Code Breakers

Here are a few things we did... This Week In Gifted!

Deciphering When You Don't Have The Key

KYV JKLUVEKJ RIV XVKKZEX MVIP XFFU RK UVTIPGKZEX TRVJRI TZGYVIJ.  JFDV FW KYVD YRMV VMVE JKRIKVU UVTZGYVIZEX BVPNFIU TZGYVIJ!  BVPNFIU TZGYVIJ RIV R KNZJK FE TRVJRI TZGYVIJ REU SFKY RIV DFEFRCGYRSVKZT JLSJKZKLKZFE TZGYVIJ.  NYFR!  KIP JRPZEX KYRK KVE KZDVJ WRJK!  ZW PFL'MV UVTZGYVIVU KYZJ DVJJRXV, NRP KF XF!

Do you understand the text above?  Using the Crack a Caesar Cipher tool on the Cryptoclub.org website, as well as an understanding of letter frequencies, all of the students this week got practice deciphering long messages encrypted with the Caesar Cipher.  Interested in trying to crack the message above?  Just copy it, open up the  Crack a Caesar Cipher tool (you may have to enable Flash) and paste the text into the 'CIPHERTEXT' window.  Use the 'Letter Frequencies' button to help you to decide where to set the cipher wheel.  Then in the 'plaintext' window enter the first 3 deciphered letters and press the 'Decrypt' button.  If you get gobbledygook, then you didn't set the wheel to the correct key.  Delete the plaintext and reset the wheel to a different spot (based on letter frequencies).

Wednesday afternoon code breakers.

Kids on the Radio

We also listened to part of this interview.  It was conducted and produced by elementary students at Brant Avenue Public School in Guelph, Ontario.

Each week we've been talking about radio, and for the past two weeks we've listened to samples of radio created by kids.  All this in preparation for creating our own radio show!

Thanks for stopping by to see what we've been up to.

Caesar Cipher

Here are a few of the things that students did... This Week In Gifted!

The Caesar Cipher

We continued to learn more about the Caesar Cipher.  Students made their own cipher wheels and learned how to encipher and decipher messages with specific shifts (for example, a shift of one means that a = B, b = C, c = D etc, while a shift of 3 means that a = D etc.)  When it comes to deciphering messages, students identified tips to speed up the process such as; take good guesses when a word is partially deciphered and for longer messages decipher all of the instances of the same letter at the same time.

If you haven't been told what the shift is, sometimes you can figure it out by looking at the short words; this is especially helpful if there are any 1 letter words in your message as they will probably represent the words "a" or "I".  What if there are no 1 or 2 letter words in your message?  Some of the classes learned about analyzing letter frequencies.  The most frequently used letters in the English language are e, t, a, o and i.  If the most frequently used letter in the enciphered message is a K, perhaps it represents one of those four letters?

The Wednesday afternoon group hard at work with their cipher wheels.

All this enciphering and deciphering of messages can be time consuming (and makes some of us go a little cross-eyed).  If only there was a way to speed up the process...  this is where computers come in!  The students were introduced to the Crypto Club website; a great resource designed for kids to teach them about the world of cryptography.  We investigated some of the different tools they have to help you encrypt and decrypt Caesar Cipher messages.

Radio

We also talked a little more about radio this week; where do we listen to radio? what sorts of things can you hear on the radio? and what would kids like to hear on the radio?  Later this year we will be producing a radio show, so we'll be exploring topics related to radio most weeks.

Fun in the Sun

One of the perks that the Wednesday morning class has is that we get to have recess together and we usually have the whole playground to ourselves!  So I'll leave you with a few images from this week's recess.  

Thanks for dropping by to see what we've been up to.

Word Link and Encrypted Scavenger Hunt

Here are a few of the things that we did... This Week In Gifted!

Two Truths and a Lie

The Penticton grade 1 - 3 class played Two Truths and a Lie; a game that allows students to share a few of the things they got up to on the break.  Each student tells the class two true things that happened to them and one untrue.  The class has to decide which statement is untrue.  Students had fun trying to trick their peers!

