WEEKLY SPRING OBSERVATION UPDATE:
Spring is really springing up! Have a look……………….
After schools Gardening Club
Look carefully at the top blossom in the photograph below. There is a bee feasting.
Blue sky at last!
SESSION #5
We have been keeping an eye on our Epsom salt experiment. We mixed the salts and water last Tuesday. However, the water in the glasses was not evaporating very quickly, so Patsy the caretaker put the containers in his very warm Plant Room. There’s lots of pipes and a boiler in there to help speed up the evaporation process.
Today’s result: Disappointing! There is still a lot of water remaining on top. We will have another go at the experiment again. However, the upside is that the children realise that when you are a scientist, things don’t always turn out………..that’s a good lesson for life.
VANYA SHOWED US HOW HER CRYSTALS ARE GROWING:
During the past few weeks we have been talking about pattern. For homework yesterday the children had to look for pattern in their own homes and record what they saw. They put their findings in their “Virtually There” notebooks and had a chat with Vanya about what they saw. Here are a few examples of where they found pattern:
wallpaper rugs and carpets
slate floor tiles stained glass window
chevron upholstery fabric woven basket and sequined cushion
gift bags and gift boxes craft paper
gift wrap brick pattern
crockery furniture
Ronan made a rubbing of a leaf and a coin.
Oisin‘s cat has a pattern. Dillon‘s chairs are dark red and light red,
Mrs. Morgan came into the room. Her lovely dress had navy and cream stripes on it.
Vanya had done some homework too. She showed us photographs of things with patterns in her house: a bowl, her couch, a radiator, a grater and cushions. We discovered that pattern does not have to be multi-coloured. It can have just one colour.
Now we’re taking pattern hunting to the next level. Everyone was excited to add a PATTERN WALK to our list of “outside the classroom” investigations! Pattern is everywhere, and you just don’t realise how much there is surrounding you until you consciously go looking for it!
The boys and girls are very aware of pattern in Mathematics. Our focus today was to find random or repeating patterns on our walk. No stone/or person was left unturned!
A question for the children: We’re going on a pattern walk, so what are we looking out for? Everyone answered: PATTERNS.
What is a pattern?
Eirinn – It’s like something that keeps going on and on. It could be like a shape pattern, like a triangle or a square. They would just keep going on.
Christopher: It’s like a zigzag or a triangle.
Ronan: It’s like blue red, blue red, blue red.
Vanya asked: What makes a pattern? How can a pattern become a pattern? A cup on its own isn’t a pattern……………a pattern repeats itself.
Vanya told us that her friend sent her a photograph of the tiles on her floor. Each tile is an octagon. Vanya made a repeating pattern with the tiles. Amyleigh and Joshua went to the computer to draw a pattern that they had noticed in the classroom.
LET’S BEGIN: A very good starting point: our classroom ……and ourselves.
Notebooks: The children had to draw 2 lines on each of two pages, making 8 spaces altogether. In each space they had to draw a pattern which they noticed during the Pattern Walk.
OUR CLASSROOM:
My lovely “houses” cup. A polka dot ceramic coaster.
A wicker basket interior. Look at the pattern of the weaving.
Dillon’s super symmetrical pattern. Ceiling tiles in our classroom.
This is a curtain with a leaf pattern. Mrs. May’s cable patterned jumper.
PUPILS:
Roise’s floral coat. Juliette’s pink patterned shorts.
LET’S LEAVE THE CLASSROOM BEHIND………and go around the school!
mosaic tiles A handprint pattern tree
Positive and negative shapes and pattern at the top of the Link corridor.
The pattern on “the big Belfast fish.” Pattern on the floor and windows.
The coat hooks had made a pattern. Rope climbing frame patterns.
Even the stacked lunch tables made a pattern.
PE equipment pattern. Oisin has noticed the radiator pattern.
Daniel sees patterns on the wall. Pattern on the cooker.
Terracotta floor tiles in the administration corridor. Mosaic tile border on steps in the foyer.
Look at this colourful mosaic tile pattern in the front foyer. It’s been here since 1973.
LET’S REALLY GET OUTSIDE. A tray in the Meeting Room.
The brick walls of our school are arranged in patterns. GLASS BRICKS
Pearse is enjoying the hop-scotch. In Holland this is called HINKELEN.
