Challenges, Trips, & Projects Wrapping Up

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

Field Trip Prep

On Monday, May 8th, the grade 3s, 4s and 5s will be coming together for our year end field trip.  Detailed information about the trip can be found in last week's post.  Thank you to everyone for returning the signed permission forms on time.  Also a big thank you to the parents and grandparents who have volunteered to chaperone on the trip!  As mentioned in the field trip information sent home, we will be meeting at Wiltse Elementary School bus zone (adjacent to the playground) at 8:45am and that is where pick up at will be at 2:30pm.  It promises to be an exciting day!

Final Schedule

Gifted Program Classes are winding down.  Here is the schedule for the rest of May:
- May 8th -- Field Trip
- May 9 - 11th -- classes cancelled (due to trip earlier in the week)
- May 16 - 18th -- Last Gifted Program Classes of the year
- End of May / beginning of June -- Year end Parent Meetings

Watercraft Challenge

It was a small class on Wednesday morning as many of the grade 5s were at the KVR orientation.  Did we mope--no we did not!  We did a design challenge.  The goal--build a watercraft that is capable of carrying 8 big metal washers without sinking using only duct tape, two 9oz paper cups, 10 straws and 20cm of plastic wrap.  A couple of students in the afternoon class, who had finished their projects, also took up the challenge.

Take a look below at the different crafts they created.  Four watercraft, four very different designs!  Maximum washers carried without sinking?  Katie aka "the Duct Tape Queen" built a craft that carried 36 washers without sinking, and almost carried 44!  Gerry's craft was able to transport 42 without sinking--amazing!  All of the students who took on the challenge did a great job designing and refining their watercraft.  Check out their work below (link).

Projects Wrapping Up

The Tuesday afternoon class all completed and presented their projects this week.  Oscar created an animated interview with Frank Lloyd Wright, programmed in Scratch.  Rhett made a 3D model and drawings of a small home on wheels.  Ezra shared his design for a castle as well some inspiring castles from around the world in a slideshow presentation.  Iain created an animation in Scratch sharing information he learned while researching the CN Tower.  More projects will be shared in the other classes on our last day.    

To Scale

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

Some photos from the Wednesday classes (link).

Two Truths and a Lie

To get caught up with what everyone had been up to since Spring Break we played 'Two Truths and a Lie'.  Each person comes up with 2 true statements and one that is false.  They tell their statements to the group who then vote on which statement they think is the lie.  It's a test of how well the group knows you and the challenge is to try and trick the group into voting for one of the true statements.

Design Questions

Every few weeks we discuss a design question.  This week the Tuesday and Wednesday classes discussed the following question:

The kitchen in a new home is in a shady spot.  It is north facing and sheltered by tall trees.  How could you make the room seem brighter without adding a lot of extra electric lights?

Students came up with a number of great suggestions!

Earthships

This week the Tuesday and Wednesday classes learned about earthships.  The motivation behind building this type of home is to reduce the amount of energy and resources required to build and maintain it.  Here are links to two short videos we watched on Earthships; Garbage Homes - EarthShips,  and Ontario Couple Build Earth Ship.

Project Time

Students are deep into their projects with a view to having them completed near the end of April.  Examples of the different projects students are working on:

• Oscar and Anya are both researching famous architects.  Oscar is sharing what he's learned in a animated interview in Scratch.  Anya is designing a home that she thinks her architect would like.
• Rhett, Ezra, Ryan(s), Katie, Kyle, Jayda, Alexis, Dija, Charlotte(s), Kailey, Gerry, Finn, Hannah, Sophie, Logan, and Rowyn are all designing buildings such as homes, apartment buildings, ski chalets, and castles.  All of the students have drawn up plans, either with paper and pen or on the computer.  Some of the students are making 3D models of their buildings.
• Ellen, Iain, Damon, Ellis and Omar are researching famous buildings and presenting their findings in a Scratch animation or Slideshow.  They are all using their great photoshop skills too!

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

Designing and Researching

This week students were all busy working on their projects.  Many students have decided to design a house or other building and spent their time on drawing up plans and searching for ideas on the internet.  Other students are gathering information on a specific architect or building.  It is exciting to see things taking shape!  The photos below are of students from the Wednesday afternoon class at our 'drafting' table.

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The B I G Project

The  B I G  Project

Every year we do a major project related to our theme.  This year's theme is ArKIDtecture.  Students have the choice of designing a building or doing a research project on a famous architect or building. Each project is unique; students and teacher work together to decide what needs to be included in the project as well as what the final products will be.  This week was about exploring potential topics and brainstorming ideas.  Below are a few photos of what the Wednesday morning class was working on (link):



More updates on the projects all of the students are working on will follow in the weeks to come!

If you subscribe to this blog and are viewing this post in your e-mail, some of the images may not show up.  Go to http://elemtwig.blogspot.ca to view all of the media.

If you wish to subscribe to this blog so that you receive the posts via e-mail shortly after they are posted, go to the 'Subscribe by Email' box near the top right this page.