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 ! !

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 !

Marilyn Monroe ! !

I have decided to do my history end of year project on Marilyn Monroe. She is a very interesting character in movie history here is some information I have gathered about her :

• She was born on the 1st of June 1926 to Nee Morrinson in LA County Hospital.
• Her real name was Norma Jeane Baker.
• Her father was mentally ill so she was sent to a foster home and later was sent to many relatives.
• Her mother supposedly attempted to kidnap her from her foster home in a hand bag.
• She had a very strong acting career and is remembered today worldwide.
• She was introduced to drugs at a very young age and this eventually was the cause of her death : Due to this fact I named the title of my project ; 36 years of Drugs. A life taken ?
• On August 5th 1962 she died of an overdose of sleeping pills, possibly a suicide at the young age of 36.

Mini - Company Competition

After our journey to Cork we had a hectic week ahead of us ! Mini- Co on Thursday and Technology Competition on Friday. On Thursday we registered in school and travelled down to Clane for the Competition. Overall it was an eventful day ! We were placed next to another eco-friendly stand which was a disadvantage :( but we still got on with it ! Our adjudicator did not come till the end of the day so we were tired of waiting but yet keen to sell him our service :L
He was impressed with our idea but gave us constructive criticism for the future. He said that he would have liked to see our report binded like our magazine and asked us how we would continue with our service in the future. Unfortunately we struggled getting advertising for our magazine due to the recession so we would be unable to continue asking for adverts. He recommended that we hand it down to Next years Ty's. Luckily at the end of the day we got placed on the list, which meant we had a chance of getting through to the finals.... The day after we discovered we were unfortunate to not make it through.... We were upset yet again happy with all our work :D

Journey To Cork ! ! !

Hey our trip to Cork was amazing ! We were extremely nervous on the way up but used our time wisely to do a full run through of the play, time to chillax... and we can't forget the singing :L

When we arrived we all prepared and ready to go ! !

2hrs later we preformed our role play to the judges. According to our viewers and the hosters of the event the judges were very happy with our performance. This was a thumbs up :L


After we watched the remainder of the competing plays and we headed over to the chippers... mhmm...

The bus drives to and fro were very long so we had to keep ourselves busy ! On the way back many people fell asleep: Stepho with her thumb in her mouth and herself and Roisin P. argueing over nothing :L It was an eventful journey ! :L Not forgetting Mrs B. and Mrs. G asleep and Stepho sneaking to get their photos. Over all this was a great bonding experience for all as we wer e travelling in a small group !

Chick Pea Rice !! mhmmn

Ingredients:

800 grams of chicken.
8 onions.
1 cup yoghurt.
1 cup coriander leaves.
2 tomatoes.
2 green chillies.
1 teaspoon ginger, garlic paste.
1 teaspoon coriander and cumin powder.
1 teaspoon red chilli, black pepper, garam masala powder.
2 teaspoons lemon juice.
2 tablespoons butter and salt.


Method:


1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion over a medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring until pale golden. Add the curry paste and stir-fry for about 1 minute.

2.Stir in the rice, then add the water, sweet potato, tomatoes and sultanas. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pan and leave on a low heat for 20–25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is just tender and the water has been absorbed. Add a little more water if the mixture becomes too dry before the rice is cooked.

3. Stir in the chickpeas and gently heat through. Stir in the coriander, season to taste and scatter with the cashew nuts before serving.

Onion Chicken ! !

In home ec we moved onto our second Indian Cuisine dish. For this we cooked onion chicken a nd chick pea rice. Below are the ingredients and methods for each :

Ingredients For Onion chicken:
8 chicken pieces (about 800g)
8 medium onion(s) cut into rings
1 cup(s) yoghurt
1 cup(s) coriander leaves
2 tomatoes finely chopped
2 green chilli(es) finely chopped
1 teaspoon(s) each of ginger, garlic pastes
1 teaspoon(s) each of coriander and cumin powders
1 teaspoon(s) each of red chilli, black pepper and garam masala powders
2 teaspoon(s) lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter (ghee) / butter / oil
salt to taste
finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing




Make cuts in the chicken pieces. Rub in the yoghurt and coriander paste. Mix in onion rings, allow to marinate for an hour in a tightly covered heavy-bottomed pan. Cook on medium heat for 12 minutes, till the chicken is almost cooked.
2. Add the butter and the rest of the ingredients. Fry on low heat for 6 minutes, till chicken is tender and well coated with the gravy. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Swim a Mile with a Smile !