There is a RHYTHM in the hopping.
Lines made by the lawn mower. Pattern -wire mesh on windows
This pattern of paving stones is called HERRINGBONE. Flagstones are laid in patterns.
Look at the pattern we noticed on the man hole cover:
Pattern left when the bicycle stand was relocated.
More shadow patterns near the Dinner Hall.
Pattern in nature. Pattern in playground games.
Look at the shadow of the fencing. Grating for rain water
How did the children enjoy this activity? Molly’s expression says it all.
After half an hour’s hunting we had to return to class to see what Vanya had been up to while we were away. She showed us some lovely patterns made by an American artist called JULIE ALPERT.
Vanya had made a repeating pattern of the star pupils in our class – that’s everybody!
She also showed us repeating patterns which she had made using 4 objects in her house.
The pattern made by the books on her bookshelf.
Top right – stones in her fireplace. Pattern made from her ceiling lampshade.
Pattern made from her blanket.
Everyone had an opportunity to show her what they had written or drawn in the 8 spaces in their notebooks.
Photographs of Joshua, Courtney and Aimee showing their work to Vanya.
Everyone told Vanya about the patterns.
There was time for a video before break.
THEO JANSEN is a Dutch artist and engineer. We saw some of his kinetic art sculptures. That’s another new word for us. He makes strandbeests (beach beasts) from plastic pipes and plastic bottles. In the video we saw Theo Jansen on a beach in Holland with one of his creations. It moved along the sand as if it was a live animal. It was mind blowing!
The sculptures reminded me of the huge life like puppets I had seen in the stage play of “War Horse.”
Look…those STRONG triangles again.
Vanya asked the children if they could think of how it was able to move. Answers included:
- There is an engine in it. NO.
- It has a motor like a car. NO.
- Natalia said: The wind. CORRECT! GREAT ANSWER.
It needed an initial push, and then the wind took over.
Wow! What a lot we’ve done this morning. TIME FOR BREAK.
When we returned to our classroom after break Vanya showed us some “seaweed” which she had cut. It was long and stringy. We thought it was like fingers or spaghetti.
We wondered how seaweed begins. Vanya googled this and found out that seaweed grows from EGGS. What a revelation.
- Then we decided to have two tasks going simulataneously.
TASK 1: Choose your favourite pattern from this morning’s Pattern Walk and make it into a repeating pattern in your notebook. You can add 2 colours.
TASK 2: Each child (one table at a time) had to cut out stringy seaweed and attach this onto the pole.
The cardboard pole is very thick, so the teacher (me) had to push the pins into the surface.
We found that we didn’t have enough time left to pin all the seaweed onto the pole, so we decided that we would finish this task later in the week.
Lots more seaweed to add.
We began to tidy up and then we had our PLENARY.
Lots of activities, lots of creativity, lots of problem solving, lots of discussion, lots of learning, lots of “taking risks” in a creative way, LOTS OF FUN AGAIN.
Everyone had an opportunity to walk around the room and see what other children had observed and how they had recorded this. Opportunities for self and peer assessment.
A wonderful opportunity to work with an artist, to learn new skills, to get advice and encouragement.
No wonder we look forward to our Tuesday “Virtually There” sessions.
Bye from Vanya!
- We will have a chat about our next session. It isn’t possible to have the Virtual Session #6 next Tuesday….so watch this space!
SJB STAFF were very obliging in sharing their patterns with us:
Patsy the caretaker‘s checked shirt. After lunch, a change of clothing, and this time he is modelling a striped polo shirt.
Mrs. Campbell has the lot! Stripes, zigzags and polka dots.
Mary’s (the cook) striped apron. Kate’s (the secretary) blouse.
Mrs. Wylie’s checked car coat. Miss Farrell’s floral patterned trousers.
Mrs. Mc Mahon’s red stripes. Ms. Bell’s very exotic print coat.
Mrs. Quinn’s black and white patterned scarf. Mrs. Harriott’s fox patterned jumper selfie.
Miss Doyle’s mobile phone cover. Mrs. Herdman’s lunch bag.
PATTERNS I NOTICED ON MY WAY HOME………………………………………and other detours along the way:
Look at how pattern and colour have enhanced this QUB building on the Malone Road.
I have to STOP…………………………………………………………… This pattern thing is addictive!