Actual Size

 

 

Here in Grade 3/4  we were drawing animals and trying to make their pictures exactly the size they are in real life. We got the idea and the measurements from a book called Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. We went outside with chalk and tape measure and rulers and a table with measurements on it. The units of measurement we used were metres, centimetres and millimetres.

 

 

 

 

“We drew a tiger, the face was small and the body was big. I thought it looked funny but nobody teased us. It was fun.” Sree

“I did a drawing a drawing of a tiger but it was too long. So I tried again.” Sharis

“I drew a tiger and an elephant with Sree. We didn’t argue because we agreed on our ideas before we started. We did a massive elephant too.” Sondos

 

“Hibo and I started a shark but messed it up, we did a spider but we did it too big. So then we started another spider and this time we drew it the right size.“ Abdirahman

“Harun and I drew a stick insect and an elephant. The elephant took over the stick insect because it was so big! So we drew another stick insect, it was about half a meter.” Mubarak

“Farhiya and I drew a Goliath Beetle but it got rubbed off. I was angry but I controlled myself and I drew a fantastic gorilla.” Said

 

Super Duper Skulls

by Ali A. and Yacqub S.

Our class were looking at skulls. We each had a skull to look at and to draw. I had a kangaroo and Yacqub S. had a dingo. Me and Yacqub were drawing sketches of our skulls. We had special pencils to sketch with. It was hard but we got to it..We were doing the skulls birds eye view, side view, front view and back view.

The kangaroo skull has some black teeth, it was probably an old kangaroo. Kangaroo teeth have evolved for eating grass. On the bottom of its eye socket it has a sharp part for muscles to attach to. There are some holes on the side of its head that the ears would join to.

The dingo has very sharp teeth and has a long semi circle shape on its lower jaw for big muscles. Dingoes eat kangaroos and other animals so they need strong jaw muscles and sharp teeth. It has big lines on its forehead and a muscle attachment on the top (called the sagittal crest).

Drawing the bumpy bits of the skull was hard. I got a bit angry but then I talked to Ellie and Lauren and after lunch I got another sheet of paper. When I finished I was pleased with it, it was better than the first drawing. I learnt that mistakes are good, they help you learn, you do better the next time.

The Puzzle Quest

by Sumaya and Farhiya

When you are doing a puzzle you get this kind of feeling. When you put 2 or more pieces together you feel excited and proud of yourself. One afternoon we were doing a small but tricky puzzle. It was a picture of an island and a tree with water and mountains in the background. It was a painting by the famous painter, Claude Monet.

Farhiya was going well at the beginning but Sumaya wanted to give up because it was really difficult. Then she found a couple of pieces and she kept going on and all of a sudden... she felt that special puzzle feeling - excited and pleased and wanting to keep working. Both girls kept going but had to pack up. The second day they started again, they persisted with the help of a friend called Hadya and what do you know, they finished it!! They were so happy and proud.

Sumaya wrote a little song:

The feeling, the feeling,

the feeling that you get when you put two pieces,

together.

The feeling!

What a Wonderful Year!

We ended the year with a whole lot of wonderful activities. We visited the zoo, made beautiful birds, we had an amazing open night when our parents came to look at our hard work, we played "which beak is best"  and we made our own beak books. We wrote heart-breakingly beautiful poppy poems for Remembrance day. We had a visit from a dog and a visit from a little bird called a 'greenfinch. We learnt about snow in summer, planted sunflowers AND a magic crystal garden. With Moya we made crocodiles and marvellous mosiacs. We watched an Italian puppet play and we presented posters on our favourite birds. We collected data on Beatles songs, we ate (breakfast cereal) crocodiles and we cooked roast potato chips and garden salad for our class party to celebrate the end of a fabulous year!

 

Sad to say, this is also the end of the blog for the moment. As everyone in this internet savvy day and age is aware, there's no point writing a blog if you can't keep it up regularly and unfortunately technological issues and personal demands mean that the blog won't be continuing next year. It's been lovely and who knows, maybe we'll be back someday...

Before we go, here are a whole lot of photos of our end of year fun. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Ciao Bella!