The show must go on!!

On Monday 5th of December there was a feel of excitement in the school because at 8 o clock that night the musical was starting. I was super excited and could'nt wait !! A few weeks earlier I signed up for the wardrobe team. Our job was to gather all the costumes for the cast and make sure that everyone had the right clothes for their scenes. There were so many other people involved too such as the backstage team the makeup team and the props people.

The musical was held over four nights-from the 5th to the 8th of December. I really enjoyed the musical and was sad to see it over so soon. But the good thing was that we did'nt have any school on the Thursday and Friday!!

Well done to everyone involved in the show :)

http://www.soundofstwolstans.blogspot.com/

Novel review!

For the last few weeks I have been reading the novel 'How I Live Now' by Meg Rosoff. It is a novel that was on the Leaving Cert booklist last year and we were told in English class to start reading books off the list, so I began with this one!!

The plot of the novel began with Daisy being sent off by her stepmother to live with cousins in England that she barely knew. Her world was turned upside down when her aunt went to work in Oslo and Daisy and her cousins were left on their own to look after themselves. But Daisy didn't realise that when she moved to England that so much would change and that she would fall in love with a person that she least expected.

There aren't too many characters in the novel but it is told from the point of view of Elizabeth(aka Daisy),a fifteen year old girl from New York. My favourite character is Daisy because there are not many more main characters and she is very brave to take on the challenges that she does. At the beginning of the second chapter we are introduced to one of Daisy's cousins,Edmond and later on his sister, Piper,his brothers Isaac and Osbert and their mother.

Various themes emerge in the novel such as war,tragedy,love and friendship. Friendship is the main theme of the novel. The friendship between Daisy and Edmond is the main relationship in the novel and the novel is mainly based on this relationship. During the war Daisy is seperated from Edmond and she does everything she can so they can be reunited even though it is dangerous and risky.

To me, the cultural context was quite confusing whilst reading the novel as Daisy uses 21st century ways of communication such as a computer and a mobile phone but later in the novel a war occurs and Daisy and her family's lives change forever. After reading the novel I discovered that the war described in this book is a fictional 21st century war and this explains why there is use of modern technology, eg mobile phone.

What is striking about the novel is how it is written through Daisy's New York view of the world and how her views change throughout the novel. For example,when Daisy's fourteen year old cousin picks her up at he airport with a cigarette in hand she says 'I don't say anything in case it's a well known fact that the smoking age in England is something like twelve and by making a big thing about it I'll end up looking like an idiot when I've barely been here five minutes.' Suspense is a technique used during the novel. It creates tension and encourages us to read further.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommended it to everyone!!

Nomination!!!

I would like to nominate Caitriona Eves for best student blog as she is a dedicated blogger and her posts are really good!!!!!    http://tienies.blogspot.com/

Work Experience!!!

   We got midterm break for a week and after that ended I had my first week of work experience with the Gardai in Leixlip. There were sixteen other people in the group, all from different schools. On the first day we went to Templemore,the Garda training college. We were shown around the area and had our lunch there. We were also shown the lecture halls and the swimming pool etc.     On the second day we went to the Criminal Courts (CCJ). This was my favourite place to go and we got to watch many different cases. We went to Liffey Valley for lunch most days also which was really fun!!
   On the third day we went to the water unit which was my least favourite place because it was quite boring but we got to see the boats they use to rescue people.
   On the fourth day we went to the horse unit which i really enjoyed.We also went to Baldonnel where the Garda air unit is. We got to go instead the helicopters- not fly them ovbiously!! but it was really fun.
   Finally, on the last day we stayed in the Garda station and a detective talked to us and showed us how to take fingerprints!!

   I really enjoyed that week of work experience and was sad to see it end!   

Museums & Juno and the Paycock!!

Yesterday on our English trip to Dublin we went to the Yeats museum first. That was quite interesting and I learend a bit about him. We then went to the National Library. This was sort of boring but afterwards we went to the National Museum which was really interesting. We saw the bog bodies and the Tara Brooch.

We went for lunch on Grafton Street. Most of us went to McDonalds so it was really busy in there !! At 2 o' clock we arrived at the Abbey Theatre to see Juno and the Paycock.  I did'nt expect it to be good but it was and I really enjoyed it !! 

                                                                                            

English Trip to Dublin!!

Tomorrow all the T.Ys are going to Dublin. In the morning we will be going to the  W.B Yeats exhibition and after that we will be going to see the bog bodies. Im looking foreward to it and the teachers have said we can go for lunch on Grafton Street!! At 2pm we'll be going to see the play 'Juno and the Paycock'. We have read the play in English so know the background to the story. It was a good book so the play should be even better!!

Blog Action Day- East African Famine.

Today is Blog Action Day and also World Food Day.This year's theme for blogging is about food!
I have decided to blog about the famine in East Africa to make people aware of the crisis at hand.

Since July 2011, a severe drought has been affecting East Africa in places such as Somalia and Ethiopia. The lack of food in countries such as these is said to threaten the lives of over 13.3 million people. Improving nutrition is thought to be the most effective form of aid but even now, in the 21st century, there are still so many people dying of hunger. This is completely unacceptable and third world countries need our help.

Because of drought, people are unable to produce their own crops, people and their animals become weak quickly and die. Nearly half a million children are at risk of dying from malnutrition and disease.

In first world countries such as Ireland, people should realise that food is so important and should not be taken for granted.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

This week has been really busy!!

