Geography Blog Post 4. ! !

Shawn Machel Johnson was born on January 19th 1992. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A. It is situated along the River Des Moines.

She is an American gymnast. She was 2008 gold medalist on balance beam, and floor-exercise silver medalist. She was the 2007 and 2008 world champion.

She was enrolled in gymnastics at the age of three when her parents noticed her jumping off cabinets.

In 2004 Shaun competed in the junior-olympics. She finished fourth overall first on beam and second on floor. Both these pieces are considered to be her high points. Her talent shone through and soon after being spotted by a member of national staff she was invited to national team training camps.

Shawn qualified for Junior International Elite on her first attempt and attracted lots of attention in the 2005 U.S Championships. Shawn became a senior in 2007 and continued to show news skill such as a double-twisting double layout dismount on bars

At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Shawn Johnson completed in all four events: bars, floor, balance beam and vault. She competed alongside her childhood friend Nastia Liukan. This year was the first time America won both gold and silver in the individual all around apparatus competition. Through 2008 Shawn maintained a more balanced diet than typical elite gymnasts. She limited her training to 25 hours a week, as opposed to 40 hours a week. Unlke her peers she attended private school where she could be educated as well as training

In January 2010 Shawn tore her ACL while skiing. She had to have knee surgery to train again. Shawn is planning to make her comeback in the summer of 2011. She is hopeful to make the 2011 World Champioships.

Sports Day 2011 ! !

We had our annual school sports day last Wednesday. It was an amazing day :) Although the weather did not perform to its best. There were many activities such as high jump, long jump , relays and the slow bicycle race. The bicylce race was anew activity added to the sports day activities. Its aim was for a greener world. The 6th years dressed up and really got into the mood of the day. They made it more enjoyable for the schhol. The music played was relatively recent and we danced along to it to. I won the rlay with Karen, Orlaigh and Niamh O. Overall it was an amazing day and the rounders with the teachers at the end really finished off the day nicely :) !

Geography Blog Links ! !

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Geography Blog Post 5. ! !

I discovered that Russia is located in the nothern lattitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Russia is closer to the North Pole than the Equater. It is 17.1 million kilometers squares. Russia is over 1/8 of the worlds inhabited area. The European half of Russia is home to it's agricultural and industrial area. It is said that between the Dnieper River and the Ural mountains is where the Russian Empire began.

Russia contains all the vegetation zones apart from the tropical rain forest. About 11% of Russia is Tundra. The Tundra is a treeless, marshy plain. It stretches from the Finnish border in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. The Tundra is known for its white nights in the summer and its cold, dark winter. The harsh winters only allow lichens, mosses and dwarf willows to grow. Frost weathering is the main weathering process in Russia. It was severly affected by glaciation in the last ice age. Less than 1% lives in the Tundra zone.

Russia has both a continental climate and also a cold, harsh climate. The average temperature in Russia is below freezing point. The winter has a major impact on Russian life. It affects how people live and work, what crops are grown and where. It also has a major effect on gymnasts. Gymnasts that train in cold temperatures tend to be excellent, but if they go to a hotter climate for a competitions they do not tend to perform as well. This is the same for gymnasts that train in hot climates. They tend not to perform as high in hot countries. To escape this problem, before any major competitions, gymnasts travel to hotter places to improve their skills. In Russia the temperature changes durastically in certain areas. In the space of three months the temperature could change from a snowy, cold ,harsh climate to a warm, humid dry climate. Therefore gymnastic clubs tend to be situated in these areas. This is for both two reasons :

1. To help the gymasts get immune to both climates.
2. So the club spends less expenses on travelling costs.


Amongst this country in a small town called Belgord. This town is situated on the European side of Russia. Svetana was born on the 19th of January in 1979. She is seven time Olympic medalist. She was the most successful gymnast of her era. She was the first gymnast o win 3 all-around titles in the World Champion ships. She was able to keep competing and winning medals for over a decade. In her career she won a total of 47 medals. Khorkana was 5'6''. She was considered relatively tall for a gymnast. As a result she found certain gymnastics modules hard. Eventually she created her own moves to suit these modules. She has 8 skills named after her. Two of the most famous moves are round-off 1/2 on pike curvo and round-off tucked. Her most successful piece was the apparatus bars.

Today Khorkana is a member of the political party of Russia. She is a member of Duma's Youth Affair Committee. She was elected deputy chairperson of Duma's Yoth Affair Committee in 2007. She was offered the position of governer 3 years later. She turned down this offer because she felt she didn't have enough expereince in politics. Since 2009 Svetana has been studying for her second degree in public service.

