Last Pottery

8th, Feb, '15

Today we had our last pottery module. It was quite boring as most people were finished all of their pots. All we had to do was fill out sheets about the module. I just watched my friends finishing their pots. We also had to tidy up.
I really enjoyed this module because art is one of my favourite subjects. I think my first pot is my best one, the pinch pot. I would love to make more pots in the future, and even try using the wheel to make one. But somehow I don't think I will make a career out of it.

Slab pot. It was hard to paint the small details.

Pinch pot.

Coil pot.

Cancer Research

6th, Feb, '15

Today a notice was on the t.y board thanking the t.y's who helped raise €351 for a cancer research charity. Myself and a few others had made the ribbons last week out of purple ribbon and a lot of pins. Some other t.y's sold them for us up the town for a euro each. World cancer awareness day was on the 4th of February. I was so happy to see we raised that much and I know it is such a good cause. They did well to sell that many. I'm so glad we could help.

Bene Merenti

2nd, Jan, '15

Today the bene merenti audition results were posted on the music notice board. I had entered in the t.y choir and we managed to get through. I was so happy be in it because it is really fun. We are singing the song 'Happy Endings' by Mica . It is a really beautiful song with nice harmonies. I can't wait, although it is quite scary to sing in front of an audience, thats why I joined the choir so my voice would melt into everyone elses. I'm not very good at singing, but I really wanted to enter bene merenti in some way and I didn't have time to prepare a song on the piano, so this was my only chance. It is mostly girls in the choir as the guys aren't as interested in singing.

Community Service

2nd - 6th, Feb, '15

This week I have been doing my community service with Muckyhounds, which is a dog training centre is the buisness park in Gorey. I had originally signed up to do dog walking for the S.P.C.A, but because so many t.y students had signed up to go there, they gave me the option to go to muckyhounds instead. I didn't even know the place existed till now, so I jumped at the chance to do something different than dog walking for the week. Myself and two other t.y student were moved up to their instead for the week. I couldn't wait to get started. I love dogs, and hopefully this experience would give advice on how to train my own dog.
The first day we were just really learning what to do. We got to play with the dogs and got them to perform tricks. Only basic ones though like sit and lie down. We used food to trained them because you can always keep a dogs attention with food. There were two sections to the room, one for the big dogs, and one for the little ones. I stayed with the little dogs for most of the week because the big ones were quite intimidating and played a bit rougher. They were so adorable and playful, although they still had tricks to learn. It was funny to see all of the dogs personalities, they were all so different. We also had to keep the place clean, whenever the dogs made their messes. It wasn't that bad or anything, all part of the job really.
We worked from 10a.m till 5p.m which was a long day with such energetic dogs. I was knackered after the first day even. The last hour of the day was spent tidying up. Washing all the toys, and hoovering the floors and putting stuff away in general. I really enjoyed the first day and was so glad I got moved up there.
The second day was quite busy, something like fifteen dogs. But we knew by then the routine and just worked on. If the dogs got in any way aggressive we just had to stand well back and let the trainers handle them. The biggest dog there was a black great dane called Hero. He was like a donkey, but he was a gentle giant really. I enjoyed working with my class mates and we had a really good time. Thursday was the quietest day and there were only a few dogs which were all quite layed back. We all had favourite dogs each. Mine was a stafordshire bull terrier called Izzy because she always looked like she was smiling. Most days went like that, playing, training and cleaning. It was quite tiring but worth it,
By the end of the week I was sad to be leaving. I had so much fun. I learnt lots from it, which I can use now to train my own dog. I now know how to handle her better. I would love to bring her up there someday to socialize with other dogs. I enjoyed working with the staff there as they were very kind and helpful. I might go up there again sometime to help out. I learnt to be more independant in decisions too.

Izzy smiling for the camera

               This is Hero, the biggest dog there.