1. Our class have beeen preparing for the fun walk by making up a dance and singing!!

2. We have been doing an opera in Music based on the programme 'Friends'.

3.Today we have pilates, dance and photography.

4.We are reading the play 'Juno and the Paycock' and we are going to see it in the theatre in two weeks!!

5. We are also reading books for Creative Writing. 

Fun Walk fun!!

Tomorrow, is the Fun Walk.This week is Anti- Bullying Week/ Friendship Week so we have to include that theme in our performance. Our class are working really hard to make a good dance and its slowly coming together. The colour for the T.Ys are yellow so our classs have decided on bananas. We are going to sing  for the first half of the performance while doing our dance and then play a banana song towards the end!!
After this all the TYs will leave the school and stand at different points along the way to direct the other students as they walk .

It should be a good day, if it doesn't start raining that is!!

              

Mini Company Workshop

Last Thursday we went to The Moat Theatre in Naas along with two other schools. I am in a group of seven and we have decided on a product- a mini emeregency kit called 'What a girl wants-what a girl needs' !! The kit contains mini essentials such as a mini deodorant, breath spray, earring backs etc.
For the next workshop in October we have been asked to have our market research done. It is exciting to know that our product might sell or win a place in the competition!!

Mini Company Madness!!

On Thursday all the TY's are going to The Moat Theatre in Naas for a mini company workshop. There are going to be two other schools there and we will be learning how to create business' and how to work together. There are seven in our group and our idea is to create 'mini emergency kits' with things like mini hand wipes and mini deodorants too!! We have had a few ideas but have finally decided on going with this one. The group is working well together and each person has been assigned roles within the group such as Managing Director, and Secretary. My job is in production and Quality Control, along with two others!!
So far ,everything has been going well and hopefully we get into the mini company competition!! 

Around the world trip!

At the beginning of the year the TY's were given a geography project called 'Around the World Trip'. Our deadline to hand in the project is the week before midterm. In groups of three we had to choose two first world,second world and third world countries. I chose to do Mali, a third world country and Italy, a first world country. I am really enjoying doing the project and getting to learn new things about different countries. The others in the group are doing Canada, Slovakia, Poland and Peru.
We are going to present our project in a scrapbook and on a powerpoint presentation. So far I have learned about Malian culture, festivals and traditions and about historic places in Italy!

Its such a fun project!!  

                

Junior Cert Results

Last Wednesday, the  2010/2011 third years waited anxiously for their results. The suspense was getting to us and we couldn't wait any longer!! We had our first six classes of the day and during music we were called down to the hall to get our results. I was excited but a little bit nervous too!
We lined up in alphabetical order under our class names from third year-me being from class Rowan. Finally we got our results in  brown A4 envelopes. I waited until i got into reception to open it and was really surprised at my results-i'd really done better than i had expected !! I was thrilled, as was everyone else with their results.
That night a big group of us went to Caitrionas house to get ready to go out and celebrate. We went to Time in Naas. It was really fun!!

   :)

Carlingford :)

Last Monday, 12th of September the three T.Y classes gathered at the garage at 6:45 am. We were all so tired but so excited to be going to Carlingford. A double decker bus and a minibus waited for us.  We registered with Ms Leahy and set off on the buses. It took about two hours to get there but it was worth it!
When we arrived in Carlingford we collected our bags off the bus and were led to the centre. We left our bags in one of the rooms there and were told to put on our wellies because we were going to be doing our first activity-the challenge course!! We split into groups and walked for about ten minutes with our leader John to get to the bus which brought us to the challenge course. When we arrived we put on helmets and were told we had to complete different challenges to win gems which would result in a prize for whichever group got the most. The challenges needed all of us working together ,so thats what we did! The challenges were really enjoyable, even though some included walking up a lot of hills! When we completed the challenges we walked back to the centre.
There, we had our lunch of sausages and chips. After lunch we walked up many more steep hills to get to the forest to play laser tag!! This was my favourite activity. We split into a red team and a blue team and had a fun game of laser tag.
Later on we returned to the centre and had dinner. Afterwards we went back to the forest and did night-line. This was also really fun. We had to put on blindfolds and hold onto each other. We walked through the forest,with our leader Wayne jumping out of the trees and scaring us half to death!!
After night-line we again went back to the centre and relaxed there. We met a boys school there and everyone had great craic. Some of the girls from our year sang also. We went to bed at 11.30 and we even more tired than we had been before!!

The next morning we got up at eight o'clock and went downstairs for breakfast. We then put on our wellies again and went up the hills once again to do orienteering .This took a long time and eventually my group got lost so we headed back to the centre. It had been a long day.
we left Carlingford at five o clock and got home at seven.

Overall it had been a brilliant trip :)
      

Back to school !!

hi everyone,

   Its our second week back to school and we have already been given plenty of projects to do. I sort of  enjoy projects, so im not complaining! We got projects to work on for science, geography , home economics etc.
   I've figured that Thursday is one of the best days because the day is filled with activities such as pilates, photography and dance . We also have music, home ec and I.T. Three times a week we have mini company classes.These are enjoyable and we get to think of ideas for a business to submit to a competition.
   On Fridays I have double Home Ec. At the moment we are working on a project to design an outfit out of a pair of white jeans and a  white t-shirt. My group have decided to make a dress based on 16th century fashion. We will have to cut the jeans up and sew everything together . I cant wait to see what it turns out like.

                                                                                    Bye for now
                                                                                       Eleana :)