Last Thursday a man came in to talk to us on Swim a mile with a Smile. His name was Brian Daly. I had heard of him before in 3rd year when myself and Rebecca C
were having a conversation in Business. This man had a very inspirational son called Ian Daly. Ian died of a brain tumour when he was ten and his parents founded an association to help keep their son alive, raise money for Barretstown and Crumlin but also to have fun. They set it up because their son enjoyed swimming but through hard times always had a smile on his face. For the above reasons I feel Ian is a very inspirational individual. This foundation is for a worthy cause and for that reason all Ty’s are partaking in the Swim a mile Challenge! I cant wait it should be very interesting and a day to remember !

Sometimes in April !!!

In religion over the past 5 weeks with Mrs. KB we have been discussing Armenian genocide. These classes have been very interesting because I never had heard of the term genocide before ! ! ! For the past few weeks she has been preparing us for a movie on Rwanda which is situated in Africa next to the Congo. Tomorrow we will be watching a movie called “Sometimes In April”. It seems very educational and interesting. I am really looking forward to it !!

Irish Dancing !!

Last week we had Irish Dancing classes with Mr.S. It was really good ! We were practicing for seachtain na gaeilge :) I haven’t done dancing for years. I was partnered with Sandra for this experience and she seemed to enjoy this experience as much as I did. We will continue on practicing our dancing after the mid-term due to the mock examinations taking place. I look forward to this ! ! Recently in irish we have been playing who wants to bea millionaire as gaeilge it is really fun ! A different but fun way of improving our irish grammer.

Start of school week !!!

Hey! it is the 4th of February. This week has been another eventful week in the life of TY’s :D Monday was a normal school day with classes as per usual. We had Mini- Company and discovered that we have a full page add in our Green Hero Magazine from Deco Bake, Damien’s Photos and The Designer Exchange. We are moving swiftly into our second issue. In tech we finished our mini alarm clocks and have began making the key holder as part of our Easter project. As you know our Tech group have got through to the semi –finals in the F1 Schools competition and we are currently designing the car for this competition.

SCHOOL DAYZ !

It is Thursday still :L It has been a very long day L I’m wrecked. We have organised a trip for our mini-company to the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant for tomorrow. It was originally for Tuesday but we had to postpone it to Friday. Can’t wait! Today has been an eventful day. In art we have decided to do a poster to go with our Home Ec cuisine project. We have decided to do a Hindu Temple with Indian people praying in it to show the Indian fashion as well as their elaborate designs and distinctive colour. In careers we had a talk on 5th year options as our final date is nearing. As a result of this talk I have decided to do Chemistry, Physics and Home Ec as my three option subjects. We also had a talk from Mrs. Watson on choosing Geography for the Leaving Certificate. It was interesting how many jobs you can get with studying it for the Leaving Certificate :L

Drama Competition

Hey it is the 27th of January! On Wednesday we went to a drama competition in Mullingar. Which is by the way in Westmeath? I thought it was in Meath. I guess you learn something new every day! It would have made my day if I had have seen Niall Horan :L Anyway back to the drama competition we arrived there at 10.30, we were the only schools there. It was amazing to perform all our hard work to a judge and get constructive feed back. If we get through we will be going to Cork to compete in the finals. That would sure be a wonderful experience!! At around 1.00 two other schools arrived one from Kilkenny and one from Donegal. The Donegal accent is sooo cool :L All the plays were of a very high standard and they all deserve to get through to the final stage. The bus journey was very long but the bus driver played really good music. Except for the fact that he changed the station every 2 minutes!!!

