won't reap the benefits from it. In TY it is all about self- motivation and learning, at the end of the day if you don't get the work done, it reflects poorly on you. You also do get homework contrary to popular beliefs, do it well because you are constantly being assessed and it is an extra year of the central subjects which is pretty useful and could make all the difference.

However the greatest thing about TY is that it's not about the academics. You get to experience so many things in TY. There are so many competitions such as Young Scientist, Scifest, F1 in schools, Drama Competitions and Minicompany. They are all really fun to participate in and great on a C.V! In class there is also more to do, as it is not all about exams teachers can do the more exciting interesting things with you.TY is also great for building friendships. I knew most of the girls already but you get to know people so much better and on a deeper level. You will feel comfortable sitting beside and making conversation with any TY. Class Amina is like one big group of friends there is no divide, which is great, no one is afraid to speak up in class everyone has an opinion!.

Another good thing about TY is that you have more spare time as you are not studying for the Junior Cert etc! I would advise to get as much done as possible in your spare time as you won't have as much when you get into 5th year. I would take the opportunity to get more involved in school join a sports team, green schools, Saint Vincent De Paul, Debating, Dancing... the list is endless. But honestly take up something new or something you always wanted to do but just didn't have the time for.
There is also alot of courses specially for TY. If you have interests in the science subjects for example it would be worth your time looking up Transition Year Courses on the internet to see what's available. I know that Trinity and UCD all host special course but the places are limited so be prepared.

TY also gives you time to mature and develop new skills. You will make alot of presentations so by the end of the year you will have no problem standing up to a crowd, if you are in anyway shy your fear will be conquered. TY also give's you a much needed break so by the end you actually feel ready to go into fifth year. You will feel that you are ready to work hard and you will be energized and more determined than ever to do well!

Also you do get a taste of all the different subjects and have more time to reflect on what subjects you would like to take for the Leaving Certificate. Don't push that decision to the back of your mind and let it creep up on you just like during third year. Make time to think about your decision so that you have made the wisest choice.

What else can I say about TY? It goes by in a flash so make sure you have made the most of the opportunities you will be given. It is a once in a life experience. Don't let is slip away and sit back waiting for things to come to you, make things happen, put alot into TY and it won't be hard to see the benefits that will follow. I would advise making a list or a mental note of what you want to achieve during TY and by the end of your year make sure that that list is fulfilled. If you do this than I can assure you that your best memories of school will be the one's you make in TY! "

Brilliant post Aoife. I hope all 80+ new TY's read it!

Thanks for a really good insight into the life of a TY student.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your TY year...it will soon be over I'm afraid :(

Read more of Aoife's blog here.

Mrs L :)

Niamh's Fáinne Challenge

2011-03-26T18:47:00.008Z

Niamh has a new challenge....

"In Irish Class, we are doing a Fáinne Challenge.

Well, with it... people get a gold fáinne (Ring/Badge) if they are fluent in Irish, or a silver fáinne if you have a basic ability to speak Irish.

The teacher of the other Irish class is going to come into our class and talk to each of us to see how well we can speak it.

I really want to get the Fáinne Ór (gold ring/badge) to prove my Irish... so I really better get practicing my Irish Speaking!

Image source

Dia Duit :)

Bhuel, Slán go Fóill :)"

Bon chance Niamh. Oops, wrong language :) I mean Go n'éirí an t-ádh leat.

Read more of Niamh's blog here. Visit the AN fáinne website.

Mrs L :)

Cutting Radishes.. and fingers! :/

2011-03-26T10:02:00.005Z

Niamh is dangerous....read on.....

"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.

Image source

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 "

Lesson learnt Niamh? Glad you are still all intact!

Read more of Niamh's blog here.
Mrs L :)

Rachels cooking!

2011-03-25T17:24:00.000Z

Rachel was working with Clodagh Mc Kenna for work experience.....

"For our second work experience, 7th-11th of March. I went to Lyons Cookery School. I loved it, it was exactly what I was looking for and so much more. I was not only helping in the cookery school but also in the cafes kitchen, where I learned so much about cooking and running a kitchen.
I definitely want to go into cookery after the Leaving Cert, and I think I even know what courses I want to do now as well. I would definitely recommend Lyons Estate to anyone looking for work experince, the people there are so nice and they make sure your busy and involved the whole time."

This was a successful work experience then Rachel. Isn't it great to know what you want to do after school?
Well done.

