18/10/2010
THE BEGINNING....
It was an exciting day today. Mandy, the Creative Partnership organizer, picked me (Barry) up before heading on to Manningtree Train Station to collect Matt. On the drive over to Holland-on-Sea we talked about the overall idea for the project. What a great idea - use literacy and modern day technologies to explore World War II with Years 5 and 6.
Meeting the Teachers
The three of us sat and discussed the outline for the project and what the targets had to be with two of the teachers we would be working with - Mrs Jefferies and Mrs Harris. So many ideas flew round the table and so many possibilities were identified. Seemed strange to be talking about children we hadn't met who would be doing a project after Christmas, it's only October!
01/12/2010
WHERE DID NOVEMBER GO!
After the last post and saying Christmas was so far away it seems odd that November just disappeared. It was time to go back to Holland-on-Sea and finalize what the project was going to be.
Are your ears burning?
I wonder if the children's ears were burning today? We talked about them so much today and still they have no idea what's going to be happening over Christmas. We don't want to give away too much here as people might have prying eyes (just like in the war in fact!) but here's a quick outline of what the project will be...
- Over Christmas the children will receive a letter in the post saying they are to be evacuated.
- Using the code on the letter they will need to go online to the schools web site and use the animated Enigma machine to get the next message.
- The children will then receive one of three scenarios of where they will be evacuated to...
- The Farm
- The Grocers Shop
- The Elderly couple in the manor house
- All they then need to do is turn up in costume for the first day back at term and enter the time tunnel for the beginning of the project.http://www.blogger.com/page-edit.g?blogID=4397044920806116136
- Week 1 - The Evacuation Experience
- Week 2 - Wiki
- Week 3 - Animated Propaganda
- Week 4 - Pathe News Reels
- Week 5 - Podcasts
- Week 6 - Blogging
17/12/2010
THE LETTER
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| The Enigma Machine |
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| Example Letter |
Well the project is now truly under way, yet the children still have no idea what's coming. The letters and scenarios are all created and Ian the actor is all booked to turn up on the first day back at school. I wonder what they will make of Mrs Bot the billeting officer.
The Letter
Any way we'll just have to wait and see, but for now here's an example of the letter they are about to receive. What a Christmas present!
And then the Code Cracking
Off course the letter is only the start of the journey. Once the children realize they don't have to panic as it's all pretend they will have to go online and crack the code using the Enigma machine.
Nearly time now
This is all just the beginning of their trip back in time, can't wait to see what they've made of it all and the costumes they turn up in.
04/01/2011
YOU CAN FEEL THE ENERGY BUILDING
Well it's the day before we finally meet the children. Everything went out as planned over Christmas and the teachers said they had a few phone calls to the office just checking it wasn't a real evacuation - I guess it was convincing then!
Mr Hitchin was concerned today that his uniform to get into character wasn't going to arrive in time but fingers crossed it will as everyone has put in so much effort. Mandy has come up with a Gramophone and Matt has found some old records that belong to his dad. Those along with the video and sound-scape on top of the actual experience should make for a great day.
05/01/2011
WEEK 1 - THE DAY ARRIVES
All the children looked a bit dazed as they came through the time tunnel and were introduced to Mrs Bot, the billeting officer, before coming into the hall. Ian had set things up with all the authentic props like the Anderson Shelter, Air Raid Siren and toys etc.
The costumes were fantastic including the Teachers. Mrs Jefferies even had a brunette coloured wig - one of the children asked if it was her real hair! After going through the evacuation process and playing a few learning games - such as the packing list - we split the children up into classes and rotated them through the activities.
- Outside they could play with the stirrup pumps to put out pretend fires. Only a few people got wet.
- Inside the Anderson Shelter they looked at propaganda posters and listened to sound effects and speeches from the era.
- On the floor in the hall they had to deal with...
- Incendiary bombs, covering them with sand to put them out.
- Working out what all the old toys were and working out why there wasn't any plastic toys.
- Carrying the injured around on stretchers.