Tag Rugby Blitz ! !

Wednesday was a regular day for us in school with very little happening, except for the half day. On Thursday we had the Tag Rugby Blitz in Tallaght. We played in St. Marks School. We were nervous on arrival as all the other teams had proper jerseys and full kits. They were well prepared. Most of them looked like they had played it before. Half way through we noticed we weren’t that bad at all and we stood a chance. It was an amazing day and it was definitely worth missing the half day for. As a result of partaking in the Blitz we received a free t-shirt and bag from the coaches and it was sponsored by Centra.  On arrival to the school our TY and the 5th year parent teacher meetings were taking place. What a good end to a fantastic day ! ! J

I learned a valuable lesson that day: it’s not about having all the gear and equipment. It is about how you play and what you put into the day J

1st Cooking Class!!!!

On Tuesday we had cooking in home Ec Class.

we cooked Spaghetti Bolognaise. It was really tasty. J The ingredients we needed were:

-50g spaghetti.                                    -1 onion.       

-50g mince meat.                               -Tomato puree.

-1 carrot.                                              -Canned tomatoes.

-2 slice bacon                                     -Salt & pepper.

-1 yellow pepper.                               -Oregano & mixed herbs.

-2 garlic cloves                                    -1 tbsp vegetable oil.

My partner was Niamh we worked really well together and we can’t wait to start cooking for our Indian Cuisine Project. J

Normal dayz, but yet exciting :)

Hey ! : D This week has been a long week but exciting week. These are some of the things we got up to :


Lets face it we got the remainder of our tests back on Monday and our reports arrived at home.

We have been perfecting our drama for the drama competition in Mullingar for Tuesday. Watching the three other plays and giving constructive advice. In mini-company we arranged a meeting in the water treatment area in Leixlip for Monday. We are having a guide of the area and get to see all the processes water has to go through before it is piped directly to our homes. Just like we learned in Geography class in 3^rd year!! J

Podcast Workshop!!!

Hey! It is Saturday the 27th of November ! I guess I can call it Christmas time. Its snowing !!! And it is to continue on till next week as well :) Back to school. On Friday in Religion we made our advent wreaths. They turned out really good. I was so happy with mine. The Advent season began on Friday. In the second half of the afternoon we had apodcast workshop :) It was excellent, way better than what I was expecting. We had a chance to create our own podcasts. My group did a podcast on I'm A Student Get Me Out Of Here!! It was really good as we incorporated animal noises such as crickets and lion roars into it. We also got the chance to change the pitches of the voices which I found amazing, and also to speed up the voices too. I found this workshop very beneficial as I can listen to podcasts on my way to school. I will definitely continue to use podcasts now that I am familiar with how to use them !!!

TY Experience !!

Hey Trish here! Only in Ty four days now and loving it! It’s the 3^rd of September already and I’ve made lots of new friends! J. This year Ty is a bit different as all the Spanish students are in the same class. So I knew many people in my class already! Our class group is called Amina, which means truth and honesty in African! On our first day we met all our new teachers for the year, which are many new faces to get to know! We also found out our tasks for the year and projects for example in Home Ec we have to design a dress for a fashion show at the end of the year! How exciting and in music we are forming a band! J In Ty we try out many new subjects such as art and we form mini- companies too! I am really looking forward to the rest of the year and especially CARLINGFORD! Haha. J

Hey there, me again! It is Thursday the 9^th of September and we have IT class for the second time. I love the idea of blogging as it is a great way to keep a diary of TY! J

 On Monday the 6^th of September it was Social Development Day. It was brilliant! It was a great way to become more familiar with ourselves, make new friends and bond together as class. A man called Austin Dunne was our speaker for the day. The highlight of this day was learning about our personality types. I was a melancholic, the observer! J Other groups were the directors, moderators and entertainers.

We recently found out our colours for the Home Ec fashion show which will take place at the end of the year. Our group received the colours black and white! We have decided to design a dress from the 80’s! J