Pottery

19th, Jan, 15

Today I finally got to see my pinch pot and coiled pot finished. I haven't quite finished my slab pot yet though. I am thrilled with  how my pinch pot turned out. The glaze gives it a really nice finish and make it a lot stronger. I would love to make my own pots and glaze them but it would be very expensive, maybe if the pottery module was a bit longer I could make more. I would love to experiment with more designs.

My pinch pot.

BT Young Scientist

9th, Jan, 15

Today we went up to Dublin to see the BT Young Scientist's Exhibition. I was looking forward to it because there is always very interesting things to see at it. Some of my class mates tried to enter it but didn't get through to the exhibition. As soon as we arrived we were met by flood of other school students from all over the country. When we finally got into the place we went straight to see the robot wars. This is usually the best part. It was inside a large tent like a circus one with a small arena in the middle. When we took our seats a host presented each robot and we counted down the fights. Before the fight started though two 'judges' were brought out, a life size Dalek and  a creeper, from minecraft. It was very cool to see the robots, they were designed very well. When the actual robot fight started it was very fun. Loud music was blaring and the crowd was shouting. The robots knocked each other over but bounced back upright. Neither robot won in the first fight so they brought out two new robots, one for the girls team and another for the lads team. There was a lot of competition of the gender going on but in the end the 'girl' robot won (of course). I admire the skill the people have to build these amazing robots, and they put on a really good show.
After the robot fight we went around and looked at all of the schools projects. Some of them were amazing, I couldn't of even of thought of these things myself. I didn't get a chance to go around and look at all of the stalls because there simply wasn't enough time, also the large crowds didn't help but you can't blame people for wanting to see these projects. I learnt a couple of new things aswel.
Overal I really enjoyed this day out and learnt lots of new things. I would love to enter it some year but it is very difficult to get picked amoung the thousands of entries, but I am hopeful. The winner will be announced this evening and they win very big prizes and go into an EU science competition.

Robot war presenter.

The girls robot (The Champion!!)

                                            The Lads Robot

Creeper

The Dalek

 Some interesting projects I saw.

Jingle Bell Fun Run

19th, Dec, 14

It was our last day of school before the new year (yay!) This year is going by very fast. All of our year had to do a fun run around the town and take photos at different designated destinations. We were organised by class tutor groups. Our class tutor and one other were running last. We tried to choose the easiest route to run. We had to tie bells around our ankles for fun aswel and there was going to be prizes for best dressed and best photos. We all had to dress up christmassy. We started of jogging to the front gate of the school, then to Pettit's, The market house, the Garda station, the Monument and finally the Mary Ward gate. It was quite fun and we walked at a brisk pace for most of it. We also sand some carols and took lots of photos, some of them were quite silly. I was smiling for most of it. None of us were quite fit enough to run for all of it, but we managed to get back within the time limit. We even took some extra photos for good luck. At the very end we we ran back into the school we had to wait for the other teams to arrive back. Then the prizes were given out. It was fun to look at some of the other photos other teams took. I didn't win any prizes myself but some people on my team got best dressed and best jumpers. Overall most people enjoyed it and had lots of fun. I think I need to work on getting fitter so I can run more though. I can't wait till Christmas. We spent the rest of the day eating sweets and wishing each other happy new year and merry christmas. And also watching movies in class. It was also a half day which was good. Can't wait for the new year!!!

                                                Jingley ankles

Carol Service

18th, Dec, 14

Today we had our T.Y caroling service. My music class and another music class have been preparing songs for it. The mass was held and we sang Wexford carol, O Holy Night and everybody at the end sang FairyTale Of New York. It was really fun but also kind of nerve wrecking singing in front of the rest of my year. I'm not a great dinger, but at least my voice melted into the choir. It was a very peaceful mass. I can't wait till Christmas, all the songs make me more eager for it to come. At the end of the service we handed out our biscuit cake and rice crispie squares which we had made in h.ec on Tuesday. There were plenty to go around and were even some to spare. I ate an awful lot of them and filled my hands at the end because there was a lot to spare. Overall I think people enjoyed the service. I really enjoyed it. I used to never sing before and this year since i've been in music class I always find myself singing song, even though I know I can't sing, I still enjoy it.

mmm.. our treats!!

Carol Singing in Aid of Gambia

18th, Dec, 14

Today for our middle three classes a group of us went uptown to go carol singing to raise money for Gambia. Some of us wore t-shirts with the Gambia Youth Project on it so passerby's would know what we were fundraising for. We had a booklet of different songs and a tambourine for the beat. It was very fun (although I can't sing very well), and we managed to raise a lot of money. One of my classmates even started dancing to encourage people to donate. It was very funny but it worked. After lunchtime I went back to class but others stayed on to sing some more. I am glad we get to raise money for Gambia even though we wont get to actually go out there ourselves because of the ebola crisis. But they still need our funds for their projects. I hope our year gets to do a lot more fun events like this to raise more money.

Reece dancing to help raise some more people. Most passerby's found him quite entertaining and donated generously.

Biscuit Cake

16th, Dec, 14

Today in home economics class we made biscuit cake and rice crispie squares for our caroling service on Thursday. I was suprised there was any left at the end to actually use because a lot of the ingredients didn't even make it too the bowl they were so tasty. But we made a decent amount of each so there was plenty left for our other classmates. I am very fond of making biscuit cake at home, it is an all time favourite birthday cake of mine.

Paired Reading

12th, Dec, 14

I started paired reading today. A bunch of us transition years volunteered to help some of the first years improve their reading skills. The first year I was paired with was very nice and we had fun getting to know each other. She seems perfectly good at reading and I think we'll get along well. I think the paired reading will also help me with interaction skills. I also help out at the homework club and I find I am much better and handling other students when I need to. I am a lot less shy about things now. I  will enjoy spending time out of class for something different aswel, it can be tiring going from class to class so I will look forward to the relaxing time when I get to go read with the first years and it benefits them a lot also.