Year End Wrap Up Part 5 Projects

This is Part 5 in the series of Year End Wrap Up posts.

Scratch Projects

Students in grades 3 - 5 finished up the year presenting their projects to their peers.  Students had a great deal of choice on their topic, as long as it included flight.  A number of students decided to create flight games or animations in Scratch, a free coding program designed at MIT to introduce students to the concepts of computer programing.

I've embedded each of their Scratch projects below or you can view them in the Scratch Studio here.  A few things to note:

• Scratch requires Adobe Flash, so you need to allow it in your browser (Chrome won't run it, as far as I can determine, so better to switch to Firefox or Internet Explorer).
• To see the coding behind the game or animation, which I highly recommend you do, click the 'See inside' button -- you'll have to go to the studio link to do this
• All of the students did a great job solving bugs in their programs and learning new code
• Other non-Scratch related projects will be posted soon!

Animations

Gerry created this animation as a fun finale for his slideshows on RC planes and the history of flight.  Click the green flag to start the animation.


Anya created this animation as an introduction to her slideshow on space flight. Click the green flag to start the animation.

Games

Iain created this game involving hot air balloons.  Click the green flag to start the game and then use the up/down arrow keys to move your balloon.  Can you beat the high score?


Sophie created this game with info on aircraft.  Press the green flag to start the game, the up / down arrow keys to move the plane and collect coins and avoid hitting the birds.


Ezra created this game involving jet airplanes.  Press the green flag to start the game and the space bar to keep your jet in the air.  Try not to hit the green blocks and other obstacles.  If you'd like some music to accompany you on your flight press numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4 on your keyboard once the game begins.


Oscar created this game involving blimps.  Click the green flag to start the game.  Use the arrow keys to move your blimp through the maze.  Your goal is to collect hydrogen tanks and to avoid the bad guys.

Project Work

Here are a few things we have been doing this week in gifted.

Flight Lesson

Students were presented with the following slide show (link).   As we progressed through the slides the students were asked to come up with a hypothesis to explain why the things grouped under the 'Yes' column were grouped together.  As they were presented with more images they revised their hypotheses.  Eventually all of the groups figured out why the 'Yes' items were grouped together -- can you?  Go through the slides slowly and one at a time.



The above activity lead to a discussion about the different types of flight we see in birds.  I asked students to try and notice the different ways that birds fly as they are out and about this week.

Project Work

For the past month students have been busy on their projects.  The slideshow below shows some of the projects students are working on; there are a lot of students using the computer coding program Scratch to create games or animations, but there is also a lot of variety!  If the slideshow isn't showing up for you, or if you'd like it full screen, then click on this link.



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

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!

Last Class

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

Open House

Moms, dads, grandparents, and younger siblings of our grade 1 - 3 students joined us this week and got a look at what we've been up to!  Students shared their 'Police' files which contained their mug shots, fingerprints, shoe prints, hair samples, writing samples and more.  They fingerprinted family members and showed them how to view hair samples under the microscopes.  They also demonstrated how to do ink chromatography and how to match torn paper samples.  Students showed family their own projects on identification as well as some favorites that their peers had done.  

Thank you to all of the family members that were able to make it to the Open House!

All Mysteries Soved!

The Penticton grade 5 class was the final class to solve their 'Sabotage on the Spaceship Forensic' mystery.  They worked hard and were pretty much unanimous in their indictment of the perpetrator of the crime!  Here are each of the 'accused' from the different classes.  

Summerland AIM/ASPIRE: Niamh

Penticton Grade 5s: Graham

Penticton Grade 4s: Dija

Penticton Grade 2/3s: Charlotte

Many of the accused claim that they were framed, but I'm not buying it!

Examining fiber samples.

Comparing ink chromatography strips.

Matching shoe prints to the print left on the putty at the scene of the crime.

Comparing hair and fiber samples.

Matching finger prints.

More microscope work.

Shared Projects

This week and last, students got the opportunity to check out the identification projects created by students in the other Gifted Program classes.  Copies of almost all of the projects (a few still have to be converted and uploaded) are located here.  Students need to log in using their regular username and password (the one they use to log in to the school district computers).  

When on the site, click the green 'Projects' icon.

Projects are grouped by class.

