See you soon!

Dear students,

I really enjoyed all these weeks with you in Cañada Blanch.

It was really rewarding for me to see 2ºESO students excitement building circuits in a record time. And now I´d like to confess something to you. When I was in the university building circuits myself, I used to hate it because they would often not work!!! But, most of you made them work! And those who didn´t had a plan on how to fix it. Amazing!

Working with movement and mechanisms was also fun and I was really impressed on how you all discovered how they work with very little instruction. You are definitely good explorers!  

And finally, some of 3º and 2º students heard about my mobile telecoms world. It was a pleasure for me to show you how exciting technology and telecoms are.

Keep the good work and the explorer attitude!

All the best,

Rocío

Proyecto de investigación de máquinas y mecanismos

Podeis descargar en este link el material para las clases de máquinas y mecanismos del 21-03-11 y 28-03-11.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rgwHu44cQGtCTaH37pRaN9a49OsJODvGO5gFA-fQvSk/edit?hl=en&authkey=CKTA84sF


Una vez completado enviádnoslo por correo electrónico a la dirección de Menna para su evaluación.


Hoy comenzaremos la clase con este vídeo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2HsmEHNl_4&feature=related


Rocío

Electricity tasks for Rocio´s class

Revision guide and exercises for 2o ESO for Monday 14th March.
Click in the link below:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5vb195FJEl-OGMzZTQyNjMtMWM1NS00MjAxLWFkMmMtM2JmZjg1ZjYwODg0&hl=en&authkey=CLb-vN4K

Alice in Wonderland Model Boxes Complete!

2o ESO students celebrated on Friday 11th Feb as they added the finishing touches to their theatre model boxes.  For the past month they have worked extremely hard to translate their 2D drawings into mini theatre sets.  The students produced walls and floors, decorated to scale; they built small structures using materials such as bolsa wood and polystyrene; some also experimented with found objects such as stones and leaves!  All teams have successfully created a tiny scene - if you look closely enough you can imagine you're in Wonderland!
Well done everyone - this was a fun project!

'The Garden Party' 2oB

'Drink Me / Eat Me Room' 2oB

'Slaying the Jabberwocky' 2oA

'The Queen of Hearts Palace' 2oA

2oESO TEC - A set design project leads to a Royal visit

 

On Tuesday 1st February, 2o ESO A & B enjoyed a morning of theatrical discovery at the world famous Royal Opera House in Covent Garden...  
In Tec the students are currently studying 'Theatre Technology' - looking at technical processes such as lighting, scenography and costume construction and how they come together to make a show. Prepared with Activities and Quizzes, students explored Covent Garden Piazza - some excellent drawings by Lydia Herrera and Chenta-Shayen and Miguel Rox and Alex Rodriguez even became part of a street performance!


In 4 groups with Me - Menna, Xaime, Pablo and Caroline, we were guided through a very special tour behind the scenes at the Opera House.  We heard about the amazing new 'wagon' system that allows sets to be transported on and off stage at record speeds.  Luck was on our side as a little gap in rehearsals for a new Opera, 'Anna Nicole' meant we could take a look inside the beautiful and decadent auditorium!  Then came a second star moment for Alex Rodriguez as in the huge scenery hold backstage, he spotted some giant playing cards for 'Alice in Wonderland' the ballet!  We even watched a ballerina rehearsing for Swan Lake from behind a one way glass, a rare and amazing sight. 


The project - 

• In groups of 6 or 7 students revised a particular scene of 'Alice in Wonderland' the movie (dir. Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp).  On a 3D drawing of a basic stage some ideas of how we could make the film a stage production were sketched and notes written.  Students learnt some theatre terminology, e.g. wings, stage floor.
• We looked at how the Lion KIng was developed into a successful musical from the original Disney film.  A YouTube documentary gave students some great ideas for ambitious sets that revolve and elevate from sub-stage.
• Plans completed, students divided responsibilities for making the various parts of their sets.  The floor, back and side walls are grey/black foamboard (lightweight but strong), other materials include - cardboard tubes, plywood, bolsa wood, cork laminate, cellophane.  Work on these model boxes will continue until 11/02...

  

           

           

We are delighted that next half term, Rocio (trainee teacher) will be joining us to teach the students electronics, so we will soon be able to light the stages!  There will of course be an exhibition of the final model boxes in March at IECB, so watch this space!

Architecture with 4o ESO TEC at the Southbank

Have you ever really taken the time to look up?!  We did!
All too often we make our journeys in the city without observing our surroundings, but on Thursday 27th January, 20 students of 4o ESO Tec spent a whole day doing just that!
We set off from IECB at approx. 9.30am armed with clipboards, maps and info and a 2B pencil (ideal for quick sketches).  After an easy tube ride to Waterloo, we began our Architecture trail...

Just in time, at the Design Museum we were all given a badge.  We had our lunch in the lovely cafe (not usually open to groups, but exceptions were made for our well behaved students).  A little piece of chocolate brownie each gave us some extra energy to begin the afternoon's adventures!  Coats and bags safely stowed away in a big plastic tub, we were ready to climb the stairs to John Pawson's 'Plain Space' exhibition.  First struck by a serene looking white space behind a wall of light fabric, the students quickly moved off to explore ...

Web site critiques - 4o ESO INF

This term 4o ESO Informatica students have begun Unit 6 of the course: 'The Internet'.  Having established that the existence of the World Wide Web and the use of websites is extremely important to 21st century living, from Social networking to online shopping, students had a closer look at some of their most known and used sites...

Working in pairs a website was selected then it's true purpose was discussed.  The students then began to analyse the site's design, layout and format  - use of text, colour, images, video, need for advertising, links, navigation etc.  They then made a judgement of how popular the site is within its genre and amongst the target audience.  Finally personal opinions were formed and ideas for improvement noted.  Olivia Rodriguez and Adam Vigo had conflicting tastes in simplicity and detail, so decided to compare and contrast Olivia's Dad's company website with 'Disney'.

Alex Garcia stumbled across a very badly designed site created by his namesake, Alex Garcia - the purpose of this site is yet unknown and its contents very difficult to decipher! 

Having prepared notes on various areas (I supplied a proforma for clarity), the students presented their findings to the group.   Some giants of the internet business world were excellently scrutinised by Vanessa Gimenez and Abel Marques - 'Apple',  Jessica Walters and Luis Bercera - 'Amazon', Demir Sezer and Daniel Castillo - 'YouTube', among others.  Equally, some lesser-known but well-enjoyed sites were explored - Patricia Mbula, Nadir Robles and our new student, Irene Guiller shared information 'asco de vida' on which people can post funny stories and anecdotes.   Stefano Martinez and Sofie Martinez shared their thoughts on 'antenna3', Marcos Alexander and Particia Gallardo introduced us to 'iM1 music' and with Michael Hindle and Belinda Osma we learnt about an internet celebrity gamer on 'King of Hate' - scary!

Well done!