everal weeks have passed since Session #6 –  mid term break, amongst other things, came along, so today we begin again.

The session began with a blimp. We could hear Helen pottering about, but we could see nothing. She could see us, but couldn’t hear anything! After logging off and on several times, everything seemed to resolve itself, but precious activity time was lost.

The children wanted to tell Helen their news as they hadn’t “seen” her since the “real” visit.

Caitlinn showed Helen her bruised fingers.

Darragh brought in his Mc Donald’s Lego Batman cup which once contained fruit juice.

Cliodhna showed her panda ear ring.

Charlie had his squeaky beaver (which he got at Beaver’s.) He can keep it for a week and will show his friends photographs of the interesting places and things he has done with his beaver companion.

Kella showed Helen her Disney Moana book.

Sophie had a watch which her Aunt sent her from America. She gets gifts quite frequently, including perfume and necklaces!

Helen said that she has been to America twice. She recommended New York.

We talked about Storm Doris and Helen told us that a big tree had been blown down by the powerful wind in Goatstown.

Then Mrs Harriott showed Helen the crystals which had formed on the glass ………

Helen had a visitor to introduce to the class. Her son Reuben was off school for mid-term break. He was going to try the activities with us in his house. He is six, so he is the same age as some of the children in our class. He has lost some teeth just like our boys and girls!

                  

                                                                HELLO REUBEN!

ONE DAY EARLIER

We received a parcel from Helen on Thursday, and when we opened it, we found some wooden garden sticks, sticky green tape, and  a mystery object with holes in it.                  

                                                                        ANOTHER MYSTERY PARCEL.

Now what a very strange coincidence……………….. This is the newspaper in which Helen wrapped the contents of the parcel:                                                                     

                        

The date at the top of the page is December 15, 2010 – the year in which nine of our boys and girls were born! We thought that was COOL!

NOW BACK TO THE SESSION………………………

Some children told Helen what they thought the mystery object was:

Oisin – A cat’s bed.

Tia – Half of a disco ball.

Eimear – A stool.

Cliodhna – A fryer for frying food.

Charlie – A container for eggs.

Caitlinn – The top of a mushroom.

Ryan – A magician’s tool for making things disappear. Then he added, the bottom/hull of a boat.

Darragh – The top of a dome.

However, Aoife was very intuitive! – She said she thought it was a flower pot.

It was in fact the lining of a hanging flower basket in which Helen had cut out twelve holes.

Helen said that the holes in the liner were big enough for the insulating pipes to fit through, so we tried it out. Her calculation was perfect.

                                                                                                  

               

                                                                   Charlie demonstrating.

Helen explained what our first activity would be and then it was BREAKTIME.

Helen had read the children’s last blog and realised that they had really enjoyed making the dome construction. However, it had not been stable enough to stand upright without the support of attaching it to a washing line (which hangs across the classroom.) She thought of a way to make the dome more independently stable, and this was to be our first activity of the session.

                            

             HOLD ON HELEN………………………..Furniture removals!!!! – My favourite!

                                                                     

ACTIVITY #1:

WHAT WE NEED:

• 6 chairs
• 12 x 2m insulating pipes
• green dome/flower basket liner
• Velcro straps
• Lots of energy

After break we (I) moved all the furniture to the sides of the classroom, and arranged six chairs in a circle.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The children were given lengths of piping which they had to attach to each chair (2 to each chair).

         

TEAMWORK: Some children attached the pipes, while others got the Velcro strips ready.

                                                

                                The dome was placed on the floor in the middle of the chairs.

                       

                                           Ronan made sure the green dome was centred.

                            Each length of piping was pushed into the hole in the green dome.

      

                                     Laoise was concerned about the stability of the structure.

       The chair circle had to be made smaller in order to enable the green dome to go higher.

             

    

Then the remaining piping was woven through the vertical pipes to help make it more stable. Velcro straps were used to strengthen these.

          

                              Cliodhna carefully making her way inside the structure.

                                 

                                     Nine children could fit inside the construction.

              

                     Another group of children took up residence inside the structure.

                       

   

Even though the green dome at the top was tilted, the structure maintained its strength.

PLENARY: The green dome and the woven piping, with the Velcro, definitely added to the strength of the structure.

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As time was limited, we decided to leave the structure in the middle of the room and continue with our next activity.

ACTIVITY #2:

MATERIALS:

• 14 garden sticks(per cube)
• green garden tape
• scissors
• patience

This entailed the children working in groups of 4 to construct 2 squares each.

Helen sent lovely drawings to illustrate what the children had to do. I printed these and showed them to the children as Helen was not able to upload them onto the interactive whiteboard.

                                                    

         

          Happy with their work: Tia, Kella, Aoife and Oisin.

              

                                    Everyone is pleased with their squares.

                  

                                                         Aoife and Kella

          

Laoise has started well. “Now where is my partner?”                   Carl and Ronan.

                  

Look at the concentration on Stephen’s face.           Sarah and Sophie always love to

                                                                                               work together.

                

Some children worked at tables – Eimear, Cliodhna and Caitlinn, while others were happy to hold the sticks for their partner – Conal and Stephen.

                Conal, Ryan and Stephen.

                                 

                    Helen and Reuben worked away and shared what they had done.

   

                        Then more garden sticks were attached to the squares to form cubes.

                              

To make the cube more rigid, Helen told the children to make a cross with two sticks and attach it to the top of the cube.

    

Two cubes in total were made by the children, and unfortunately it was time for Lunch.

                                                     

Helen told the children what they would do next with the cubes……………..It sounded very interesting and exciting!

PLENARY 2: The children said that they found it difficult at the beginning to attach the initial sticks together with the tape, but Helen gave them a tip to help with this. Wrap the tape around one stick first and then put the other stick on top and wind the tape tightly around both sticks.  

                                                          

Another response was: “This is like Maths.” An excellent example of connected learning!

                        LATER IN THE WEEK WE GOT ALL THE CUBES COMPLETED.

                              

                                                      

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                                                            Congratulations Helen!

Here she is talking to a group of people at the Chester Beatty building, near Dublin Castle. A beautiful batik which she helped some ladies to make, is on display there.