Today Svetana is a role model, not only for gymnasts, but also for anyone with a dream. She was considered too tall for her height, so she created new moves. She was vey successful in her career and today is a member of public service in Russia. She was an ordinary average girl with a dream. She aimed high and reached for her goal. She is one of the most successful gymnasts of the era. Today gymnasts all over the world look up to Svetana. She showed us that no matter what you do, once you try your best you can achieve your goal. It might not be today or tomorrow but you will achieve it one day.

Geography Blog Post 4. ! !

Shawn Machel Johnson was born on January 19th 1992. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A. It is situated along the River

She is an American gymnast. She was 2008 gold medalist on balance beam, and floor-exercise siLver medalist. She was the 2007 and 2008 world champion.

She was enrolled in gymnastics at the age of three when her parents noticed her jumping off cabinets.

In 2004 Shaun competed in the junior-olympics. She finished fourth overall first on beam and second on floor. Both these pieces are considered to be her high points. Her talent shone through and soon after being spotted by a member of national staff she was invited to national team training camps.

Shawn qualified for Junior International Elite on her first attempt and attracted lots of attention in the 2005 U.S Championships. Shawn became a senior in 2007 and continued to show news skill such as a double-twisting double layout dismount on bars

At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Shawn Johnson completed in all four events: bars, floor, balance beam and vault. She competed alongside her childhood friend Nastia Liukan. This year was the first time America won both gold and silver in the individual all around apparatus competition. Through 2008 Shawn maintained a more balanced diet than typical elite gymnasts. She limited her training to 25 hours a week, as opposed to 40 hours a week. Unlke her peers she attended private school where she could be educated as well as training

In January 2010 Shawn tore her ACL while skiing. She had to have knee surgery to train again. Shawn is planning to make her comeback in the summer of 2011. She is hopeful to make the 2011 World Champioships.

Geography Blog Post 3. ! !

The most recent Olympic Games were held in Beijing in China in 2008. The great wall of China stretches across the northern part of Beijing. It is believed to have been used to defend the town against nomadic inscursins from the stepes. Mount Dongling which is within the Xishan Ranges is the cities highest point. Two major rivers that flow through the area are the River Yongding and the River Chabaoi, They flow in a southerly direction. Beijing is also the main terminous of the Grand Canal of China. It was built across the northern China plain.

Miyun River is built on the upper coarse of the Chabaoi, it is Beijings largest water supply and crucial to its water supply.

The urban area of Beijing is situated on the south-cenral plain. The plains are spead out in ring roads.

The cities climate is a monsoon-influenced continental climate. It has hot humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon. The Siberian monsoon brings a cold, windy winter. January averages at -3.7 degrees celcius and July averages at 26.2 degrees celcius. The annual precipitation averages at 570mm. The majority of this rainfall falls in the summer months.

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics these were the final results :

1. Shawn Johnson - U.S.A - 63. 325
2. Nastia Liukan - U.S.A - 62.725
3. Yang Yilan - China - 62.650

These were the top three scorers at the competition.
Overall team U.S.A came second with a total of 11 medals. China came first with a total of 18 medals. They now climbed to number one spot. Trailing them were the U.S.A and Russia.


These days many children participate in gymnstics as they grow up. Shawn Johnson her teammate Nastia Liukan and Mary Lou Retton along with many other gymnasts have helped gain support for womens competitve gymnastics. Today it is one of the most watched Olympic events. Excellent gymnasts can be found on every Continent. Go to blog 5 and I will dscuss how weather, climate and temperature effect different gymnasts while training

Back to School ! !

We have just returned to school after the Easter break and we have a lot ahead of us ! A lot ! Over the past two days we have been completing last minute projects, preparing for upcoming exams and getting ideas for the end of year Ty Graduation :) We can't wait ! Here are some of the events we have planed for the night :

1. Everyone in the class has been assigned to a subject. They then have to prepare a stand with a variety of work produced during the year. My subject is Pastoral Care myself andNiamh have decided to display some of our meditation equipment, nail care displays, and also some sheets on the main topic of relationships.

2. There have been Mc's and tech girls assigned in areas so that thing will run more smoothly on the night.

3. In Irish we will be doing ouer Sean Nós dancing, we will be doing a third performance of our Engish Dramas and in Music we are doing our African Dancing.

Overall we have put an awful lot of work into this night and we hope it runs to plan... We might even have more surprises on the night :)

Geography Blog Post 2. ! !

