Ballingarry Secondary visits our school

Today the sixth class met up with teachers from Ballingarry. Their names were Mrs Angela Cahill who is the Deputy Principal of the school and Mr Aidan O' Leary who is a teacher there. They came to talk to the sixth class about going to their school next year in September.Ballingarry is a Presentation Secondary School.It was established in 1871.
By B612 and Smiley

Football Match versus Mohober

Last Friday we played Mohober in football. We won on a score line of 7.12 to Mohober’s 5.4. It was a great match. Both teams played really well and played their hearts out but in the end Kilvemnon proved too strong. Kilvemnon have a fairly solid team. But Mohober have a very good team and we wish them the very best luck in the rest of their matches.

Click here to read more news about Football in Tipperary.

Oak Lake Manitoba

When I was in Hong Kong I met Mrs. Caldwell from Oak Lake School in Manitoba, in Canada. She teaches a kindergarten class there. After meeting me and learning about the blog I was keeping she thought that her students might like to have their own mascot. Read what they wrote below.



After attending the Worldwide Microsoft Innovative Teachers' Forum in Hong Kong last week, I was inspired to create a blog for my Kindergarten class. The Kilvemnon School blog and Piggley were the inspiration for this project. My Kindergarten students and I viewed their blog, and they were very excited to get our own class mascot and have our mascot write about his adventures on our own blog.

Today we made a graph on the Smart Board in an effort to decide on our mascot. We narrowed it down to Canadian animals such as a moose, chipmunk, beaver, buffalo, and wolf.

After we purchase our mascot, our first task will be to learn how to use the digital camera. My students are only five years old, and many have not used a camera independently. Once we are able to use the digital camera, we will take turns taking our mascot home and photographing his activities. As a class we will upload the pictures to our blog and write about the mascot's visit to a student's home.

Isn't that brilliant?! We hope that our students can keep in contact through myself, Piggley and Barkley Beaver! Check out Barkley below!



Log on to Oak Lake's Blog to find out more!!
See you soon,
Piggley. Oink!!

Interview with TippFm Radio

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Listen to this interview about the Microsoft Innovative Teachers' Forum in Hong Kong. This interview was recorded on Tuesday 11th of November 2008 on TippFM Radio.
Click on 'posts' on the Player and choose 'Tipp FM Interview Part 1' and 'Tipp FM Interview Part 2' to listen to the interview.

Religion Exam 2008

Today Father Joe Tynan came to visit our school for our religion exam. First he went to the junior room. After first break he came into our room. We started talking about our Alive-O and our favourite stories in it. Most of us said "Jacobs Stone" was our favourite. Then we started talking about saints. An example is Saint Patrick. He lived in Wales and was kidnapped by pirates and brought to Ireland. He was told to stay on a hill and watch animals. Somtimes he was so hungry he ate animal food. He was rescued and went back to Wales. Then he had a dream that told him to go to Ireland. So he did and he bainished all the snakes and told them about God. Then before he left we sang a few songs like 'Go now in Peace', 'I know this story' and 'Peace will Come'. He left at half twelve. It was great fun. We would like to thank Father Joe Tynan and we hope to see him agian soon!
By B612.

Piggley returns home to Kilvemnon

Welcome to Mrs. Barbara Luttrell, our new principal in Scoil Mhuire Kilvemnon. Here you can see her receiving a bouquet of flowers from Fr. McGrath who is Chairman of our school Board of Management.



Hi everyone! I had such fun today when I arrived home with Ms. O' Connell from the 2008 Microsoft Innovative Teachers' Forum. Here I am getting a medal from the children. Check out my special red outfit from Hong Kong!



Here you can see a group photo of us all in Kilvemnon



Check out the Photostory I made with Ms. O' Connell about my adventure in Hong Kong.

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 6

Good morning everyone!
Myself and Ms. O’ Connell had an amazing day yesterday! We were invited to visit St. Paul’s Convent School in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. ( Link to their website: http://ihouse.hkedcity.net/~sp1400/)

This is the school building.