Special Guest

On Wednesday afternoon Sue Thomson, District Principal for Student Support Services, visited the Penticton grade 4 class.  Students did a great job showing Ms. Thomson their projects and some of the other things on which we've been working.  The Gifted Program is one of many programs and services which Ms. Thomson oversees--we were happy to give her a first hand look at what we do!

End of Year Parent Meetings

Students brought home a schedule for the end of year parent meetings.  I will be e-mailing copies of the schedule early next week in case it didn't make it home.  My goal is to meet with every child's parent to review how the year went and to plan for next year.  If you are unable to meet at the time I've scheduled you, please contact me and we can make alternative arrangements. 

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

 

    

Sabotage on the Space Ship Forensic!

Here are a few things that we've done this week (and last) in gifted class.

Sabotage on the Space Ship Forensic!

We are pretending that we are the crew of the Space Ship Forensic.  The crew is on a multi-year mission to explore the far reaches of space.  Apparently one of the crew members misses Earth and has sabotaged our ship! A note was left for the captain--the author of the note has stolen a computer chip that is important in keeping the life support system going.  If the captain does not return the ship to Earth, the chip will not be returned and everyone will perish!   Each of the classes is using their forensic skills to sift through clues in this puzzling case.  Here are some of the things the crew is investigating:

• identifying the handwriting on the note
• using ink chromatography to match the ink to one of the different brands of pens available on the ship
• matching a fingerprint found on the envelope with the fingerprints of the crew
• matching the torn top of the note to the paper pad the note may have come from
• matching hair, fibre and footprint samples found at the scene.  

Stay tuned as we puzzle our way through this case!

Project Presentations Continued

Last week and this week we had the following presentations: 

• Niamh presented her BitStrips comic 'Mystery'
• Ty presented his Scratch Mystery Game
• Katie and Logan had the class play their 'WWII Spies' Jeopardy game on the interactive whiteboard
• Graham presented his BitStrips comic 'The Stock Mystery'
• Mykenna presented 'Identifying Birds' which she created in Comic Life
• Anya presented her slideshow on Koalas
• Sophie presented her slideshow on Penguins
• Gerry presented his slideshow on Identifying House Cats
• Rowyn presented her slideshow on Tiny Spiders
• Iain demonstrated his Forensic Board Game to the class
• Dija had her story 'The Blanket Mystery' read to class

A scene from Niamh's comic 'Mystery'

A scene from Graham's comic 'The Stock Mystery'

Field Trip and Other Important Dates

This Tuesday, May 3rd, the grade 3, 4 and 5 students will be hopping on a bus and going to Okanagan Science Centre in Vernon!  We're looking forward to having a great day.  Thank you to the parents (and a grandparent!) who have volunteered to be chaperones for the trip.  

Students are reminded to bring:

• jacket
• recess snack and juice / water
• bag lunch
• suitable shoes for walking (e.g. no flip flops)
• good behavior :-)

Things to leave at home:

• money
• electronic devices of all kinds

Penticton students are asked to be at Wiltse at 7:45am in the bus zone (next to the playground).  We will be departing at 8am.  Trout Creek students are asked to be at Trout Creek Elementary at 8:10am. I anticipate the bus arriving just before 8:20am and departing soon after.

Gifted classes are cancelled for the week of May 2nd - 6th due to the field trip on May 3rd.

Gifted Classes Wrap Up The Week Of May 16th. 

This is our last week of classes for this school year.  

Open House May 17th and 19th for students in grades 1 - 3.  

Parents of students in grades 1 - 3 are invited to drop in and see what we've been up to this year.  Parents are welcome anytime between 12:30 and 2:30pm.      

Scratch That!

Project Updates

Projects are rapidly wrapping up!  We had the following presentations this week:

• Oscar shared his Lego Stop Motion Mystery Movie CS Investigation and his BitStrip comic Bank Robbery
• Ben shared his BitStrip mystery comic Meow
• Jessica presented her interactive Smart Board mystery Who Ate the Bagel?!
• Kieran presented the mystery video game he created in Happy Wheels.
• Jimmy presented his BitStrip comic Mystery #1
• Ryan A presented his PowerPoint slide show on Mythical Creatures
• Ryan M presented his 3 part BitStrip comic Who Did It?

Many more students are ready (or almost ready!) to present.  