Read Rachels blog here.

Visit The Village at Lyons website for more information.
Mrs L :)

Saidhbh was at RTE

2011-03-25T16:03:00.000Z

Saidhbh spent a week at RTE for her work experience. Read what she has to say about it .......

"Last week I had the privilege of doing work experience in RTE for the week :)I was unbelievably lucky as I was one of 18 students picked out of a draw of about 300! RTE do a special T.Y work experience programme, and it began on Monday.....
where I had to report to the t.v. reception at 10. There were 17 other T.Y. students from lots of different schools and by the end of the week we were all good friends :). That morning we were given an introduction and then brought around to all the different studios on a tour. We saw the set of Fair City, the Daily Show and the Late Late Show :)

We were also brought to the RTE publications section, where they publish the RTE guide. They showed us how they photoshop the cover and gave us a talk on the interviews they do with people. It was all really interesting, especially because I'd love to work in media when I'm older, especially editing or journalism.

The next day we spent the morning in radio. That was one of the highlights of the week because we got to listen in on Ryan Tubardy's show and he came out and talked to us :D (our first celebrity of the week :) ) We also sat it on Pat Kenny and Marty Whelan's shows. Then the band Aslan came and played live on the Rick O' Sé show, and we got to sit it on the interview with them too :D

On Wedensday we were divided into two groups and given camera and sound equipment. We were told to shoot a 3 minute programme and write the sript and act in it ourselves. It was a bit of a challenge but once we got ideas going we wrote a script and started filming. We decided to do a skit on a crime show, and we got to shoot on the Fair City set. I was the scriptwriter, and an extra in the show. It was great fun to do and we definitley enjoyed it! Using the professional equipment was really cool, and then the team director edited it.
We were off on Thursday because it was St. Patricks's day, but we were in again on Friday our last day :( In the morning we went to the newsrooms and were shown how they broadcast the News. In the afternoon we watched our edited films, and we had a brilliant time laughing at them :L We were given a goody bag with a copy of our programme, a photo of us all together, and RTE pen and keyring and an account of the week we wrote ourselves :)
In my opinion it was one of the best work experience's you could possibly do! :D"

Sounds great Saidhbh, well done. We'll have to watch out for you on the TV in years to come!!

Read more of Saidhbh's blog here.
Mrs L :)

Patricia and Marilyn

2011-03-24T19:41:00.005Z

Patricia is doing her History project..

Image source

I have decided to do my history end of year project on Marilyn Monroe. She is a very interesting character in movie history here is some information I have gathered about her :

* She was born on the 1st of June 1926 to Nee Morrinson in LA County Hospital.
* Her real name was Norma Jeane Baker.
* Her father was mentally ill so she was sent to a foster home and later was sent to many relatives.
* Her mother supposedly attempted to kidnap her from her foster home in a hand bag.
* She had a very strong acting career and is remembered today worldwide.
* She was introduced to drugs at a very young age and this eventually was the cause of her death : Due to this fact I named the title of my project ; 36 years of Drugs. A life taken ?
* On August 5th 1962 she died of an overdose of sleeping pills, possibly a suicide at the young age of 36.

Read more of Patricia's blog here.

Well done Patricia, it sounds a very interesting project.
Mrs L :)

Jabba Jabba Jembe - Percussion workshop

2011-03-24T07:39:00.010Z

Ciara really enjoyed making noise!

Read Ciara's blog post........

The percussion workshop our class had was one of the best things we've done in TY I think :) We had the whole day with a man called David, who owns the company called Jabba Jabba Jembe. He owns loads of African drums, all different kinds called.....
Jembes, bongos and some other crazy names that I can't quite remember :L We started off with clapping some rhythms to get into the beat then David showed us some basic rhythms on the drums such as 'Woodpecker' and our answering call, 'Pat the Baker' :L We had a great time all doing a big rhythm together, we kept it going for ages well done everyone :D It looked like everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, it was great fun. We also watched videos on Youtube of a rhythm/music group called Stomp, It was really interesting to watch as it shows us what rhythm can create when it's used in the right way :)
Everyone got really confident during the day and had no problems with doing little drum and percussion solos :L It was a great way for the class to listen to each other and feel like we were accomplishing something as a group, I was quite proud of Emnet when we put all the rhythms together, it sounded great :D
I really think it's worth doing this workshop again for all the future TYs, it's a chance to learn something unusual and new and to just have fun with it.

