Wet and Dry Environment Biscuits!

I could rattle off a whole heap of ways that this was educational (which it was!) but it was mostly just fun, and a treat for great behaviour all week!

This week we made wet and dry environment biscuits. Quite simple, I bought a couple of packets of simple round Arnotts biscuits as well as: spearmint leaves, musk sticks, jelly tots, jelly crystals, and some chocolate bullets.

Students decided on the kind of environment they wanted to create and thought about how they would do it using the materials available. They then iced their biscuits and added the lollies they wanted! The only challenge was persuading them that 'less is more' as I had to send a few back with unrecognisable environments!

Here is an example of two forest environments...

Cityscape Art

Yikes time can get away quickly! Haven't posted in a little while with reports (and sickness!) on the cards.

Just wanted to share a new artwork I did with my class last week which looks fantastic! As we've been learning about wet and dry environments we've also been thinking of the differences between natural and built environments. I used this lesson to highlight some of the features of built environments as well as think about how ultimately built environments are part of natural ones. To do this we created a city at sunset (or sunrise!)

To start with we looked at a power point I created of different sky scrapers from around the world. Pointing out the features and elements that we see in these sorts of city landscapes.

Next, students created their own city landscape using lead pencil on black paper which they then cut out, 

After that, we spoke about the sorts of colours you see in a sunset and the progression of colours in the colour wheel. Students then chose their colours (in rainbow order) and painted their background with water colour paints.

 Once dry, students stuck their cities on the backgrounds and then added some stars or clouds if they wanted to (using oil pastel). Obviously I'm a bit biased but I think they look great!

Exceeding Expectations

Just wanted to share a little story from today which was a nice way to end the week! I have a new boy in my class who speaks only a few words in English, he has only been here for a few weeks and I really feel for him not knowing the language.

This week my class have been presenting speeches on their favourite wet or dry environment. These speeches only need to go for 1-2 minutes and is their first real attempt at trying to present information with eye contact and memorisation - tricky stuff! The boy in my class gave his speech this afternoon and it was so amazing to see the class captivated by the few words he could say, they cheered for him when he finished and he smiled the biggest smile I have seen on his face since he's been here. He also drew a picture of the mountain from his home and the class were amazed at his sketching skills. A great result from a potentially scary task. 

(from travel.3yen.com)

He did a pretty good job, wouldn't you agree? Note: he didn't have the photo while he was drawing!