Tudors at Inspire 2Learn

On Friday, I was at Inspire 2 Learn to deliver a day on the Tudors to pupils from a Redcar school. Their knowledge was excellent and my lecture was taken over by them telling me what they knew. There then followed a trip down the 3D Tudor Street, dropping in at the Great Hall, local pub, peasant's cottage and the hunting lodge. Oh! And dodging the poo flung from an upstairs window. This, in turn, was followed by pupils using Kar2ouche to produce a presentation about life for the rich and poor in Tudor times and a visit to the Immersive Room to explore the lives of the Tudor Monarchs.

Screenshots of interactive presentations made in Mediator

It was an intense and busy day which the pupils seem to have really relished. In their evaluations, 41 out of 58 gave the day 10 out of 10. Typical comments included:-
"I liked the 3D, the screening area and the computers. Thanks."
"I enjoyed making a slide show on the touch-screen computers and watching the 3D showing of a tudor street."
"I especily enjoyed waching the 3d movie although I also liked the touch screen computers."
"It was very fun and entertaining. better than workin in pen in school."
Inspire 2 Learn's great facilities were enjoyed by the children. Redcar & Cleveland have a powerful educational tool to be nurtured and developed.

Scorpia Rising - Comic Life movie

As part of a literacy event, I showed teachers a video I had made from Comic Life. It covers the first chapter of Anthony Horowitz's book Scorpia Rising.  If you fancy having a go, or getting your children to have a go, there are a few points to note. Comic Life by default is portrait so you need to change the layout to landscape in Page Format. Now you should use each page as a single frame in order to tell your story. Export the video from the File menu.

My title screen

Crossing London

Making a break for it

Given the slip

I had some problems with my running my video so an alternative is to export your pages as images, import them into Movie Maker, set the timings for each slide and export it. Add a soundtrack and sound effects if appropriate.

'Fraid I haven't managed to embed a video clip in the blog yet.

Animation Club - final blog

I've had to withdraw from the Animation Club I've been running because of other work commitments. Progress has been slower that I'd hope due to me taking a holiday and half term. The children seem to have really enjoyed the experience and I've allowed them to run with their preferences i.e. some have not moved away from Pivot Stick Figure whilst others have become dab-hands at making and animating plasticine models, taking photos and importing them into Movie Maker.

Turner at the Tate

I was lucky enough to be invited by a school to accompany them on a trip to study some of Turner's painting at Tate Britain. What a day!

Gratuitous Turner painting - The Fighting Temeraire

An early start saw us getting a coach to Darlington to catch the train to London. Children were surprised by how far they had to travel. Once in London, the tube trip to Tate Britain was an exciting first for many children (and some adults). A short walk and we were at the gallery. Lunch, first, then a guided look at a few of Turner's paintings. Children responded well to questions and activities and the time soon passed.

A circular walk, saw us pass the Houses of Parliament, cross the Thames, see St Thomas' Hospital, listen to Big Ben bong three o'clock before re-crossing the river. Dinner was at the local Pizza Express and enjoyed by everyone.

London Eye an County Hall on a grey day

Houses of Parliament - waiting for three o'clock to ring

A large number of photographs were taken of the day and some video footage too. These will be used by the pupils back in school to improve their IT skills using Comic Life and iMovie on the school's Mac computers.

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?