We had our first week practise with Mr Golding this week. It was loud and loads of fun.
February 9, 2024
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February 8, 2024
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Building Buildings
The class are making good progress working on their Famous Building models. Some really creative solutions and problem solving.
When making the centre part of the building, we stumbled across a problem with the folds, I used the makedo tool to make folds where I wanted them to be but in the piece of cardboard I was using had folds where I didn’t want them to be. So I used parts of skewers to hot glue over the folds and that fixed the problem.
Rory
In the MakerSpace, Alexia, Chloe and I made a paper bell to go inside our Big Ben, Alexia had designed the bell and once we had made the roof we thought it would be a good idea to use a skewer to attach the bell, once we had tried it didn’t work, the skewer was too obvious and it didn’t work when we put the roof on, to fix the problem we used string instead. We also had the problem of the roof covering the hole for the clock, we decided to vaguely cut a hole in the roof to fit the clock and it worked.
Olivia
My problem was that the flaps were not strong enough to fix the problem we got sticks and stuck them on the the flaps to fix them.
Alex
I had a problem with how the supports for the cardboard strip that does over the bridge would be held. The problem was that I didn’t know how to put a piece that would work good to hold the cardboard. I solved this by using a egg box bit if cardboard.
Harry
I needed to put tape in the inside of my top of the Big Ben to make it easier to hot glue.
Lexi
February 2, 2024
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Scratching with P1-2
On Wednesday the Biggies went to Primary 1-2 to teach them a little about ScratchJr. This is a programming app for younger users. The Biggies have experience with coding with Scratch itself, micro:bits and Arcade.
Both ethe Biggies and the P1-2 workeked really hard and had a ton of fun. Some of the Biggies wrote about it on their e-portfolios so I’ve taken some quotes.
I learnt how to explain to use scrachJr to younger people and also how fun it is to use ScratchJr.I think we all used a few good different skills but I used ICT, problem solving and leadership I think I was good at all the skills I used. I loved working with the wee ones it was really fun I loved there watching the little films they were all so good.
Alex
We did use a lot of our skills to do the project of teaching the p 1/2’s to be able to use JR For p1/2 it can be a bit hard for them but we weren’t long in teaching them how to use scratchJR. We used of our skills to do so we had to use communication and our own ICT skills. And all in all it was a good chance to work with the p1/2 team.
Blair
We had to make a film or a scene it was so fun with the primary 1/2 . One of the primary one was making a car crash or float about in an iceberg it was so FUNNY.
Faith
This week we worked with primary 1/2 on ScratchJr we were teaching them how to move characters and make them say things. I liked working with the little ones and teaching them how to use ScratchJr because it was really fun and whatever they had they were happy with it. I also enjoyed it because Evie was always thinking ahead. I learned that the primary 2s were already really good at ScratchJr and that it wasn’t me teaching Evie it turned into Evie teaching me.
Juliet
January 29, 2024
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Last week’s Biggies Highlights
Well last week went a bit too quicckly for me to post this.
Famous Buildings
We have started another Makerspace project. The class are going to make models of famous buildings. After some research, organising groups and working out sizes and designs we started on Tuesday.
The first stage mostly involved cutting big sheets of cardboard to the correct size.
Junior Leaders
On Wednesday afternoon Julie from Active Schools NL came in to train the Biggies to be Junior Leaders. This is training to help the children organise and lead games for the younger pupils. They need to think about safety and fun.
We were delighted to get a great report form Julie, the class are well on their way to be Junior Leaders and give the wee ones some fun.
Mair Scunners
A few years ago the biggies invented some Scottish horror characters, or scunners. We had another go this year, drawing the characters and giving them a backstory in Scots. Have a read:
January 11, 2024
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Cardboard Constructors
Yesterday we had a cardboard construction challenge as a MakerSpace warm up.
The challenge was to make something out of pieces of cardboard. The target was to make the tallest or most artistic creation. The limitation was only pieces of cardboard could be used and the biggest size you could use was 10cm.
No Glue, No Tape: Just Cardboard
We had a lot of fun, some successes, and some problems. All the pupils kept working until the end. The results were varied!
Some of the class aimed for height, some for art, some worked to their own criteria (Alex managed a miniature).
December 22, 2023
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Christmas Challenge
Primary 5-06-7 had a STEM challenge yesterday. The children had to create a sledge to carry a small assortment of sweets down a ramp. We were looking for the one that could go furthest without losing its cargo and the best looking on.
The Biggies are getting really good with their practical skills in the makerspace. The manages the whole thing In a couple of hours. Some beautiful solutions. Lots of problem solving, creativity and communication on display.
December 21, 2023
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ScribbleBots
We made some scribblebots this morning as a warm up to our Christmas Makerspace challenge.
December 2, 2023
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Steady Hands Stage 2
This week we have been converting our Steady Hand games to incorporate our micro:bits. The micro:bits record the number of touches and tell the player the games is over after 5 touches.
We will used these at our Christmas Fayre when we let people play for a small fee. A sweet for the ones that get through with no mistakes.
November 28, 2023
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Outdoor Learning Day
The day started with a touch of frost. Despite this we tackled the Bee hotel wild flower beds. These have become full of grass with no flowers. We have dug out the grass, and will cover them up over the winter. in spring we will seed some more will flowers. We added some sand to make the soli a bit less rich and covered them which will hopefully kill any remains grass to make room for the flowers.
Camera Stand challenge
We feed the birds in the playground and have a NatureWatch camera to take photos of our visitors. The class were challenged to make a better camera stand, that could be adjustable and move around on a tricky slope.
Estimating Weight
Next we worked on some estimating weight for maths. Everybody got a small contained and filled it with sand. They then weighed their own box but did not tell anyone else. The children then estimated all of each other boxes. We will calculate the best estimator when we are doing some inside maths. There are some accurate estimates.
Photos & Poems
In the afternoon we took our iPads out to catch some photos of the winter light, it was a lovely bright, but cold day. We also wrote some haiku inspired by the season.
Firepit
We ended the day reading our haiku round the fire pit and finishing off with some marshmallows s’mores.
November 22, 2023
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