Postcards - FoE

I enjoy making postcards with the children using 2Simple 2Publish. It allows them to choose photos or do drawings and then do some descriptive writing. 

Friends of the Earth sent me some postcards advertising NewYear Resolutions which I've copied below. 

I'm hoping that as spring starts up local schools will be in touch to use me to help their children explore local environments. Localy we have, seashore (sand to cliffs), woodland, moorland and freshwater habitats, as well as parks and school grounds.

Richard Haring - Children's Art

I caught a documentary on Richard Haring on Sky  Arts last summer. I was flicking through the channels and this stopped me. I knew the images but not the man. In fact, I think I thought the art was a movement not an individual. It was fascinating viewing.

I then picked up a book on Art for Baby* with an images of his on the cover. I didn't have an avenue for using it. Yesterday, I picked up "I wish I didn't have to sleep!"**, the first in a series of Adventures in Art books for children. I'm now looking more actively to use his work in some way.

Cover Image from "I wish I didn't have to sleep"

Like many people, I find it difficult to explain why I like certain pieces of art, they just appeal on an emotional level. So, if you're interested in contemporary art and don't know the name, why not explore his world?

* Art for Baby (2000) Templar Publishing ISBN 978-1-84011-999-2

** Keith Haring : I wish I didn't have to sleep (1997)  Prestel Books ISBN 3-7913-1815-2

London & the British Museum

We went down to visit our son in London at the weekend. We braved the warnings of snow and freezing conditions. Basically, we went down to drop off the Christmas presents he couldn't carry. We bought our usual batch of CDs, DVDs and books. I was really pleased to get a CD by Daniel Kahn & Painted Bird.

Outside the British Museum

Main Hall of the British Museum

On the Sunday, we went to the British Museum. I was itching to go after reading Prof Munakata's British Museum Adventure and Scorpia Rising (see previous blogs). We were going to the Egyptian gallery but got distracted by the Themes room and marvelled at everything from a brass orrery from the 16th Century that stopped at Saturn to the obsidian mirror of John Dee.

An orrery

Wow. A Lego orrery encountered on line

I thought of all the children that never get chance to experience these artefacts and so much more. How can we put this right, especially in the current economic climate?

Relax Kids

I bought this book called "Relax Kids" quite a while ago and eventually got round to giving it to a colleague who is open to trying new things with her pupils. My colleague is doing a "Castles" topic incorporating knights and princesses and traditional tales. In "Relax Kids" there are two traditional tales relevant to this topic. The email I received said "I've been using that meditation book. They love it!"

I got a nice warm feeling.

Animation Club - Pivot Stick Figure

 I'll be teaching pupils how to animate with Pivot Stick Figure this week and so have had to practice. Here are my attempts using park and garden backgrounds (640 x 480).

I'm still unsure where to go after this but have just bought some Fuzzy Felt Dinosaurs which might be an alternative to plasticine and Lego figures.

Victorians

A colleague told me that Mr Gove wants to remove Mary Seacole and William Wilberforce from the teaching of history and place more emphasis on major figures like Oliver Cromwell. I haven't checked this but, as I might be getting involved with the Victorians in the near future, I thought I'd have my two-penneth.

Victorian Board School

I've prepared some Victorian resources for the Immersive Room at Inspire 2 Learn and one section deals with Famous People including all the usual suspects. One that I haven't included is Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the designer of the London sewer system, but I'm going to put him in. This allows me to include more Science in this history topic by using the fictional book The Sewer Sleuth by Julia Jarman. This short book looks at investigating cholera in London in a detective/scientific manner. This book in turn leads me to more excellent fiction for children set in Victorian London, incorporating the London sewer system, written by Eleanor Updale (Montmorency, Montmorency On The Rocks, Montmorency & the Assasins, Montmorency's Revenge)

Franklin Watts (1997) ISBN 0-7496-2590-2

Scholastic Press (2003) ISBN 0-439-97815-7 

Also within the Immersive Room, I've included another "unknown" historical figure, Patience Kershaw. Patience's true tale is told through the medium of a song sung by The Unthanks* and uses her statement to the Inspector of Mines in the 1840's. I find this moving history. A young girl couped up with half-naked sweaty men in a pit, developing large muscles from pushing and a "baldy patch" on her head from rubbing against the carts.

Here's the Tender Coming (2009) EMI Rabble Rouser 687 1222

We are all part of history and small, as well as continent-spanning stories, are relevant and should be part of the curriculum.

* The Testimony of Patience Kershaw from "Here's The Tender Coming"

The Laughing Clasroom

It's interesting how things come together. Here's an example. I came across this book while browsing, as usual, through every charity and book shop in sight.

