Advertising our Inventions

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

Sell That Thing!

The Tuesday afternoon and Thursday classes looked at different strategies that advertisers use to try and get you to buy their products (the Tuesday morning class did a similar thing a few weeks ago).  We watched a number of different TV ads and identified different strategies.  Students then played 'Sell That Thing!'  They went forward in time 5 years using the portal and were charged with creating advertisements for some of the inventions that their peers from the other classes had designed and that were now ready to be marketed.  Students had 5 minutes to come up with an ad that they then acted out.  The ads were creative, funny, and did a great job of using the different strategies!  This type of activity is challenging as students have a limited time to come up with a skit and often team members have quite differing views on what they'd like to do.  I was impressed in particular with the Tuesday afternoon class in terms of their ability to work collaboratively, solve problems and include all team members.   This group of grade 2 and 3s has come a long way since the beginning of the year!

Inventions

The Wednesday afternoon class continued to work on their playground inventions.  Students are either creating 3D models of their inventions using craft supplies, or making a Pivot Stickfigure animation of their invention.  Some of the inventions are whimsical and others packed with adventure! 

The other classes continued to work on their inventions.  The focus now is on deciding how to advertise their inventions; poster, TV ad (as a skit), Power Point presentation, Scratch animation, poster...

Cubism Art Projects

Students in the Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon classes finished up their cubism drawings.  You can view student artwork from these classes as well as the Thursday afternoon class in this post.  For slideshows of the Picasso style portraits created by the Tuesday afternoon class see here and the Wednesday afternoon class here.

Reminders

There are a number of important events occurring in the upcoming weeks:

• Field trip to UBC-O Engineering labs Wednesday May 1st.  This field trip is for students in grades 3, 4 and 5.  
• Regular Elementary Gifted Classes Cancelled Tues April 30, Weds May 1st, Thurs May 2nd.
• Open House Tuesday May 7th and Wednesday May 8th during the afternoon classes.  Parents of students in those classes are invited to join us for all or part of the class.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about anything mentioned here please contact me, Claire Thompson, at (250)770-7694 ext 6283 or cthompson at summer dot com.

Playground Inventions

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

Playground Inventions

Students in the Wednesday afternoon class were hired by PlayZone (slogan "Our Work is Child's Play!") to invent new playground equipment.  After looking at photos of traditional and not so traditional playground equipment, it was decided that we really needed to do a bit more research.  So it was outside to check out the playground equipment at Wiltse!  I think it is fair to say that many of the students have been dying to do this all year ;-)  After a good session of 'field research' students went back inside to start designing their playground equipment.  Some are making models using a variety of craft and recycled materials, others are using Pivot Stick Figure to make animations of their equipment.  Students will be working on their playground inventions over the next few classes.

My Favourite Thing

The Tuesday classes played 'My Favourite Thing'.  Students in teams of 3 to 5 are given an object and then they each in turn have to tell the rest of the group why it is their favourite thing.  Students have to think on their feet, be creative and lateral thinking is encouraged.  Both classes did an excellent job, with students coming up with funny and creative stories.  It was the first time for the afternoon class and I was really impressed with how they did!  The best part was that even though initially two students wanted to pass (just observe, not participate) in the end everyone participated with my 'passers' being some of the most prolific :-)

More Cubism

This week it was the Tuesday morning class's turn to try creating pastel and / or pencil crayon drawings incorporating features from cubism (as described in last week's post).  The two Thursday classes also spent time on their cubism drawings this week.  The diversity in the works produced is amazing; it is fascinating to see each student's individual style show through.  I'll be posting completed drawings here soon.

Field Trip Prep

I went over the itinerary for our upcoming grade 3 - 5 field trip with students and we discussed behaviour expectations.  The field trip is on Wednesday, May 1st and we are going to visit the Engineering labs at UBC-O in Kelowna (more on this in this post); it looks to be a great day!  Thank you to everyone for returning your field trip forms.  Thank you also to those parents who volunteered to help out and join us on the trip.  I'll be in touch with you soon.

Open House for the Tuesday and Wednesday Afternoon Classes

Most of the students in these two classes are in grades K, 1 and 2 and so won't be going on the field trip.  We will, however, be having an open house for parents.  During the regular class times on Tuesday May 7th and Wednesday May 8th parents are invited to drop in and see what we're up to.  Children will have an opportunity to show you some of the things they have been working on, and parents will be able to participate in some of our regular activities.  Parents are invited to drop in any time during the class and to stay as long as you like.