Dear Adventure Author Team…. May 30, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Uncategorized , 13commentsPrimary 7b have been very lucky to have this project, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the wonderful work of everyone at Heriot Watt University on the Adventure Author Team.
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US! 
One Last Booster…. May 30, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work , 23commentsGood morning! This is it! The last ever WB Brain Booster!
Today’s Brain Booster is:
If you were a character in a fantasy world, would you be good or eeeevil, and what type of dwelling would you live in? A castle in the mountain or on the sea? A Hobbit hole? A cave? An dark and mysterious undergroud lair? A tree-house in the forest? A cottage in the village?
A Special Award May 30, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Evaluation, Images , 4commentsWe were really pleased that Mrs McCall, Mrs Clark and Mr Wood were able to join us for our presentation on Monday at this busy time of year. And it seems that they were so impressed with the efforts of our class that we were presented with a Certificate of Achievement!
What did you think of World Builder? May 30, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Evaluation , add a commentThe class have very kindly filled out some evaluation forms for me in class this week to let me know what they thought of the project.
Everyone, (no surprises here) loved creating their worlds on the laptops, and some found the conversation writing to be the trickiest part.
Most people were happy enough with the rotation of groups as it meant that everyone had an equal shot. However, it would have been better if we had all had our own computers and had been able to have more time on the games.
Overall the feedback on the language work we did was positive, with most of our activities being rated as ‘Useful’. Story Planners were rated as boring in many cases… no surprises there either!
Lots of pupils felt that they would think more about description in their writing in future and some also said they would consider reading Fantasy now in their own time. Some also mentioned that they learned about working together and working through problems.
Generally everyone was happy with the project, though lots of people would have liked to have had time to make new levels and to learn about Interiors on the game.
Thank you very much for this feedback and for all your hard work P7b! :) :)
And the project went out with a bang….. May 26, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work, Games-Based Learning Links, Images , 1 comment so farToday everyone worked really hard to finish stories and props and get the class ready for our presentation in the afternoon.
The pressure was on to get drafts finished, typed and blogged, and I am pleased that so many managed to do it. Please do keep checking the Our Worlds page as more will be added each day. And yes, they are actually there to read again now!
Everyone had one last chance to edit their game, and Kieron very kindly arrived in the morning to offer assistance.
Over lunchtime Callum and Steffani helped to transform our classroom into the World Builder Presentation room.
Judy arrived and helped us to set up a bank of computers at the front where parents and other guests could be shown our fab games. All the desks were moved and the chairs laid out in rows. Morgan, Hannah and Mairead came up with the genius idea of running a Rune Translation competition and so set to work preparing that and getting it all photocopied. Mairead also put together a slideshow about the work we had done on Runes, and Rory’s name plate was a prefect example to have on show. We also set up a laptop where visitors could use the website to find out their hobbit and elf names! We barely had time to eat!
At 1:45 the parents arrived, and the room began to fill up. We were delighted that so many parents went out of their way and took time off of work especially to come along! Mrs McCall, Mrs Clark and Mr Wood also made a special effort to attend.
After a bit of an introduction from Judy and myself, it was time for everyone to read their stories. Some people were very shy to begin with, but we ended up hearing about 10! Well done brave people!
We took a break after about 5 or 6 of them, and then we demonstrated our games to our visitors by Group. Having the competition and other activities running at the same time here worked really well -thank you girls! It looks like we really tested those parents!
Everyone was very impressed, (and some a little mystified) by our computer games. We were able to show some games on the interactive whiteboard which made them easier to see.
Back in our seats, the announcement was made: Mrs Clark won our competition!
After some more excellent story reading, every member of the class was presented with a certificate from the Adventure Author team for a job very well done!
Missing Worlds May 26, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Uncategorized , 2commentsAt the weekend I had another go at making our blog look a bit more exciting and a bit, well, darker! I thought we needed to make it a bit more fantasy-like. As some of you my have seen things went a bit green and were divided into three columns and it was all looking pretty good….
… until we discovered today that the theme I had chosen was hiding all our lovely stories on the Our Worlds page! After an initial panic, I realised that they were still there after all, and I just had to change it back.
I am sorry if you were not able to view it!
The World Builder Presentation May 23, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work, Games-Based Learning Links , 1 comment so farThe games are made.
The tales are written and the props made (well, nearly).
The invitations to parents have gone out.
The World Builder Project will have to come to an end next week, and to celebrate the huge achievements made we will be presenting our work on Monday 26th May after lunch. All parents and families are invited to join us and the Adventure Author team will make once last visit especially for it.
Today more people finished props and got their stories typed up and there are some more on the ‘Our Worlds’ page for our visitors to enjoy. I think they are just brilliant!
We will take lots of photos on Monday and get a slideshow of the big event on here.
The WB Brain Booster is Back! May 23, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work , 30commentsHurrah! We have time at last to have another Friday morning WB Brain Booster!
Today’s Brain Booster is:
Imagine that you are the hero in a magical quest. You must save a magical creature from a dragon’s lair. You can use any special objects, spells or abilities you like, but there are 3 guardian dragons and one Dragon Lord to defeat. The guardians all have special strength and are fire breathing, of course. The Dragon Lord is very wise and can counter-act many spells.
How do you do it?
All visitors are welceome to join in! This could be our last…..
Welcome to Our Worlds! May 22, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work, Evaluation , add a commentI am delighted to announce the opening of a new page on our blog: Our Worlds.
Today some people reached the stage where they had completed the first draft of their World Builder story, and many have managed to type their work up. In pairs, those that had finished exchanged stories and, just as they did with the games, gave each other 2 comments about what they thought was really good about the story, and 1 point for development. The stories were then polished using this feedback and they are now ready to share!
Please visit our new page to read these as they are added. Some will also appear as podcasts in the coming week or so.
First Class First Drafts! May 19, 2008
Posted by Miss Collins in : Class work, Images , 8commentsHaving worked really hard on storylines, quests, scene setting and character personality, the time has arrived to get these fantastic fantasy stories down on paper!
I have read some of the first drafts, and I have to tell you that they really are very, very impressive! We will be word-processing and podcasting the finished versions in the coming weeks.
