The time table went out the window this week, and the children had to organise their own day. It was all about getting stuck in, completing work and MANAGING SELF. Everyone had a list of tasks that should have been completed by now and a list of new tasks that they had to get through by the end of the day. The only non-negotiable parts to the day were language and chess. There was no set morning tea and no set lunch. We ate when we were hungry and had a break when our body was telling us to.
It was a very successful day with everyone getting work on to their blog page. Please take the time to visit and comment.
Most managed well with their 'do your own thing' day, which was great to see. I however, was exhausted! It was pleasing to sit back and watch the hive of activity throughout the day with everyone doing something different.
I wish everyone a safe Easter and I will see you next term.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tuesday and Wednesday Week 8
I am combining both days this week.
Each morning we celebrate our successes for the week.
Zac brought in the chainmail he has been working on. He explained what it is, how it is made and then we had a discussion about how chainmail fits into our concept of PATTERNS. Chainmail repeats, chainmail is manmade, chainmail is a whle that is made up of several parts. The main purpose of chainmail is SURVIVAL, but it could also fit in to STRENGTH.
Emily shared the flax weaving that she did in her home class last week. Her flax bracelet shows patterns that repeat. Her bracelet is manmade although it is made from a natural product. The main purpose of her bracelet was for BEAUTY.
What is a Tallfobblemonkeydong? We had to use all our creative thinking skills to come up with a sketch......thinking flexibly, fluently and using originality to come up with a creative picture. We then had to elaborate to extend our ideas. We could elaborate by adding labels, writing a couple of sentences describing the characteristics of our creature, or we could add more details to our drawings.
We continued on with creative thinking by using the inventions key to 'Create a device that could be used to wake you up in the morning'
Again we were thinking flexibly, fluently and we had to use origianality to come up with a new idea. We had to elaborate at the end by extending our thoughts.
(I was a bit worried that many of the ideas weren't overally plesent!1)
Moving onto CONCEPT
Activity 1.
Many types of PATTERNS can be found in nature. Use the National Geographic Patterns in Nature Photo Series to explore some of nature's patterns.
We had to look at the photos carefully and then decide if the pattern's stle was linear (points form a straight line), radial (forms curves), or a matrix (a starting point from where something develops). We needed to decide if the pattern was a formed by a single item or a group, was mono in colour or multi and if its art form was stamp or splatter.
This picture shows Boa Constrictor Scales. It style is radial, it is a group of items, it is multicoloured and it is in stamp formation.
What would you say for this one? (It's a water vortex)
Activity 2
Pattern Types.
PATTERNS can be prganised into the following groups;
BEAUTY, ORDER, STRENGTH or SURVIVAL
For example we had to decide where we would place these; assembly lines, ballet, weather, library etc. Many were open to interpretation like.....body rhythems. Some thought of this as rhythms within our body, therefore it falls in to SURVIVAL. Some interpreted this as movement type rhythms, therefore it would fall more into BEAUTY.
We also discussed how some would fit into more than 1 area. Lot of discussion was had.....which is what it is all about!
TUESDAY CLASS RUSSIAN
Playing a game where Victorya read out a Russian word and the group who found the letter that it begins with wins a point. Gifted kids LOVE competition!
TALENT
Continuing on with Math's Club, Writer's Club and ICT.......
Rhemus investigating KNOTOLOGY (strip folding) as part of his Polyhedra work....and then giving it a ago himself.
Flynn investigating perspectives using VPs. VPL, VPR. What do these stand for? This is what Flynn had to find out and then use his new knowledge to draw shapes.
Sam writing his EPIC poem. Watch this space, it's a goodie!
Reinhard putting the finishing touches on one of his poems.
The math's club busy making polyhedra.
Each morning we celebrate our successes for the week.
Zac brought in the chainmail he has been working on. He explained what it is, how it is made and then we had a discussion about how chainmail fits into our concept of PATTERNS. Chainmail repeats, chainmail is manmade, chainmail is a whle that is made up of several parts. The main purpose of chainmail is SURVIVAL, but it could also fit in to STRENGTH.
Emily shared the flax weaving that she did in her home class last week. Her flax bracelet shows patterns that repeat. Her bracelet is manmade although it is made from a natural product. The main purpose of her bracelet was for BEAUTY.
What is a Tallfobblemonkeydong? We had to use all our creative thinking skills to come up with a sketch......thinking flexibly, fluently and using originality to come up with a creative picture. We then had to elaborate to extend our ideas. We could elaborate by adding labels, writing a couple of sentences describing the characteristics of our creature, or we could add more details to our drawings.
We continued on with creative thinking by using the inventions key to 'Create a device that could be used to wake you up in the morning'
Again we were thinking flexibly, fluently and we had to use origianality to come up with a new idea. We had to elaborate at the end by extending our thoughts.