Two thousand years ago the world was ruled by Italy, under the rule of the Roman Empire. At this time Rome was Emperor. 1 in 4 people in the world lived and died under the Roman law.

The Roman Empire was mixed with sophistication, brutality and greed. Conquering a country was an enormous achievement to them.

Rome stands near the Tibur River in central Italy. A series of hills and mountains run along the right of Italy. The coastal regions tend to be flatter and make better farmland, therefore the soil tends to be more flatter. The cental highlands can be snowy and cold in winter, while the coastal lowlands have a milder mediterranean climate.

If you peel away the layers formed over 2,000 years ago, it can be seen that the physical structure consists of hills, plateaux, valleys and slopes. These formings were made in past ice ages and heatwaves. During these periods ice, frost, warm and cold climatic changes have affected the land in various ways. The Avon Valley is one of the most dominiant features in the area and has acted as a gateways for the movement of people for over 5oo,ooo years. I discovered while researching this topic that climate change only began 2,000 years ago when the Romans came to power. Some scientists say that their findings date back to ancient Rome.

The Empire controlled much of Western and central Europe, along eith a great part of the Middle East and most of the Northern cost of Africa. Among one of the conquered countries was a small country called Greece.


When the Roman Empire ascended and after the Roman conquer of Greece the Romans adopted gymnastics as their own. Greek gymnastics was made compulsory for Roman Soldiers as part of military training. The training during Roman times was very intense. If one could not complete the exercises they were not considered good enough to be a soldier. They were often put in an arena to fight as they were no longer any use to the army.

The Romans had an ambition to conquer and they thought gymnastics could make their fighting forces stronger. They used it to improve strength, flexibility and balance of their soldiers.

The Olympic Games were abolished by Roman Emperor Theodosious in 392 AD. Financial corruption was the main reason that led to its banning in 393 AD. Gymnastics as a competitive sport did not reappear in the arena till the late 16th Century. For centuries it was forgotten.

Gymnastics today was never part of the ancient Olympic Games. It was considered as training for other sports such as discus throwing, running and wrestling. These were three of the main events in the ancient Olympic Games. Of the apparatus considered to be gymnastics today, only tumbling and vault were practised back in the ancient world.

In 1881 the International Gymnastics Federation also known as the (FIG) was formed. It was later renamed as the 'Bureau Of The European Gymnastics Federation'. This organisation was the beginning of the first international competitions.

Easter Feaster ! !

Yesterday we had the Easter Feaster for class Emnett of Ty. It was a complete sucess ! ! :) As a class we decided to bring in at least one packet of cakes or sweets :L mhmmn ...... I made home made cornflake buns. I added melted chocolate and Eater Mini- Eggs to the top :) They were amazing. We had extra food so we decided to donate the extras to the teachers for lunch ... We feel class Emnett really enjoyed it. They even gave us a thank you card in return ! Overall we really enjoyed ourselves and had lots of food ...... !

Never Let Me Go ! !

In English we were assigned an end of year project. We have to read at least one of the Leaving Certificate books on the 2013 course. This tassk is 50% of our summer results ! ! ! ! As my novel I have chosen ' Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishguro. Here is the review from the back of the book :

'Driving around the country now, I still see these things that will remind me of Hailsham. I might pass the corner of a misty field, or see part of a large house in the distance as I come down the side of the valley, even a particular arrangement of poplar trees up on a hillside, and I think: ''Maybe that's it ! I've found it ! This actually is Hailsham !'' Then I see it's impossible and I go on driving, my thoughts drifting on elsewhere.'

Geography Map Post 1 ! ! !

The Greek landscape includes both city and countryside. The sea provides easy ways of transport and communication. Surrounding islands and coastlines encourages the movement of people and goods. The sea had and still today influenences Greek climate. I will explain further down how climate has a dramatic effect gymnasts and their training programmes. The mediterranean climate brings hot, dry summers, and cold, wet winters. Their is enough rainfall to make farming without irrigation. Moving further away from the sea the Greeks have hotter summers and colder winters.

The mediterranean area is mountainous, but the mountains aren't very high. So therefore the countryside has small areas of flat land. The mediterranean area also has small-scale tectonic movements. Especially the movement of the African plate towards the north European plate. This usually results in devistating earthquakes that destroy the region.

It is said that "one can not understand Greek society without, understanding the ways in which the Greeks interact with their land". Today Greek archaelogists walk in lines across the countryside, collecting sediments form the middle of the bogs, or pollen grains through a microscope, as they ask new questions about the Ancient Greek geography.

The above is the geography of Greek climate and landscape. Climate also has a massive impact on gymnasts and their training programmes.