Ciara Xxx

Well done Ciara, great report.

Visit the Jabba, Jabba, Jemba website here.
Mrs L :)

An audience with an age gap! :)

2011-03-23T18:42:00.004Z

Image from Chloe

Niamh tells us about the recent Holy Faith Drama festival that TY took part in.

Here is Niamh's blog with lots more interesting and fun posts!

Click the Read More button to read the rest of her blog post.....

"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

Well done Niamh, sounds like you all enjoyed yourselves.
Mrs L :)

Siobhan's a winner!

2011-03-19T22:13:00.022Z

I've been following the Irish Blog Awards from Belfast all evening on Twitter and have heard that Siobhan B has won the Best Youth blog.

Image from SluggerOToole.com.

Congratulations Siobhan, great work on your blog.

Why not visit Siobhan's blog here and leave her a message?

Mrs L :)

P.S.
Was it like this Siobhan?..................

**Update**
I found this on sNarah's blog (http://snarah.wordpress.com/) A brief synopses of the 2011 Irish Blog Awards. Thanks sNarah

Check who she awards the Best Acceptance Speech to!

Student Enterprise Awards

2011-03-19T12:27:00.004Z

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Hayley has written a blog post about the Student Enterprise Awards last week.

"On Monday we went to the County Final of the Student Enterprise Awards. We arrived in the Osprey Hotel in Naas around 11 o clock and it was straight down to business on getting our stand ready. Our main thing on our stand was a large knot a problem that Aislings dad helped us make! Thank God for DADS! It took us a while to get it up be it was Check Spellingwell worth it! When we finished our stand it was time for lunch. It was really nice (chicken and wedges)......

Judging started at 2 o clock. Each of the mini-companies had to be judged by three separate judges. One was judging us on our interview skills and our stand, the next judged us on our finances and our understanding of business and the final judge judged on our marketing and sales. It took a long time for them to get through every one. They then had to spend time consulting who they thought should win. At about half five the judges had the results. There were five prize to be given out: Judges Award, Best Stand, Most Innovative, Runner Up and First Place. Just Deserts got the Judges Award! Congratulations! and We managed to get Runner Up! We were ecstatic! All our hard work came to a great end! Well done to all groups who were there and to Ms. Leonard and Ms Evans for accompanying us!"

Well done to all the Mini Companies, they did great work.

Read more of Hayley's blog here.
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Happy St Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T13:18:00.001Z

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Happy St Patrick's Day. Here's a little something to make your day even happier:)

Lá Glas

2011-03-16T17:54:00.019Z

Today was Lá Glas and each year group dressed up according to the theme they were given by the Prefect team.

TY's were to dress as Aer Lingus air stewardesses, although a few Pilots, airport passengers, an odd terrorist and two super heroes were all part of the theme as well :)

We had a great day in wonderful spring sunshine. Here are a few photos, I'm sure there will be plenty more on the students own blogs so check them out on the Class Amina page and Class Emnet page.

Look, what's that in the sky?

getting ready for the Ceili

Captain Leahy!

Yes, You!

Class Emnet

Aer Lingus crew and passengers!

Class Emnet

I wouldn't fly with this crew!

Class Amina

Lauren wants to teach!

2011-03-15T18:40:00.006Z

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Lauren was teaching last week. Click the Read More link below to read her post....

"Last week the 7th of March all TY's were out on work experience. I decided to do my work experience in my old primary school. I chose to do my work experience here because ever since I was a primary school student I wanted to be a teacher myself.

On the Monday before I started work I was really nervous because I was the only student going to the school. I soon realised that there was nothing to be nervous about. The day went great. The school had a book fair on the week Ii was there so every morning I would go there and take in all the money and then tidy up at the end of it all. After that I would go in to the Junior Infants room where I would remain till two o clock which is when they go home. While I was there with them I would help the teacher with all the correcting and help any student that was stuck with their work. At lunch time I would supervise them and then read them a story at the end of the day.
For my lunch break I would go out and supervise the yard then I would go to the staff room and eat lunch. From 2 till 3 it was slow I only did some photocopying for teachers and cleaning. That was my main routine for the week except on some days I would help out other classes with Art and P.E.

Towards the end of the week I had even more responsibilities within the classes. I was able to teach a bit more which I loved. Also on the last day of it all I got to sit in a watch Toy Story 3 with the infants because it was raining at lunch time so they were unable to play outside.