(I was a bit worried that many of the ideas weren't overally plesent!1)
Moving onto CONCEPT
Activity 1.
Many types of PATTERNS can be found in nature. Use the National Geographic Patterns in Nature Photo Series to explore some of nature's patterns.
We had to look at the photos carefully and then decide if the pattern's stle was linear (points form a straight line), radial (forms curves), or a matrix (a starting point from where something develops). We needed to decide if the pattern was a formed by a single item or a group, was mono in colour or multi and if its art form was stamp or splatter.
This picture shows Boa Constrictor Scales. It style is radial, it is a group of items, it is multicoloured and it is in stamp formation.
What would you say for this one? (It's a water vortex)
Activity 2
Pattern Types.
PATTERNS can be prganised into the following groups;
BEAUTY, ORDER, STRENGTH or SURVIVAL
For example we had to decide where we would place these; assembly lines, ballet, weather, library etc. Many were open to interpretation like.....body rhythems. Some thought of this as rhythms within our body, therefore it falls in to SURVIVAL. Some interpreted this as movement type rhythms, therefore it would fall more into BEAUTY.
We also discussed how some would fit into more than 1 area. Lot of discussion was had.....which is what it is all about!
TUESDAY CLASS RUSSIAN
Playing a game where Victorya read out a Russian word and the group who found the letter that it begins with wins a point. Gifted kids LOVE competition!
TALENT
Continuing on with Math's Club, Writer's Club and ICT.......
Rhemus investigating KNOTOLOGY (strip folding) as part of his Polyhedra work....and then giving it a ago himself.
Flynn investigating perspectives using VPs. VPL, VPR. What do these stand for? This is what Flynn had to find out and then use his new knowledge to draw shapes.
Sam writing his EPIC poem. Watch this space, it's a goodie!
Reinhard putting the finishing touches on one of his poems.
The math's club busy making polyhedra.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wednesday - Week 7
We had many children away today...several schools are having their EOTC week.
We began our morning with droodles too.....see below
Our concept activities were the same as yesterdays. One point of difference with today's class was that we got in to an interesting discussion about the difference between the purposes of decorative knots and other more practical knots. Like, decorative knots are more for beauty, where as practical knots are used for strength and survival. We then moved on and had a discussion about magician and escapologists ' knots......these knots couldn't have strength as it could be a matter of survival if if they did! They may drown escaping from a knot that showed too much strength!!
ACTIVITY 1
Here we are working through our knot challenges
We had to use many Habits of Mind to complete this activity....thinking flexibly, drawing on past knowledge, persistance, using our senses......
ACTIVITY 2
Heads down using the Key Words to Unlock Big Ideas questioning tool to help us come up with quality pattern questions. many of us found this quite a challenge.
Our PATTERN questions;
* What is a pattern?
* How do patterns effct the environment?
* What will patterns do to help us in the futire?
*What types of patterns can we see through evaloution?
*What would happen to a pattern if it doesn't repeat?
*Dies a pattern have to repeat?
*Is a pattern a pattern if it doesn't repeat?
*What's the oldest known pattern?
*What is a pattern of impact?
*Can patterns relate to other things?
*What are the differences between natural and man made patterns?
*What is the value of a pattern?
*What systems can be found within patterns?
*What effects do patterns have on humans?
*What's the relationship between a manmade pattern and a natural one?
ACTIVITY 3
Finishing off table......
Emma putting the
finishing touches on
her portrait.
TALENT
Megan and Phoebe with their polyhedra creations.
SPANISH
Here we are practising our clown song in Spanish with our tutor Jacqui....
CHESS
Chess this afternoon with Mr Newton. We worked our way through some chess puzzles this afternoon. Can we check in less than 1 move?
We began our morning with droodles too.....see below
Our concept activities were the same as yesterdays. One point of difference with today's class was that we got in to an interesting discussion about the difference between the purposes of decorative knots and other more practical knots. Like, decorative knots are more for beauty, where as practical knots are used for strength and survival. We then moved on and had a discussion about magician and escapologists ' knots......these knots couldn't have strength as it could be a matter of survival if if they did! They may drown escaping from a knot that showed too much strength!!
ACTIVITY 1
Here we are working through our knot challenges
We had to use many Habits of Mind to complete this activity....thinking flexibly, drawing on past knowledge, persistance, using our senses......
ACTIVITY 2
Heads down using the Key Words to Unlock Big Ideas questioning tool to help us come up with quality pattern questions. many of us found this quite a challenge.
Our PATTERN questions;
* What is a pattern?
* How do patterns effct the environment?
* What will patterns do to help us in the futire?
*What types of patterns can we see through evaloution?
*What would happen to a pattern if it doesn't repeat?
*Dies a pattern have to repeat?
*Is a pattern a pattern if it doesn't repeat?
*What's the oldest known pattern?
*What is a pattern of impact?
*Can patterns relate to other things?