Gymnastics has been around for over 2,000 years but as a competitive sport it is more than 100 years old. Gymnastics dates back to ancient Greece. The early Greeks practiced gymnastics to prepare for war or combat. Activities such as jumping, running, discus, and boxing helped develop muscles needed for combat.


In 776 BC. the Greeks held the first Olympic Games. This was a festival dedicated to their God, Zeus. In this Game their was only a foot race of 200 yards. These Olympic Games continued for over 1,100 years. The ancient Greeks practised physical exercises and routines as a result. As a result gymnastics was added to the Olympics Games as well as weightlifting, boxing, throwing, jumping and wrestling. Today gymnastics is regarded as one of the oldest games in the Olympic Games.

Gymnastics soon became a central part of Greek education. It was mandatory for students of all ages.

'Gymnasia': means a building with an open-air court in which training takes place.

As there are sudden climate changes in Greece, training programmes vary further inland as the temperature gets hotter. In Greece I discovered that training programmes further inland are not as intense due to the increse in temperature. Gymnastic training programmes closer to the coastline tend to be very intense. In Ancient Greece gymnastics began as a warm up for a multitude of sports. The warm up included discus throwing and running. Wind could act at an advantage or disadvantage to the athletes involved. When throwing if the wind was blowing to your advantage it could result in a good throw, the same for running. It could also result in a bad throw or run if the wind was blowing against you. Today the wind is a major factor in athletics but not in gymnastics as gymnastics has developed from warm up activites,combat or war training, into a sport of its own.

Belvedere College ! ! !

Today was an amazing day ! . . . . . We went to Belvedere College to watch Hayley ! She was taking part in a Ballet Show run by The Institute Of Ballet :) She was outstanding ! It was a story told through Ballet. I actually enjoyed it ! In the beginning I thought it would be kind of boring, but it was incredible ! On the way back we stopped in Mc Donalds for lunch ! ! mhmm.... Overall it was a great day out ! !

Upcoming Events ! !

I know lots a people say we do nothing in Ty but we a have had a very busy year ! This week we are hosting an Easter Treat Morning for class Emnett to thanks them for their breakfast morning. Each member of our class has decided to bake something to add to the morning and certain members of the class are in charge of drinks, utensils and music :L A lot of preparation has gone into this and we certainly look forward to it.... In the afternoon we are going to a Ballet show in which Hayley C. a girl in our year is in ! ! ! Good luck Hails ...! On Friday we have the Swim a Mile with a Smile Challenge in aid of Crumlin Hospital and Barretstown. This event is for a very good cause and in aid of Ian Daly a young boy who unfortunately passed away. So all I can say is Get Sponsoring Girls :) These are events we look forward to ! :)

L.C. Subject Choices ! ! !

Hi there ! I submitted my 5th year subject choices 2 weeks ago and we are due to get the results back soon ! I chose : Chemistry 2. Biology 3. Home Economics 4. Business. We learned today that unfortunately Biology and Home Economics clash ! ! ! :/ There is only 1 Business, Art, Music and Technology class ! It is so frustrating ! Well I suppose everything happens for a reason :)

National Finals Of Mini- Company in Naas ! !

Yesterday we were in the Osberry Hotel in Naas for the finals of the mini-company get up and go ! We won 3rd in the quality awards. We got a lovely plate as a trophy :) The group that won got a free educational trip to Europe ! They also get to go to the Sean Lemass awards presented by the Taoiseach :) Overall the day went pretty well and we really enjoyed ourselves ! The most interesting stands were fuzzy friends and game wise. The boy that was in fuzzy friends invested €45 into his company and made a profit of over 2,ooo ! We did our best and made a massive effort, so therefore we were delighted with ouselves and feel this has helped us for later in life in setting up our own companies !

Retreat ! ! !

On Tueday we went on our retreat to Glendalough in Co. Wicklow. This was different than the 1st-3rd year retreats because we learned more about senses and ourselves. Our guide was a very expereinced and educated woman so therefore we were able to go deeper within ourselves :) We started off in a maze, where we walked and reflected on our lives. We then went on short 5 minute walk to a well where we also reflected on ourselves. She then brought us into the main building where we were shown a video on the history of Glendalough where many ruins still exist today :) Funniest moment ever when Niamh fell .... aha :) We then went on a long hike... very tiring :L Soon after it was time for lunch mhmm The dayy was avery good day we were able to reflect on our lives but also see the history of Glendalough :)

Gaisce Hike 2011 :) ! !