Through the projects all of the students have learned new information and/or new skills.  Prior to starting their projects, students were introduced to BitStrips and how to use it to create interesting characters and stories.  Some chose to use this tool for their projects, but in many cases students chose a different format.  Kudos to those students who took on a tool that was new to them, especially the grade 2s and 3s who chose to use PowerPoint even though some of them had never used it before and so were learning on the fly!  Katie D, Logan and Jessica took on Smart Notebook (software for the interactive whiteboard), with little or no exposure to it before.  Many others chose formats with which they were familiar but took it to a new level--using Comic Life and learning how to use image editing software or programming in Scratch and learning how to use more complicated commands or learning how to add audio to a PowerPoint slideshow.  Throughout this process, students are sharing their new skills with their peers.  We are a community of learners where skills that one person learns are celebrated and shared with others--it's pretty neat!   

Scratch That!

So what are the students who have completed their projects doing?  Well, some of the Penticton grade 3s are taking on computer programming using Scratch 2.  Scratch is a visual based programing application that introduces kids to programming concepts.  Students can create animations, video games, interactive stories, and much more.  There is a low bar for entry (ie users can quickly program something fun that works), but Scratch also allows for more complicated programming.  A number of the Penticton grade 5s had a short introduction to Scratch a few years ago in the Gifted Program, and many of them have used Scratch this year for their main project.  

Screenshot of Scratch showing the main screen on the left with the programing scripts on the right.

Field Trip Planning

Thank you to all the grade 3, 4 and 5 families who sent in the field trip forms and $.  A big thank you also to all those parents who have volunteered to chaperone on the trip--much appreciated!

Thanks for checking in to find out about what we've been up to... This Week In Gifted!

 

More Project Presentations

This Minecraft tour of DNA was projected onto the big screen.

Projects, Projects, Projects!

Project presentations continued this week.  Marcus presented his Minecraft tour of DNA, Grace and Ellen each shared their Who Dunnit comics (Grace's created in Comic Life, and Ellen's in BitStrips), Kailey gave her PowerPoint presentation on Identifying Bears, and Jayda gave hers on Identifying Big Cats.  Through these presentations students are learning about a wide variety of topics, appreciating what makes a good presentation, and finding out about some of the mad skills of their peers!

Field Trip 2016!

Every year the Gifted Program students in grades 3 - 5 go on a field trip that ties in with our theme.  This year our theme has been Operation Identification and for our field trip we are going to Okanagan Science Centre in Vernon!  How does this relate to our theme?  When we are at the Science Centre students will get to do a hands on forensic activity.  After this, students will have the opportunity to explore the galleries.  There are lots of interesting and educational interactive displays on topics ranging from electricity and magnetism, to space travel and more.

Grade 3 - 5 students brought home Field Trip forms with more information about the trip as well as the permission slip and request for chaperones.  Please send the completed form and $ with your child next week.  Parents and guardians who are interested in being chaperones are encouraged to fill in the appropriate section on the permission form.  If you have any questions about the trip, please contact Claire Thompson.

Thanks for checking in and seeing what we did... This Week In Gifted!  

Gorillas and Airplanes

After two weeks off for Spring Break we were back at it; here are a few of the things we did... This Week In Gifted!

Investigative & Eye-Witness Skills

Students were partnered up with someone in the class who they didn't know too well.  Their job was to find out three things their partner did over Spring Break and report back to the class.  The students did a great job of listening and remembering.  Then came the hard part!  They were told to sit back to back with their partner and imagine the following scenario; they were just in the bank and their partner (who they had never seen before) ran in and robbed the bank.  Their job was to write out a physical description of the bank robber to help the police in apprehending the suspect.  We quickly learned that even though we just spent 5 or 10 minutes in one-on-one conversations with the 'bank robber', it was hard to remember what they looked like!  What color was their t-shirt?  How about their eyes?  Were they wearing jeans or tights or track pants or ...  Once their physical description was written, everyone folded the piece of paper into an airplane and we launched them.  The next step was to retrieve a plane and try to match up the physical description on it with the correct person.  Eventually all of the robbers were nabbed!

This activity led to a discussion of eye-witness accounts and selective attention.  To illustrate the point we watched the following short video (link).

Projects, Projects, Projects!