Project Presentations

More students in the Penticton grade 4 and 5 classes presented their treasure research projects; George demonstrated the Indiana Jones board game that he made, Jessica and Logan shared their Power Point presentation on treasure in Minecraft, Marcus shared his Scratch animation on diamond mines, and Max, Jimmy and Graham shared their Scratch animation about Blackbeard.

Word Link

The Summerland ASPIRE class and the Penticton grade 4 and 5 classes played Word Link.  The group sits in a circle and one person starts by saying a word.  The next person has to say a word that links with the first word, the next person says a word that links with the second word and so on.  It is interesting to see where you end up.

Project Time

The Penticton grade 1-3 class continued to work on their treasure directions.
The Summerland ASPIRE students also worked on treasure directions.  (Josh has been creating some really interesting clues--I wish I could tell you more about it, but they are top secret!)  The ASPIRE class also worked on putting finishing touches on their 3D models.
The Penticton grade 4 and 5 classes worked on wrapping up their research projects, and those who are already done created mini-projects in Scratch or Audacity.

Enciphered Scavenger Hunt

Deciphered Clues

With the Easter weekend coming up and with our theme focused on the search for treasure it seemed like a good idea for the Summerland AIM class to do a scavenger hunt!  I created enciphered clues using the Treasure Hunt Clue Generator on cryptoclub.org.  Students worked together to decipher Caesar Ciphers, Letter to Number Ciphers, and a Keyword Cipher.  They had had practice using the Caesar Cipher before, but not the other two which they quickly picked up.



Thank you for checking in to see what we've been up to this week!

Before the Break

Here are a few things we did... This Week In Gifted!

Treasure Directions

Many of the classes have been creating old looking treasure maps.  Now they are working on coming up with directions to go along with those maps.  The Summerland ASPIRE class looked at some examples of real life treasure clues; the Beale Papers and the poem with clues to the whereabouts of the Forest Fenn Treasure.  The Beale Papers are a series of three cipher texts supposedly leading to a vault of silver and gold.  The Fenn Treasure is a bronze chest containing gold, silver and jewels.

As mentioned last week, some of the students are creating their own ciphers or using ciphers they are familiar with to encipher their directions.  Others are writing rhymes or riddles and still others are using the tools on The Crypto Club website to encipher their messages.  Some are even trying the challenging Affine Cipher!

Around the World

Almost all of the classes played Around the World as a warm-up game this week.  Students sit in a circle and one person starts off by giving the name of a geographic location on Earth.  The next person has to come up with the name of a new geographic location that begins with the last letter of the word just given.  For example if the first name given is Penticton, the next name has to begin with an 'N'.  Each group quickly found out that a lot of places end in the letter 'A' and that you soon run out of 'A' names!

More Project Presentations

The Penticton Grade 4s and 5s heard presentations from:

• Jamie on 'The Eye of Horus' (info page and plasticine model)
• Isaac with a poster on the California Gold Rush
• Tessa who made a newspaper with a number of treasure related articles
• Joycey with a mini movie on types of gold and diamond objects in Minecraft

Some students who have presented their projects already, explored using the visual programming software Scratch to create maze games.

These are just a few of the things that we did this week.  Thanks for checking in!  I hope that the students and their families have an enjoyable Spring Break.  Gifted Program classes resume again the first week back after the break (the week of March 30th).

The ROT 13 Cipher and Research for the Field Trip

Guvf jrrx fghqragf yrnearq nobhg gur EBG 13 pvcure.  Qvq lbh xabj gung gur EBG 13 pvcure vf n glcr bs Pnrfne Fuvsg pvcure gung vf cbchyne va bayvar sbehzf gb uvqr chapuyvarf be fcbvyref?

The paragraph above may look like gobbledegook, but chances are that students who attended gifted class this week recognize it as the ROT 13 Cipher. Below is a diagram showing how to encipher and decipher messages using this cipher.

