Poinsettias for Christmas

During the last few weeks of school we did a number of Christmas related activities based on some beautiful Christmas books I own.
The first of these is The Legend of the Poinsettia which is retold and beautifully illustrated by Tomie dePaola.

The story is set in Mexico and tells of a little girl whose mother falls ill just before the town's Nativity celebration. Her mother is unable to complete the family's gift for the baby Jesus and the little girl is unable to complete it on her own. Luckily a Christmas miracle occurs and the girl has a beautiful gift for the baby after all.
This story is a good Christmas story because it opens up conversations about gift giving at Christmas and how it is "the thought that counts". It also explains one of the Christmas decorations - the poinsettia and introduces the Christmas colours of red and green. We had a discussion about how the people in Mexico celebrated Christmas in the story and how this is the same and different from some of our own Christmas customs. We are a catholic school so many of the children do go to the Christmas mass and take part in the nativity so it was nice to see how another culture celebrates this idea.
To reflect on the story and to brighten our classroom, we made a very simple Christmas craft: a poinsettia.

I prefer to use painted paper because it has a richer texture than coloured construction paper and it is fun to paint the paper yourself. Each child painted one A4 sheet of red and one A4 sheet of green on one day and the next day they used this paper to assemble their craft. We re-used paper from our classroom to make the activity even more environmentally friendly.
I make hand-drawn "star" templates on light card in red and green and write "cut 1" on the green and "cut 2" on the red. The green one is slightly larger than the red one. If you are not game to free draw yours (even though I think they look better) you can print this image. (You will need to adjust the size to suit your paper.)

I make only enough templates for about a third of the class for each colour (about 8 red ones and 8 green ones for a class of 24). It doesn't take them long to trace the shapes and it is good for them to be a bit patient and practice their turn taking skills.

They turn the paper to the "white side" before tracing in case they make a mistake and they push the star to the edge of the paper so the leftover pieces are useful for other Christmas crafts later on. They need to be careful so they fit two red stars on the same page. 

To assemble the craft, simply stack the two red shapes on top of the green on and turn them slightly so you can see the different points from behind. A little dab of glue in the centre is enough to hold them together. I give them little squares of yellow crepe or tissue paper to scruple into balls for the centre of the flower.

They are really simple to make. It took me longer to explain it than it does to make them.

Enjoy!

Kids teach Kids with iPads!

Our school has decided to take part in Australia Post Kids Teaching Kids Week this year for the first time and so far it has been a great success. It is always exhilarating to see children enthusiastically explaining what they have learnt about something with other children, younger or older.
My colleague next door has written a great poem and a short play that her children are presenting this week to a variety of audiences. It is a fitting celebration of the learning we have been doing this term about sustainability.
Other classes have shared work that they have created throughout the year and this has been as beneficial to those showing the work as it has been for their eager audiences.
Students in my class have created (very) short videos using the iPads to showcase some of the ideas they have been developing about how people, pets and native animals can live together sustainably.
They worked closely with their Year 5 buddies (who are experts in writing persuasive texts thanks to their NAPLAN experience) to develop a short text to persuade people to do more to live harmoniously alongside native animals.
The Year 2s then used the iPads to create their videos.
The first app they used was Pic Collage (a new favourite) to create an image that would support their spoken text. Pic Collage is so simple to use. This was the first time many of them had used the app (although I have shown them how it worked a couple of weeks ago). They quickly worked out how to take their own photos, find images on the web, manipulate text and images, and change colours of backgrounds. The bright colours made their creations instantly appealing. With a bit of practice and a little guidance, I am sure they could produce some great work with this versatile app.
The other app they used was Sonic Pics (another favourite) to record their spoken text. I much prefer Sonic Pics over iMovie for use with my young students as it is so simple for them to use once they have used it a few times. They can talk for as long as they need and change pictures when it suits them which is easier than having to manipulate the length of play for images in iMovie. iMovie has lots of great features which allow users to do more exciting things, but for simplicity with young students, Sonic Pics seems to be the answer. It was also relatively simple for me to upload their recordings to YouTube so I could post them onto our class blog.
The next step for me is to create QR codes that link to the YouTube clips so that my kids can use the iPads to easily share their work with other students.
Check out a sample of their work in this video clip.

My future challenge is to work out how to cut out the background noise that emanates from our busy classroom. My iPad can record quite clearly in a quiet room and when I project voice clearly towards the mic, but seven-year-olds seem to have trouble with voice projection or suffer from stage fright, and try as I might, I can't seem to find a way to get the surrounding noise to a reasonable level for long enough, with 24 excited little people moving around a classroom.
I have yet to find a mic that will plug in to the iPad but I am open to advice from anyone with a solution because I would like to use the iPads a lot more for recording their reading and other assessments.