Friday 20th. January, 2017.
HELEN’S FIRST “REAL” VISIT.
After yesterday’s Interim meeting at the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, I was enthused with curiosity to see the children’s reaction to meeting Helen in person.
What a day to come to St John the Baptist!………… We had visiting children from 2 other primary schools, two ladies from Cancer Focus NI were coming to talk to the children about making healthy food choices……….and then Helen appeared in the middle of all this bustle.
Most of the boys and girls and girls greeted her with, “Good morning Helen, and welcome to our school,” but I also noticed several children with eyes wide open, looking at her in disbelief: THIS REALLY WAS HELEN! Everyone was delighted to see her.
Helen mentioned that the classroom seemed bigger when she saw it from her studio!
She got familiar with names and chatted to the children. She paid them a HUGE compliment. She told them that when she got off the train she used the information that they had included in their maps to help her find her way to the school. She remembered them mentioning a pylon, and when she came across a whole forest of them she knew that she was close to the school building!
Stretching and Helen’s signature yoga moves followed.
ACTIVITY # 1: In our last virtual session before Christmas, we didn’t have time to make our third construction with the chairs and insulation pipes. What better way to start our “real” session, than to create the domed structure together with Helen?
We pushed the tables to the sides of the room and made a circle of chairs. The children attached the insulation tubes to the chairs with Velcro.
Just look at the concentration on Sophie and Laoise’s faces!
Then more Velcro was used to connect the two pipes together from each chair.
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY.
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!
HOLD ON TO THOSE TUBES!
WE SOON REALISED THAT THERE WAS A “BIT OF A STABILITY ISSUE”!
TIME TO SOLVE A PROBLEM!
We took down several of the numbers from the number line, attached a piece of velcro and connected the top point of the dome to it……a Eureka moment!
Then, how could the structure be made stronger? Some remaining pipes were woven through the vertical tubes.
What about covering the dome with fabric?
The children decided to go inside the structure to see what it was like and then………………
Patsy the caretaker went inside too!
Helen asked the children to tell her what they thought of the structure, where could we be?Eimear – We’re in “I’m a Celebrity.” Conal – We’re in a hut.
Ryan – This is like a base. Ciaran – We’re inside a pot.
Aoife – It’s like an igloo. Oisin – It’s a flying saucer, an alien ship.
Laoise – a stable.
Other suggestions: a cottage, a caravan, the dome/lid of a milkshake plastic container, a snack box.
Helen said it was like a yurt (that’s another good word for our VCOP wall). That is a nomad’s travelling tent used in the desert, and it is covered with animal skins.
Helen asked the children what materials they would use to make a den. Ronan suggested sticks and leaves. Caitlinn said that blankets hanging over a table would be good for a den inside your house.
TIDY UP and BREAK:
Who needs an I phone? Who knew that insulating tubes were so versatile?
Everyone had a chance to speak softly into the tube. The person at the other end could hear what was said!
TALKING AND LISTENING
This activity was great fun.
Everyone enjoyed talking (whispering) and listening to eachother.
Now the boys and girls were ready for a new challenge.
They got into 3 groups and had to decide what type of structure/den they wanted to make together.
MATERIALS available:
- I table turned upside down
- chairs
- tubing and Velcro strips
- fabric and pegs
- polystyrene rectangle with holes in it
After a lengthy discussion they jotted down some ideas and sketched what they wanted to create.
- Group 1 : They couldn’t make up their minds between the Titanic, Samson and Goliath and a space rocket.
- Group 2: the Eiffel Tower, an evergreen tree.
- Group 3: a den in the jungle
Planning over, everyone started constructing.
Mrs Morgan popped in for a visit, and true to form, she was amazed at how well the children were working together, and sharing their ideas and creativity.
All hands on deck!
More tweeking needed?
Let’s just start again and make something else.
When construction time was finished, a spokesperson from each group was invited to tell the whole class about his/her group’s structure.
PLENARY 1, 2, and 3:
Oisin said that he liked the blue fabric that his group used to cover the structure, and that it had changed a lot of times. He said that the group figured it out together and found solutions to their problems.
Caitlinn said her group had made a den in the jungle. They also changed things a lot, and they needed lots of Velcro to make the structure stand up. She said they enjoyed working together and that they had fun working together.
Cloidhna said that her group were space explorers. They had made a rocket house, with a steering wheel to help them get around. Inside it had a pretend kitchen, a bathroom to go to the toilet, a dormitory that was “ginormous,” with bunk beds. I said that it sounded like Dr. Who’s Tardis.
How was it to work in a group? It was fun and easy, but making the structure was “a wee bit hard.”
Kella said that her group changed their minds somewhere during the construction process and abandoned the Eiffel Tower and evergreen tree ideas, deciding instead to create the stable in Bethlehem. Sophie and Tia were good at finding solutions when things were “going a bit wrong.” There were differences of opinions in this group, but they came to a resolution in the end.
The LUNCH TIME bell brought the session to a close and Helen asked the boys and girls to tell her what they wanted to do in the next virtual session. Unanimously they said, “Construction!”
They said “Goodbye” to Helen, and went to the lunch and dinner halls enthusing about what they had done.
Today they had so many fun learning experiences:. Isn’t this a wonderful way to spend a Friday morning.
Thanks Helen!