Yes, we are still working on projects.  Some students presented prior to Spring Break and are working on interesting side-projects, and many more are almost done.  This week Charlotte and Shaylene kicked off presentations in the Penticton grade 2-3 group.  After each presentation the presenter's peers and I ask questions (either about the topic or about the format they used), and comment on what the presenter did well.  Through this all of the students are developing their listening and critical thinking skills; we all benefit when we talk about what a person did well in their project.  The presenters also feel good having the strong points in their work recognized by their peers as well as by their teacher.  Looking forward to more presentations next week!

As always--thanks for checking in to see what we've been doing!

More Marvelous Microscopes!

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

A Few (Very) Small Things

This week all of the classes got to use the microscopes!  We learned about the parts of the microscopes by doing this online tutorial.  Then we switched over to the real microscopes and the students got to work viewing a variety of things; torn paper, color photos (mind blowing under medium power!), typed numbers and letters, fabric, eyelashes, hair...

Students also got the opportunity to check out a virtual compound microscope here and view blood cells, bone cells, cheek cells, and onion cells.  There was also a virtual scanning electron microscope where students tried to identify specimens such as skeletal muscle, a housefly mouth, spider eyes etc.



For access to the step-by-step lessons that link to the online microscope links students can log on to our Moodle class and click on the 'Microscopes' link.

• Go here
• Students enter their school district username and password
• Click on the Microscope 'Book' icon and away you go!

Projects

We also did more work on our projects.  Tessa, from the Penticton Grade 5 Class, presented her project in Comic Life on different ways that pets are identified.  All of the students will present their completed projects to their peers.  Their peers will ask questions and give appreciations (say what they thought the presenter did well).

Progress Reports

On Monday I e-mailed out progress reports for each student outlining what we have done so far this year.  If you haven't received your child's report, please contact me.

Spring Break

Next week is the last week of classes prior to Spring Break.  Classes will resume again on the week of March 29th.

New Space and Microscopic Investigations

Here are a few of the things we've been up to for the past Two Weeks In Gifted.

Summerland AIM/ASPIRE Gets a New Home

Two weeks ago the Summerland group moved into a different classroom at Trout Creek Elementary.  It's very exciting because now we have:
- carpet!
- a sink!
- a 'treehouse'!
- easy access to the washrooms and water fountains!
I took great photos of the students enjoying their new space, but... my phone is on the fritz so you'll just have to imagine how thrilled they were with the 'treehouse' and other aspects of the room.

5 Card Photo Story

All of the classes tried their hands at a 5 Card Photo Story.  It works like this; students are shown 5 images, they then have 5 minutes to plan a story that involves each of the 5 images.  They can work alone or in pairs.  After the 5 minutes are up, the students take turns telling their stories to the class.  After each story is told, the rest of the students give appreciations--what they thought the students did well.  The students are getting quite good at coming up with interesting stories and with offering positive feedback to their peers!
Here are the images that the students had to use for their stories (link):

Microscopes

This past week the Wednesday classes (Penticton 4s and 5s) got the opportunity to work with some compound microscopes.  We talked a little about how microscopes are used to identify and match crime scene evidence.  Students looked at some of the following under the microscope:

- strands of hair (with and without glitter in it!)

- cloth fibers

- cookie crumbs

- torn paper

- coloured magazine images

- eraser bits

Again, I took some great pics of the students using the microscope, but my phone is on the fritz.  Imagine students in pairs eagerly viewing things through small student microscopes--sometimes with looks of astonishment on their faces at what they are seeing and you'll get the gist of things!  

We will be doing more with the microscopes in the coming weeks.

Project Time

Students are still working away at their projects.  Some projects are finished, or just receiving their final touches.  Other projects are further away from completion, which is just fine. 

Thanks for checking in to see what we've been up to! 

A Little Off The Top

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

Hair Samples

In preparation for a forensic mystery that we will be solving next month I collected hair samples.  Though many were reluctant to part with even a few strands of their luscious locks, samples were obtained from everyone.  When we do our forensic mystery we will compare strands found at the scene of crime against our database of suspects (aka the students!)

Project Time

Students spent a good chunk of time researching and working on their projects.  Many students are finding out more about Crime Scene Investigation techniques, some are learning how to identify different types of animals, and others are investigating secret identities of characters in real life and in fiction.