St. Paul’s is a girl’s school with 3,000 pupils. The girls start in kindergarten at 3years of age and continue through to secondary school where they graduate at 18 years.
The principal Sr. Margaret Wong had visited the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum at the Asian Expo Centre on Thursday and was really excited when she saw all of the hard work that went in to your project.
Here you can see me with Sr. Margaret and Ms. O' Connell

You can imagine how excited I was to hear that St. Paul’s girls are building an aeroplane!!! This is the classroom they are using to construct the frame.

They are working with Cathay Pacific Airlines to build a two-seater aeroplane. The girls are also learning to fly and they hope to build a flight simulation room in the school to help them learn about aeroplane take off, control and landing. They hope to have the aeroplane built within the next two years (it will take 2,000 hours of work!) and that each student involved will have an opportunity to fly their construction.

Here are some aeroplane parts already started on. Can you spot the gears below?

Sr. Margaret and Jenny were both extremely excited to hear about the films you have made in the school. They showed me the room that they use in their school to create a TV station and they have a green screen in the room.
Here you can see me with Ms. O’ Connell in front of the green screen.
I wonder what we could edit to put in the background? Perhaps a picture of all of our lovely students in Kilvemnon?!

I made lots of new friends in St. Paul’s Convent School.

There is a dance studio in St. Paul’s where the students learn to dance. Here I am trying out some Irish dancing which they also learn at the school! They performed Riverdance as part of a school graduation two years ago!

The students podcast and videocast. Here I am trying it out! I hope that we will be able to podcast information about Kilvemnon so that the students of St. Paul’s can learn about Ireland and that they will do the same so we can learn about Hong Kong.
Even though St. Paul’s are so far away from us in the world and their school is so much bigger than ours, they are very similar to us in many ways. They also create robots with LEGO Mindstorms and program them on the computer. Here you can see me looking at some of their models. They work together in groups to create these models and they keep a record of all of the work that they have done, just like us!!


They like to create lots of colourful art work like we do in Kilvemnon. Here you can see some of their work.


St. Paul’s is a Green School just like us. They encourage people to conserve energy and not to litter their environment and have made a film to ask people to do the same.
They try to help the environment by being self sufficient in terms of energy useage. They have a peaceful area in the school with a fountain and this fountain is powered using solar panels.


The school is very lucky to have a ‘Classroom of the Future’.

This room is all powered by solar panel energy on the roof and they have interactive whiteboards and screens all around the room. The seats in the classroom are all designed so that students can move freely to encourage co-operation and collaboration. They can sit in two ways, using the back as a rest or somewhere to put their laptops. Wow!


I was invited to tea with Sr. Margaret and Jenny. They offered me delicious Chinese cookies and also some special sweets made from eggs and black sugar. They were delicious!


I would like to thank all of the staff and pupils of St. Paul’s, and especially Sr. Margaret and Jenny, who made myself and Ms. O’ Connell feel so welcome! I hope that I can visit them again sometime in the future and I’m sure that all of you in Kilvemnon will be really excited to email them an make some podcasts for them next week!

See you all on Monday in school!
Lots of hugs from Piggley!!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 5

Good morning everyone! Piggley here! Thanks so much for your email. I am going to add it to yesterday's post. Yes, the light show was amazing, like nothing I have ever seen before!! I was lucky not to get sunburn because Ms. O' Connell made sure that I put factor 50 suncream on every day!! Yes, I am really enjoying the food, especially our dinner last night- take a look at the lobster below!!

And now, for the big announcement, listen to the podcast myself and Ms. O' Connell made to hear about our news from last night!!


Here you can see me with my Semi Final Rosette.

Click on the player in the posts section and choose Microsoft Worldwide Forum Winners.

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Congratulations to all of the Irish and Northern Irish contingent who made history with every entry getting to the Semi Finals of the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teacher Forum.



Here I am with the dancing Chinese tiger



The Jumbo Floating restaurant



The first of the fourteen courses was lobster!



Here I am taking a break from all of the excitement!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 4

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Hi everyone! Piggley here. Ms. O' Connell has left you a podcast message. Click on the player above and listen to 'Message from Piggley and Ms. O' Connell' to hear all about the fun we had today!


