When Bad Things Happen

This book acknowledges God on a number of its pages, acknowledging a divine and loving entity who children can turn to in prayer. The book does not try to give trite answers to life's big questions and instead speaks to us all in our vulnerability. I felt vulnerable reading it aloud and had to edit it a number of times to complete the video. May the story bring hope and blessing to those who listen. You can hear the story by clicking here.

Block Container Gift

This is another cool object that you can make from two packets of craft blocks that can be bought from a 'variety' store. I will show the best way to assemble the blocks to make one yourself and give cautions where needed. This project is for upper primary and above, unless parents have the time to help. You have to trust the binding power of the glue more so in this project because the blocks hang over and gravity might try to pull them off.

Set up your pieces on baking paper that is somewhat resistant to glue.

Glue together five rows of five blocks. GENTLY squeeze the blocks together for best chance of keeping them in a straight line. The blocks will try to slide around a bit if you press too hard.

Glue the five rows together and very gently push in from all four sides. It also helps to 'shift' this assembly sideways so that it does not try to stick to one spot on the baking paper. 

Carefully rule a square with corners marked at the centres of the corner blocks (important).

Glue the first second level block along the ruled line from one of the corners of the marked square.

It is important that the glue is on the side of the last block and on the flat surface beside the line.

Repeat the process to the end of the row.

Getting there - one more for the row

Leave the actual corner space empty and apply glue after the corner and beside the next line.

In the same way put glue on the side of the last block and the flat surface beside the line.

And so on. By now you should be getting it...

When you have glued all four rows of this second level prepare to glue in the corner blocks. 

Make sure there is glue on the three surfaces in these corner spots and GENTLY press the corner cubes into these spaces. You don't want to dislodge the other cubes.

At the completion of the second level it is worth going onto something else, even waiting a day, so that the glue can set.

When you return, rule another square with corners market at the centres of the second level corner blocks.  

Start a third level row in the same way as the second level was started, from a ruled corner.

Off you go again. 

Start again around the corner in the same way as the previous level.

When all four third level rows are glued on, glue on the corner cubes in the same way you did the previous level.

And there you have it... a multifunctional container. You have used 69 blocks.

If there are a lot of blocks left over you might like to turn over your project (once the glue is strong enough) and proceed to make a pyramid with the remainder. 

My project sketch up and block number calculation by levels.

Negative Space Picture Puzzles

I have always been fascinated in the Coles Funny Picture Book. It was first published in 1879, and has had a number of further reprints. It is packed with line illustrations for children, plus stories, poetry and out-of-the-box humour reflecting life those days. It spoke to a young audience that all knew their nursery rhymes. The book presents the good and the bad in children, the thoughtful and the thoughtless. It includes many well-known animals with humorous personalities. Various toys and popular dolls are also found in their related sections.

At the annual break up of Whittlesea State School, Victoria, on 20 December 1918, the Rev Douglas Bruce, Chairman of the School Committee, spoke about E.W. Cole and his Book Arcade to inspire the pupils in ‘How to make the most of life’ reflecting on Cole’s success from humble beginnings through ‘hard work’.

The part of the book that has always intrigued me was the picture puzzle collection. I was first introduced to them when my elderly great-aunt took out her own copy and showed me how to “see” in a way I had not before. I was captivated by the magic of the “negative space”, as most of these puzzles relied on it to “hide” the object to be found. I poured over the puzzle pictures for hours whenever I visited my Great-Aunt Ruby. Sometimes the answer was not hidden in a negative space but built into the positive shapes and revealed on another angle. I am posting a small number from the publication. Remember to look for the negative spaces, those are the “gaps” that are made mostly by the trees. But there is one of the four pictures below where you can’t do that. Enjoy the challenge at finding them all and learn about “negative space”.

For this additional puzzle (below) I’ll give you some help to get started. It goes like this:

Mr Cole’s Book Arcade

coals book arcade.

It is in Melbourne town,

of all the book houses in this land

it has the most renown,

(Now it’s your turn – it’s a promotional jingle)

Great Finds for Remote Learning

I was shown a large number of online learning links that might prove helpful, especially around numeracy. I investigated them all and these four I thought the best, in that I thought these offered great learning interactivity with minimal “outside” intervention and/or cost. Some of these sites expect students (or teachers/parents) to register and that feels painless enough for most people. Below is my 'prize' group. Of course I may find other good sites at a later stage.

Geoboards online: https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/geoboard/?fbclid=IwAR1d2q6S42gDCeMh6nuYTEL1HPZWR3TMW-iP3BPy1WiNt1KdPUWjl8QP0Jo 
This is using virtual rubber bands on a nailed board with pencil support if it's needed. I was amazed that there was no advertising or requests for personal info.

Maths is Fun: https://www.mathsisfun.com/index.htm 
Jenny Cottle of https://jennycottle.wixsite.com/jennysmathslinks led me to this good site. Her own site was crowded with other tempting links. I thought “Maths is Fun” has the full range of maths disciplines and seems clear enough for students to engage with and learn unassisted.

