Island of Belle Chapter 2 May 22, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Island of Belle , add a commentThe Island of Belle chapter 1 May 22, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Island of Belle , add a commentFantasia Chapter 1 May 2, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Fantasia , 2commentsThe Plots Thicken May 2, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , 6commentsThe first drafts of the stories are well underway and most groups are working their way through chapter 2. The stories cover a wide breadth of possibilities of characters, themes and situations. Fantasia takes you to another realm, you guessed it, as if in a fantasy world. The House of Horrors is about a family’s holiday home in Scotland where strange events inexplicably occur, at first unnoticed by the family. The Kwikimart involves two boys’ brush with a possible terrorist and has a tone of suspense. Looking at what can go wrong when irresponsible teenagers win a cruise to Fiji is The Island of Belle. The plot of the Queen’s Jewels allows you to see the depths a princess could sink to in order to become queen. The idea behind the story, Russel’s War, has to do with children who are evacuated to the coutryside during the time of the Second World War and the strong friendships they foster with one another. As I mentioned earlier, there are a range of plots and exciting events shaping up…we’ll continue to press forward with our writing!
Beginning our Writing April 22, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , add a commentSharing Our Stories April 22, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , add a commentThis morning each writing group presented what they have done so far in terms of planning for their stories. Groups had previously explained roles of their characters and settings so we found out how they will come together in the plot. The stories vary from fantasy to historical fiction to suspense. Several people spoke very clearly about the roles of strong characters in their writing, how these characters influence the story and how they changed following an important event (think Fantasia).
Following our presenting session, groups began writing their stories by sharing ideas and creating effective opening sentences and paragraphs. For some, this was quite easy to get going and for others it has been challenging; knowing how to begin or agreeing on ideas and taking them forward. We will work on ways around our obstacles by talking them through tomorrow and trying new strategies and continue on with what’s been successful.
Our Character Posters- Can you spot Yours? April 16, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , add a commentStory Writing April 13, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , 2commentsThis week we will develop our characters and setting for the story writing we will be doing over the next few weeks. Our stories will be 4 to 5 chapters long and take the same shape of the books, class novels and stories we have written independently- including a beginning, build-up, problem, resolution and ending. We will work to develop language, extend our writing/ideas and discuss within our groups and with the class. Editing our stories will also be key and may be easier by using laptops to do the drafts. Once our writing is in the final draft we would like to create a playscript from the story, dramatise this and record it using the PSPs. We have a lot to do in the upcoming weeks, so watch this spot for updates!
Around The School February 14, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , 3commentsP6/7 PSP Project Update! February 14, 2008
Posted by Alicia MacFarlane in : Uncategorized , 5commentsAs part of our PSP project P6/7 continue to integrate the PSP into our learning. We continue to use Hot Brain in the morning and record our practice and test scores. Many of us are improving in various areas and focusing on the task at hand as soon as we come in.
Accessing the internet from the device has also been possible and allowed us to download pictures from Google Images for some of our work surrounding the Second World War. We have looked up images of ration books so that we could create our own, which should bear a likeness to the real thing. John brought in a replica which also provided an example for reference.
Also, we have been using our PSPs as cameras and video cameras. Practising different angles such as ‘high’, ‘low’ or ‘neutral’ gave us a good idea of how to create perspective. These angles were kept in mind when we would then video our interview subjects on the topic of World War 2. We found out not only angles were important when recording, but also proximity, or how close the PSP was to the interview subject. This was because some of the recordings were quite tricky to hear.
The recordings were then transferred to our school laptops (which took quite a while) to be edited using iMovie by the groups responsible for the interview. The completed movies will be viewed , discussed and assessed by the class in the near future.
During Science Week we also captured some of the events on the PSPs, including pictures and video of the Science Road Show which was presented to the P1s. The video footage was shared with the class and viewed on the whiteboard. We’ve made an iMovie of some of the experiments- informative and entertaining!
So on our project goes. We’ll try our best to keep everyone updated on what we’ve been up to and would appreciate any feedback or opinions.