Project Time!

This week was the first week back after the winter break. After students had a chance to reconnect we got right down to business!

Project Time

Students are starting work on a research project.  They will choose a topic related to our theme; Operation Identification.

Online Research

To help us understand how to do effective online searches for our project we went through part of this lesson on choosing good search terms. We also watched the following video (link) on how search works.



We also defined terms like internet, web browser, and search engine.

Choosing Topics

This week students started exploring possible topics.  As long as the student can link the topic to our theme, it is fair game!  Some students are thinking about researching:
- fingerprint analysis
- DNA analysis
- Sherlock Holmes
- Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) techniques
- how to identify different groups of animals
- disguises
- identity theft
Students just had a short time in class to consider topics and so if they haven't decided upon a topic yet, that is fine.  We will have more time next week to explore.

Looking Ahead

Once students have chosen a topic they will decide on a format to present their research.  Again, students have a great deal of choice in the format.  Some have already started on Power Point presentations, others are going to write a whodunnit incorporating what they've learned in the story, and still others are creating computer games.

I will be working with students to define the questions they need to answer in their research.  Each project is going to be unique and I look forward to seeing what they produce!

Thanks for checking in to see what we've been up to and where we're going!

Geocache Designs

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

GPS Scavenger Hunt

This week it was the Penticton grade 1 - 3 group and the Penticton 4s that got to do the GPS scavenger hunt.  'Landmarks' around the school were marked with waypoints on our GPS devices.  Students had to determine what each of the six landmarks were, given a few helpful hints.  The students did an excellent job!

Creating Geocaches

The Summerland AIM and ASPIRE groups as well as the Penticton 5s started planning their geocaches and scoping out locations.  Small teams of students will be creating geocaches which they will hide on the school ground for the other teams to find.  We need toys to leave in the geocaches.  Students have been asked to donate any small toys (e.g. the sort you might get in a loot bag) they might have at home to their geocaches.  Please do not purchase new toys--the idea is to empty out our closets a bit!

More Project Presentations

This week in the Penticton grade 4 class Ty presented his informative powerpoint presentation on Precious Stones and Jessica presented hers on Animals and Treasure.  In the Penticton grade 5 class, students got to try out two different games using the SmartBoard; Harjas and Oscar's Treasure Jeopardy Game and Fynn's (aka Willis) Treasure Video Game Jeopardy Game.  Their peers loved playing the games, which were well constructed and full of engaging questions.

SmartBoard Jeopardy Game

Reminders

Grade 3 - 5 Field Trip:

• If grade 3 - 5 students have not turned in their field trip permission forms and money please do so as soon as possible.
• Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to join us on the trip as chaperones; much appreciated!

Week of May 4th - 7th

• Field trip for grade 3 - 5 students on May 5th
• Regular classes are cancelled (there will be no Monday or Thursday afternoon classes, nor will there be any Wednesday classes).

Last Week of Classes May 11th - 14th

• Open House in the Monday and Thursday afternoon grade 1 - 3 classes.  Both a paper and digital invitation have been sent home.
• This week is the last week of Gifted Program classes for this school year.

Thanks for checking in and seeing what we've been up to this week!
    

GPS Scavenger Hunts

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

GPS Scavenger Hunts

The GPS unit the students used.

The Summerland AIM and ASPIRE classes as well as the Penticton 5s learned how to use the new GPS hand held units.  In pairs or small groups students hid tokens around the playground and marked their locations on the GPS units.  Each group then swapped their GPS unit with another group and searched for the other group's hidden tokens.  We learned that the devices are sometimes off by about 3 or 4 meters, so you have to still be very observant to find the tokens.  We'll be doing more with the GPS units in the weeks to come!

Project Presentations

There were some more great presentations this week.  Maia presented her comic strip on Blackbeard and Ricki presented her and Gebrielle's magazine about ancient Egypt.  The presentations were top notch as were the questions and appreciations from their peers!  The Penticton grade 4s and 5s continued to work on projects with many students creating animations or games using the visual computer programming language Scratch.

Field Trip!

Every year the older students in the Gifted Program are invited to go on a field trip related to our theme.  This year's theme is 'X Marks the Spot!  The Search for Treasure.'  One of the things that we have explored this year is that many of the games we play involve the search for treasure of some sort.  Some examples are digital games such as MineCraft or Geometry Dash and board games such as Labyrinth or Settlers of Catan.