I really enjoyed my week at the school and I would still really consider being a primary school teacher. I also enjoyed being back with all my old teachers and the school. I was surprised at how much the school has changed since I was there. They are now planning to build an extension and in every class room there is an interactive white board."

And what did you tell me today that you learnt about teaching Lauren? Go on, tell us.....

Mrs L

Read more of Lauren's blog here.
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Awards, awards, awards!

2011-03-14T18:26:00.005Z

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We had a great day today at two Mini Company competitions.

At the Get Up and Go competition in the Red Cow Hotel, Dublin, 4 awards were won. Real won 2nd prize for Innovation, BizClips won 3rd prize for Innovation, Green Hero won 1st prize for Sustainability and 3rd prize for Quality as well. Green Hero also go through to the finals in Naas on April 7th.

At the Kildare Finals of the Student Enterprise Awards in Naas Just Deserts won the Judges prize and Knot a Problem were Runners Up overall.

Great work girls. Well done to all the groups who took part in both events.

Big thanks go to your Mini Company teachers, Ms Leonard and Ms Evans for all their help and advice.

Read Niamh's blog about the competition today here.

Mrs L :)
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Another successful Work Experience

2011-03-12T08:44:00.001Z

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Work experience is over for another year and once again the reports from employers about all the students were outstanding. The employers told us how enthusiastic, diligent, punctual, and lovely the students were. Many said they would happily take a St Wolstans student for work experience again. That's a great credit to our TY ambassadors.

Thanks so much to class Amina and Emnet for being such exemplary employees and doing us proud.

Mrs L :)

Ruth is going to murder someone!

2011-03-12T08:37:00.002Z

Well, not quite :)

Ruth has finally decided on what her end of year History project will be. She explains on her blog.........

"For our history summer test we have to choose any topic in history and do a project on it. When I was told this, I thought to myself how am I ever going to pick something? After a long time of thinking I landed on the idea of doing my project on women pilots during World Wwar II, or WASP's. But I wasn't 100% certain.

Then that week I was watching my absolute favourite programme of all times Criminal Minds and they were investigating a serial killer, who was copy catting Jack The Ripper. And that is when it came to me, I will do my project on Jack The Ripper!"

Read the rest of Ruths blog post here.

Sounds very interesting Ruth. Remind me not to get into trouble with you between now and the end of the year!!!

Mrs L ;)

Ailbhe likes the student life!

2011-03-11T15:28:00.002Z

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Ailbhe spent her work experience at the University of Limerick. Sounds like she enjoyed it, read on.....

"University of Limerick is really such an amazing place to go for work experience! The reason I went to UL was because I wanted to get a taste of a few different courses and I thought that it might give me an idea of what I would want to do in college. It was so good because we actually were like college students for the week. We were on our own going to the different lectures......
There were two timetables where I really picked and chose from as I wanted to get to a range of different lectures and meetings and workshops. There were a lot of science activities and lectures in Law, Engineering, Architecture and Language courses! It was one of the best weeks of this year and I really want to go again. It's like I'm ready to go to University now ... it's kind of annoying that I will have to wait another two and a half years to actually go. I have loads to say but I will have to go to another lecture soon! I will definately miss UL so much! It was really an amazing experience and I have met people that will be friends for life :) "

Read more of Ailbhe's blog here and check out the courses at the University of Limerick website here.

Orlaigh's been to Court!

2011-03-10T22:17:00.002Z

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Orlaigh has been in the Four Courts on work experience, read on......

"So, I'm doing my Work Experience in the Four Courts this week and wow was it a good choice. Since I was seven I have wanted to be a lawyer and to finally get to see all of these intelligent barristers at work is just amazing..........

So far I have been to Cloverhill Courthouse where they deal with applications for Bail ( that was really interesting), The Four Courts ( where all the business goes down) and the Criminal Courts of Justice ( which was the the one I found most interesting so far). So, I really have had a good variety for three days!

The language that barristers use in court can be very very difficult to comprehend at times, especially when the case is complicated. I prefer the trials up in the Circuit Court, they are held in the Criminal Courts of Justice. I find them particularly interesting as they are more controversial and current - many of the cases would have been spoke about on the news and to attend a small part of a trail is really something.

The biggest impact this week has left on me is the vast amount of information I have been given about everything in Court. I can't take it all in - and thats just the Tip of the Iceberg compared to the detail I would be going into if I practiced law.

