Cassette tape Art

As our Junk Kouture project is over we are currently working on our cassette tape art. (What's Junk Kouture?... check it out here!) We each had to choose a famous person to draw and we changed the image of the person into a black and white image. For example; I choose Marilyn Monroe. I picked my favorite picture of her and then copied it ad edited it on Pixlr, an online photo-editing/Photoshop tool. I then printed off the image which turned out like so: 

We then had to draw out our selected images onto a larger A2 sheet of paper. However we only shadded in the dark parts of the drawing. She was actually quite difficult to draw because she had blond hair which is hard to shade in. But this is what it turned out like:

The next step is to start sticking on the cassette tapes onto the paper using PVA glue. It can by quite hard to stick the tape to the paper and it is also a very time consuming process. To cut the tape we use scalpels and a cutting pad which look lie this: 

Our portraits are coming along nicely and we hope to finish them within the next 3 weeks.
here is an example of a professional Marilyn Monroe cassette tape portrait. 

The Effects of War - Briery Gap

Today, after weeks of preparation our TY Religion class traveled to Mullingar to preform our plays as part of the Briery Gap Drama competition. 

At the beginning of December our religion Class divided into two separate groups and and choose a topic of interest inspired by the Millenium Development goals which we had studied earlier in the year. WE chose to write our play about the effects of war and how it impacts on everyone's life and that there are two sides to every story. 

When we were in Mullingar we got to take a visit to Mc Donald's  watch some of the other plays hat were being preformed by other groups and also a trip to the playground, (It wouldn't be the same without the rain though!) 

Overall we felt that our play went very smoothly and most of the comments from the judges were very positive, however they advised us not to us as many props if we were to preform it again. 

We will be finding out within the next week or two which dramas/group got through to the national finial which will take place in Cork. 

You can also take a look at our script for our play. Hope you enjoy! :)

Find out more about Briery Gap here.

Watch out Gordon Ramsay

This year all TY's have a double Home Ec. on either a Monday or Tuesday for cookery. Each week our Home Ec. teacher chooses some thing new for us to cook or bake. 

So far we have made Scones, Apple crumble and cheese cake and next week are going to make Risotto. They were all scrumptious! 

I really enjoy cooking in Home Ec. as I never took Home Ec. for the junior cert so it is something new for me. Ms. M is teaching us loads of new skills and techniques which can be used for all sorts of recipes. 

D-Day

Yesturday was another major date in the TY's calender. It was the presentation of our Mini Companies to the judges. All 14 Mini Companies set up their stands and displays in the has of the judges to see. At aroun 9:30 the judges arrived and had a quick look around all of the stands and each company gave them a brief idea of  what their company was about. When they came to us we showed them how our app would work and the layout of it. 

After a short break the presentations began. Each company went up one by one to present to the judges. The judges seemed very interested in our product and we thought that they like our idea but they did ask us how was our app different from existing sporting apps. 

Later, the awards were presented to some of the companies. We were delighted to accept the Best Business Report Award. The judges also announced the 4 finalists who would be shortlisted for the regional finials. Unfortunatly we didn't get through but the 4 other teams defiantly deserved their place. 

Here is our stand on the day, we also choose to dress up in the 4 sports that we choose to write about:;Hockey, Camogie, gealic And horse riding. 

A third year student wondering what Mini Company will be like next year?... Click here for more information on the Kildare Enterprise awards. 

Sportscope App Presentation

Our mini company is called Sportscope. Our product is a sports skills App (Application) for phones and computers.  The App would be used to boost your sports skills and knowledge in four chosen sports (hockey, camogie, Gaelic football and horse riding) whether you’re a beginner or simply trying to improve your skills. 

This App was made using Windows Software on a computer and then it will be sold on the windows App store.  Our aim is to develop a high quality and unique App.  Our company aims to bridge the gap that exists in the market between workout Apps and specific sporting Apps.

Sportscope app presentation from katiehurley06

Comment, Like, Follow.... Please? :)

As I mentioned in an earlier post our F1 team, Rápido y Furioso, are competing in the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge. The completion is open to all secondary schools in Ireland. Each team must design and manufacture a compressed air-powered racing car. As part of our project we have to promote our car and raise awareness. 

So, please check out the Rápido y Furioso blog which will keep you updated on all our progeress and actities. Feel free to leave any comments too!  http://formula1rapidoyfurioso.blogspot.ie/ 

Also, don't forget to like us on Facebook 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ 

And follow us on Twitter
https://twitter.com/1RapidoYFurioso

We would really appreciate your support!

The winners of BT Young Scientist

I found this project particularly interesting because it was similar to one of our Junior cert Coarse works which was all to do with Germination. 

BT Young Scientist Excibition

Today all TY's and Second Years went to the RDS to visit the BT Young Scientist Exhibition  One group from our year got through to the exhibition  Their project was about "how school bags effect the back, shoulders and neck". There project was very interesting and they put in so much work into it! 

One thing every teenager loves to do at the YS is to collect as much free stuff as you can at the stalls at the back of the exhibition! We gathered everything from pens and pencils to stress balls, to rulers and much more. The Young Scientist also has loads of interactive games to play as well. I took part in a game called the 6th Dragon. It was based on the Irish Television series, Dragons Den. There were 4 players and each player had an iPad to work on. The Bank of Ireland staff member then played a clip of 1 person pitching their idea to the dragons. I then had to guess whether the dragons would invest or not into the company and what percentage of the company would they like. It was really fun to play. 

Later on, 6 of us attended a drumming workshop! There were a few other primary schools doing it with us. We each had one instrument to play on and we swapped instruments a few times to get a flavor of each. It was so much fun and the guy running it was so funny and energetic, which made it even more enjoyable! Today was a really good  TY trip! :) Thanks to the science teachers for bringing us! 

Wishing to apply to the BT Young Scientist Next year?... Find out all you need to know here.

hi-ho hi-oh, It's Off to Work We Go!

This week we started our second work experience which will we take place over the coarse of the next eight Wednesdays. For my second work experience I am in the Chemistry department at Maynooth Collage. Luckily another girl from my class, Ruth is doing it with me! 

As most of the students are sitting their exams at the moment the collage was very quite. This morning Ruth and I did some office work and later we measured out different chemicals in the lab. We get to wear cool lab coats and glasses, a bit nicer then the ones at school may I add. In the afternoon Ria demonstrated how to make soap, one of the mandatory experiments on the Leaving Cert coarse. Afterwards, we each got to the do the experiment individually.  It turned out really well and made bubbles when mixed with water. I was actually very surprised at how much I understood what was going on in the experiment. 

Next week the collage is running a Leaving Cert revision coarse on all of the Chemistry experiements. there will be a number of schools in the labs running the experiments. Therefore next week Ruth and I will get to do experiments all day! YAY! 

So far I am really enjoying my Work Experience and really like my supervisors Ken and Ria. I can't wait for next week now :)