Pinwheels and Airplanes

I continue to have students visit me frequently on the weekends and after class.  Just this past week, Freddie, a Standard 1 boarder greeted me outside and showed me his pinwheel.  I examined it closely.  A piece of twig pierced the center of a guava leaf which had had a square torn out of two opposite corners.  I was impressed by the craftsmanship and asked for a demonstration.  A grin appeared and Freddie took off across the quad, little legs flying.  In one hand he held the pinwheel, the other pumping back and forth as he ran.  Slowly the pinwheel started to turn until it was whirring merrily as Freddie ran circles around me.

Standard 1 boarders, including Freddie,  have also recently discovered the fascinating world of paper airplanes.  Seeing me make one, there were choruses of "Teacher, will you teach me to make one like yours?".  The next day they appeared, scrap paper in hand, folding as best they could to copy my airplane.   The airplanes were able to perform various stunts - loop-de-loops were actually quite common (I don't know how they managed it), and planes that flew straight were not.  Much laughing and "Teacher, look at me"  ensued, as, with a puff of their cheeks, they blew air on the back of their planes for good luck and let them fly.

Showing off their homemade pinwheels.

I spy...

This past week we used the microscope again in Standard 5 to look at cells.  And this year the lab did not take place in my living room.  I tested the outlets in our classroom ahead of time and was able to switch into the Standard 7 classroom.  I arranged the microscope at the back of the classroom on the teachers desk, and pushed and pulled all the single desks into groups of 4 to make "tables" so that pupils could work with their group on problems and on creating cell posters to put up in their classroom.  With bags of pencils, colored pencils, sharpeners and paper at the front for each group ready for the posters, and the tables and microscope arranged just so, I felt like I was teaching in a real lab where students could interact and work together to understand the material.  Although I was a bit nervous to have 44 students working in 11 groups of 4 with little supervision, the only teacher (me!) was busy with the microscope, students were engaged and enthusiastic - filling in their worksheets at their tables and gazing into the microscope with grins on their faces.  Take a look at the classroom set up and everyone busy at their tables!

At the end of the day, Standard 7 returned to their classroom and were so curious to see that I put the onion skin slide back under the microscope and they all took a look too.  Here they are below - a Standard 7 pupil at the microscope with Standard 5 students (Herbert peeking out from below and Renatha with her bag on her head) posing for the picture.