Presentations and Amusing a Goldfish

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Presentations 

All of the students in the Wednesday morning class have presented their slide shows featuring the underwater creature that they made for our underwater scene.  The students did a great job presenting their work.  As the audience, students were encouraged to ask good questions and to let their peers know what they did well in their presentations.

Here is a short video showing the underwater scene the Wednesday morning class created (link).  In it you can see; a brittle star, a colossal squid, a mythical kraken seizing a ship, a sea cucumber, and a sea tortoise. 


The Wednesday afternoon class has started doing their presentations.  This week we learned about the Angler Fish from London.  We look forward to learning from the rest of the students about the creatures they chose.

The Thursday afternoon class just got started on their slide shows this week -- I look forward to sharing their work in future posts!

Amusing a Goldfish

The Wednesday morning and the Thursday afternoon groups each participated in an activity called Ready Set Design.  In this activity students are given a problem to solve and asked to make a prototype using specific materials.  They have a short amount of time to come up with their design.  Once they have created it, they explain the design to their peers.  This week's problem was:   “I need a way to amuse my goldfish while I am at school - she seems to miss me when I’m away”.  The materials available were:
- 1 small paper plate
- 3 pipe cleaners
- 3 popsicle sticks
- 1 medium balloon
Students were not allowed to use scissors or tape.
The range of designs was truly incredible!  Some students created a bit of a playground for the fish, complete with a punching bag.  Others drew a likeness of themselves on the paper plate so the fish didn't feel abandoned.  One student created a helium balloon filled transportation system so the fish could explore the house!  The Thursday group was intent on not just amusing the fish, but giving it a bit of a scare with images of scary cats and dogs.  Lots of creative, out of the "tank" thinking ;-) 

Underwater Scene

Here's what we've been up to in the past couple of weeks!

Underwater Scene Update

The Wednesday afternoon group have finished making their models of underwater creatures.  They are now working on making short slide shows, using Google Slides, to highlight the key features of their creatures.

Check out their creatures in the video below.

The Wednesday morning group have finished the models for their underwater scene; we're just putting it all together and adding some finishing touches.  The Thursday afternoon group is making a diorama and it is coming along nicely!  See future posts for a look at both of these projects.

Deep Sea Fun

All of the classes checked out the interactive website The Deep Sea, where we explored to the very depths of the ocean!

Watersheds and the Water Cycle

The Wednesday morning group learned more about watersheds and the water cycle.  We also discussed water conservation.

These are just a few of the things we've been doing for the past couple of weeks.  Thanks for checking in! 

Water Olympics

Here is what we've been up to... This Week (and last!) in Gifted.

H₂O Olympics

This week students participated in the H₂O Olympics!  Seven events which allowed them to explore different aspects of water.  Check out the events in the slideshow below (link).



After each of the events we discussed the properties of water that contributed to the students' observations.

5 Card Photo Story

Last week the Wednesday morning class exercised their creativity with a 5 Card Photo Story.  The students were presented with 5 photos (shown below).  With only 5 minutes to brainstorm, they needed to come up with an engaging story that included each of the photographs.  The resulting stories were funny with unexpected twists and turns!  When students were participating as audience members, they were asked to give appreciations -- what did each storyteller do well?

Underwater Scene

Students continued to work on the creatures for our underwater scene.  Some students have started to create short slideshows with information on the sea creatures they made for our scene.  Benjamin and Skyler have also created a website to share what they have learned!  We'll be sharing that in a future post.  Check out the progress below (link).

Classes wrapped up for December

We've had our last class for 2019.  Classes will start up again in January when school resumes.

Someone asked me the other day what I see myself doing in the new year.  I said: "How would I know?  I don't have 2020 vision!"  (Bud doom boomp!)  Happy Holidays everyone :-)

Creating an Underwater Scene

For the past couple of weeks students have been working on creating models of aquatic creatures.  The models will be incorporated into a number of different underwater scenes.  Students are working on; tube coral, a colossal squid,  a brittle star, angler fish, salmon, deep sea dragon fish, puffer fish, star fish, a manta ray and more.  Check out the progress that is being made in the slides below (link).

Cholera Mystery

The Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon groups worked on solving a mystery!  They looked at evidence similar to what Dr. John Snow had access to when he solved the mystery of the cause of the 1854 London cholera outbreak.  Students used maps and information about the victims movements (where they worked, where they lived, places they frequented) to hone in on the source of the cholera outbreak.  Great detective work was demonstrated, and yes, they solved the mystery!

Update on Art in the Style of Roy Henry Vickers

In a previous post I described the work that students were doing to create images with the visual themes seen in the art of Roy Henry Vickers.  All of the students have now completed their pieces and so I've updated the slideshow (link).  Each student incorporated three key elements into their work; bands of colour to represent sunrise/sunset, silhouettes of landscape in the background and silhouettes of people or animals in the foreground, and a single block of blue water.  Although the pieces share these three elements, there is also a a great deal of diversity in the images. 





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