Mary Poppins

On Wednesday the 16th of December our whole year went to the Bord Gáis theater to watch the production of Mary Poppins.  I have previously seen the musical on broadway and so I had some of the merchandise which I wore when we were going to see it.

The day started off by getting on the bus at 9:05 and heading into Dublin City.  We got dropped off just around the corner from the theater so it was a short walk to where we had to go.  I was getting a few weird looks off people for wearing my fabulous 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' T-shirt and holding up my umbrella when there wasn't cloud in sight.  

We were allowed to go off for lunch anywhere we wanted as long as we were back at the entrance for 2 O'Clock, so Orla and I went on the hunt for a nice place to eat (McDonald's) but we weren't sure of the area so we didn't want to risk getting lost so we just went to spar.  I got some lovely wedges but I wasn't hungry so I didn't finish them. 

After we ate we had loads of time to just walk around the area so everyone just sat on some benches and took pictures and stuff.  Of course I was the one to sit in some sort of brown/orange mess and I couldn't do anything about it until I got home.  I just hid the stain in all the pictures so it was no problem.  

At 2:00 we all queued up and got our tickets, we went inside and found our seats after walking up about 500 stairs.  There was some hassle with the seats but we sorted it out and it was okay.  The play was very good and I would really recommend it i really enjoyed it and had a great time.  On the way home eveyone was very tired so we all just slept.

Collecting for the ISPCC

On Wednesday the 9th of December we went to town to go collecting for the ISPCC.  ISPCC stands for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  It is Ireland's oldest and most well-known children's charity.  

The ISPCC is the only organisation in Ireland providing unique 24 hour support services for children and young people through our Child-line service.  Child-line receives the majority of its 2,300 calls and messages per day after 6pm each evening, when most other support services are closed.  Child-line receives just 10% Government funding which means that 90% of its costs have to raised through the generosity of individual donors and corporate supporters.

We started off the day by getting the bus from the school at 9:05, It took about an hour to get to the ISPCC office and so we started at 10:30 going out and collecting.  Orla, Ali, Anna and I all went together even though we were supposed to go in two's but we made more money together.  We were on Nassau street just outside Costa coffee.  We spent the day singing Christmas songs, such as jingle bells and Santa Claus is coming to town.  We got a good few weird looks and rude comments thrown at us but it was all worth it because we were doing something good for charity.  At around 1:30 we headed back to the offices and waited outside for someone to come and let us in.  Eventually we were let in and we handed in our boxes.

Orla and I went to McDonalds for lunch and it was delicious.  We didn't have that much time to have lunch so we had to rush and once we were finished we went into Easons for me to buy a book for religion but they didn't even have it so it was a pointless trip into a very busy bookstore.  After Easons we walked to Leinster house because it was where we were getting the bus from and waited for it until it came up.

When we got on the bus I was wonderfully surprised by Eilis with a Kris Kindle present and it was the best present I have ever received.  It was lush products, a candy ring and a CD with lots of songs we have discussed, ones I love and ones I'm growing to love. such as Grilled cheese and yung lean.<3

Amber Flag Day!

On Friday the 4th of December it was Amber Flag Day.  We held Amber Flag Day to promote positive mental health, so all the TY's came in at 9:05 and we were dressed in as much amber (Orange) as possible.  I was a bit confused about what we had to do for the whole day but we found something to do.  There was many amber posters put up around the school beautifully done by students in TY. 

First we all went in to the library and the chairs were set up in a circle so we all sat down and just talked among ourselves and then Ms.Mooney and Ms.KB made their speeches and told us what we were doing for the day.  Then we went outside to take a group picture and selfies with all the cool amber faces and boards that we made.  When we went back inside we had to launch the website so we set up the chairs and the web committee (including myself) sat at the front so we could make our presentation.

Bridie from the Liffey Champion came in to take our picture and to listen to us launching our wonderful religion website.  Each person said a little bit about the website and what we did as part of the web group.  Then we got our pictures taken with Ms.Mooney, Ms.KB, Ms.Barry and Ms.Smyth.

Ms.Barry and Ms.Smyth both said speeches about how we were the best TY group ever (The usual) and it had been very good morning.  After break we returned to the library to make positive posters to stick up around the reception area, just telling people what to do if they ever feel sad or down.  and then we went to stick them up and we had lots of laughs and fun.  After this we just sat in the library and talked for a bit until everyone was ready and finished what they were doing.

Once everyone was finished we let the buskers practice for lunch time,  Cynthia, Clarissa, Róisín, Jade and the rest of the class joining in all sang songs that people were going to be singing at lunch time.  Every time the girls finished we clapped and rejoiced and then filled the silence with a Christmas song, led by Aoife, Orla and myself.  There was a really happy atmosphere in the class and everyone was just laughing and smiling.  

Lunch time was getting closer and closer and we started to set up for the bake sale, one of the main events of the day.  Orla, Anna, Emma and I set up our table, we took all the food kindly donated by Tesco.  Our table was by far the best table tbh.  Everyone loved our doughnuts and our other cakes, we had millions of mini doughnuts from Tesco and they all sold.  Apparently they were really nice but I dont like doughnuts so I didn't have any.

Our table was such a success we were sold out before many people could even see our wonderful layout.  After we sold out I went for a walk around the school to watch the busking in the courtyard and the face painting in the library.  Everything seemed to be going wonderfully and the mood of the school was just so much happier, even I myself was happy and it was noticeable.  After lunch we cleaned up. counted money and helped first years make Christmas cards.

In my opinion it was one of the best days in TY so far, everyone was in a good mood all happy and everyone included each other in everything.  I cannot thank Ms.Mooney and Ms.KB enough for such a good day and all the effort they put into making it such a good day for such a good cause.

