On Monday this week we had a meeting with Dr Graham Kerr who works at NASA in the USA.
On Monday this week we had a meeting with Dr Graham Kerr who works at NASA in the USA. Dr Kerr originally comes from quite close to Banton, about half an hour drive away!
Dr Kerr tooks us through an explanation of his work on Sun, solar activity, solar probes and lots more. He told us some incredible facts.
He also answered our questions on a whole host of space related facts.
After the meeting I asked the Biggies to do some research and create some art on anything that had caught their interest. They have worked really hard both in school and at home!
Research
Art
And a Bonus Gif
Minecraft in Space
As today is the last day beforethe holidays, we spent some time making the solar system in Minecraft. Some of the builds were really inventive. The Sun, planets, astronauts and more. Juliet even had hollow planets with information boards inside.
This week we had a dash for the finish ending with a Exhibition in the Playground for the rest of the school.
I am incredibly proud of the way the children worked over the weeks. Especially on talking to Eilidh. She was very impressed at the children’s practical skills, the way they solved problems and their ability to talk about what they were doing and learning.
The class were especially impressive talking about their work to the other pupils and staff in the playground Exhibition.
Today the pupils continued to impress by writing about their projects. Some wrote about the technical details, some about the feeling and some wrote poems. All the writing below is by the artists.
The Swan – Tony
I wrote a wee poem for ye The auld swan shall come Tae me Doon the wee canal Ye may see it come round Tae ye The auld swan shall come Tae me
I chose a swan because when I think of Banton i think about nature and in Banton there is a pond with swans in it so that’s why I did it. I also chose it because I like swans and think they are cool. I like this idea and enjoyed making it.
The Forrest – Xander
My creation represents jealousy. It makes me happy when I look at it when I am jealous. Its leaves are green like nature. The leaves are crunchy when I step on the leaves. When I look at the animals they are cute. They are very fluffy and furry. The birds are very noisy alll the time. The trees are full of apples. The apples are very tasty. The forest is always there for me.
The Watermill – Calum
I made the water mill because I wanted to make some more complicated. I made a mechanism that made it spin round. It was hard to hot glue the curved cardboard. My creation makes me feel accomplished.
A few weeks ago we started art in the makerspace. An artist named Eilidh Manson came in to do some art with us. We made some sketch books. I didn’t actually choose it. Mr Johnston showed me how to make a tree trunk. I made a tree but I made a leap of logic and it gave me a super lit idea so I made a forest. When I cut the cardboard it was a bit stiff. It was easy to make animal figurines. The finished project made me feel happy.
Peepcorn and other consumables – Noah
They where called spittles it took a couple weeks to do but I done it (hardly). Tt was hard at bits I used creative thinking, problem thinking And more. Then I made a susy and peep-corn they both hard to made. The materials I needed were cardboard, fabric and more!!
The Cherry Tree Juliet, Chloe & Alexia
Once boxes and bags, Now a tall Cherry tree, And branches inside can’t you see. Tissue paper flowers and packaging paper bark. Held together by glue and duct tape and things like that. Some real branches hiding, They blend in so well, you nearly can’t tell, It’s a cardboard tree.
Door Toes & Prongles -Jason
The flavour of door toes is like fire, burns your tongue more than a ghost pepper nothing else can beat it in spice.
Prongles is the biggest snack you can have it holds world records with it, it never expires you will love it especially the new giant flavour even bigger that the big flavour so EAT NOW.
The Swan – Robert
The Swan is nice and relaxing, The cam seats are so calm, The atmosphere is quiet, A wee nice feeling roams the air.
I made the swan (pub/bar/restaurant) because I felt like it really symbolised Banton in a good way. The community made it a nice place to eat or drink at.
It makes me feel happy, calm, and bit sad and a wee bit nervous. I feel happy because I finally finished the project. I feel calm because now I don’t have to juggle all the thoughts of what to do next in my head and sad because Eilidh Madison (who helped us build it) will not come back. I also feel nervous because it might collapse. I feel quite good.
Note, Roberts use of cam in the poem is deliberate, a Biggie Engneering joke!
The Shed – Gene
Why I made it
I chose to build the shed and the tools inside it because at the start before we built anything I was struggling for ideas. I thought of tools outside in the playground and I thought of a shovel. Then after I built the shovel I built a broom then a bucket then the shed.
Exhibition
My class displayed the things we have been working on for the past few weeks. We told everyone about how we made it, features, why we made it and more like what’s above. Everyone liked the exhibition. It was very fun. Some things gone wrong but we had a great time. The exhibition was a success in the end.
