Brandon Generator: Episode 1

We have been working on a class literacy project on The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator : an interactive online story and animated film that is driven by readers. The story is about Brandon Generator, a writer and comic book artist suffering from writer’s block who falls asleep and wakes up to find all his work has been done for him (a bit like the shoe-makers elves). The reader can help Brandon shape his story by leaving writing, drawings and voice messages in his virtual writer’s study.

In class we have created our own contributions to Brandon’s story by creating drawings, stories and podcasts. We have also had discussions on the process of writing, writer’s block, characterisation, setting and plot and made predictions on what we think will happen next.

An insight into some of our discussions…

How do you think the text got on Brandon’s computer?

“I think that a mysterious being from another world heard about Brandon’s writer’s block and came to help him.” Lewis M

“When he fell asleep he typed out the writing with his head.” Emily W

“A ghost of a coffee monster might have done it.” Mirren M

“Maybe his mum did it for him.” Lewis S “..or a friend.” Ryan P “..OR A GHOST!” Cameron McG

“I think he wrote it while he was sleeping.” Niamh P

On how to overcome writer’s block. Our top tips…

“Look for inspiration everywhere you go. Find things that interest you and use them.” Lewis M

“Ask people what they think makes and interesting story. Go for a drive. Doodle with reckless abandon, see what you come up with.” Yasmin M

“Have a nap (try to dream). Look out of a window.”

“1.Take a long walk, 2.listen to music, 3. read a book for ideas, 4. watch TV.” Niamh P

“Talk to people.” Mirren M

“Look at things around you. Think about your own life.” Kaitlyn B

“Don’t worry! Ask someone to help.” Emily W

“Pick some random words and try to put them in a sentence.” Aimee S

What do you think the creatures on Brandon’s notepad look like?

What do you think of Brandon as a character?

“I think Brandon is a very creative and deep person.” Yasmin McG

“I think he is looking a little ill, he has too much coffee.” Kaitlyn B

“He seems like a troubled person.” Justine L

“I think he’s a little bit crazy.” Cameron McG

What do you think of the Brandon Generator Project?

“I think it is good as you get to use your imagination.” Robert M

“I think it’s amazing.” Ross L “I like the interactive storyline.” Chloe O

“I like the story and the animation.” Niamh P “I think it’s a smart idea.” Emily W

***

Tune in next week to hear our voicemail and dictaphone podcasts and to read the stories we think were on Brandon’s computer …

QuadBlogging

Today is our first day Quadblogging. Quadblogging is a fantastic way to share learning with different classes around the world. Four class blogs are linked together through the Quadblogging website. Each week one blog is the focus blog with the other three blogs visiting and commenting during that week. In week two, another class blog is the focus with the other three visiting and commenting. This is repeated until each of the classes has had their week in the spotlight.

This week we are focusing on Class 6 of Cathedral Primary’s blog. We explored their school website and commented on Class 6′s blog. It looks like they have a lot of fun learning like us. It was great to see some of their work and we were very interested (and slightly jealous) to see that they used i-Pads in maths!

Quadblogging Explained

Week 1: (Week beginning 21/05) Cathedral Primary

Week 2: (Week beginning 28/05) Kilbowie Primary

Week 3: (Week beginning 04/06) Mount Scopus College

Week 4: (Week beginning 11/06) Heron Primary

Quadblogging Wordle

Kodu Transition Visit

Today we attended High School for the day as part of our Kodu Transition Project. We got to play on the Kodu games created by the various P7 classes across our primary schools and  formed marketing companies with our new friends with the aim of marketing our computer games. We created task teams within our companies, which will be focusing on creating websites and podcasts to market our games,  as well as writing game reviews, designing promotional materials, exploring finance, event planning, photography and hospitality for our parents’ event . We’re going to be very busy!

How did you find your first day at high school? What was the highlight of your day?