Here you can see myself and Ms. O' Connell in front of Kilvemnon's Project Stand; Flying High: Exploring Aviation


Here's Ms. O Connor from Ballyadams NS in front of her stand on mining.
Remember we saw all of the students of Balyadams NS at the 2008 Roboshow in St. Patrick's College in Drumcondra? Can you find out more about ther project on www.ballyadamns.ie and email all the children to congratulate them on winning 'Best Action/Adventure' Film at the FIS awards on Tuesday. Their film was about 'Gorgeous George' and was called 'An Adventure Underground'.
Well done Ballyadams!


This is the lightshow that takes place in hong Kong at 8 o' clock every night. Can you find out more about it for me?


Goodnight! I'm off to bed!!
See you tomorrow!
Piggley.

Email response from Kilvemnon:
Hi Ms O Connell and Piggley.

We heard that we have reached the semi finals.It is so exciting.You must be working really hard over there. We are working hard here aswell. We are having fun looking at the blog every day and the podcast was really cool. Everybody says hi and we miss you. Did ye enjoy the light show? Did Piggley get sunburn? Piggley are you enjoying the food? Piggley it might be a good idea if you dont read the chinese dishes we are e-mailing!!! We have lots of information for you...

Shark fins are used to make shark fin soup,a delicacy once prepared exclusively for the chinese emperors and nobility.Shark fin soup is still very popular in China today.It is considered being an honour to serve shark's fin to your guests.

The main religion in China is Buddhism. Other major religions are Taoism, Islam and Christianity.

The main ginseng health benefit is as a vital energy tonic for people with symptoms of weakness like fatigue,poor appetite,shortness of breath and low resistance to infections.Other health benefits include enhancement of memory and cognitive function.

These are Traditional chinese dishes:
Doufu is most popularfood in chinese society.Its main ingredients are bean curd,yunnan ham and black mushroom.
Steamed fish.They steam fish with some light soy sauce and some seasoning.Its main ingredients are snakehead,preserved lemon and spring onion.
Piggley DONT LOOK!!! Dim sum is the most famous food.It is a guangdong style snack which is served as a light meal.Its main ingredients are shrimps,pork and wheat for the pastry.

The light show looked really cool and Sarah showed us the Hong Kong tourism website and we saw more
pictures of the lights.This is what we found out.
This spectacular multimedia display,already named the "Worlds largest Permanent light and sound show" by Guinness World Records,has been further expanded to include 44 buildings on both sides of Victoria harbour.
The show creates an all-round vision of coloured lights,laser beams and searchlights performing a stunning unforgettable spectacle synchronised to music and narration that celebrates the energy,spirit and diversity of Hong Kong.
There are 5 main themes - Awakening, energy,heritage, partnership and the finale celebration. On festive days,special pyrotechnic displays launched from the middle if the harbour add extra sparkle to the show.
For the best view of A Symphony of Lights, take a harbour cruise or head to the waterfront promenades on either side of Victoria harbour. This takes palce nightly at 8pm.
We hope you enjoy all of this.
From everyone in Kilvemnon.


P.S. Ms. O' Connell says goodbye too!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 3

Day 3:
Good morning everyone! It has been such an interesting day today and I have met so many new friends! I am writing this while all of you are just going to bed! Hong Kong is 8 hours ahead of Kilvemnon. What time is it in Hong Kong now?

This morning we all met our new project groups. We will be working with schools from Spain, France, Thailand and Northern Ireland on a project before Christmas. We will be asking you all to design a blog where all of the project work will be kept. I’m sure after all of your work on this one you will all have lots of ideas on how to design it when I get home.
Here you can see the teachers from our Partner schools in Spain, France and Thailand getting to know me.



We did a tour of old and new Hong Kong today. We visited a Dried Seafood Street (Des Voeux Road West) and Herbal Medicine Street (Ko Shing Street) in SheungWan. The Chinese use herbs and dreid fish as both foodstuffs and medicines.

Here you can see me looking at Ginseng. Can you find out what ginseng in used for? 5th and 6th class might email me on kilvemnon@yahoo.ie with the prices in for ginseng in euro.



This is shark fin. How and what is shark fin used for?



Next we went to Hollywood Road where we visited a Buddhist Temple called Man Mo Temple. Outside we saw this amazing building. What types of shapes can you see here?



