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Gathering Learning from around Scotland

February 8, 2024
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Comments Off on Building Buildings

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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Comments Off on Scratching with P1-2

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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Comments Off on Last week’s Biggies Highlights

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.

Montage of 4 photos of children cutting large pieces of cardboard.

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.

Montage of 4 picture of pupils in Gym

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).

Creative Thinking
Creative Thinking
Problem Solving Badge
Problem Solving
Numeracy
Practical Skills

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.

Montagesof 4 photos of pupils working on makerspace task

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.

A montage of 6 'steady hand' games made by pupils. These consist of a cardboard box wire and a micro:bit. They are decorated.
Screenshot of makedoce editor with code for steady hand game
The code we started with, improvements to be added by pupils.

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.

Naturewatch camera on tripod
Naturewatch camera on tripod

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.

child in playground taking photo
child in playground taking photo

Firepit

We ended the day reading our haiku round the fire pit and finishing off with some marshmallows s’mores.

Children round a fire toasting marshmallows.
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