Presentations and Amusing a Goldfish

Thanks for checking the TWIG blog to see what we did... This Week In Gifted!

Presentations 

All of the students in the Wednesday morning class have presented their slide shows featuring the underwater creature that they made for our underwater scene.  The students did a great job presenting their work.  As the audience, students were encouraged to ask good questions and to let their peers know what they did well in their presentations.

Here is a short video showing the underwater scene the Wednesday morning class created (link).  In it you can see; a brittle star, a colossal squid, a mythical kraken seizing a ship, a sea cucumber, and a sea tortoise. 


The Wednesday afternoon class has started doing their presentations.  This week we learned about the Angler Fish from London.  We look forward to learning from the rest of the students about the creatures they chose.

The Thursday afternoon class just got started on their slide shows this week -- I look forward to sharing their work in future posts!

Amusing a Goldfish

The Wednesday morning and the Thursday afternoon groups each participated in an activity called Ready Set Design.  In this activity students are given a problem to solve and asked to make a prototype using specific materials.  They have a short amount of time to come up with their design.  Once they have created it, they explain the design to their peers.  This week's problem was:   “I need a way to amuse my goldfish while I am at school - she seems to miss me when I’m away”.  The materials available were:
- 1 small paper plate
- 3 pipe cleaners
- 3 popsicle sticks
- 1 medium balloon
Students were not allowed to use scissors or tape.
The range of designs was truly incredible!  Some students created a bit of a playground for the fish, complete with a punching bag.  Others drew a likeness of themselves on the paper plate so the fish didn't feel abandoned.  One student created a helium balloon filled transportation system so the fish could explore the house!  The Thursday group was intent on not just amusing the fish, but giving it a bit of a scare with images of scary cats and dogs.  Lots of creative, out of the "tank" thinking ;-)