Then, idly following links from an email, I came across the reference below. (I'm not happy with the use of the words "and heart" in a reference but that's me.)
I'm not exactly humourless but pretty po-faced. If I were still teaching though, I'd probably skim through the book and give a few things a try. Does the thought of a Laughing Classroom in the current climate engage you? What "humorous" activities do you use in your lessons?
I recently played "The Laughing Policeman" at a talk I gave, expecting hysterical laughter, but I cut the track short when I saw the bemused look on the children's faces. Another time, another place?
Here are a few fun things. 

This is a cartoon version of the book. There is also "Girl's Like Spaghetti" for apostrophes.

From a magazine I think. Quite a talking point.

THE BOOK : The Laughing Classroom by D. Loomans & K. Kolberg (1993, reprinted 2002) H.J. Kramer Books. ISBN 0-915811-99-5

THE REFERENCE
http://edudemic.com/2012/12/30-surprising-and-controversial-ways-students-learn/?utm_medium=linkedin&utm_source=twitterfeed

"26. Children who participate in laughing activities experience increase in memory retention
Do you remember the last time you had a good belly laugh? If you are fortunate enough to have laughter as part of your everyday life, you can probably easily remember what triggered it. Laughter is evidence of an engaged body, mind, and heart, increasing the likelihood that you are able to recall what triggered the positive emotion.

Laughter not only increases a child’s capacity to remember the humor, but it also gives a feeling of security and contentment.

Pam Schiller and Clarissa A. Willis, both PhD authors, speakers, and curriculum specialists, put out an article that highlights this fact. They note that laughter not only increases a child’s capacity to remember the humor, but it also gives a feeling of security and contentment. It is important that teachers use funny songs, games, or silly phrases to start a lesson."

Sir Quentin Blake

Beyond the Page - cover illustration

Another Christmas present from my wife was a very expensive, signed copy of Beyond the Page by Quentin Blake. It was fun to see that he received a knighthood a few days after I received the book. His contribution to children's literature is well documented but his contribution to a variety of charities and the creation of stimulating spaces for children (and adults) less so. A recent exhibition we saw at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle highlighted the latter.
He has also helped set up and pledged his archive collection to The House of Illustration to provide a centre for illustration in the UK.

http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/

A visit to this site shows a section entitled "Illustrating Science" which got my immediate attention. Their illustrators, working with the Wellcome Institute and primary schools have designed resources to help teach the following KS2 Science topics - Life Cycle of Plants, Local Nature Spotters, The Heart & Circulation and Micro-organisms. Hopefully, with the coming of Spring, I might be able to involve a particular school with the Local Nature Spotter's unit.

Sir Quentin is probably best know for his illustrations for books by Roald Dahl. My favourite for reading to my son was The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, though I really liked the illustrations for The Twits.

Harper Colins (2009) ISBN 978-0-00-727905-0

Co-incidentally, Mr Stink by David Walliams was on the TV at Christmas and the original book was illustrated by Blake. This was Walliams second children's book, the first being The Boy in the Dress , also illustrated by Blake. He's since produced a further three all illustrated by Tony Ross.

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz

I've been given a copy of Scorpia Rising to read before a future event that I hope to be involved in. I've got a couple of Anthony Horowitz books that are still unread although I have listened to Stormbreaker as an audio-book and read it as a graphic novel*. I might try and find a cheap copy of the movie that was made in 2006.
I love researching stuff so have been on Wikipedia and Horowitz's site to find out more. I thought Horowitz was prolific and wasn't wrong. Scorpia Rising is the 9th novel in the Alex Rider series. There are also the Book of Five series and the Diamond Brothers series, as well as other children's and adult books.

Alex Rider is a sporty teenager who gets involved with the secret service. Other authors in this genre I suppose include Chris Ryan, James Patterson and Robert Muchmore. I have yet to read Chris Ryan & Robert Muchmore but really enjoyed the Maximum Ride series of books by Patterson. I'm not the quickest of readers so some more recent books are still to be read.

I was surprised to find computer games and action figures were produced to accompany the Strombreaker movie.

I've just read the first chapter of Scorpia Rising and can't believe the tie in of this with Prof Munakata's British Museum Adventure which I've just read and blogged about. Spooky. I now have a much better idea of my approach to that upcoming event. Hopefully, I'll be able to blog about it soon.

*It's the graphic novel tack that I'm hoping to use with children in the future. Comic Life will be the software but I haven't hit on the best way to source images yet. I'd really like to use photographs of the children in "action" poses but need to put a lot more thought into this over the next week or two.