Khan Academy

30th, Jan, '15

Over the past few weeks I have been doing an online maths course that is also a national competition. It is quite simple and all you have to do is work on your maths skills and learn new ones. We are doing it as a part of a class and a few other classes in my year are doing it. You sign up, and build up point on the website. It is quite a fun way to learn maths as it encourages you to progress. I wasn't really interested in maths before now, but now, most evening I will go online and spend time learning some new stuff. I can definatly see the improvement in my skills. I wish I had known about the website before my junior cert as it would have been a very useful study tool, but I will be using it next year to study. It helps you remember stuff you might of forgotten from junior cert and also progress ahead if you find you want to learn faster than your class. I didn't really pay attention to the competitive side of it and just worked on ahead of my class, we started five days after the rest of the country.
But before I knew it, I was top of the country. I hadn't planned this at all and was just as suprised as everyone else. I kept working on it and by the end of the month I had retained my first place title and won the January cup. I didn't think I was that good at maths. I still don't think I am that good at math, I just worked on my profile slowly but surely, and I had managed to be the best in the country. I was getting praise from everybody for it, I still don't believe its true. All my friends think i'm a maths genius now but I still don't think I am. I got a certificate and all from the Khan Academy people. The February cup has now started and I have to keep it up to retain my title. I hope I can. If i do I could go into the play-offs and win great prizes.
I think it is an amazing website to encourage young people to do well in maths. I really wish I had known about it sooner, and the best part is it stays at a pace your comfortable with and does it in a fun and interactive way.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Strictly Come Dancing

30th, Jan, '15

Today I went to Gorey Community Schools strictly come dancing semi-finals in the Amber Springs hotel in Gorey. I was reluctant to go at first but I then thought why not have a bit of fun with my friends and watch some of my other friends dance. Besides, I wasn't going to the cinema with Spleodar anyway. The doors opened at seven and the place filled up pretty quickly, we just about managed to get a row of seats for ourselves, but we didn't have the best view. But a lot of people had to stand. Everybody was dressed really nice for the occasion. When the actual dancing started I was extremely suprised. I didn't realize my friends could dance that well, some of them had never even danced before. I was very impressed. We were all kind of dancing to the music in our seats and had a good laugh. I was so glad I decided to go. The dancers were so talented.
For the interval act, a group of teachers got up and danced to Dolly Parton's 'nine till five'. It was quite funny seeing them dance, but fair play to them for getting up on stage in front of everyone.
Then we got to vote for our favourite dancers, I voted for my cousin, Séan, not because he's my cousin, but before now I had never ever seen him dance and he was amazing on the night so he must of put in a lot of effort to get that far. All the dancers did a second act, they wore such beautiful outfits, then once they had all danced the winner was announced. Reece and Anu came first, they deserved it, Anu is the best dancer in our school, probably even the county, she trains all the time even before the competition was on. Séan came second with his partner. I think they all deserved it. They are going to go into the final against the Naomh Eanna dancers. I will definatly be getting my ticket for that.
At the end of the night, about 11p.m there was a disco. Most people got up and danced, this was really fun. me and my friends are terrible at dancing and tried to dance as silly as possible. I laughed so much. Then it was home for the rest of the weekend. Can't wait till the final.

All of the dancers being introduced on stage.

 Waiting nervously for the results!

The following photos weren't taken by me. From the seats we were sitting in I couldn't get photos as good a quality as this, but I just wanted to show all of you the fabulous outfits in detail.

Spleodar

30th, Jan, '15

Gach oíche dé hAoine téim go dtí chlub óige, Spleodar . Is club labhartha Gaeilge. Bhí mé ag dul ar aghaidh ó chéad bhliain agus cabhraíonn sé i ndáiríre a fheabhsú mo Gaeilge. Molaim é do gach duine. Chuidigh sé go mór le mo teastas sóisearach, scrúdú béil. Aréir chuaigh siad go dtí an phictiúrlann. Ní ndeachaigh mé mar ní mhaith liom an scannáin a bhí siad ag dul a fheiceáil. Ach beidh mé ag dul an tseachtain seo chugainn. Dhéanaimid cluichí agus tá comhráite, ach uaireanta a théann muid ar turais, cosúil leis an zú nó Tayto pháirc. Bhainim taitneamh agus tairbhe as. Is mian liom mhaith linn labhairt níos Gaeilge sa saol laethúil. I rang Gaeilge labhraíonn gach duine Béarla, agus is dóigh liom mar tá mé a labhairt na hÉireann, ach ní féidir liom toisc nach aon duine eile. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil aon grianghraif ó Spleodair.