Interactive maths tests like the example above: https://au.ixl.com/math/year-5/word-problems-with-extra-or-missing-information
Interactive maths challenges are provided to those who have the ability to read carefully. You can become a member for unlimited practice after a very brief 'trial' to get you in. It is good that there is immediate feedback and instruction when an error is made instead of waiting until the end and that makes it good in my eyes.

This final choice provides a finite number of maths challenges encouraging a growth mindset, labelled as brain teaser puzzles: https://illuminations.nctm.org/BrainTeasers.aspx 

Interactive Online Science

I went onto Splash ABC 'Zoom' Science to see what was on offer, education-wise. I found strongly interactive learning through an interactive online game. I think it is worth the effort to encourage students (upper primary and lower secondary) to give it a go. It could be all done in an hour but I took two. Splash ABC made interactive online learning fun. Throughout the game, I had to find useful items in the space ship/station to use further on in order to 'pass' a particular science challenge.

In a remote learning context (without a 'physically there' hovering teacher to help and encourage), I think a student needs to watch the behind the science videos by selecting "The science" tab before entering the game itself. This visit (usually for teachers) will double as solid learning and will definitely help students to proceed through the game’s steps unassisted (good luck), provided they can read the directions that pop up all the time in the game. Below are a few of the "behind the science" video choices in "The science" visit. The videos cover nine different science topics. Laser: Fire high energy photons. Electromagnetic spectrum: Sorting electromagnetic radiation. Touchscreen: Repair a touchscreen. Prism: Refract light and match frequency. Retina: Restore colour vision. Neurotransmitter: Restore nerve cell signal transmission. Sodium potassium pump: Build up the transmembrane potential. Radio transmitter: Generate a radio wave. Synchrotron: Create an x-ray beam. 

Sorry, the pictures below are just pictures, not hyperlinks. They're here to give you a feel of how Splash ABC does its teaching. You'll have to visit their page.

'Lifetimes' reading

This book offers pastoral care wellbeing support for those who are facing questions coming out of grief and loss. It is sensitively written, helping us to face the reality of dying and to celebrate the living that goes on between beginning and ending. This book is to be used for those occasions. Click here to see and hear the reading of this book.

Virtual Zoo Visit

Many zoos around the world have closed their doors during this time of physical isolation of society. To remain "open" in some way zoos are posting snippets of what is presently happening at their locations. This applies also to the three Zoos in Victoria. This is worth the occasional visit in order to see their 'streaming' of some of the action. Click here to see their FaceBook page with these videos.

Woodcraft Table and Chair

This is another "woodcraft at home" project that uses craft blocks and therefore will not cost too much to undertake. This time, you will need two packets of craft blocks. Some packets have 36 while others 42. Whichever is the case, this table and chair assembly project will need 70 pieces. Wood glue is also required (obviously) and this will also need to be purchased if you don't have any ready at hand. A sheet of baking paper is very handy. It allows gluing the blocks on a flat surface and therefore keeping them as straight as possible in at least one direction. I offer a careful step-by-step guide below, starting with the table and moving onto the chair. Careful lining up of rows of blocks is important so PLEASE take care to do that for best results. I have added an instruction video if that helps HERE

Note the size of the glue drops. Not much is needed. Gently press the blocks together in a neat row and let the excess glue ooze out. You can then carefully wipe off this excess glue and carefully shift the piece you have glued on the baking paper so that it does not start to stick to that spot.

When two rows are glued (7 blocks each), gently glue the rows together. I tried to remember to always have "end grain" facing up. I forgot a few times though. 

Repeat the process joining the next row of blocks to the widening table top.

The table top is completed by gluing together four rows of seven blocks each. There can be variations to this table top dimension depending on how many blocks you have left over the required 70 for the basic project. 

While the glue in the table top is setting, go onto making the four table legs. Each table leg is made up of four blocks. Make them as straight and as neat as you can. 

The table legs can now be glued onto the table top. Spot glue the table corners and gently press the table legs into those corner tabletop blocks. 

Next is the chair. The chair seat needs nine blocks. This is best assembled as three straight rows of three blocks forming a flat "square" of nine. 

While the glue of the chair seat is setting, assemble the four chair legs gluing together two blocks for each.

The chair legs can then we glued to the corner blocks of the chair seat. AFTER THIS, there may need to be a time pause to give the glue a chance to set before turning the assembly over with legs down.

The seat backrest is another collection of nine blocks forming a square of nine, assembled in the same manner as the chair seat (see above).

VERY gently glue the chair backrest to one end of the upright chair and give the glue a chance to properly set before moving this completed chair about.

The final result is very cute. If you are able, or that way inclined, you can send a picture of your own effort to your teacher and friends. In the end, this project can become a gift for someone who has a dolls house.

Before I started this project I roughly sketched it up to check how many actual blocks were required. I was delighted to find that just two packets of blocks was needed, 70 blocks in all with some left over. I hope you enjoy the project and please leave a comment about how you went.