For our field trip we will be going to Scandia Golf and Games in Kelowna.  Students will get to be treasure hunters; winning tickets when they play games, that they can then retrieve for prizes!  This trip is for grade 3, 4 and 5 students in the Gifted Program.  Detailed information about the trip was e-mailed to families on Friday and paper copies will go home next week.

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).

Another Two For One

Hockey playoffs kept me from posting last week (ah the life of a hockey parent), so this week we have another two for one blog post.  Without further ado, here are some of the things we did This Week (and last) In Gifted!

Name Grid

If you've ever played Boggle, then you have a bit of an idea of what the game Name Grid is like.

Penticton 4s playing Name Grid

Players try to make as many words as they can from the letters in the grid.  Some of the rules are:

• words have to be at least 3 letters long
• they cannot be proper nouns
• letters have to be adjoining one another on the grid (vertically, horizontally or diagonally)
• a letter cannot be used more than once in a word
• one point for every word
• an extra point for every 5 letter word, two extra points for every word with 6 letters or more

The grade 4s, 5s and the Summerland AIM group tried this activity and it turns out there are some real word smiths out there!  I was especially impressed with the Summerland AIM group--though they were the youngest group I tried this with, they came up with some wonderful words (long ones too!)  *Note: for instructions on Name Grid along with other games, check out '40 Icebreakers for Small Groups' by Grahame Knox (link).

Maps

All of the classes except the Penticton 5s have been working on Maps.  Students have made old, weathered looking maps with an X marking the treasure (or the starting point on the quest for the treasure!)  Below (link) are some of the maps from the Summerland ASPIRE group (gr 4 & 5).




Students who have completed their maps are starting to work on directions for the treasure seekers.  Some students are choosing to write riddles, others are going to use the skills they learned last year to encipher or encode their messages.  One AIM student decided to come up with his own code.

Rhett's Code

Students are also deciding on; what the treasure is that is hidden, who hid it, how it is hidden and how it is protected.

Treasure Projects

Over the past few weeks the Penticton grade 4 and 5s have heard the following presentations:

• Katie's powerpoint and comic on the California Gold Rush
• Kieran's powerpoint on Ores
• Max, Jimmy and Graham's radio show about Pirates
• Marcus' powerpoint about the precious ores in the game Minecraft
• Jonas' radio interview with Smaug, the dragon from The Hobbit
• Jaras' poster on Easter Island
• Ashley's Comic Life booklet on how to get secret coins in the computer game Geometry Dash 
• Liam and Sean's powerpoint and accompanying radio show on The Top 5 Video Games That Involve Treasure

There will be more presentations in upcoming classes.

The Summerland ASPIRE class has also been busy.  They are working on their 3D models of booby trapped treasure.  As mentioned earlier, they've also created maps to go along with these models.  As you can see from the photos below, the models are really coming together nicely.

Thanks for dropping by, I hoped you enjoyed reading about a few of the things that we did over the last couple of weeks.

 

February 16th - 19th

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

More On Maps

The Summerland and Penticton AIM groups (grades 1 - 3) started creating their own, aged looking treasure maps.  Students had fun creating and naming mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans and other geographic features.  They then ripped and crumpled their maps and painted them with tea to give them an aged look.  We will be working with these maps in future classes.

Project Time

The Penticton grade 4s and 5s continued to work on their treasure projects.  Some of the grade 4s presented their finished projects.  Max, Jimmy, and Graham presented their radio interview on pirates and Marcus presented his slideshow on rare gems and ores in Minecraft.  We look forward to more presentations in the weeks to come!

The Summerland ASPIRE group (grade 4s and 5s) continued to work on their 'Protect the Treasure' 3D models.  We have models with rolling boulders, hand scanners, snake pits and more!

Improv Bingo

The Penticton grade 5s continued to explore the process of working in choice versus no choice groups in Improv Bingo.  This week they did not get to choose who was in their group; I made did the groupings (ensuring that the usual pairings were not together).  They did a marvellous job with their skits!  Through this process I hope that the students are getting an opportunity to experience the pros (instead of focussing on the cons) of different sorts of groupings.  I think they are beginning to see the strengths of all of the members of our class and to trust that they can collaborate with anyone in the class to create good work.