They all walk so fast in there! Everyone is running around - but will I let you in on a trade secret? Okay well you're not supposed to look like your running like a maniac between courts and offices so you simply glideeeee. Its great! They also wear big robes that catch the wind when they walk and fan out and they wear those funny wigs (which are made from real horse hair!). It is all very respectful and everyone bows to judges, they are high and mighty!"

Sounds like a good week Orlaigh :)

Read more of Orlaigh's blog here.

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The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

2011-03-09T21:31:00.001Z

.
I came across this on Fiona's blog tonight. Great work Fiona for posting this.

Fiona says,
"I thought this video was really interesting and its amazing what happens if a girl is given an education and has access to a doctor. Also what makes this video different is that it's an ad yet it doesn't feel like one. "

Read more of Fiona's blog here.

Mrs L :)

Hayley is on yard duty!

2011-03-09T17:19:00.005Z

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Hayley is enjoying her work experience by the sounds of it!

Read what she has to say.....

"Dia Dhuit!!! I am working in Gael Scoil Uí Fhiaich in Maynooth and I am loving it! Yesterday morning I went to my supervisor who gave me a time table of the class I would be in for the week. Firstly I was in senior infants helping kids with their words and their writing. I then took down posters around a class room and put up new ones. I also helped calculate marks for tests. I also had to help with Irish dancing which was awkward because I have no idea about any of the dances. I was really nervous to begin with because it was an all Irish school but the teachers are lovely and friendly.
Today I started off in the same classes I was in yesterday stapeling and helping kids with their work. I then spent my time sorting out library books. I had to stick labels on each of them and then put the school stamp on it! I was also in a third class helping them with their work. I spend lunch times on yard duty everyday.
It was a great day and I am looking forward to tomorrow!"

Read more of Hayleys blog here.

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Congratulations to Noughts and Crosses

2011-03-08T21:05:00.006Z

Congratulations to Noughts and Crosses drama group who won Best Newcomer at the Briery Gap Drama Festival in Macroom, Co Cork on Saturday. Well done girls on all your hard work.

Thanks to Ms G and Ms B for giving up their Saturday to take you down to Macroom and for all the hard work they did helping you as well.

I took this photo from Siobhan's blog :)

Read more about the day on Siobhans blog post here.
Mrs L :)

Congratulations and Good Luck

2011-03-02T22:55:00.001Z

Well done to Siobhan Brady who is through to the finals of the Irish Blog Awards (Youth category).

I nominated Siobhan's blog some time ago and over the last few weeks all the nominated blogs have been judged by anonymous judges. Obviously the judges liked what they saw on Siobhan's blog because it was shortlisted for the finals.

http://awards.ie/blogawards/2011/02/28/youth-2011-finalists/

Please stop by her blog http://siobhanb.blogspot.com/ and wish her good luck. Have a read of her great blog while you're there.

Congratulations Siobhan. I'm delighted that the very first year we have used blogging in TY that you have set the standard this high. Brilliant work.

Good luck to all the finalists in the Youth category, and indeed to all the bloggers, be they journalists, politicians, comedians, scientists or whatever.

Mrs L :)

Desert Flower story boards

2011-02-26T11:03:00.014Z

Below are some of the story boards class Emnet created about the Waris Dirie story - Desert Flower.

We were covering the issue of Gender in Religion class and we watched this film to see how one woman fought against the harsh 3000 year old African tradition of female gender mutilation (FGM) and how she became an activist to permanently abolish this rite of passage to womanhood.

Afterwards class Emnet got into groups and made a story board of Waris's life and then wrote a film review for their blogs.

Well done girls.

Click on each image for a larger view and please feel free to leave a comment.

Ailbhe, Leah, and Sarah's story board.

Mia and Eileen's story board

Aisling, Hayley and Michelle's story board

Ciara, Grace and Laura's story board

Hello to Mrs Gentrup

2011-02-21T22:22:00.001Z

I'm delighted to see that the 7 girls who have decided to take the Student Blogging Challenge supported by EduBlogs, have been interacting with their guest teacher for the challenge, Mrs Beth Gentrup.

Mrs Gentrup works in Nebraska, USA and is a teacher of gifted students. She has asked lots of questions about TY and I hope she enjoys reading all you get up to!

Mrs L :)

History projects

2011-02-16T17:21:00.003Z

Some of the girls have been blogging about their History projects.

