Thursday, April 30, 2009

Week Thirty-Six -- Magazines

Give your student one magazine. Give them 2 minutes to cut out as many phrases as they can.

At the end of 2 minutes, tell them to put the phrases together to make a story.

Note: if your kids can't read, then give them 2 minutes to cut out as many pictures as they can. At the end of 2 minutes, tell them to put the pictures together to make a story.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kool Krazy Kaleidoscopes - Solutions

We had some magnificent entries this week.

Moomintroll and Snufkin both began with a layer of shiny clear plastic with a layer of black paper. The clear plastic on the inside, they both folded triangular prisms and secured them with tape. They then made pockets from two layers of clear plastic and put in snipped coloured plastic pieces, beads and sequins. They tapped the edges of the pockets securely and attached them onto one end of their prisms. They could have left it there but Snufkin decided to place her prism snugly inside a cardboard tube so that she could easily turn the kaleidoscope to change the view. She also added a peep hole in order to block any extra light from the viewing end. Moomintroll kept the rather pleasing prism shape for his kaleidoscope and even his peep hole is triangular. He took some rather lovely pictures of its not-at-all-disappointing show. Awesome work guys!






Austen found a plastic tube and put the beads on one end of the tube and covered the top with a plastic sheet and put a rubber band around it to hold it in place. Then, Austen cut up tissue paper into small squares and put these into the tube with plastic over the end and taped it to the tube. Finally, Austen took the black piece of paper and rolled it around the tube and taped it in place. Tremendous work! You should be proud.






Although Orca and Alce say they had trouble getting started, they did an amazing job and should be proud for sticking with it!






Zee really worked hard on this challenge, revising his kaleidoscope 3 times. He also made a magnificent video that you can see here. Zee, this is one of your best ones yet! Great job.




Thursday, April 23, 2009

Week Thirty-Five -- Kaleidoscopes

Use the following materials to make your own kaleidoscope.

clear plastic
a clear plastic sheet protector (it is doable if you don't have this)
black paper
a cardboard tube ( pringles can, toilet paper roll, paper towel roll)
glue or tape
pins or paperclips
a rubberband
colored tissue paper
small beads or buttons
scissors

When you are done, you can read about how to make kaleidoscopes here. Did you do something similar?

And, you can read about the world's largest kaleidoscope here.

If you haven't gone to the web recently, please check it out. There are some new fun things there, including a new ongoing challenge.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Giant Geometrics Solutions -- Week Thirty-Four

Orca and Alce joined us for the first time this week, creating some amazing structures -- a cube/triangular prism and a square/pyramid. You should be extremely proud! To read more about their process, go here.




Once again, Snufkin and Moomintroll did a magnificent job. Snufkin displayed hers by hanging it like an objet d'art from the lampstand. Moomintroll made a 3D crown-like shape, which his cat is modelling. He then made a larger structure that balanced nicely on the edge of the armchair.





Zee also did an absolutely marvelous job with his giant geometric shapes. I hope you are smiling proudly Zee! You can read more about his process here.



Thursday, April 16, 2009

Week Thirty-Four -- Geometrical Shapes

Place a box/bag of straws and a box of paperclips on the table. Tell your students to make the largest geometrical shape that they can (preferably 3D). Remind them that there are more shapes than a simple cube. They may use scissors in construction but not the solution.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Let it Snow Solutions -- Week Thirty Three

We got a great solution this week from Boo and Zee. Check out their video here.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Week Thirty-Three -- Snow Machines

Wishing there was still snow on the ground? Well,

Using tongs, 2 forks, a ruler, two pencils, rip up some paper and make some 'snowballs'. YOU MAY NOT TOUCH THE PAPER WITH YOUR HANDS!

For an added challenge, create a snowball launcher from a rubberband, 2 paperclips,tongs, and a pencil. Launch the snowballs but remember YOU MAY NOT TOUCH THE PAPER WITH YOUR HANDS!. Send in pictures or video.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Sticky Solutions -- Week Thirty-Two

Gerrick did a magnificent job with this challenge. Hope you are proud!



To read more, go here.

Boo and Zee also made excellent edible art! You two should be proud! To read more, go here.




Here is another magnificent solution from here. You should be proud of those butterflies!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Week Thirty-Two -- Rice Crispy Art

Make some rice crispy treats or similar marshmallow cereal treat then tell your students to make an animal using the rice crispies. When you're done, check this out.