*What are the differences between natural and man made patterns?
*What is the value of a pattern?
*What systems can be found within patterns?
*What effects do patterns have on humans?
*What's the relationship between a manmade pattern and a natural one?
ACTIVITY 3
Finishing off table......
Emma putting the
finishing touches on
her portrait.
TALENT
Megan and Phoebe with their polyhedra creations.
SPANISH
Here we are practising our clown song in Spanish with our tutor Jacqui....
CHESS
Chess this afternoon with Mr Newton. We worked our way through some chess puzzles this afternoon. Can we check in less than 1 move?
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday - Week 7
We began our morning with Droodles......what is a Droodle you ask?? 
Droodles are puzzles that resemble abstract drawings you have to give a sense. to.
Droodles don'tlook like anything but you have to guess what it is.....or could be. There isn't really a correct answer to a droodle. You have to use all the creative thinking skills to come up with as many ideas in the time allowed.
This is a classic droodle.......what could it be?????
Check out this site for more droodles.
http://www.blogger.com/www.droodles.com/
After our brains were warmed up, we got in to concept. We got in to 3 groups and spent a half hour at each activity.
Activity 1. Knotting. How does knotting, especially decorative knots, fit in to our concept of patterns?? We all decided that knotting can be a useful tool for survival. Knots also need to show strength. We also decided that there were also some knots that were purely for beauty...like friendship bracelet knotting, but even these needed to show strength and order.
We also had to use many Habits of Mind for this activity. Many of the knots were tricky and incredibly frustrating. One of the main Habits (besides persistance!) was using senses. We couldn't complete this activity by just looking at the instructions alone. We had to actually give it ago........some of us even talked our way through it.......
Here are some pictures of us giving it a go.
Knots we had a go at creating.......Chinese Knot, Masthead Knot Mat, Crown Sinnet, Turk's Head, Chain Sinnet, Monkey's Fist......
Activity 2. We used the questioning tool...Key Words to Unlock Big Ideas....to create a humungous list of questions about patterns!!!!!!!
Here are some of them;
Droodles don'tlook like anything but you have to guess what it is.....or could be. There isn't really a correct answer to a droodle. You have to use all the creative thinking skills to come up with as many ideas in the time allowed.
This is a classic droodle.......what could it be?????Check out this site for more droodles.
http://www.blogger.com/www.droodles.com/
After our brains were warmed up, we got in to concept. We got in to 3 groups and spent a half hour at each activity.
Activity 1. Knotting. How does knotting, especially decorative knots, fit in to our concept of patterns?? We all decided that knotting can be a useful tool for survival. Knots also need to show strength. We also decided that there were also some knots that were purely for beauty...like friendship bracelet knotting, but even these needed to show strength and order.
We also had to use many Habits of Mind for this activity. Many of the knots were tricky and incredibly frustrating. One of the main Habits (besides persistance!) was using senses. We couldn't complete this activity by just looking at the instructions alone. We had to actually give it ago........some of us even talked our way through it.......
Here are some pictures of us giving it a go.
Knots we had a go at creating.......Chinese Knot, Masthead Knot Mat, Crown Sinnet, Turk's Head, Chain Sinnet, Monkey's Fist......
Activity 2. We used the questioning tool...Key Words to Unlock Big Ideas....to create a humungous list of questions about patterns!!!!!!!
Here are some of them;
- What could the consequences be when patterns are removed?
- What value do patterns have on space?
- How do patterns adapt to their surroundings?
- Why is there a structure to patterns?
- What is the reason for patterns?
- In what ways do patterns make life easier?
- Can you find patterns in everything?
- What roles do patterns have in modern economics?
- What impact would it make if a brick wall didn't maintain strength and order?
- Why is there a structure to patterns?
- What roles do patterns play in our lives?
- What functions do patterns have on everyday life?
- What causes the tide to come in and out?
- What if changes occured in to the mathmatical system?
- Are there people who study patterns?
- What influence do patterns have over our lives?
- What are the characteristics of a pattern?
- What are the differences between parrterns for beauty and patterns for survival?
- What value do patterns have to us?
- What systems can benefit from patterns?
Activity 3 Own choice...we have so many unfinished pieces of work to do....this time was used to work on them.
TALENT
Yeah!! ALICE was up and running today! Thanks Matthew! We could finally get in to our animations now that the picture galley is available. The ICT group completed the final tutorial before exploring the functions the programme has to offer and practising their coding. It wasn't long before the group discovered you could use Alice to create games........
The writers group are well on their way to creating some wonderful poetry. This group are composing; ballades, odes, tongue twisters and shape poems.
The mathematicians continued with their polyhedra. Billy made slides, while Georgia and Hannah had a go at creating some rather fiddley 3D shapes
The answer to the droodle is....A man wearing a bow tie entered a crowded elevator and the doors closed on his tie.
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