Click the Read More text below to read on and see what they are doing their research on.....

Orlaigh
In History we have an end-of-year project to do starting now and the best thing about it is that it can be on anything we want :) I have picked the "Kent State University Killings of 1970". The reason I chose it is because when I read a bit about it, I wanted to learn more. For the project we have to write an essay on it and it will be our summer result. I ordered a book off amazon.co.uk about the Kent shootings and it has finally arrived :) I have started to read it and it's really interesting. Its called "13 seconds" because the guardsmen opened fire to a group of protestors in Kent University for 13 seconds. They killed 4 students and to this day, no one has been convicted. The book comes with a DVD documentry which I have already watched and it was really helpful. Hopefully the book gives me more information :)

Lauren M
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.

Jess Mc Hugh
So, in ty we have had to do many projects. This term we have been given our history project which will be our summer test result. For this we have to research any topic. You can do it on whatever you want, and write a 5 page essay or so on it. Because it is so broad and you can choose anything, I was a bit undecisive about what to do. I think have finally chosen to do it on Edwin Hubble. He was an american astronomer who is the founder of modern day astronomy. I have an interest in this field, so it should be an interesting topic to do :)

Niamh C
I decided to do my local history project on Mountbellew in Co.Galway because my Dads side of the family are originally from there. Apparently they were originally linen weavers and then in the 19th century they became large stock farmers. They owned a huge estate and Lakeview house until it was bought by the land commission in 1914. It's pretty interesting so far (:

...and a few days later Niamh says.....

Finally finished my local history project and feeling purty proud of myself :) I (stupidly) did it on Moylough in Co.Galway which turned out to be the most boring place on earth. There was nothing about it online so I had to get all my info from this book my neighbour lent me, which meant no copy and pasting for me :'( Anyhu its all over and done with and I dont have to stress about history until January!

Louise
For our end of the year history project we have to choose a topic of our choice and do a 5/6 page essay on it. We can do it on anything at all so I researched a few things that I am interested in.
I decided to do it on Eva Braun- the life of Hitlers life.
I'm finding it really interesting and learning loads about herself and Hitler.
I found out that they were only actually married for ONE day! They married one day and took poisin the next.
It looks like she was really unhappy but she never left Hitler even though he said they could never have kids because they just wouldn't be able to be as great as their dad... Vain much :/

Irish Blog Awards

2011-02-14T17:57:00.005Z

Good luck to Siobhan B who has been included in two categories of the Irish Blog Awards - Best Newcomer and Best Youth categories.

http://awards.ie/blogawards/2011/02/13/youth-2011-nominations/

http://awards.ie/blogawards/2011/02/13/newcomer-2011-nominations/

There will be two rounds of judging so here's hoping Siobhan gets through. Well done anyway Siobhan on being chosen.

Mrs L :)

I made a Voki

2011-02-13T21:42:00.007Z

over there > > > > > > > > > > > >(top of page)

......do you want to make one too? You could tell your blog visitors something about yourself or your blog.

Make yours at www.voki.com

Team Swift

2011-02-13T08:55:00.001Z

Team Swift have been busy setting up their blog and Facebook page. Well done on the recent KFM radio interview and good luck in the F1 in Schools competition girls.

Find out more about F1 in Schools competition at http://www.f1inschools.ie

Mrs L

Wohoo 5555 page views

2011-02-11T22:57:00.005Z

Our girls in KFM and F1 :)

2011-02-11T17:37:00.006Z

Here is the podcast of Roisin and Aisling's interview on KFM this week about their F1 in Schools projects.

Aisling and Roisin at KFM

Well done girls. Any sponsors out there?

Mrs L :)

The Student Blog Challenge

2011-02-10T19:48:00.005Z

Well done to Siobhan and Aisling B for entering the Student blog challenge. I'm delighted. I see their blogs have been visited by a teacher from New Zealand already. Good luck girls.

Anyone else want to join them??? Find out more info here.

Register your blog here.

What will the challenges involve?