It was a great day and the children and teachers really seemed to enter into the spirit of the activities. We won't see them now until next week when the project elements start to be created.
11/01/2011
WEEK 2 - WIKI WEEK
The day is here when I finally get to meet the children in their class groups. I must admit it was a bit daunting starting the day thinking I will have covered the Wiki topic with 90 children by the time I head home.
The children were all well behaved but despite the fact they are all Year 5 and 6 it's interesting to see the different characteristics of each class. I'm sure Matt and I will get to know all of them fairly well by the end of the project but for now I can't remember any names, it's OK for them they only have to remember two! ;-)
I reckon we'll have some good Wiki's by the end of the week as we've given them a simple template to follow on paper and an online version to look at.
18/01/2011
WEEK 3 - ANIMATED PROPAGANDA WEEK
There was alot to get across this week as animation is such a slow process. Matt and I created our own animation using the story the children had on the very first day with Ian. We got across what animation was and the idea of storyboarding and supplied all the templates to aid the children with the task at hand.
The real challenge I think was just time. Trying to create a script, storyboard and all the drawings seems to be too much in the time between today and Thursday when Matt is supposed to be doing the photography stage.
Anyway here's our version. Combines traditional drawn animation into the stop motion process.
27/01/2011
WEEK 4 - PATHE NEWS WEEK
To make the whole process easier we gave split each class in to 4 groups and started the steps of the storyboard for them...
- Make Do and Mend
- Child with torn trousers
- Tin can into Armour
- Happy finish
- Air Raid
- Family at home
- Children and Teacher at School
- We're safe
- Ration Books
- Family rationing at home
- Off to the Shop
- Eating dinner - plenty of food
- Dig for Victory
- Simple food at family dinner
- Idea - allotment
- Sow seeds/grow/lots of food for dinner
The narrations, acting and intertitles all came together incredibly well with the filming and sound. Here's just one example.
Matt and I were very tired by the end of the day, hardly surprising after directing 12 different groups to create their own Pathe News Reels with 20 minutes per group. Exhausting but very rewarding and great to see the ideas the children came up with - the costumes and props were fantastic.
After last week we both knew the children would produce something fantastic for their Podcasts but we had left the task of the actual recordings with the teachers and children to do before we came in. They all had a really good idea of how to use the micropohones as we'd used the last week so this time it was all about sound editing. They all had a good time playing with Audacity and as it's a free program hopefully many of them will have a play around at home.
It was a great day today. It was excellent to get across the idea of a blog by using a wooden box. Getting the children to understand a blog from the point of view of a soapbox really helped them understand the difference between personal opinion and researched fact. Matt and I showed them an example by each telling a story - one was true and one wasn't - and asked the class to choose which one was true. All three classes voted as me being the liar but it was actually Matt that was!
We then gave the children a chance to stand on the box and tell some stories or facts. Matt then did a tutorial on how to use blogging software so perhaps some will start to keep an online diary in e-Folio.
ANIMATION REVISITEDIt was brilliant to be able to revisit the animation projects and dedicate 2 days to each class. We were completely blown away by the animations the children produced. It got a bit hectic on occassions but managing 30 children with plasticine, sand, playdough, lego and then cameras, laptops and movie maker was never going to be simple was it?
They all seemed to really enjoy the experience and the end results were wonderful to watch. We're sure there are a few budding movie/animation makers in the classes so hopefully they will carry on and explore things at home.
All there is to do now is the final parents evening. Can't wait to see how proud the children are to show their parents the work they've achieved.
03/02/2011
WEEK 5 - PODCASTS
08/02/2011
WEEK 6 - BLOGGING
We then gave the children a chance to stand on the box and tell some stories or facts. Matt then did a tutorial on how to use blogging software so perhaps some will start to keep an online diary in e-Folio.
ANIMATION REVISITED
They all seemed to really enjoy the experience and the end results were wonderful to watch. We're sure there are a few budding movie/animation makers in the classes so hopefully they will carry on and explore things at home.
All there is to do now is the final parents evening. Can't wait to see how proud the children are to show their parents the work they've achieved.