Little DJs

Little DJs on Go Okanagan

In November Wayne McDougall from Shaw TV visited the Penticton grade 5 group to do a story on the radio project all of the gifted classes worked on last year.  We had a great time being interviewed and learning about how television is made.  The resulting piece, called Little DJs, has now aired on Shaw's Go Okanagan and can be viewed below (link).

5 Card Photo Story

This week it was the Summerland AIM and the Penticton grade 5 groups turn to do the 5 card photo story.  The Penticton grade 1-3s also finished up their 5 card photo stories from last week.  The students came up with some great stories!  We heard about royal bunnies, vampire bunnies, ducks, quests for carrots and so much more.   Here are the slides they had to work with (link):

Projects

The grade 4s and 5s continued to work on their projects.  The Summerland ASPIRE group started building the 3D models of their booby trapped treasure caches.

The Penticton grade 4s and 5s continued working on their treasure research projects.  Some students are almost ready to present their work to their peers.  In fact one of the grade 4s, Jonas (pictured below), presented his project on dragons this week.

 

Body Spell

The Penticton grade 4s played Body Spell.  Students were placed in groups of 4 or 5 people each.  Each person had 3 - 4 letters written on their hands and feet.  Then the class was given a word to spell.  It was chaotic, it was crazy, and it was fun!  The students did a great job of using their hands and feet to spell.

SHRED

SHRED

THIRSTY

THIRSTY

More MaKey MaKey

The Summerland AIM and ASPIRE groups continued to work with the MaKey MaKey invention kits.  They experimented with making foot pads, banana keys and drum kits.  Plans for giant piano keys are in the works!

Keys made out of play dough.

Tin foil footpads.

Banana key!

 Thanks for stopping by to see a few of the things that we did... This Week In Gifted!

Maps!

After a long break, we're finally back at it.  Here are some of the things that we did... This Week In Gifted!

This Week's World of Treasure Slide Show

Prior to the winter break the AIM classes were working on finding images and information on different things that they considered to be treasure.  In small groups they created slideshows sharing what they learned.  This week we are featuring Summerland AIM students Rhett, Oscar and Iain's show.  (link)

Protect the Treasure!

The Summerland ASPIRE group (grades 4 & 5) were introduced to the project they will be working on for the next little while; Protect the Treasure!  They have been given the task of hiding and protecting an incredibly valuable treasure.  Their job: to create a 3D model showing where they have hidden the treasure (the cache) and how they are protecting it! We talked about famous treasures from real life and popular culture and how they have been protected and we watched a few video clips for inspiration (the heist scene from Wallace and Gromit's The Wrong Trousers, trailer for the TV show The Curse of Oak Island, an edited version of the opening scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc). Students are in the planning stages and have some amazing ideas.

Research Projects

The Penticton grade 4s and 5s continued to work on the research projects they started before the break. Despite the big hiatus, the students keenly and enthusiastically got back to work. They are each researching a different treasure related topic and finding a creative way to share what they've learned. Some students are building on the work we did last year, and creating short radio shows. Some are producing newspaper articles or magazines. Others are creating Jeopardy style games using the interactive whiteboard.

Maps!

The Summerland and Penticton AIM classes (grades 1-3) explored maps.  We talked about when and why we use maps and then we did a little exploring on Google Maps.  Students looked up where they lived and then found out how to get from their homes to our class either at Wiltse or Trout Creek Elementary.  After that we started to go further afield, checking out other places in BC and then on to the rest of the world!  Students used Street View to look at photos of familiar places (homes of friends and family, school etc) and also more exotic places.  The Thursday group strolled around in Moscow's Red Square! 

What is Social Time?

Katie and Gerry look at microscope slides during Social Time

We start every class with Social Time.  This time is an opportunity for students to connect with each other while playing games or building and creating together.  Popular things to do during Social Time include:
- building circuits using the Snap Circuits kit
- building large structures with the Magnetics kit
- playing strategy games such as Labyrinth, Gobblet, Mancala, or Uno
- solving matchstick puzzles or the Rubik's cube
Social Time is also an excellent opportunity for me to touch base with each of the students and see how their week has been.

Thanks for checking out what we did This Week In Gifted!