Image from Wikipedia (link)

Crypto Kids

Continuing with our Top Secret Communication theme, the Penticton grade 1/2 class tried their hands at the ROT 13 cipher (above) and they also learned how to use some of the cipher tools on the cryptokids.org website. A few of the students were keen enough to make it all the way through the cipher challenge called 'Desert Oasis'. Pretty impressive, especially considering this site is designed for middle schoolers!

Field Trip Research

Students in the ASPIRE and Penticton grade 3 - 5 classes did some research into the places that we will be visiting on our field trip next week; CBC Radio and Global Okanagan Television in Kelowna. We know a bit more about what programs are produced in both studios and who some of the on air personalities are. Students also generated some good questions that they could ask when we are on our trip. Stay tuned... next week I share what we learned on the trip itself! (*Note: students received a newsletter with the field trip itinerary. If you have any questions, please contact me.)

5 Card Photo Stories

The ASPIRE and Penticton grade 5 classes took another shot at storytelling with 5 Card Photo Stories. They are given 5 photos and asked to write a short story that incorporates all of the photos. I don't know why I wear socks anymore because they always get knocked off when we do this activity; the stories the students come up with are amazing! There's humour, death, explosions, humour, twists, turns, cliff hangers, and did I mention humour???

Radio Marathon

This week the students really pushed hard to finish off the shows they have been working on. The variety and quality of the shows are amazing. Students took home permission forms this week in order that their shows may be shared on Peach City Radio. The student mini-shows will be compiled into a variety show of sorts called The Creation Station. I will be putting together a number of 30 minute episodes that will be submitted to Peach City Radio to be broadcast on their live stream and then archived on their site.

Thanks for checking in and finding out about some of the things we did... This Week In Gifted!

Caesar Ciphers, Enigma and Steganography

The past couple of weeks have been busy!  There are seven different classes in the Gifted Program.  Though they are all working on the same theme, Top Secret Communication, each class is doing slightly different activities depending on the age and interests of the students.  Here are some of the things we have been doing in the past few weeks.

Caesar Ciphers

All of the classes have made their own Caesar Cipher Wheels and have been busy encrypting and decrypting messages.  Students in grades 3 - 5 have all become quite adept at decrypting Caesar cipher messages, even if they haven't been given the key!  One letter words are a big tip off, since they can only be the words/letters "a" or "I".  If there are no one letter words, have no fear!  The students know to look for three letter words that are repeated (as they may represent "the" or "and").  Words with contractions (such as "I'm", "can't" or "she's") are also helpful in breaking Caesar Ciphers as the final letter is usually "m", "t", or "s".

Caesar Cipher Wheel

A wonderful website that the Wednesday and Thursday morning grade 5s have been exploring is the Crypto Club site.  It has tools to help you encipher and decipher messages using a variety of ciphers, including the Caesar Cipher that we have been using.  It also has some fun challenges and games for students to try out.

The Enigma Machine

A student from the Tuesday morning grade 3-4 class brought in her Pocket Enigma, which led to an exploration of the history of the Enigma Machine, how it worked, and the staggering number of possible settings for it.  In many of the classes we have watched this video (or will be watching it soon) on the history and mathematics of the Enigma machine.

Steganography

Steganography, as the Wednesday afternoon grade 1-2 class can tell you, is hidden or concealed writing.  This past week the grade 1-2 class explored steganography as we experimented with invisible inks.  Students painted pictures or messages using lemon juice, milk, vinegar, tonic water, and Tide or baking soda (both diluted in water).  After the paintings had dried we revealed the hidden images/words by using heat (on the lemon juice and milk), painting over them with red cabbage juice (on the lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda) or by shining a UV light on them (for the tonic water and Tide).  

The Wrap Up

These are just a few of the things the students have been doing.  In the weeks ahead we will continue to explore ciphers and code making and breaking as well as looking at non-verbal communication.