Tags: CfE, Curriculum for Excellence, Education, Kodu, teaching, technologies, transition project

Hard Rain Schools Project

I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow: by  Ryan

We are joining Hard Rain in their campaign for realistic solutions to environmental and development problems. We are have discussed Bob Dylan’s song Hard Rain in class and are choosing a line of the song to illustrate. We will then be sending our pictures to the Hard Rain Project who will choose some pictures to be sent to the Prime Minister. Pictures will be exhibited at Westminster in front of political decision makers as well as featuring on a recording of a Bob Dylan’s song in a DVD. Here are some of our ideas so far:

I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world: by Lewis

Want to learn more about the Hard Rain Project? Visit their website.

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Hard Rain is Gonna Fall By Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son ?
And where have you been my darling young one ?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son ?
And what did you see, my darling young one ?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand takers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son ?
And what did you hear, my darling young one ?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet my blue-eyed son ?
Who did you meet, my darling young one ?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded and hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son ?
And what’ll you do now my darling young one ?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the deepths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Tags: art and design, Bob Dylan, CfE, Curriculum for Excellence, eco, Eco Schools, expressive arts, hard rain project

Kodu Transition Project

This week we have been having great fun designing out own computer games. We have learned how to build creative virtual worlds, designed games with rules and learned how to control characters. We have played each others’ games and worked together sharing ideas, solving problems and helping each other on our games. Playing and creating the games has inspired us to do some fantastic writing, we have been taking notes during the game making process, creating character  and setting descriptions as well as writing intriguing backstories for our game. We also customised our transition jotters with our Kodu game characters. All this in two days and we’ve had time to do maths, French and karate. Miss Garcia thinks we’re amazing.

The plan is to take our games to the High School next week when we go for the start of our transition visits.  We will then form marketing companies with our new friends with the aim of marketing our computer games. We will be learning how to create websites and podcasts to market our games, write game reviews and information leaflets as well as explore finance, event planning and hospitality for our parents’ event . In maths, we will taking part in an all new Kodu Olympics maths challenge. The project ends with our big parents’ event where we showcase all our project work. We are looking forward to it already!

Some of our work so far…

 

Tags: CfE, Curriculum for Excellence, education. CfE, Kodu, literacy, primary, teaching, technologies

Teaching to Save Lives

We were very busy last week putting our first aid training into action. The British Red Cross came into school during Health week and trained all of Primary 7 in every day first aid. We also looked at the British Red Cross website and learned lots more about first aid. Last week we took charge and passed on the lifesaving skills we had learned on the course teaching our teachers and primary 5 pupils.  We showed them how to put someone in the recovery position, treat a variety of minor injuries and how to help if someone is choking.

If you want to learn about everyday first aid we recommend the British Red Cross website. You can find it here: Life. Live it website.

Tags: British Red Cross, CfE, First Aid, global citizenship, global education, teaching

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

In celebration of friends everywhere. This makes us smile, a lot.

Online Author Event

You have seen him on your TV; next week we will watch him on our whiteboard! David Walliams will be talking to us about his new book Gangsta Granny which we are reading in class at the moment. What do you think of it so far? As good as Billionaire Boy? Leave your questions for him as comments below.

Tags: CfE, Education, literacy, online author event, reading, Scottish Book Trust

Celebrity Chickens

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Eight of our eggs have hatched and we now have eight chicks, 5 male and 3 female.  They spend most of the day falling asleep on their feet, when they aren’t sleeping they like to look out of the window or peck around for food. Their fame is certainly spreading, yesterday they were photographed for the Clydebank Post and today Real Radio visited to interview us – true celebrity chickens!

They are here!

We went into school today and were greeted by four new feathery pupils. Four chicks had hatched out early in the morning and were cheeping excitedly to see us. Later in the day we were lucky to see a fifth chick hatch from its egg. So far we have three female and two male chicks.“I will remember this moment for the rest of my life,” said Yasmin. Lewis M agreed it was “an amazing miracle of life.”Matthew D from the class next door summed it up beautifully: “The experience is breathtaking, it has made me think how wonderful life is.”