This week we made a lot of progress in the MakerSpace. The class were so busy we did not have much time for reflection or taking notes. We can really see the ideas being brought to life. The class have a very wider range of ideas! Some of the ideas are beinging to expand, either in size or complexity.
This week we made a lot of progress in the MakerSpace. The class were so busy we did not have much time for reflection or taking notes. We can really see the ideas being brought to life. The class have a very wider range of ideas! Some of the ideas are beinging to expand, either in size or complexity.
I did ask the pupils how we could improve out teaching. This was met with a series of ideas for expanding the space. This included, planning & painting areas, Space for painting and being able to leave work in a more organised way. All good ideas but difficult to do given the space we are lucky have.
We had a fair trade focus day on Friday. We have been learning about the Fairtrade story of bananas & chocolate this week.
We had a fair trade focus day on Friday. We have been learning about the Fairtrade story of bananas & chocolate this week.
On Friday we started the day by making banana pancakes. These are really simple, just banana, flour & milk along with a little baking powder, no sugar!1
As well as thinking about Fair Trade we practiced our Food Technology, linked to hygiene and some maths measuring. Following a recipe uses our literacy skills too. Cooking is also good fun and over half the class thought the result was tasty. Banana seems to be fruit marmite.
Fairtrade information
In our literacy lesson Miss Baxter work with us to create wrappers for imaginary Fairtrade chocolate wrappers. We were surprised as to how few chocolate bars are Fairtrade. We had to write in two genre, giving information about Fairtrade on the inside and designing a persuasive outside.
At the start of the day I asked the pupils to let us knowwhat fairtrade was in a paragraph, here are some responses:
Fair trade is like a organisation that helps the farmers in the poor countries. Fair trade means the poor farmers can get paid a good amount for their hard work. Fair trade is an amazing thing that helps thousands of farmers that deserve a fair pay.
Tony
Fair trade is an organisation that makes sure that farmers get a fair price for their products that they are selling. You get fair trade bananas, chocolate, coffee and other stuff.
Juliet
FairTrade, it’s a wonderful thing, it has 2 ways it supports farmers, Fairtrade minimum and Fairtrade premium. Fairtrade minimum has a limit to how low the price for cocoa in any Fairtrade product can go with coco. Fairtrade premium gives money to the community for every ton of cocoa sold.
Robert
Fairtrade is an organisation designed to help farmers who grow our food. The price is increased a bit on some of the food we buy that the farmers produce. The extra money all goes to the farmers, not where you are buying it.
Gene
A different group of The Biggies bake as part of their maths program each week, nearly always involving a little sugar ↩︎
We had our second visit from Artist Eilidh Manson yesterday. Every one has started on a weird or wonderful piece of Art. We have mill wheels, cats up trees and giant packet of pringles, and a lot more great ideas.
Getting Startedpeep-cornfrog in a pondThe SwanA mill wheelA swanglue gunnin’weavingsketing outBusy Busy
The class are all now becoming increasingly independent in the MakerSpace, working safely with care.
Today in the maker space I started on making my water mill. I filled my toilet roll with tissue but then I took it out and but a stick in then put tissue back in it. I cut round card board and hot glued it on.
Calum
Today in the MakerSpace I made a tree and I made it into phase 2 Mr tree. I made it in one WHOLE day. When I cut the square on the bottom it was a bit stiff. I wrapped even more tape to make it less fragile.
Xander
Today I made a drinkable slush made out of cardboard and I made a pop corn which I renamed peep-corn it’s called peep-corn because you can look thru a hole I learned loads of new techniques and you can drink out the slush because there’s a cup behind the cardboard.
Noah
Today in the maker space I made a swan. I have made the main body. I have also started a slot so it can stand up. I haven’t finished it yet but when I do it will look beautiful. I learned that if something didn’t work try it again and if that doesn’t work leave it for later.
Tony
Today in the MakerSpace I started my art project. I started with making the roof for the first building. It was hard to do it but I kinda weaved cardboard to make it 2 times and put them together with an angle. The I added something to stop the angle from changing. Then I make 2 30x20cm parts and 2 30x30cm parts. I put them together to make a square. It got a lot better at making roofs with tiles and cutting with saws.
Robert
Today in the MakerSpace I started my art project. Im doing it with Chloe and we are going to do a tree with a cat stuck in it. We have got the base done and next week we are going to build it up then make the outside look like bark and add the branches and some flowers.
