April 3rd 2020

Normally I start off by saying "here's what we've done This Week In Gifted", however, this was not a normal week!  Instead, I've posted a short video below -- just me saying hi and letting you know what I've been up to.  I've also posted a couple of brain teasers if you feel like your brain needs some teasing.
Cheers,
Ms. Thompson

Brain Teasers

Here are a few Brain Teasers that you might enjoy.

The Impossible Paper Puzzle Trick

The video below shows how to make a fun and easy hands on optical illusion (link).

Rebus Puzzles

A REBUS is a picture representation of a name, work, or phrase. Each "rebus" puzzle box below portrays a common word or phrase. Can you guess what it is?  The first one is 'Head over heels'.  The last one is my favourite!

The River Crossing Problem

A farmer is traveling with a fox, a chicken, and a bag of beans. During his journey, he comes across a river with a boat to cross it.

The farmer can only fit one thing in the boat with him at a time. If left alone together, the fox will eat the chicken or the chicken will eat the beans. How does the farmer get everything across the river safely?

The answers to the puzzles are below.  

















Don't peak until you've tried the puzzles.





















This cute hamster would like to remind you: "Try the puzzles before peaking at the answers!"
  

OK, here you go. 

Answers to the puzzles: 

Rebus Puzzles: Head over Heels, Top Secret, You are full of baloney (you are full of below-knee -- get it!) 

The River Crossing: You have to think outside the box!  To make things easier I am going to call the sides of the river side A and side B.  He's trying to get them all from A to B.

• the farmer has to take the chicken across to side B first -- this leaves the fox with the beans which is not a problem as the fox won't eat the beans
• the farmer comes back to side A with an empty boat
• this time he takes the fox over to side B and quickly grabs the chicken!
• the farmer comes back so side A with the chicken 
• he drops the chicken off on side A and quickly picks up the beans
• he drops the beans off at side B.  The fox is there too, but no problemo -- he doesn't eat beans!
• the farmer comes back to side A with an empty boat
• he picks up the chicken and takes it over to side B -- Viola!  They are all on side B and nobody has been eaten.  Personally, if I were the farmer I would question why I am keeping foxes and chickens. 

Presentations: Thursday Afternoon Group

All of the classes have been working on presentations, focusing on one of the creatures they created for their underwater scene.  This week was the Thursday afternoon class's turn to present their work.  The students were inspired by the quiz that the Kraken folks had on their website, so they asked to learn how to make quizzes that they could include in their presentations.  We hope you try out their quizzes and test your skills!

Octopus by Silas (link)




Acropora humilis by Thomas (link)



Parrot Fish by Marlowe (link).  Marlowe will be adding her quiz a little later.



Thank you for checking out the presentations!  You can see the other classes's presentations here and here.

Presentations -- Wednesday Afternoon Group

All of the classes have been working on presentations, focusing on one of the creatures they created for their underwater scene.  Presentations from the Wednesday morning group can be found here.

Below are the slideshows that the Wednesday afternoon group created.  Students presented their slideshows to their peers so that we could learn more about these different creatures.  The students in this group were learning a lot about making a presentation in Google Slides.  Part of their time was spent researching their creature, but an even larger part was learning how to insert images, make text stand out, and how to incorporate slide transitions.

Angler Fish by London (link)




Salmon by Lagos (link)




Seahorses by Julian (link).




Northern Spotlight Loosejaw by Wyatt (link)




Deep Sea Dragonfish by Ronon (link).  Ronon had a lot of fun with text and image animations on this one -- it's not for the queasy!




Corals by Damon (link)



Sea cucumbers by Zach (link)




Presentations from the Thursday afternoon group will be posted soon, so stay tuned!

Presentations -- Wednesday Morning Group

All of the classes have been working on presentations focusing on one of the creatures they created for their underwater scene.

Here are the slideshows that the Wednesday morning group created.  Students presented their slideshows to their peers so that we could all learn more about these different creatures.

Kraken, The Mythical Beast by Skyler and Benjamin (link) (they also created an interactive website!  You can view it here, but have to be signed into your child's SD67 Google account)



The Colossal Squid by Ellis (link)



The Basket Star by Meghan (link)



Green Sea Turtle by Sienna (link)

Presentations and Amusing a Goldfish

Thanks for checking the TWIG blog to see what we did... This Week In Gifted!

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! 

Watercraft Design Challenge

And we're back!  Take a look at how we started 2020.

The Watercraft Design Challenge

Students were given the following challenge; build a boat with limited materials (see below) that is able to float for at least 10 seconds while carrying 8 heavy washers.  The boat is floated empty, and then the washers are added one at a time.

The materials they were allowed to use were:

• two 8oz paper cups
• 10 skinny straws
• a 25cm long piece of Saran Wrap
• duct tape

Before building their boats, we discussed the design process:

 
A key part of the process is it is iterative -- after you test your design you evaluate it and then tweak it, coming up with an improved design.

The students did an amazing job and the variety of boat designs was truly wonderful!  As they tested their designs they had to deal with making their boats more stable or more waterproof.  The best part of the challenge was that once each student or pair of students came up with a successful design, they were willing to do more: either make it capable of carrying more washers, or trying a different design or challenging themselves to make a boat with less materials.

Check out the slides below (link) to see the students in action:



This design challenge came from the PBS Kids Design Squad Activity Guide.

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