This is me on the way in to the temple. What is the main religion in China?



This temple is a tribute to the God of Literature (Man) and the God of War (Mo). Ms. O’ Connell and I posed in front of burning incense. How is incense used in Buddhist worship? Can you see the paper in the middle of the coils? Can you guess what is written on them?




Afterwards our whole group took a photo together. Thanks to our guide Kenia who knew all about Chinese culture and medicine. Ms. O' Connell had a sore throat and she told her that the Chinese would boil parts of the star fish for two hours and then drink the soup to cure a sore throat!



Then we went for dinner. Can you name some traditional Chinese dishes? How many of you have eaten Chinese food before? What did you eat? Keep a class record of your findings so I can see when I come home.



Can you believe it? Here I am being interviewed on French television. Je m’appelle Piggley. J’habite a Kilvemnon en Irlande. (I am so lucky that Perrine taught me French last year!)



Au revoir mes amis,
A demain!!
Piggley.


PS. Thanks for your emails with all of the answers to my questiosn from yesterday. You are all so clever!!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 2

Day 2:
Well, good morning everyone!
I’m so glad that you are all doing so well in Kilvemnon! Mrs. Pimm texted myself and Ms. O’ Connell to let me know all of your news!
Today was the first day of the Forum. We got up early for breakfast at 8am and met some of the other teachers in the Ballroom. Lots of the teachers had questions about my lovely uniform and especially what ‘Scoil Mhuire, Kilvemnon’ means in English. I told them that ‘Scoil’ is school, ‘Mhuire’ is Mary and Kilvemnon’ translates as Cill (Church) of Mheamnain (who was a local saint).

Today we decided to visit the Hong Museum of History. We all met in the Foyer of the hotel at 11am. Here you can see me getting ready to leave.



This is a photo of the Irish and Northern Irish contingent, before we left. Can you see what Ms. O’ Connell has in her hands? Yes, that’s right! It was raining really heavily today! Even though the temperature was 22 degrees today the rain fell from 10am till 1pm. Once it stopped everything dried up very quickly. Can you check out the weather forecast for me for tomorrow? It’s on http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/fnd.htm



We got a taxi to the Hong Kong Museum of History. (http://hk.history.museum )
It cost me 24 Hong Kong Dollars. Could someone email me and tell me how much that is in euro? Ms. O’ Connell had run out of money so I had to raid my ‘piggy bank’!!!

I was so excited being in the museum. The first exhibition was on the Natural Environment in Hong Kong 6,000 years ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of my ancestors there!



Who will be first to email with my ancestor’s name?

Next we saw a Prehistoric Hong Kong. There have been lots of archaeological digs in Hong Kong and archaeologists can tell that people lived here during the Neolithic period. I know the Senior Room can tell Mrs. Pimm’s class what Neo and Lithic means. Look at this, the Neolithic people carved in stone at Big Wave Bay. Isn’t it very like Newgrange in Co. Meath?



Here you can see people building a fire. (I hope pork’s not on the menu!!!)



People who lived in South China from prehistoric times were called the Nanyue people.
The people who lived there were very clever and they made lots of pottery. Here you can see a clay model of one of their houses, complete with pig sty at the back. Pigs are so important in Hong Kong and China. We are so important that last year (2007) was the ‘Year of the Pig’.
Find out what year you were born in on http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0502/



I thought you might to be interested to see this. It is a Bleriot monoplane. It was flown here in 1912. As you can see it only has one wing on each side of the fuselage. I know that you can all remember the name of an aeroplane with two wings on each side?
Read all about aviation in Hong Kong here. http://www.aircadets.org.hk/download/manual/ah_hk.html



This was a typical school in the 1960s in Hong Kong. Don’t the desks look like ours? The lids lift up on these ones and can you imagine, this classroom was outside, on the roof of a building. I think it might be a bit windy during the winter for us in Kilvemnon, wouldn’t it?!!





I was so tired when I came back to the hotel that took a little rest in my room while Ms. O’ Connell went to the evening reception. Don’t worry though, I wasn’t lonely. I rang Ferny and Dannan in the school and told them about my adventures.



I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!
Oink!!
Piggley.