I love Gallery Day. Student work has been loaded on the Student Gallery Page; to see the mind-blowing creations visit the Student Gallery page. Here is just a sampling of the outstanding work from the past week:
I will add all to the work to the Student Gallery page by 3 pm today. If your child has work they would like to submit, please know I will accept work at any time, there is no deadline. The only reason I post at 3 on Fridays is to have as much work as possible revealed at once. I will however, add student work anytime after.
Please see the “Submitting Student Work” Page for more information.
Un grand merci to all those taking part. I love your work so much!
Today we are going to craft and insect or a bug from recycled materials. It might be a good idea to listen to “Du Iz Tak” again and observe the bugs: their shapes, their colours and markings.
An image of insects by author and illustrator Carson Ellis
I received some wonderful photos of bug forts from students yesterday – your creativity is outstanding! I smiled all day long yesterday because of what you created.
It’s time to raid your recycling bin again!
You will need a sturdier base for the body – the cardboard from cereal boxes or the bottom of a clean foam tray. Both are easy to cut with scissors too. The rest of the materials listed below are completely optional. Feel free to use what you can find around the house.
Recyclables and a few craft supplies thrown in!
Materials:
cereal, cracker or granola bar boxes OR
styrofoam trays
string, yarn, ribbon
plastic bottle lids, metal pull tabs and other small recycled bits
clear plastic from produce or packaging boxes (optional)
beads (optional)
pipe cleaners (optional)
scissors
pencil or marker
glue or tape
crayons, markers or pencil crayons
plain recycled paper and/or patterned paper
Remember: I’m only here to inspire you with a project. Feel free to use any recycled materials you would like to for the activity. One of the greatest things about the practice of making is the problem solving involved. If you don’t have one material you need for a step, what do you have on hand to use in it’s place?
Step-By-Step Instructions
I made two eBooks with the step-by-step instructions on how to make two different style bugs:
Tomorrow is Gallery Day! I am so excited to share with you all the submissions I’ve already received. If you would like to share your work with others, please see the ” Submitting Student Work” tab at the top of the home page. I will accept your work at any time. I hope to post as much work as possible by noon tomorrow, but if you are late with your submission, send it to me anyway at dzibin@sd79.bc.ca.
Today is the day we make our forts! It’s raining today — so fort making indoors, while listening to an audio book maybe, sounds lovely.
First, you will need to sketch a design for your fort:
All good builds start with a design idea.
If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, simply google “Toy tree forts” or “Fairy tree forts” under images and a ton of ideas will turn up to inspire you!
Now if all you wanted to do was draw a fort and stop there, that’s wonderful!
If you would like to continue, go to your recycling box and see what supplies you have in there to help build the base of your fort:
Mme Zibin’s recyclables
If you wanted to make your fort only from the supplies you collected in the forest, that’s fine too!
Mme Zibin’s forest supplies.
If you would like to mix your forest supplies with your recyclables, you have two options:
Just like blocks, you can build and balance all your forest supplies to build a fort, with out using any glue or tape. In fact, a wonderful challenge would be to build a fort using no adhesives at all. Use only string and balancing.
Or you could use the following materials to put your fort together:
Materials to put your fort together.
Pictured are the many different ways you could attach items together. You could also use wire or twist ties or with a parent use hammer and nails — the list is endless! It’s up to you and your family.
A tip for starting your build with recyclables:
I love paper towel and toilet paper rolls. I also adore cardboard. Using a special paper technique, you can build a sturdy base for your fort:
How to cut a flange
and then using glue or tape, attach your flange to your cardboard base:
Flange and base.
Now add all your materials together!
I decided to make fort platforms by hot gluing twigs to a cardboard base:
Fort platform.
I can’t wait to work on my fort today! I will share my fort with you all on Gallery Day this Friday.
Remember, you can use ANY materials you want to build a fort:
Other ways of making forts.
Being creative and making is the only goal!
I made an ebook for you all to read on fort making. Find it here:
Today, let’s #getoutside and take a walk in the forest! Besides going for a walk, we are also going to hunt for insect fort supplies.
The insect fort built by friends in “Du Iz Tak” by Carson Elliis.
I’ve written an ebook for you to read together as a family, both in English and in French! The book will let you know what you need and what to hunt for on your walk. I would like to thank our wonderful EA, Mme Nathalie, for helping with the French translation.
One fabulous feature of Book Creator is that you can have a book read to you in any language. To have the French read to your child, follow the steps in the short video below:
Once you are home, organize your supplies into categories:
“Rup Furt” supplies gathered in the forest.
and start sketching out some fort ideas!
Think/Empathy/Question: What do insects need in a fort?
Design sketches help guide your ideas:
All great designs start with a plan! From “The Most Magnificent Thing” by Ashley Spires.
Iggy drew a bridge plan to help save his class in “Iggy Peck Architect” by Andrea Beaty.
Tomorrow we will gather recyclables from our recycling box and together with our forest finds, build something fun!
*Please note: All my ideas are merely suggestions. If a student would prefer building a fort from Lego, or from blankets and pillows, or Keva planks, or blocks, or just draw a fort on paper, it’s all wonderful and just as important.
If you would like to send me a picture of your forest finds and/or your design sketches, please do! Please see the “Student Submissions” tab a the top of the main page for more information.
It’s hard to believe we are in our second week of library lessons already! Un grand merci to everyone who visited last week, whether it was to enjoy a story or participate in some of the activities. Remember, you can send in your work anytime. I try to post work by a deadline on Fridays, but I’m always able to add work to our Student Gallery as it comes in.
This week’s read aloud is a gorgeous moody story by author and illustrator Carson Ellis. From the book flap:
” Du Iz Tak? What is that?”
“As a tiny shoot unfurls, two damselflies peer at it in wonder. When the plant grows taller, some young beetles arrive. Could they build a tree fort?
With exquisitely detailed illustrations, an invented language, and tragicomic flair, Carson Ellis invites readers to imagine the dramatic possibilities to be found in even the humblest back yard.“
An Invented Language
Ellis brilliantly develops an insect language in her story. Can you decode it?
When I read the story, try to look carefully at the pictures and words. There are words repeated often. Making the connection between the story and what’s happening in the illustrations will help you understand. It’s just like learning French! How many words can you and your family figure out? Feel free to print the worksheet here: Du Iz Tak vocabulary sheet.
Mme Zibin’s Read Aloud
I hope you enjoy my reading of Du Iz Tak! Please remember the read aloud is password protected and is the same password as last week. Please email me at dzibibn@sd79.bc.ca if you need any help.
Weekly Activities
I will be posting later today on the week’s activities, including insect forts and insect making. It is also Earth Day on Wednesday. To take care of our earth, the weekly activities include materials found in nature and what we have in our recycling bin. I hope you’ll join me!
Did you enjoy Du Iz Tak by Carson Ellis? Let me know what you thought in the comment section below.