Every friday night I go to Spleodar youth club. It is an irish speaking club. I have been going since first year and it really helps to improve my irish. I recommend it to everyone. It really helped with my junior cert oral exam. Last night they went to the cinema. I didn't go because i didn't like the movie they were going to see. But i will go next week. We do games and have conversations, but sometimes we go on trips, like to the zoo or tayto park. I really enjoy it. I wish we would speak more irish in everyday life.  In irish class everyone speaks english, and I feel like I have to speak irish, but i don't because no one else does. I don't have any photos from spleodar.

Entrance Exams

28th - 30th, Jan, '15

For the past three days I have been helping out with the entrance exams. Every year at this time 6th class students come in to take their entrance exams on the computer, so they get us t.y's to help out. In the morning times Myself and a few others had to greet them coming in a receptions and bring them to the room, then once they had all arrived we had to help them set up the computers. We had never done our exams on the computers and I know nothing about computers so I let the other two t.y's in the room get them set up. Once they all got going on the exam we just got to sit outside and chat to each other which was fun.
The test was in three parts so inbetween we had to take them on breaks, to get their lunches and stuff. They were quite compliant and followed all of the intructions, I think some of them were a bit intimidated by it all, but we chatted to some of them and they seemed to be doing ok. They said the tests were easy.
At the end of the day then we had to bring them all back to reception to be collected. It was like this for the whole three days we were doing it, but with different schools each time. I quite enjoyed helping out, it was a good break from regular classes. The students look like they're getting smaller each year.
                                                                                     (we had to wear name badges, which felt like we had authority)

Piano

28th, Jan, '15

This isn't really related to t.y but I thought I would mention it anyway as it is a skill I am developing over the year. I have been playing piano most of my life but have never been doing grades. Last year I completed two grades, two and tree, and this year I am planing to do grade five, skipping grade four. I really enjoy piano but doing grades is difficult, thats why I put off doing them till now. But I think it would be good to have the grades under my belt for the future. I hope to have grade five complete by the end of transition year. It takes up a lot of my time during the week, practicing. I was going to do it for gaisce but its a bit late for it now.

Texaco Art

28th, Jan, '15

Thought i'd show you all my progress on my texaco art piece. I'd say i'm about halfway done. I hope all this effort will pay off. The drawing is of my cousin. I thought it was such a beautiful picture of her, although she is much older now. It is simple colouring pencils on brown paper, my favourite medium of art.

Cookies

27th, Jan, 15

Today in home economics we made cookies, my favourite. I make them all the time at home so I went on ahead on my own and tweaked the recipe a bit to make them nicer. They were supposed to be vanilla with chocolate chips, but I made chocolate fudge with m&m's, which were far nicer that the originals. My cooking partner wasn't in also so I had more to myself, everybody wanted to try them, I was flattered. Will forever be making cookies at home, they only take about twenty minutes to make.

News2Day RTÉ Texaco

27th, Jan, 15

Today the news2day team from RTÉ were filming in our school. They were doing a report on the art competition Texaco, which is the nations largest art competition with very good prizes, most children in the country enter it. They decided to do it in our school because we have had many winners over the years. I won a merit award in first year, which was a great accomplishment. I plan on entering it this year also, so I was invited to be in the backround in the art class while they were filming. They were interviewing a woman from texaco asking her about the competition to encourage more children to enter it this year. I was honored to even be in the backround, and I also got out of three classes to draw more of my piece, which I needed. They also interviewed some of the other student in the class about their pieces, all of them were absolutely amazing. They didn't interview me, which I was thankful for, it was hard not to look at the camera while they filmed. I just hope I can even get a merit award this year. The programme was then aired the next day, Wednesday, at around four o'clock, I can't remember the exact time. The feature was only about two minutes long but I was still proud of our school for even being in it because of our achievements in the competition so far. Fingers crossed I win something this year because I love the day out to see all the other winners. Below is a link to the texaco art website in case anybody wishes to print out the entry form and enter themselves, I would highly recommend you do. The deadline for entries this year is the 27th of February.

