Thursday 20 February 2014

Book Review

Posted by Rebecca at 13:52 0 comments

Paper Towns



Brief Outline

This incredibly hilarious book written by John Green is about Quentin Jacobson, the narrator of the book, and he lives in a subdivision in Orlando, California. The tale starts off with a discovery made by preschoolers Quentin (a.k.a Q) and his childhood best friend Margo Roth Speigelman. The story then jumps to high school where she barely even glances at Q. Then Margo goes missing. Without giving too much away it accounts both the adventures and misadventures of Margo and Q and his friends on their journey to find the mysterious Margo Roth Speigelman.

   A Character you Found Interesting

The Character I found interesting and my favourite was Q. He intrigued me in the way he gave up everything to try find Margo even though they hadn't talked in over 10 years not including the joint adventure pre her status of missing was raised. He becomes very selfish in his search for Margo and he threatens the friendships of his true friends who he has known most of his life. But also in his search for Margo she teaches him a few things which allows the real Q to come to life in all his glory.

A Theme That is Explored

Appearances. This theme is most obvious with Q's perception of Margo, his first "idea" of who Margo is would be typical of a teenage boy, she is seen as his wonderful, perfect, hot neighbour and thinks she is about as deep as a puddle. His understanding of peoples appearances evolves with the book and he realises that Margo isn't just some girl next door but a person with feelings and thoughts.

Insight into the World of the Text

In Paper Towns exterior fronts are displayed by one or two characters so they blend into the typical crowd of American teenagers. But you learn who the real people are under all the layers of protection they have put up to block out the judgement of their peers.

What type of vision/viewpoint does the author have? Is it a Dark/Bright insight of the world?

The book is told from the viewpoint of Q so everything is seen through his perception of the world. He has the typical outlook of a teenager at the start of the story that everything is boring and he can't wait to get out of school but strangely one outlook different to a typical teenagers is he hates prom and the idea of prom. This sets him aside from most of the American teenage population. But his viewpoint changes at various stages in the novel with highs like the night he spent with Margo before her apparently typical disappearance and lows when Margo disappears and the unending trail of dead-end clues Margo left behind.

Comment on the imagery of the novel

The novel is very well described by the author John Green and it really brings the story to life and intensifies the humour within the book. Since the novel is based in today's era its a lot easier to visualise the novel as we live in this world so are accustomed to many of the references and situations.

Did you like the novel? Would you like to live there?

I loved this novel it is another brilliantly written book by John Green with numerous humorous points, sudden plot twists and a few tear jerking moments this book was an extremely enjoyable read. The question would you like to live there doesn't really fit this novel as it is a modern novel. I think the question Do you look forward to living there? is more fitting for this circumstance. This is because he was going through having to study for his finals which I will encounter in the form of the leaving cert, and I will probably encounter many similar situations in this novel such as relationships, college, graduation and many more but I hope not to have to deal with a friend going missing. Overall I really enjoyed this novel it is now on my favourites list along with many other John Green books. 

 

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Technology

Posted by Rebecca at 11:28 0 comments
In technology we made a clock which was our Christmas test. We had to draw the template on the piece of plastic using set squares and protractors. We then had to saw off the edges as close as possible and file it down using the rough file. In pairs we had to drill a hole in the centre of  the clock, then we had to use a bigger drill bit to make the hole bigger to put in the clock parts. Then we used the smooth file to neaten the edges. To give it the bent shape we used a hot wire to soften a part of the plastic to allow us to bend it. 


We also had to design a "centre piece" for our clock. I couldn't really come up with an idea so I decided to make a dog, it didn't turn out too bad to be honest... 

Monday 17 February 2014

Fine Dine At Mine

Posted by Rebecca at 14:43 0 comments
A week or two ago Ms.H approached me asking if I would like to enter a cooking competition where I have to take my favourite takeaway restaurant meal and make it healthier, I chose to do a chicken curry. Ms.H sent me a recipe with lots of vegetables and I added in some mushrooms too. I also used wholegrain rice to make even healthier for you. The competition isn't all about the recipe I also had to make sure my presentation of the dish was appealing so I moulded the rice in a ramekin dish and put the curry in a bowl. I put a lot of effort into it I hope I get through 


Saturday 15 February 2014

Calamity Jane

Posted by Rebecca at 14:29 0 comments
Ms.C asked some of us to help her with painting the backdrop for the musical. I was a bit nervous at first because i'm not very good at art, but it wasn't as hard as it looked. Claire and I started off by priming the boxes with wheels that the boards with the background on them. We primed them with white paint on all three of them. 

While we were painting them white the others traced on the different scenes such as the cabin and the fire place. In the fire place they had to sketch out a rock pattern and different ornaments such as candle sticks and a pheasant and a flag along the side.  On


the two other boards for the cabin they sketched a window scene with a view of the mountains and on the other board they had a dear head and two rifles.








When they were dry we had to paint them to match two of the boards which had a wood panel background. When the paint was dry we had to measure the boards and match them up with the holders, then we had to rule the holders so the board would blend into the holder. 