Juliet
Today we were in the MakerSpace and I made a giant Pringle can. I started by using a giant tube, then put a lid on the bottom. then made 2 small Pringles then curved them to look like Pringles, then I but some hot glue on the so they would look like a actual Pringle with all the powder things then I add all the labelling and picture of the guys face.
We had outdoor learning day today. We had to change our plans a little because of the weather, or maths went turned from a shape photograph safari to working with chalk & circles. It was too wet for iPads outdoors.
It was not too wet for the Biggies, we all had lots of waterproofs on.
The first thing we did was to gather some nice straightish willow branches for cooking later in the day.
Next Maths, we worked on by drawing circles on the playground using 2 different methods. This helped us think about the properties of circles, and the shape they make when they cross each other. Some folk just had fun with spirals too.
Although some of the Biggies were a bit dismayed at the weather, they all got really involved in making circles and were surprised when it was time for playtime.
After playtime we went back out for some P.E. The rain had really started to pour, this made the wet ground extra slippy and there were some exciting bumps and skids. After about half an hour of this we went back inside got our clothes sorted out and made some bread dough in the hope it would dry up in the afternoon.
Fire pit
In the afternoon the weather brightened and we went out to ‘bake’ our bread on the fire.
When working around a fire we need to follow quite a lot of rules to help us stay safe. One pupil acts as the Fire Chief, and controls all the movement around the fire. When approaching the fire to light it or add wood pupils need to adopt the respect position. The Biggies are really good at this and manage to both stay safe & have fun.
We cooked some ‘damper’ this is bread dough wrapped around a stick. It doent always cook evenly, but almost everyone manage to make something they enjoyed, right of the fire without jam or anything. It takes quite like wookd cooked pizza crust.
Yesterday we had a visit from Artist Eilidh Manson who will be working with us for the next few weeks in the MakerSpace. Putting an artistic slant on our making.
Eilidh stated by talking about how important sketch books are and show us how to make our own. We started using these straight away thinking about Banton and places and things important to the pupils.
We then headed through to the MakerSpace, to experement with cardboard and other materials. This is a warm up for next week when the children will be working on turning their own ideas into art.
We will do some more advanced projects. I know what I’m going to make. I have ideas I want to try. What I think working with Eilidh will be awesome. My techniques I have learnt.
Roll up cardboard to make a tree trunk.
Scrumple up cardboard to make leaves.
Xander
I think I will do well over the next few sessions and also I think other people will do well too. I know what I am going to make. I’m going to make the shed in the playground. I think working with Eilidh will be fun. I have learnt the technique stacking and I don’t really like it.
Gene
I think over the next few sessions we will start to work on the pieces of art. I think I am going to try to make a tree, I think I want to try using little pieces of wet cardboard as bark but glue it on. I think it is going to be fun working with Eilidh. A new technique I have learned is weaving cardboard.
Juliet
I think it’s going to be a good bunch of sessions and it will be all calm and nice.
I do know what I’m going to make and it is: The Swan (the restaurant in banton)
The ideas I want to try are: making textured walls and making a roof that doesn’t fall.
I think it is going to be nice.
I have learned how to thread cardboard and make 2 walls support a small roof.
Robert
I think we will keep on experimenting Im going to make a slushy and you can remove the lid and replace it I’m still thinking of ideas I want to try I think it will be fun and entertaining Putting your finger into the top of a bottle and it will be easier to cut it.
Noah
I am going to make the Banton mill I think that we are going to make interesting things I think it will be good working with Eilidih
The Biggies had their first Trip to Dow’s Wood this year. Ice Hair, Adjectives & Land Art.
On Wednesday the Biggies had a trip to Dow’s Wood for some outdoor learning. The plan was to make some Land Art and gather some adjectives.
Our new pupil and Miss Baxter, who is working with the Biggies this term had their first trip to the wood so we had a look around first.
Eagle eyed Noah spotted some Ice Hair:
Ice Hair a rare find.
It is quite rare to find ‘hair ice’ in Scotland so I was quite excited. We also had a look at some hazel catkins.
On the way we gathers a few straight sticks and dead stems. We had been looking at some images and video of Land Art. This is art made from natural materials, that can be left in place after taking some photographs. We were careful not to damage any living things.
Working on Land Art
Most of the class were quickly absorbed in putting together some abstract shapes, some using their engineering skills to balance, and construct strange shapes. These things often go wrong, this class are becoming expert in making mistakes, meeting failure and pushing on to success.