tp://www.texacochildrensart.com/

(photo pending)
( video of the feature pending)

Homework Club

26th, Jan, 15

I've been helping out at homework club after school on Monday's and Tuesdays for the past couple of weeks now. I quite enjoy it, if I wasn't helping out there I would just be wondering around Gorey for an hour or so waiting anyways.  Myself and one other t.y help out. We mostly walk around the classroom helping out students from 1st to 3rd year with homework they are stuck on. It is generally stuff we know and have done in the junior cert. Some of the students are studying for their junior cert now so we can give them hints on how to study. We also laminate some sheets and update the literacy board in the school during this time, it is now a colourful, and symetrical board of knowledge. I was planing on helping out as part of my community service for Gaisce, but it is a bit late in the year now to start it. I don't really mind though, I still enjoy helping out.

Skii Trip

23rd, Jan, 15

Today fifty t.y's went to the irish ski centre in the Dublin mountains, myself included. As soon as I saw the signup sheet on the notice board I put my name down and paid, I had never been skiing before and was eager to do it since forever. I'm so glad I got the chance in T.Y to do it with my friends. We left at the start of school for the hour and a half drive there. We had to wear warm clothes and gloves. When we arrived we had to get our boots fitted, this took longer than it should have. The boots had to fit our feet snuggly but it was more like a death grip, some people lost feeling in their feet. It was very difficult to walk in the boots too because the soles are solid straight so it doesn't bend naturally with your foot from heel to toe as you walk, which made it even harder to walk down the stairs, the cool thing was you could lean very far forward without bending your knees like Michael Jackson because the boots were quite heavy. After we all had our boots fitted it was time to get our skis which had to be altered to fit our boots and our weights, this took another little while.
Eventually everyone was ready and had gloves on so we went outside to head for the slopes. The teacher brought along a first year to take photos of the trip for us which was very handy because we could hardly take them ourselves while skiing. We took a group photo and got our ski poles before heading towards the smallest slope. It was funny watching everyone trying to walk in the boots. Most of us were beginners so had to start on the smallest slope. There were about five people who had skiied before so they got to go on the larger slope, I don't think i'd of managed on it. The slopes were made out of a plastic like substance because obiously it doesn't really snow that much in Ireland. The weather was quite good today, it wasn't raining which was a bonus.
We spilt up into three groups and spread out to different sections of the small slope and lined up along the slope from the bottom to the top. We rotated around and got to ski down it. There was an instructor for each group that took us through it step by step. It didn't take long to get the hang of it, the hardest part was turning around when standing still with the long skiis on your feet. There were sprinklers on the slope which turned on and off which made our clothes soaking wet, especially if you fell over. Luckily I didn't and only half of me got wet throughout the whole thing. I learned how to turn and do a small jump and stop while skiing, I quite enjoyed it. It was also funny to watch other people falling over. We skiied for about an hour and a half and at the end we went up a small bit higher on the slope where it was a bit steeper aswel. Most people fell going down the last time. I fell over aswel, which wasn't to bad considering it was my first time skiing. Once everybody had finished we went back inside and put all of our equipment away and ate our lunch. My feet were aching from the boots and I was starving. Then it was back on the bus home.
Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and had a good laugh at each other. Some people were dissapointed that we didn't get to go on the larger slope, but maybe next time when we're more experienced. They said they were going to plan another trip in March. I will definatly be putting my name forward for that. I enjoyed it so much. I would love to go skiing on real snow in Switzerland someday, it looks beautiful there. But for now this will do. Next time I will bring a spare pair of trousers to wear on the way home instead of sitting in dripping wet clothes.

The outdoor slopes.