Firstly we had to mix the paint to create the three different colours, a dark tone brown, medium tone brown and a light tone brown. Using the dark tone we did a sort of border then blended in the medium tone and lastly the light tone brown, therefore giving it a worn out effect. Then Niamh painted wood rings on the wood. 
 






Ms.C asked Claire and I to paint the back of the boards white for the other scene they will be used for such as the Adelaide Adams scene in the musical. Originally we painted them a duck egg blue and added a gold design. But after it was finished it didn't match as different people had drawn different parts of the boards. So instead we covered the boards with a warm cream tone. Niamh made a stencil of a rose to paint onto the board. So Sophie, Catriona and Kyra. They look so vintage and fit in perfectly. I don't have a picture at the moment but I'll put one up later! 











Friday 14 February 2014

Mini Company

Posted by Rebecca at 13:02 0 comments
On Tuesday we had our schools final and it was stressful to say the least. I had a lot of work to do he night before typical... I had to make the poster and glue down the information I'd printed, then I had to print off more instruction cards and labels and cut them out to have as our display on the day, I also volunteered to bring in a microwave so I tested a brownie in a mug in it so we had the right timing so it would taste perfect for the judges. And finally I had to prepare my speech part for the presentation. It was about 1 before I got to bed as usual.


The nest day trying to carry in the microwave was a nightmare as it weighed a tonne and I also had to carry the poster in, then when the others arrived we started to wrap some mugs for the display. We had to go to the first few classes before the competition then we headed to the library to set up. We set up our display as above, and then the judges arrived and my nerves elevated by 100%  Firstly the judges came around to us individually to take a look at our display, then we had to do our display in front of everyone.
It was nerve wrecking going up to talk and even more putting the brownie in the microwave hoping it wouldn't overflow or explode,, thank god it worked out perfectly and tasted great. Then the judges went to deliberate the results, and Candy Blossom were picked as the winner, congrats, their display was great and so was their presentation. We won a mini award for best marketing plan also. Good luck to Candy Blossom in the regional final.

Thursday 13 February 2014

Girl Rising

Posted by Rebecca at 06:09 0 comments
As part of our religion mini company Ms. L asked us to make a movie about Girl Rising.This is my video below, take a look!



I chose to focus my movie on Suma who was a Calamari in a third world country. It's the story of how she was freed from slave labour and helps free other Calamari's. You can help by donating to charities to help educate these girls.

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Junk Kotoure

Posted by Rebecca at 01:55 0 comments
Yesterday we were informed of the results of Junk Kotoure. Our dress came first in our class! we also were awarded for most original idea, guess all the hard work really paid off!


Thursday 6 February 2014

SciFest

Posted by Rebecca at 11:35 0 comments
We've been preparing for scifest since September when we were divided into our groups. I ended up doing the project myself due to some problems but it turned out fine. My project was called
"Twirls, Whirls, Spins and Turns the Science of Dizziness"
It Involved me spinning 15 people on a chair four times... which was difficult to say the least. But everything came together in the end, I did end up staying up till 2 am the day before but it had to be done.. I got to school as usual but the room was packed everyone was rushing to try get the finishing touches to their projects which added to my nerves. When the bell rang everyone headed to the hall to set up.



Thank god I had brought blue tac or else the poster would've been leaning against the wall rather than on it. I got a figure of the ear and the inner ear to put on my table along with my project book and laptop which had a slideshow on loop. 





Then the judges arrived, there was four of them and they separated heading to the different projects. One of the judges went to the project beside me called "Low Fat Vs. Full Fat", so I listened in to try hear what sort of questions they asked to prepare myself. Then she came to me next I introduced myself and shook her hand and I began. I told her about my projects and she asked me a few questions and moved on. The next judge didn't come for another hour, it was another woman and she was lovely and she asked the same sort of questions and moved on.

Then the judges left for lunch, some of the other project groups had said that all the judges had visited them which made me anxious. When they returned from lunch the other two judges came and asked about my project, I felt I got better at explaining my project after each time the judge came. The judges then exited the hall again to deliberate, but we were told we wouldn't know the result until last class. In the mean time some of the other year groups had come in to take a look at the projects. At lunch we ended up taking a few selfies on my laptop typical. 


Last class had finally come, we had to tidy the hall first and put away all the tables and pack up the projects, then we were all gathered onto the benches for a mini presentation. First they called out the 13 projects that are eligible to enter Scifest in Tallaght. Then from the 13 finalist they called first, second and third. In third place was Sorcha, Ailbhe and Grainne with Commerical V Organic in teeth whitening, In Second was a second year group called Colours, Cookies and Cutlery. Then in first place was ..... Rebecca with the science of dizziness!! I won ! I was so excited and happy all the hard work paid off, We got given a prize of a one for all voucher each to celebrate. And thank you to Ms. O'C for organising it all :) 


Sunday 2 February 2014

St. Brigids Day

Posted by Rebecca at 13:11 0 comments
Yesterday was St. Brigids day, so in religion Ms. L brought in rushes for us to make St. Brigids crosses. I already new how to make a St. Brigids cross so I made two, I brought on home which ended up going to America with my aunt, and Ms. L asked would I give the other one to our principal, I was more than happy to oblige! 






 

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