Screen time quality

Today we looked at this article and discussed its message. The author discussed how although the length of our time on screens is important we should really spend more time talking about the quality of things we are doing during that time. We get to choose how we spend our time on the internet and some things will numb our minds and some things will grow and develop us. So let's (students and parents) take a check over this next week on the quality of things we are doing with screen time.

Art history

We have looked briefly at art history over the last 500 years. It has been fascinating learning about the interesting lives, stories, and habits of various artists. It has also been interesting to look at how art style has changed through the inventive and creative risks artists have taken. The students were encouraged to relfect on the art and identify their personal taste.

This is the powerpoint that we have worked through.

Art history from Room7tp

Technology - less is more?

Today we watched a TED talk of an 18 year old inventor who discussed her story and why she believes that having less makes you more creative. She was given very few toys as a child and instead was given a hot glue gun. Out of necessity she had to create her own toys. She also discussed how following the latest craze and immersing yourself in technology took time away from being creative.

We had some great discussion around this, especially in relation to technology. Students shared their stories of being creative when they were in a situation of having 'less'. We also discussed boredom and if it can be something that leads to creativity. Here is the TED talk.

More double exposures

The skills are developing and the students are getting more creative and producing some stunning portraits. Here are a few more.

Reflection and rotation

The students created some kaleidoscope art to help develop their understanding of reflection and rotation. It was a lot more tricky than it looked and some images needed some very careful consideration. Well done guys for persevering!

First double exposure portraits

We have had an awesome start to our double exposure portraits. We have been learning to use Pixlr editor (Online photo editing programme). There has been lots of learning around the process and the students have made excellent improvement. Here are some of their first completed portraits:

Ag day

We had a great Ag day yesterday. The weather ended up being not too bad and everything went ahead as planned. Well done to all those who had animals. It is such a valuable learning experience and process. It was great to see the training pay off, even though animals are not robots and do sometimes want to do their own thing.

Well done to those who completed the home challenges. There were some inspiring and complicated marble runs, as well as some clever masks and decorated footwear. I am sure you have learnt lots from those activities. Here are a few photos.

Slack lining

Today we had an awesome demonstration and introduction to slack lining. Jim Morrison kindly showed us his skills of balancing and walking on a slack line and then we all had a go. Having a go made us realise just how skilled he was (he had made it look so easy). It is a sport that develops such good balance skills and muscle control that transfers to so many different sports. It was amazing to see the improvement with each turn on the slack line. Wouldn't it be great to get our own slack line permanently set up at school!

Screens

As part of our literacy programme we are looking at digital technology and it's impact on us, including its advantages and disadvantages to the way we are living. The internet is with us to stay and it is shaping us whether we like it or not. We want the students to take control of how it shapes them and make good decisions that will ensure it is a positive influence on them.

We started off by viewing the Nigel Latta episode Screenagers. This had some hard hitting information which is a great springboard for the discussion we will be having. Using various articles and videos we will particularly look at screen time and the various ways you can spend on screen.

Using song lyrics to explore figurative language

As part of our literacy programme we are looking at song lyrics. Emotions are hard to convey with literal language so song writers often use figurative language to convey them. Often song lyrics can be confusing and unclear because of this, so they provide an excellent opportunity for us to explore language features and identify what was being conveyed.

We started off with a Ben Harper song called, 'Oppression'. We looked at his use of personification. We saw that song lyrics/poetry often don't follow the rules of grammar and punctuation. We explored the meaning of different sections and then rewrote a verse in a different tense to identify why Ben Harper chose the tense he did. The students then wrote their own verse personifying the emotion of fear.

Here are the lyrics:

ART

We have started our inquiry into visual arts. It is going to be a fascinating journey into art history, colour theory, as well as the learning of artistic skills, especially in sketching and digital art.
We started off by watching an inspiring biography of Jeremy Cowart and his journey of being a photographer and digital artist.

We discussed the quotes: "Art changes throughout the ages, but it doesn't get better." and "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." We have started looking at famous artists over the last 500 years beginning with the most famous painting in the world (The Mona Lisa) and the incredible man who painted it, Leonardo Da Vinci.

The students will be learning to do doubles exposures using an online photo editing programme (similar to photoshop) called Pixlr editor. Here are a couple of images I created which the students are learning how to do.