Weaving a tangled webDelicate workMiss Baxter Joins inEngineering in actionLollypop treeMoss MountainThe Monster
The first thing we did in the woods was collect sticks and make art. We could work in partners or by our selves, I worked with Gene. The first idea I had was to make a circle but me and Gene couldn’t really get it very Sphere like. We tried making a stick out line first and filling it in with smaller sticks but that didn’t really work. Gene then had an idea of how to make a better one but we ended up making a monster on a giant mossy rock. Gene made a really cool stick line down for hair. I built the face out of muddy leaves and mud which made my hands freezing. But It was really fun.
Mud is the new Glue
Juliet
One morning we went to the woods. About half way through the trip, we made some sculptures next to the big rocks. I started making some gigantic but also wee structure, first I wanted to make a ball but I found out it was too hard to do it, instead I made Some pillars and connected them. I made it all with sticks. It was very hard but it turned out very well! It kind of looked a bit like a circle of pillars with one in the middle and a roof.
Robert
Me and Juliet built a sphere and a rock monster. First we built the sphere. It didn’t really look like one. We built it only out of twigs/sticks. Just a sphere. But I thought of a different way to build it. We didn’t build the different version because Juliet thought of and excellent idea. We built a rock monster on a mossy rock. It went tremendously. It went better than I thought. I’m still baffled that the twigs/sticks didn’t fall off. I had a lovely time working with Juliet.
Gene
This morning, we went to the woods. We made some art, we used sticks, rocks, and leaves, and maybe some moss. Me and my friend Alexia Were partners with each over. Luckily we both have creative minds. We started off putting a bunch of twigs together, and then we added the big sticks. Then Alexia’s strange but creative mind took over, she added hats to all the sticks! It was strange but it was also cool because it was a cup of an acorn, after a little while I asked Alexia about putting clear rocks in it and she put it around the centre we called these moon rocks. After that Mr. Johnston showed us other people ideas, after seeing Mr. Johnston’s we decided to do a leaf circle like him and then we were finished.
For the last few weeks the Biggies have been spending their time in the MakerSpace tackling a Christmas Challenge.
Design & construct a Christmas Model
Design & construct a Christmas Model that includes a moving part
Design & construct a Christmas Model that includes a moving part & a simple electrical circuit.
Design & construct a Christmas Model that includes a moving part, a simple electrical circuit, & a programmable element.
We started off by making plans:
We talked a bit about the skills needed for carrying out or plans and the design cycle.
He results show not only our pupils imagination but a range of skills.
For the last few weeks we made some Christmas models in the Makerspace. We could make anything we wanted, as long as it is Christmas themed. I decided to make a Christmas tree! I was the only one who made a Christmas tree.
There was a lot of problems we had. Here are some of the problems I had:
The motor didn’t work
The tree was moving when the motor was on
The motor was falling of a bit
Here are the solutions I had for the problems
Check and re-wire the electronics
Add some weights to the tree
Tape it on a bit
Robert
I made a train with a carriage carrying presents. I thinked about connecting both the locomotive and the carriage together. So I used pipe cleaners to hook them together. The final product was a success. I liked how I added presents to the carriage.
Problems & Solutions
I used wood to make the presents but they were too tiny so I used Lego to make the presents. I wrapped some wooden circles in tin foil to make some presents.
Xander
I used lots of my skills but I used five main skills. 1. I used planning and organising because I had a plan on what to do. 2. I used ICT for my micro:bit. 3. Numeracy for measuring things. 4. Problem solving for my short and tall stuff. 5. Creative thinking to add details.
Tony
For the maker space Christmas challenge I made a sleigh pulled by a rain deer. It had a light collar and a micro bit in the sleigh. It also moved. We had to make it max 30cm wide, long and tall.
A few problems I had were I didn’t have enough space to make two reindeer like on my plan so I had to move the micro bit to my sleigh. Another problem I had was that my reindeer was to heavy causing my sleigh to tip forwards so I had to pup my rubber in the back until I got the wires and batteries in which held it down.
Some skills I used were planning and organising, ICT, creative thinking and practical skills.
Juliet
First I made a net. Then I hot glued the net together to make a square then I made a roll for the front. Then I added 2 light bulbs and with then I wrote Santas express on it. Lastly I added an spoiler and an antenna and that was me finished
I used my practical skills and my ICT. My problem was the clips would not connect to the light bulb. My idea totally changed at one point because my original plan was a slay that you pull Back against an elastic band.