One of the best weekends of TY ! It began at 2pm when we left for Knockree. Checked our bags in and off we went! The hike took 2 1/2 hrs up and 1 1/2 hrs back. Our guide wuz Bill ! The teachers dat went with us were really fun, so therefore we had an amazing time ! ! ! The mountain was very steep but we all made it ! :L We were wrecked after it ! The weather was considerably good. It was drizzly and windy ! But we were roasting so we wouldn't have wanted it to be raining ! That night we cooked our own meals.... mmmn. Noodles and garlic bread :) We watched a movie too ! I cant remember the name though :/ haha. I think it was 50 something ? haha. My room mates were Laura, Zoe, Katie and Niamh :L We had to be in our rooms for 11pm. The next day we were woken at 8am. To finish off our Gaisce hike we did orienteering in the mountains, low ropes and archery. We did a total amount of 20km the first day so we only had to do 5km , but we kept ourselves busy. Our guides were Mick and Andre. We were divided into teams. We were team Mick. To finish the day we did teams building skills. The Gaisce hike was amazing and I am sure everyone will agree with me ! ! :L

Percussion Workshop with Dave ! !

Yesterday a man called Dave from Jabba Jabba Jembe came in to do a percussion workshop with class Amina :) Since then we now refer to ourselves as the Aminians as this is an African word ! ! . . . In the morning we had our double Mini- Company so we were also able to prepare for the finals of the 'Get Up And Go' competition on the 7th of April :) Dave came in at 10.40 and that s when we began our day ! We started off learning simple rhythms and then we proceeded to move on to the harder ones ! It was really good. Some of the rhythms we learned were 'sliced pan', jabba jabba jembe to name but a few. . . . . In the afternoon he showed us a video on how rhythm is included in everyday life in Africa, they live rhythm :) This was really cool :L He also showed us a video on the most famous musician in Africa. . . Later on he taught us an actual African song along with jembe and base drums ! It was really fun ! He also taught us Samba music and Lauren T. got up and danced some moves for us. Overall it was a great day ! !

English Cultural Trip ! ! !

Yesterday we headed off to Dublin City Centre to visit the Yeats' museuem, Gallery and the Bog Bodies Exhibition. We 1st headed to the Yeats's Museum. this museum was very intereting. Here on displays were strands of his hair, his diaries, various images including his wife. He had unrequited love. This means love that is not returned. We also learned that for years he thought his lovers child was his niece ! This was a very cultural exhibition :) Next was the trip to the National Museum to the Bog Bodies. In fact we did not only see the bodies but saw primary source artefacts that were found in the bogs for example torcs which are believed to be used as necklaces, a long boat which is believed to be used during thre Stone Age ! Although Ihave visited this exhibition before Iwas still entruiged by it ! The Bog Bodies were so lifelike, infact real !! Their skin looked like leather! It was sick but cool. Their was even clumps of hair and the wrinkles on their hands were scary! How do they survive that long? :L For Lunch we went to Mc Donalds and I got a Mc Flurry.... mhmmn. We talked for a while. In total we had an hour for lunch which was good :) So we looked around the shops for a while :L The final trip of the day was to the National Art Gallery :) First we saw some of Jack Yeats' paintings. We learned that he started off painting real life drawings but then went through a stage of impresionist paintings for the final years of his life. These are interesting paintings they express your feelings and emotions through art :) The painting we saw was his feelings towards war ! We then went to the other side of the Museum and saw paintings by various other artists ! It was a very beneficial day and I really learned a lot. I might even visit the National Gallery some time in the future to see more paintings 1! Our tuor guide said it is best to spend an hour observing some paintings and to return later to see the rest :) :L

F1 Schools Competition ! ! !

We attended a Tech Competition in Griffith College the day after the Mini- Company Competition. We arrived in school at 8.00 in the morning ! It was without a doubt an early start. We had spent so many monthes preparing our car for this competition by this stage we were extremely excited ! ! !

The judging commenced at ten. We were kept busy throughout the day. Our first task was to set up our stand to appeal to the judges. The arrived at our stand at 11.30 for portfolio judging and to meet our team. This went well apart for when they asked for pictures of our previous designs. Otherwise we were off to a great start :)

At 12.30 we left our car over for inspection, we raced at 1.00. We discovered inour inspection that our car was reasonably heavy and therefore this affected our racing. Sandra was our racer ! She had excellent stamina and performed great on the day ! We later had to present a powerpoint to the judges. This proved to be our high point.

We were unfortunate not to get through but we did an amazing performance ! ! ! We also got to view the other stands on the day ! They were amazing ! We really enjoyed the day out !