Thursday 18 February 2021

Project 171: Teamwork

Solomon declared that teamwork should be the focus of a week's project, after having some criticism of his teamwork abilities in Fortnite.

As well as a discussion about teamwork and the different contribution people could make, we did a number of teamwork activities from Twinkl: Cross the river; All aboard; Human objects. They also had to stack cups by pulling on string attached to an elastic band, which was only possible through working together. 

As well as playing Fortnite (with different children taking it in terms to lead the squad), we also played collaborative boardgames :

We also bought an 'Escape Room' game, that we thought they could work together on (although while they enjoyed it, it turned out not to be overly collaborative). 

Of course you can't study teamwork without watching an over-the-top American team sports film. We watched two with The Mighty Ducks and D2: The Mighty Ducks.


Next Project: A Dog So Small

Project 170: Vincent van Gogh

We chose Vincent van Gogh as a project as we hadn't focused on an artist for a couple of months (see Project 170: Wassily Kadinsky), and the cold turn in the weather made the idea of staying inside particularly appealing. 

We explored some of his most famous works, and his life, in some books that we had.



The children painted their own versions of his The Starry Night, with an emphasis on the use of expressive brush strokes:

And they also completed a sunflower craft:


Next project: Teamwork

Friday 12 February 2021

Project 169: Poetry 2

At a recent poetry teatime Monica (aged 6) decided to bring along some of her own poems to read, of which Bum Pear was a particularly memorable example (about a pear shaped like a bum):

Bum pear, bum pear
Bummy bummy bum pear
I love my bum pear. 

As we hadn't had a project specifically looking at poetry since Solomon's first year of home education back in 2018 (see Project 36: Poetry), we decided it was definitely time for another one. 


We reused many of the same resources as before, including the Poetry Train booklet, from which we also did the Missing: Daisy activity again. In three years Solomon has managed to progress from Anyone seen my parrot? to Anyone seen my earthworm? We also introduced the children to a range of literary devices including: metaphors, simile, personification, alliteration, and onomatopoeia.

A selection of the children's poems from the week:

Solomon

Missing: Earthy

Anyone seen my earthworm?
Cute, light brown, pink and small,
Earthy the mucky earthworm
He’s very dirty, mucky too,
He’s very scared,
And boisterous too,
He’d like to run away from you
He’d like to hide and run away,
He likes to poo and likes to wee
He likes to run and quake in fright
Has anyone seen my earthworm?

Limerick

There was an old man with a bat
And the bat had a big top hat
The hat was tatty
The tat was catty
And they both got attacked by a rat

Scones

Scones are great
The amazing 8 plate
Scones are amazing
Scones are amazing
Go have a pop
Then phone the shop

Monica

Missing: Fluffy

Anyone seen my dog?
Fluffy, cute,
Pink, and white
Fluffy the poodle dog
She’s very funny
Eats lots too
She’d like to have some fun with you
She likes to play and be nice
She likes to wag her tail at you
She likes to run around and jump
Anyone seen my dog?

Limerick

The was a young lady from Russia
Who went on holiday to Prussia
Then needed a wee
And went to tea
But then decided to go to Lussia

Samuel

There was a man with a frog
Who fed the frog on a log
A woman had a fox
That sat in a box
And the frog got chased by a dog

There was a man with a tortoise
Who felt his life had no porpoise
The tortoise ran away
On the eve of Christmas Day
And man ate turkey without tortoise


Of course we also included a poetry teatime at the end of the week, with Solomon making scones, Sam making cupcakes, and Monica making a trifle. 


Undoubtedly the highlight of the teatime was the appearance of their father's childhood Chilli Beans poem - famous in family lore. 


Next Project: Vincent van Gogh