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.

Cubism Art

This post is devoted to the cubism drawings that the Tuesday morning and Thursday classes have been working on over the past few weeks.  The Thursday morning class was lucky to have local artist and parent Jo-Ann Apolzer teach them the techniques (see this post for more info).  Students used chalk pastel and / or pencil crayon on paper.  In their pieces students were attempting to incorporate the characteristics found in the great cubist works.

Almost all student work is represented below.  As the last few students finish up, their work will be added here.  For each of the slideshows, click on them to have them show up full size and with captions showing.  Enjoy!

Tuesday Morning Class



Thursday Morning Class



Thursday Afternoon Class

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.

Thursday Guest Artist

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

Cubism and a Guest Artist 

The Thursday morning class was treated to an art session with local artist and Gifted Program parent Jo-Ann Apolzer.  The class started with us using the Inventors' Portal and going back in time to visit Gertrude Stein in her salon in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.  Students heard about the various famous artists who used to gather there.  They also saw many of Picasso's paintings, focusing on his cubist work as well as the work of other cubist artists.  Students shared their observations about the characteristics of cubism.

After that, we returned to the present where Jo-Ann introduced a number of techniques for the students to try in order to make their own cubist works.  Students used chalk pastels and / or pencil crayons on white printer paper.  They experimented with:

• mixing colours
• blocking off areas using Post-It notes or painter's tape
• creating sharp, dark edges

Some students traced images which they then started to 'fragment' in the cubist style.  Others created abstract pieces. 

The Thursday afternoon class went through the same process, though without Jo-Ann.  I learned a lot from Jo-Ann in the first class which I was hopefully able to pass on to the students.

Next week I will post images from both classes of each student's favourite piece. 

The Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon classes finished up their Picasso portraits.  Photos of the Tuesday afternoon class portraits can be seen in last week's post (now all student work is represented) and the Wednesday afternoon portraits below (some students still need to finish theirs and they will be added soon).

Advertising Strategies

The Tuesday Morning class explored the different strategies advertisers use to sell products, referring to the list on the last page of this document.  They then 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!

Invention in Art

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

Field Trip!

It was been a tradition that the grade 3 - 5s in the Gifted Program go on a field trip in May that ties in with the year's theme.  This year our theme is Inventions and Inventors.  For our field trip we will be visiting the engineering labs at UBC-O in Kelowa on May 1st!  The students will be taken on a tour of selected labs and there will be some hands on activities too.  If your child is in grade 3, 4 or 5 they were given the field trip information sheet and permission form this week.  Please complete and return the forms as soon as possible.  If you need another copy of the info and forms please e-mail me and I will send them along (cthompson at summer dot com).

Below is a short video I showed the students to introduce the field trip.

Portraits in the style of Picasso

This week the Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon classes went back in time to visit Gertrude Stein in her salon in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.  There they heard about the various famous artists who used to gather there.  They also saw many of the paintings of Picasso focusing on his cubist work.  Below are the paintings that the students viewed.  They noticed that in Picasso's cubist paintings he used geometric shapes, showed objects from more than one view, and sometimes it was difficult to tell what some of the objects in the paintings were. 



After being introduced to Picasso's work, the students started working on a portrait in the cubist style (based on this post and the image in the final slide above).  Below are completed portraits from the Tuesday afternoon class.

My Favourite Things

The Tuesday morning and Thursday morning classes played a new game this week called 'My Favourite Things'.  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!

Invention Project

The Tuesday morning class and both Thursday classes worked on their invention projects.  Students are either designing their own original invention or designing a program in Scratch.  Things are looking great!

Before the Break

Here are a few of the things we did, the last week before the break.

5 Card Photo Stories

The Tuesday and Thursday classes did 5 Card Photo Stories.  This was the first time doing this with the Tuesday afternoon class and they did a wonderful job!  Students working alone or with a partner have 5 minutes to come up with a story involving 5 photos.  For a more detailed description and sample photos check out this post from a few weeks ago. 