Below is a list of what students had the chance to do in ten weeks in a previous challenge:

Write blog posts:

* why did you join the challenge
* write a post for BAD on climate change
* favourite interests
* favourite holidays or countries to visit
* storytelling using images
* how to write a post that invites comments
* favourite blogs you visit
* Edublogger competition post
* what did you learn from other bloggers
* about a positive digital footprint
* a challenge post for the international student blog

Commenting:

* count three out activity
* own commenting guidelines
* comparing comments
* replying to comments
* commenting habits after eight weeks of the challenge
* visit posts from overseas students and classes to leave comments
* visit Lonely Planet blog to leave comments on a post

Non written posts:

* comic
* quiz
* poll
* images only
* using embed code for links in comments and widgets

Blog presentation:

* create avatar
* about page
* translation widget
* weather widget
* create blogroll
* add badges
* clustrmap
* using tags and categories

Chloe Wants to be a Millionaire!

2011-02-09T16:55:00.003Z

Chloe enjoyed her Irish class today. Read on.......

"Today in Irish we played Who Wants to be a Millionaire but all the questions were related to Irish Verbs. Everyone each got a question. We sat in The Chair at the front of the room and our teacher, "Chris Tarrant", asked us the
question whilst the theme music played in the background.

There were a lot of people missing in our class today so just 12 of us played the game. We all had the three different lifelines- 50/50, Phone a Friend and Ask the Audience. Some of us needed to use these lifelines because some of the questions were hard.

It was a fun way to learn about the verbs and we all got involved. In the end everyone got their questions right but we didn't have enough people to win the million. Don't worry - we still got a couple of grand :D"

That sounded fun Chloe. Thanks for the blog post. Read more of Chloe's blog here.
Mrs L

2x + 3x = ?!?!

2011-02-07T22:08:00.004Z

Niamh P's been blogging........

"On Friday for our maths class we went to the hall with Ms K's maths class to have a fun maths quiz. The quiz was all about algebra and all the different forms using algebra. We did the quiz like you'd play Bingo.

We were spilt into groups of five or six girls. Ms K handed each group two cards full of answers to the questions she would ask us and a handful of counters. She began to read out each question. We then had to work out what the answer was and....
if it was on our card we marked it off with a counter.

In the end, the group who had the most counters on their card were the winners. They got to choose a bar from a selection of deliciously looking chocolate.

Chocolate always seems nicer when somebody else is eating it RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE! :L

It wasn't the chocolate that mattered though, it was the fact that we made a maths class into a good bit of craic, while still doing maths! :D"

Read more on Niamh's huh-larious blog here.

Sounds great fun and novel way to learn Maths Niamh!
Mrs L :)

The Student Blog Challenge

2011-02-06T09:49:00.003Z

Student Blogging Challenge.......

Is made up of a series of 10 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills while connecting students with a global audience. Next challenge starts in March 2011.

Find out about this challenge here.

You'll be visiting other student blogs around the world and they will visit yours. Sounds fun.

If you are interested in taking part in the 10 week Student Blogging Challenge then register here http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/02/05/student-registration-now-open/

Good luck.
Mrs L :)

Ruth does some Irish Dancing!

2011-02-05T20:19:00.004Z

Ruth was dancing this week.....

"Today in Irish we went down to the hall with the other T.Y. class to do a bit of Irish dancing. It was really fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. I thought it was great fun because I haven't done Irish dancing since I was in primary school.

All of the dances we did were done in groups of eight of four. Strangely enough I remembered some of the steps which I was very proud of! Mr. S had Irish music playing which made it better and the whole year was dancing which was really funny.

At the end my good friend Niamh did a solo dance, and she was amazing, I thought she was going to kick me in the face one time!"

Thanks for blogging about your Irish class Ruth. Read more of Ruth's blog here.

Mrs L :)

Briery Gap Drama competition

2011-01-30T17:53:00.007Z

Saidbh was blogging about the Briery Gap Drama Festival this week.......

"The Briery Gap Drama competition was on Tuesday and St. Wolstans had four drama entries in the heats. My group did a play based on the poem 'But You Didn't' by Merryl Glass. We adapted the poem and wrote a script with a scene for each verse.

The play is about a young couple very much in love, until the man is called up to war and he dies in combat. We had Niamh playing the female character Merryl in the present looking back on all her past memories with her partner before he was killed, and then Orlaigh is the past Merryl acting out the memories with Bebhinn as John, her partner.

We really enjoyed putting the whole production together, even though it was stressful at times trying to work out costumes and props. Ciara deserves a lot of credit for painting the entire backdrop herself! Something I would completley mess up :L

I was an extra in the play, but I was involved in the writing of the script, and I was in charge of lighting and props with Ciara.

