work work work

1. Remarkable Report [due end of week 9]
Choose a biography or autobiography on two different notable entrepreneurs/innovators/inventors.
Compare and contrast the key personality traits as well as the processes they went through to become successful.
Success criteria as written in your books. Make it as amazing as you can!

2. Trade Fair Exhibition [see earlier entry - due end of week 9]

3. Library Competition "Snapshots in Time" [due Friday week 8]
- See pages stapled to wall, including example.
Criteria:

• select and justify 8 significant events in the life of the person studied
• visually represent four of these events using photos, diagrams, sketches, etc., as well as describing all eight events in written form.
• compose a clear, concise, descriptive sentence for each event.

Present this all on A4, with small images in the heading. Present it in the form of a "graph" with a labelled axes:
x = time in years
y = life's highs and lows.
Include 8 selected events, 4 visually displayed with captions and 4 written only, all as points on a line graph.
Be creative.

It will be judged on:

1. importance/relevance of the events included.
2. layout and design
3. error free copy attractively presented
4. appropriate use of images to share information

[See examples on the wall to remind you of expectations.]

Digital Story Telling

We will learn about Digital Story Telling in class and create our own digital stories to present our learning.
But what are digital stories?

Click here for the online tutorial on how to use Windows Movie Maker to construct your digital stories.

Cor blimey guvna!

Talk about innovators and inventors! How about that Galileo? He invented the telescope on this day many many years ago. How many? What else did he do? What an amazing person.
The link in red above has info about him and is an online biography - you guys need biographies at school for your class project AND your library competition. Ask Mr Nunn to explain.
I am sick so be good and prepare for several weeks of hard, exciting work!


You will get your "license to inquire" too.
How are your project ideas coming along? Get cracking!
:-)

Term 3 Mega-Project!

[boot is made of organic hemp and recycled tyres]

As discussed in class, you need to come up with an innovative, entrepreneurial or inventive idea that you can design, develop and market to a target audience. In class you will have time to work on the project. You need to work alone. [In special cases I will allow people to work together - e.g. the worm farm project is a group effort.]
You need to:
1. Have an idea for something that needs improving, re-designing, or inventing from scratch.

• Consider something that annoys you and that you can think of a solution for. [Remember the story of the girl who had to stop her cat following her to school each day.

2. Start an inventors or innovators log book to record your ideas, designs, market research, discussions with others, etc. Date your entries and show the development of your thinking, including ideas that you decide against.

3. Plan, model, test, produce your prototype.

4. Test your product on an audience for feedback.

5. Evaluate the product and make any improvements required.

6. Design a marketing campaign. Try to be innovative and amazing with this - blow your audience away! Use advertising tricks [as discussed in class and on previous blog posts] to lure your audience in to wanting to buy or use your product.

• TV ads
• Radio ads
• Print ads in b/w or colour
• Internet marketing
• Can you think of other ways to promote your product or idea?

7. Present your entire project at the Matai Team Trade Fair in Wk 10 in the Gym. Plan ahead to have access to anthing you need to make your display a success. You will need to stand at a stall of some description to "sell" your idea to passersby. Parents, teachers and other classes will be invited.

See Mr Nunn's example for a minimum requirement.

Media Literacy

What is media literacy? How does it relate to you young Woodmonstas? It may be amongst the most important areas of learning for your generation.
The following material is from the website "Dont' Buy It" ... [It's a really interesting interactive site with topics for you to reflect upon, like why bother buying designer clothes or trying to look like a super model.]
"What is Media Literacy?

Media literacy empowers people to be both critical thinkers and creative producers of an increasingly wide range of messages using image, language and sound. It is the skillful application of literacy skills to media and technology messages. As communication technologies transform society, they impact our understanding of ourselves, our communities and our diverse cultures, making media literacy an essential life skill for the 21st Century.

--Alliance for a Media Literate America

Media literacy goes beyond the idea of reading and writing. It requires media consumers to effectively analyze and evaluate the numerous media messages we encounter.

Media education can facilitate students' reflections on their media experiences and help them develop critical thinking skills. The classroom exercises proposed in this guide may support many different subject areas, including arts and language, mathematics, health and nutrition"

- http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/

Access the site and check out the activities. It relates to our thematic learning on entrepreneurs etc because we will be advertising our innovations and inventions at our class trade fair this term.

Did Aliens Help Build the Pyramids?

Is the image above evidence of ancient Mayan spacemen?
My granddad told me that aliens came from Sirius and helped Egyptians build the pyramids. Naturally I believed him. Others also suspect this may be true.



Read on to investigate the evidence. You need to be able to evaluate information online to see if you trust it. Just because it is online, or your teacher says it, doesn't mean its true.
Think for yourself and decide... have aliens visited us and shared knowledge or technology that helped our ancient cultures create amazing buildings aligned to the stars??? State and justify your opinion, giving clear reasons backed up by evidence.



Room5ians Rule blog has some posts on mitochondrial d.n.a. evidence for alien intervention.

Mitochondrial dna Is there genetic evidence of alien intervention?

An article in a Canadian "newspaper" online discusses alien human hybrids and alien dna evidence.

Kiwi Ingenuity

Kiwis believe that they are clever, resourceful, ingenious people who come up with more than their fair share of useful inventions, innovations and entrepreneurial ideas.
List your discoveries here about who did what. I wonder who will come up with the most interesting or astounding people and successes...

Also read the article linked here

More maths homework sites

These sites are designed to help some of you fill some gaps in your knowledge or strengthen your grasp of the skills and knowledge covered in class.

Take your pick from the activities and share your comments about which ones are best :-)

Rounding; Decimal Places and Significant Numbers

Finding Formulas for mental maths

Square Roots

Powers, Exponents and Roots

Enjoy! I am glad some of you have indicated that you will take the opportunity to practice at home.

Japanese

Today we had some Japanese visitors and learned some basic Japanese language.
Can you write [with correct spelling] some of the phrases you learned today?
If you have questions about Japan ask them here, but be mindful of netiquette and good manners.

Telethon 2009

Wow - When I was a kid we had Telethons and the whole country seemed to get involved. We were buoyed by a spirit of togetherness and felt positive about how we made a difference in a good cause. It was really exciting to say up late and watch our normally reserved television celebrities having fun and doing dares to earn more donations.
In light of our Enterprise Unit and learning about entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors, what could you do to make a difference to some disadvantaged Kiwi kids?
Check out the Telethon site online to get ideas or to donate.
Enjoy the Big Night In and make the most of the opportunity to make a difference and create your own positive childhood memories.



Questions raised during our Telethon discussion: [Feel free to discuss them in more depth here]

1. Should we fund raised for our kids here when there are kids in greater need elsewhere?
2. How do you feel about making a new Telethon song when there is an iconic Kiwi song already embedded in our national psyche?
3. What can you do to make a difference?
4. How much is enough to donate? Does every little bit count?
5. Are children today too selfish to fundraise for others?
6. Is there too much entertainment about now for a Telethon to be successful?
7. Will the recession be used as an excuse to not participate [- as it is already being used by our Prime Minister to ignore our upcoming anti-smacking referendum.]
8. Is poverty a fair enough excuse for not making the most of educational opportunities in NZ?
9. Should we fundraise for Mr Woody to help upgrade his car and house? ;-)