Funny Face

The Wednesday afternoon class played 'Funny Face'; a charades style game.  The class was divided into two teams.  One student from a team would come up and be given a scene or action to act out (for example; "be a dancer", "go for a walk in a windstorm") and their team-mates would try and guess what they are acting out.  This would alternate back and forth between the two teams, with everyone having an opportunity to act out a scene.  This class has many talented actors; they did an excellent job acting and making good guesses.

Passport Please!

The Wednesday afternoon class has been designing their own passports or ID cards.  Last week students decided what to include on their passport / ID cards and this week they finished them up.  Each passport / ID card is unique, not just because they identify unique individuals, but because each individual decided what information to include and how to lay it out.

Our Own Inventions

The morning classes continued to work on designs for their own inventions.  Students spent time researching to see:

• if their invention already exists
• what technology their invention will require
• if their invention is realistic
• what components it will require

 Some of the inventions on the drawing board are:

• mood paint -- paint it on walls and it changes colours when you touch it
• running shoes with jets in the soles -- they help you land safely if you fall from a height
• a variety of robots that can act as pets or do specific tasks for you
• a mousetrap involving a rubber net
• multi-coloured paintballs -- single pellets contain more than one colour of paint
• traceable, re-usable air pellets
• a magnetic zipper

These are just a few of the inventions, and my brief descriptions have not done them justice! 

For Minecraft Fans

Zach and Tyler from the Thursday am class showed their class the Pixel Paper Craft website.  This site has printable plans for a plethora of Minecraft characters, mobs, skins, backgrounds etc.  Zach brought a very detailed and complex character that he made from the site; Bendable Steve.  The Minecraft loving paper crafting people in your house might enjoy making some of the projects from this site over the break.


 

Remixing and a Robbery

Here's a look at some of the things we did... This Week In Gifted.

Identifying a Bank Robber

The Wednesday afternoon K - 2 class were taking care of some banking at the Gifted Program Bank of Penticton when it was robbed!  The bank robber made off with an unknown amount of cash and bonds.  Police interviewed witnesses immediately after the robbery to try and ascertain his or her identity.  It was discovered that the robber was a kid; a boy with light brown slightly wavy hair and blue eyes.  There was some disagreement as to the colour of shirt he was wearing.  It was notable that he was wearing shoes (as strangely most of the employees and customers were in their stocking feet.)  Unfortunately the bank robber has not been apprehended yet, but we think his name might be Graham...

After the robbery the class discussed different ways that we identify people and we looked at a sample BC Driver's license and a sample Canadian passport.  Students then worked on designing their own ID card or passport to use with the tunnel in for the Inventors' Workshop.  (The tunnel has a 'scanner' at one end to scan identification documents.)

Designing Our Own Inventions

The morning classes started to work on ideas for their own inventions.  Students will be deciding on an invention, researching whether it already exists, determining what components are needed for the invention, coming up with drawings and/or models of the invention as well as promoting it.  This will be an ongoing project.

Remixing

The Tuesday and Thursday classes discussed what a remix or a mash-up is.  We then did a quick 'Creature Construction' where each student is asked to draw a creature in three parts.  First, each student has a minute to draw a “head” for their creature. They fold the paper over so that the head is hidden, with little prompts for where to continue the drawing. After the head is hidden, they pass the creature to another student.  Next, each student has a minute to draw a “middle” for their creature, using the guides from the head, but without peeking! After the middles are hidden (and
prompts drawn), they pass the creatures on.  Finally, each student has a minute to draw a “bottom” for their creature. Once the creatures are complete, students unfold the papers to see the collaboratively constructed creatures.  The resulting creatures can be pretty funny looking! 

After that warm up activity students went onto the computers to make a Pass-It-On story in Scratch (see this earlier post for a description of Scratch).   Students had 10 minutes to set up a story; choosing a background, characters and adding movement and text.  Just like the 'Creature Construction' they then rotated to another student's story and added on to it.  We rotated one more time.  Through this process students got an opportunity to learn from each other by seeing how different things were programmed in Scratch.   (This lesson activity is adapted from session 7 in the Scratch Curriculum Guide).