Hockey Match No.1

On Friday the 13th of November at 12 p.m we set sail to Arklow to play our first league hockey match.  We were all very nervous as it was the unluckiest day of the year FRIDAY THE 13TH!!  But a silly date wasn't gonna stop us from trying our best, and so we did. It was an hour bus journey down to Arklow and everyone was tired so most people were quiet and sleepy but towards the end people got nervous and restless.

We arrived in the school after a VERY long bus journey and off we went to warm up. I was on the sideline and the usual people were playing.  Our coach told us that the team was missing a few good players and there goalie wasn't very experienced so we had to take it easy on them.  Half way through the first half we were up 5-0 and so Catherine knew we had to do something so we gave the other team our wonderful goalie Rowen and one of our best players, Kate.

I was put on instead of Kate, at this stage it was raining and freezing and I was just glad to be up and running. after half time we switched 3 or 4 more players between the two teams so that the teams were mixed.  This was possibly the worst thing we could have done because not only did everyone treat the match as a joke now it was basically a match against ourselves.  I  felt very bad for the other team who barely even got to touch the ball as it was all our players playing for them, I would have gladly sat on the sideline for the whole match if it meant that everyone on the other team would get a fair game.

After the match we packed up our stuff and got back on our bus, we were all very excited because we were going into McDonalds so we went to McDonalds and sat there for a good while.  One everyone was finished we got up for an even longer bus journey than before.  We set off at around 3:20 and we didn't reach home until at least 6 since we were stuck in a lot of traffic during rush hour on a Friday. IT was a fun game after all and I really enjoyed my day.

Sci fest!

Aoife and I are doing a science project for sci-fest.  We originally applied for the BT young scientist but sadly did not make the cut so we are now doing it for sci-fest.  We have always been told by our parents and grandparents and so on that texting is so bad for your education, Aoife and I were both victims of this silly harassment from our parents so we decided to see if they were right, to see if texting really has affected the English language.

To prove this theory we must test students and adults of all ages, we must ask them to text a set message as they usually would an then also write out that same set message in their best english possible, so far we have tested students in N.K.E.T.S and Scoil Naomh Bríd both in celbridge, we have also tested TY students from our school and will be testing students in Lucan Community College and Maynooth Post Primary this coming Thursday.  We Have sent emails and letters to many other schools asking for permision but these schools are slow to reply so our project has taken off to a slow start.

We are both very excited about our project and hope that we go on to suceed in the sci-fest competition, this is also a learning experience for us and we have discussed this with each other already.  I feel much more mature and confident after going to these schools, writing letters and emails and also speaking to principals and students and also teachers.

We have also been in contact with many other people for help with our project we were very excited when we were in contact with the minister for education Jan O'Sullivan.  We were in contact over email and she was very helpful with our project and we appreciated her help so greatly. We were also in contact with her over twitter and got a follow back from her. We made a twitter account for our science project to contact Jan and to get publicity. (@txtg8) FOLLOW US:)))

Mini Company

For my mini company I am in a group with Linda, Claire and Megan.  We are doing snowmen made out of jars, It sounds weirder than it is.  We bought jars and we are stacking three on top of each other, the bottom jar contains sweets varying from bon bons, maltesers, apple drops, candycanes and lots more.  The second jar contains hot chocolate or sugars sticks, there are three different types of hot chocolate; cadbury's, maltesers and galaxy.  The top jar contains marshmallows either mini white and pink ones or yellow and pink flower shaped ones.

To remember the french people who died in the recent bombings and shootings, we have made a french themed set of jars and the money we earn from it will go to  a charity called French Secours Populaire.  Which provides aid during emergencies in the county. Below is a chart of how the moneys money is being distributed.

Distribution of public generosity

A + A A -

• 56%: Social Missions in France (€ 12.2 million)
• 12%: Social missions abroad (€ 2.6 million)
• 15%: fundraising expenses (€ 3.2 million)
• 16.8%: Operating cost (€ 3.6 million)
• 0.2%: Gross fixed assets (€ 0.05 million)

I believe that it must be very hard for all the people in france at such a tough time so i think it nice to help as much as we can.

English Trip.

For our English Trip our whole year went on the bus to town, we got off on Kildare street and Class Lagarde went to the WW1 memorial museum in The National Library while Class Merkel went to The W.B.Yeats Museum in The national Library also.  We each had an hour to look around and read the writing on the boards and listen to videos etc. The receptionist at the WW1 museum gave us an intro into the museum which was very helpful.

After the WW1 museum our class went up to the W.B.Yeats museum as we were standing outside waiting for our teachers we were kindly asked to move as there was a vip coming.  So we went inside where we met up with the other class who were very excited to say the president was coming.  I was very excited but when he came he just walked past us.  After he went through class Lagarde continued on to our tour through the museum.

After the museum we left to stand outside until we were all together, then we heard the president was leaving so I got my phone ready to take a picture of him because I thought he would be too busy to stop and take a photo but he did and they asked for my phone and he stood right beside me, the photo was taken on my phone first then on another girls phone since i have the worst luck in the world my photo was blurry and in the second i was pushed out of the way because everyone wanted to try fit in the photo.

After this we went for lunch in Eddie Rockets. Aoife, Eilis, Claire, Susan and I walked all the way to stephens green to get it but it turned out to be a take-away only so we decided to find another one and so we did and it was delicious.  While we were waiting for everyone to come back from their lunch we were watching a band who were busking called fitzafrenic, we were dancing and singing and having a gret time just enjoying the wonderful sunny day.  After this we went back to where we saw the President and we went for a look around in the national museum of history.  It was great , Shortly after we departed to go home. It was an eventful day.