Xtreme

Extreme Activity Center

This week we went to the Extreme activity center in Swords. I really enjoyed this as it was different to what I would normally do. I went out of my comfort zone as I am scared of heights. When we got there we got split into teams. My team began with the super jump, where you literally walked off the edge of a height and land on the ground. This was really scary but it was actually so much fun. After this we did the rock climbing. We then did the archery which was good, but I was really bad at it and I have terrible aim. Then some of us went and did the zip lining which was really good. My favourite things were the zip lining and the super jump. Overall this trip was so much fun and I wish we could go back.

Swim a Mile With a Smile

Swim a Mile

A few weeks ago we had a talk about swim a mile from Brian Daley. He told us a story about his nine year old son, Ian who was diagnosed with a rare and severe brain tumor. Ian went through lots of operations and chemo therapy, and became ill again. On the 24th of July Ian died, at the age of eleven. Ian loved to swim, so after his passing Ian's family and parents set up a charity event in memory of Ian, to swim a mile and the money raised from this would go to all of the hospitals and care centers that helped Ian, such as Crumlin Hospital. 

This Wednesday we went to the aquatic center to take part in swim a mile. Here we met Brian Daley and he separated the swimmers and lap counters. People who were swimming the mile could go in a group or by themselves, and they would then be assigned a lap counter. I really enjoyed swim a mile and would love to do it again. 

 

The Solar eclipse in Dutch

zonsverduistering in het Nederlands

hallo vandaag ik zal het schrijven van mijn blog post in het Nederlands. Ik koos om te schrijven in het Nederlands , omdat niet veel mensen weten deze taal en het is heel anders. Mijn blog van vandaag gaat over de zonsverduistering, omdat het op dit moment terwijl ik typ dit blog gebeurt. Dit is de eerste eclips sinds 1999. De eclips begon om 09:00 en is te wijten te zijn op zijn best om 9.30 uur . Ik denk dat de eclips is te wijten aan eindigen om 10 uur . Juist nu is het donker, maar er is veel mist , zodat we echt kan zien hoe donker het is. Ik denk dat het geleidelijk aan wordt steeds helderder en helderder. Ierland krijgt alleen om rond 95 procent van de eclips te zien.

Jembe Drumming workshop

Jabba Jabba Jembe

Last Monday we had a Percussion workshop. For this workshop we got to use African drums. When Dave arrived he gave us a quick introduction about himself and playing the drums. Dave told us stories of him travelling to Africa and learning about the drum. We then began by copying some sounds that Dave was playing, and eventually we built up a steady rhythm. Later we took a break from playing the drums and he showed us an African DVD that told us all about the different parts of Africa and how the people lived there. After our lunch we got to use the shakers and other African instruments. We then got into groups and formed a "band" to play a song out to the class. My group played the friends theme song. After this we got to freestyle on our drums. This workshop has been one of my favourite of the TY school year.

This is one of the drums that we got to use.

Briery Gap

Briery Gap Theater 

On Tuesday the 27th of January we went to the Briery Gap theater in Mullingar to preform our English plays. We left for Mullingar at 9;05 and arrived around 10;20, when we arrived we all began to get nervous. Our play is called Speak Up. We volunteered to go on second just so we could get it over and done with. My role in the play was to bring in the props, and to stand backstage and if anyone forgot their lines I had to shout them out for the audience to hear. 

After we preformed our play, we were allowed to go around Mullingar. We went to McDonalds, we then just went around a few shops. We then went back to watch a few plays from different schools. We all met back up at the theater for 3;00 and got the bus back to the school. I think our plays went really well, and I really enjoyed watching the other plays.

Zumba fitness

Zumba

This week for our PE we started Zumba fitness. When we went in Mr Lawlor introduced us to the instructor, Grainne. Then we started straight away. Zumba is a really fun way of getting fit. At Zumba you do lots of different dances. Grainne stood in the middle where everyone could see her, so that we could all copy her dances. There is also some very motivating music on that goes with all of the different dances. We also learned how to do some Spanish dancing with the Spanish songs, but it was also really good because she played lots of music that we knew and loved. This PE class was the best so far and I cant wait for next weeks class. We are doing Zumba in PE for four weeks.

Young Scientist

Young Scientist

This week was our first week back after Christmas holidays. On Wednesday we started our new work experience.
On Thursday all TY's and second years went to the BT Young Scientist in the RDS. Here we got to see all of the different projects to help give us get ideas for our projects for SciFest. Three girls from our school had a stall at the young scientist, Aimee, Eimear and Emily.Their project was to test the best conditions for learning. While we were there we went to see a show with two scientists who showed us what it was like to be a scientist. They told us about metals, and showed us how to make metal out of two liquids. They showed us how metals can change the colour of a flame. They also told us what the 'big bang' was. Also while we were there, the band hometown preformed a song, but there was so many people around that I could'nt see or hear them, so i left to look around the stalls some-more.