The other dramas from our school were all very good, and I've seen them so many times I know all the lines off by heart! It's amusing to see all the plays are based around tragic themes such as racism, drink driving, abuse, war....we have morbid imaginations! "

Here's hoping for a place in the finals Saidbh!

Read more of Siadbh's posts here http://saidhbhtyblog.blogspot.com/

Mrs L :)

Blogging in school...

2011-01-24T20:57:00.004Z

I have posted a video on the Blogger Instructions page about how to change your Blogger settings that will allow you to post in school....and at home of course. :)

http://stwolstansty.blogspot.com/p/blogger-instructions.html

Happy blogging.

Drama at Mullingar

2011-01-24T19:49:00.000Z

Good luck to both TY classes, and all 4 productions, that will be representing St Wolstans in the Briary Gap Drama competition tomorrow in Mullingar.

All plays were written by the TY students themselves and I think we have budding actors and script writers in our midst!

Big thanks to Ms Guilfoyle, Ms Brogan and Ms Rowan for all their help and support.

Good luck girls.
Mrs L :)

Rugby blitz.

2011-01-20T20:13:00.002Z

TY were playing in a Rugby blitz today. Siobhan posted this on her blog....

"Today half of the TYs went to Tallaght to play in the rugby blitz. We played in St Marks School. The blitz’s was cancelled before Christmas because of the snow but we finally got to go and play today. It was a brilliant day and everybody had a good day.

We left school at half nine and headed to Tallaght. We almost made it all of the way there without getting lost but when it came to finding the school we got lost. After we stopped and Mr. L asked the builder for directions we were on our way again. We made it there on time so it wasn’t too bad.
When we got there the red team were the first team from our school to play. There were two or three other schools.... I can’t remember anymore. Each team got the chance to play against all of the teams. For the first match we got to watch the red team play and they were really good and of course they won the game as well as winning all of the other games that they played. The blue team played good as well they lost 2 matches and drew the other two matches that they played.
Some of the other teams that we played were really good too, some of them even looked a bit scary. Everybody had good fun today and at the end of it we all got a t-shirt and a bag. When then headed back to the bus to go back to school. After the mistakes with counting people on the bus we finally figured it out and we were able to go back to school.
It seems that all of the training in PE has paid off and hopefully we will get to do rugby again and play in another blitz’s."

See some of Siobhan's photos here.

St Wolstan's TY

Ideas to blog about

Poems for St Brigid

A Trip To Mullingar!

BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2012

Another trip to the Young Scientist Exhibition

Storyboarding an issue.

Awards!

The Junior Spiders!!

Blogs of the week

More christmas greetings

More News from TY

We have been Nominated!!

Off to the Opera

Going global with our greetings

Work Experience Week 1

TY News from TY TV

Positively Pulaski want to chat

Opportunity for TYs to win an iPad2!

A History of Celbridge

Hannah likes to write

TY News from TY TV

Juno and the Paycock

We took part

Blog Action Day 2011 #BAD11

Work experience

Can We Fix it for our Friends?

Blog Action Day 2011

Suggested Topics for Blog Action Day

Geography projects

Commenting on blogs

Thurstable High School

Quadblogging

Quadblogging

Ideas for blog posts

IT skills survey

Bonding at Carlingford

A new year

T.Y Reflection collection.

Wordles about TY

One thing about me and TY....

Why blog?

Sci-fest.

T.Y reflections.

Summer tests!

Grading blog posts

Book Reviews.

Geography projects

Irish Autism Action

Party Payback

Green Heroes

Amina on Retreat

Gaisce hike

Mia and her therapies!

Ellen and the babies.

A truly musical night - Hayley tells all

Jabba Jabba Jembe - Percussion workshop

TY Friendship - by Aoife

Awards all round

Chloe is dancing.....with Sean???

Road Safety talk

Zoe wants to be a vet

Bog bodies, Yeats and Eimear!

Aoife has advice for new TYs

Niamh's Fáinne Challenge

Cutting Radishes.. and fingers! :/

Rachels cooking!

Saidhbh was at RTE

Patricia and Marilyn

Jabba Jabba Jembe - Percussion workshop

An audience with an age gap! :)

Siobhan's a winner!

Student Enterprise Awards

Happy St Patrick's Day

Lá Glas

Lauren wants to teach!

Awards, awards, awards!

Another successful Work Experience

Ruth is going to murder someone!

Ailbhe likes the student life!