Drumroll Please!

A Name For Our Radio Show

Over the past few weeks the students and Ms. Thompson have suggested names for our radio show.  Last week students voted and this week our radio show name was revealed.  Drumroll please!

Our show name is...


(link)

When we have enough content for a few episodes, we will be airing it under our new show name!

Speaking of Content...

The students have been very busy the past couple of weeks.  We now have the following completed audio segments:

• an ad for Noah's Mechanical Shop
• an ad for Sophie's Homemade Jam
• Fun Facts About Animals, Episode 1

A couple of other segments are almost complete, while many more are in production.

Check out the slides below for photos of the producers at work! (link)

What is it?

This week we played "What is it?"  Students were shown an ordinary object and asked to think outside the box when answering "What is it?"  You would not believe some of the crazy things students came up with for a spoon and a rubber koosh ball!

Thanks for checking in to see what we did... This Week In Gifted!

In Production

This week all of the classes were busy, busy, busy on our big radio project!  Students were writing scripts, voicing scripts, and editing audio.  The ideas that are bouncing around are amazing!

Highlights from this week's classes:

• Students who were initially uncomfortable with recording their own voices are giving it a try and doing really well!
• The number of students who have asked "After I do this radio segment can I do... (insert amazing and creative idea for a new radio segment here)?"  By the way, the answer is a great big "YES!"
• The interesting collaborations that are popping up.  Kids are approaching each other to work together on different radio segments; it is very cool to observe!

Here are some examples of the radio segments students are working on:

•  A radio drama that is the retelling of a classic fairy tale (two students directing and producing, with another six involved as voice actors.)
• A number of fake (and funny!) ads 
• Jokes and Riddles
• The history of one of the original six NHL hockey teams
• A debate show (two students directing and producing with two on air debaters)
• An investigative report on the real story behind a classic fairy tale
• The story of a fictitious hockey team

 Below are some photos of the radio producers at work (link).

Radio Show Name

Over 40 radio show names were submitted by students and Ms. Thompson.  This week students voted on their first and second choices.  Ultimately Ms. Thompson will decide on the name, but she wanted to have a good idea of which names appealed to the students.  The big reveal will happen next week and then we can get down to designing a logo, website, jingle... and all the other branding that a radio show would normally have!

Update on Station IDs

In the past few weeks the grade 4 and 5 students recorded Station IDs for Peach City Community Radio - CFUZ.  This gave them the opportunity to practice:

• using the field recorders
• voicing a script
• transferring audio from the field recorder to their computer
• editing the audio in Audacity
• exporting the audio as an MP3 file

Some of those Station IDs are now playing out on Peach City Community Radio; they sound very professional!

Beginning To Make Radio!

The students have spent many weeks learning how to use the field microphones and how to edit audio.  This week we began putting those skills to work.  This week students began creating their own content for our radio show!

Content Creation

Students started researching topics and creating scripts for the radio segments they wish to produce.  Some students are working alone, while others have formed small groups to work on a project.  Radio segments on the following topics are being produced:

• jokes and riddles
• facts about animals
• fake ads
• a fractured fairly tale
• hockey
• soccer
• comedy / debate show

Some of these segments will be fairly quick to produce, while others will be longer endeavors.  I can't wait to hear the finished products!

It was quite exciting to see students dive into creating audio content!  Below are a few photos of the students at work (link).

Radio Show Name

We are working on coming up with a radio show name.  Students can still submit names here.  Once we've got a name it will be time to start branding -- logos, jingles, you name it!

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

And The Winner Is...

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

Voting

For the past few weeks we've been brainstorming names for the radio show which will contain all of the mini radio shows the students have been or will be working on.  Each class put forward their top two names.  This week it was time to vote!  Here are the names that made it onto the ballot:

• Cfeffial Radio
• Chatterbox
• Communication Army
• Container of Pickled Doves
• Crazy Communication
• Drive 2 the Town of Secrets
• Ducks in a Bucket
• Gifted Kids On Air (GKOA)
• I do not know what to call this
• It's Called... Communication!
• Niobium Radio
• Radio Times
• Sky Fi
• The banana toaster bo meatloaf dryer Philly bob match stick broom duster pocket money grandpa whopper hobbler hobbler hobbler ehhhht quack show 
• The Cool Kids Radio Show
• The Creation Station

Because there were sixteen names to choose from, instead of just voting for their top choice, students were asked to rank their top eight choices.  This is an example of Instant Runoff Voting.  In the first round of counting, everyone's first choice was tallied.  The names that were in first to eighth place after the first round of voting were kept and the rest of the names were eliminated.  In the second round of counting I then looked at the ballots that chose an eliminated name as their first choice and assigned their vote to their second choice (if that choice was already eliminated then I went to their next choice, and so on.)  After the second round of voting, the last place names (there were three names tied for last place) were eliminated and their votes assigned as above.  This process continued until there was one name that had more than 50% of the votes.

Every student in the gifted program was able to vote (100% voter turnout, not bad!)  It took seven rounds of counting to come up with a winning name.  Gifted Kids on Air (GKOA), The banana... quack show, and The Creation Station were the top three names right from round one of counting.

And the Winner Is...

The Creation Station came out on top, but it was a very close race!  Now that we have a name we can start working on, logos, posters, station ids and more.  

Communicating Emotions

This week the Penticton grade 1/2 class looked at the different ways that we communicate that we are happy, sad, excited etc.  We discussed body posture and facial expressions.  We then went on to Bitstrips to create characters showing different emotions.  Students are learning how to pose their characters and change their facial features to match different emotions.  

This and That

The AIM, ASPIRE and Penticton grade 3 - 4 students all spent time on Audacity recording their mini shows, some classes also did the storytelling exercise 5 Card Photo Stories.

The Wrap Up

Thanks for checking out TWIG.  I hope you'll check in again next week.