Eggs !

During X block sessions students have been making the links between chemistry and cooking, they have spent 2 hours in the kitchen learning how to work in the safely, they have also been figuring how long it takes to make a ‘good’ boiled egg, cooking eggs for 2, 4, 6 and 8 minutes then comparing their findings. Their have been many discussions about changes to states of matter, whether changes have been chemical or physical and how heat transfer has taken place. Well done to all students for 4 weeks of eggcellent X Block work.

This week in X Block we were set an Art challenge – could we sketch a portrait in under 5 minutes?

So, using handy hints to help us with proportion and sketching techniques, we started…

Look at our amazing outcomes!

Leading our own debrief..

As part of our X Block sessions, we are working on a piece of drama which we are going to share as part of our Presentation of Learning in December.

Mrs. Poncia and Mrs. Parker were blown away when we circled up and debriefed our work so far.  Alyssa took the lead and used protocols such as ‘Whiparound’ to allow us all to share our ideas.

Alyssa explains:

‘We sat in a circle and everyone listened to me.  Then I said, “Let’s do a Whiparound and then we’ll build on our answers if we need to.”  

This really showed me that we are able to lead our own discussions without the teacher telling us what to say or do.’

Art sessions in X-Block

It’s full steam ahead as we come closer to the completion of our final product…..

Having practised cross-hatching and block shading, sketching to proportion, vanishing points and lines of perspective, we are moving to the final exciting phase on our journey towards producing our final product. This week we transferred our sketch drawings of trains onto higher quality cartridge paper, and our art work is really taking shape thanks to the use of acrylic paints to add depth to our designs.

Drama

We’ve had an amazing week in Drama, as students begin to plan their performance for their first ever Presentation of Learning.  We won’t reveal too much at this stage, but if the storyboards are anything to go by, it’s going to be spectacular!

Next week, we’re moving onto scenery and scripts.

XP East First Samba Band

Great work X-Block three. Making some good progress towards our final production evening on our presentation of learning. XP East’s first Samba Band!

 

Building trust in Drama

Hi, my name is Isabel! I’m in Class 7P at XP East.  I’m here today doing this blog because I want to tell you how amazing my lesson was in drama with Mrs Poncia.

At the start, we did a trust activity.  Trust is important in drama because you have to trust that the rest of the cast in a play are going to learn and say their lines at the right time.  Mrs Poncia asked us to find a partner, and to label ourselves A and B. The A’s had to hold their hands out and B’s had to put their index finger into A’s hand. Then the A’s walk around the drama area and the B’s have to close their eyes.  We had to really trust the person leading us around not to make us bump into anything!

After that we had different partners and we had to make three different trust moves. My first partner was Dominic and my second partner was Miss Parker.  Both of us came up with three more amazing trust activities. After that we could show our moves to the rest of the group.

Finally, the last thing we did was a trust walk. We basically got into groups of around 5 or 6 and we numbered ourselves 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then the person at the front held their hand out and the person behind them put their index finger on their palms.  Only the person at the front would have their eyes open and lead the human chain around the drama area, the rest of the line kept their eyes closed.  All members of the group had a go leading the chain. Unfortunately, that was the end of that lesson.

So, now it is goodbye from me but make sure to tune in soon for another amazing blog about our lessons 🙂

Izzy N.

 

 

Great start in X-Block Noah N!

I must congratulate Noah N. on his great start to his Art lessons during X-Block.

In only his 2nd lesson, he is already building on his 1st draft of a bird of prey by creating a 2nd draft as part of his homework.

AT XP East, we have been teaching students the methodology of Peer Critique via the video as shown below. It encourages students to be kind, specific and helpful in working together to improve their work until it is excellent.

Mr Pearson asked me to come into his lesson to see the rapid progress that students are already making. When Mr Sprakes and I visited the class, I was struck by how focused they were in collaborating with each other to improve their work.

Well done everyone so far – especially Noah!