Arts, Crafts & Hobbies
A drawing in pastels for 4B
4B children in Victoria shared their portraits in pastels. Their artwork is vivid.
Pastel Portraits
In a comment I left them, I described a drawing of a blue wren I prepared for a post in 2013. It was first outlined in pencil before being coloured with pastels. I then used a finger to smear colours for a smoother blend and finally used a pencil point to add texture. As comment sections on blogs rarely allow graphics, below in the drawing for them to see if they wish...
You can click on the picture to see it enlarged.
Give a Child a Camera.
This isn't an extended comment rather a report on a day of fun with some children in a school vacation care group. They were given the chance to visit the local Panboola Wetlands Reserve and make use of cameras. They were encouraged to take interesting and/or unusual photos after I shared some of my photos. Below are selections taken by three boys (9 and 10 years old) who borrowed my spare camera. I thought them worth sharing.
Of course, it was also a chance to add a photo of my own when two children asked me to photograph their toys. When posed, I thought they were a great base for a poster or presentation on friendship. I then added a photo of their hands.
 Friendship
Together we can take on the world.
Aboriginal Dreaming Collection – A collection of stories on You Tube
Recognising the Original People of This Land
Official school events in my region normally start with an Acknowledgement of Country. It recognises the original owners of the land. Click the link below to hear one of my recordings.
Acknowledgement of Country
This audio recording should not be used without my written permission.
The Australian Aboriginal Flag
The Australian Aboriginal Flag was designed by artist Harold Thomas and first flown at Victoria Square in Adelaide, South Australia, on National Aborigines Day, 12 July 1971.
Torres Strait Islander Flag
The Torres Strait Islander flag was designed by the late Bernard Namok as a symbol of unity and identity for Torres Strait Islanders.
In 1995, both of these flags became official flags of Australia.
Source of information:Â Â INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN FLAGS
In order to share some of the stories from the many peoples of Australia, below are a series of embedded You Tube videos sharing Dreaming stories. Where I can, I have added personal photos or drawings relating to the stories if students want to use them. At the end of this post you will find a video looking at indigenous tourism in Australia (52:26min).
Dreaming Stories
1. About Dreaming Stories (7:32 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
This is a draft video for the Australian Museum for their Dreaming Stories. The performers are Gumaroy Newman, Eric Arthur Tamwoy and Norm Barsah. Video by Fintonn Mahony, Lisa Duff, Bronwyn Turnbull and Gina Thomson.
2. Aboriginal Dreaming story of Waatji Pulyeri (the Blue Wren or superb fairywren) (5:33 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
These small wrens often visit my garden searching for insects. The drawing is of a male. Females and juveniles are plain brown.
3. The Rainbow Serpent (11:23 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
Rainbow lorikeets are native to my area and regularly visit my garden.
4. Mirram The Kangaroo and Warreen The Wombat (4:32 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
A species of kangaroo common to my area is the eastern grey kangaroo.
Although mainly nocturnal, I found this wombat out during the day.
4. Girawu The Goanna (4:00 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
One of our local goannas.
5. Biladurang The Platypus (2:58 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
The platypus, a monotreme (egg laying) mammal, can be elusive. I have caught glimpses of them in mountain streams but don't have a photograph.
6. Tiddalick The Frog (2:43 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
7. Wayambeh The Turtle (2:43 min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
Snapper turtle at a local animal sanctuary.
The Aboriginal People of Australia
Many people think there was one Aboriginal (native Australian) culture and one language but, before the coming of European colonists, there were many, many of those cultures now lost. One of the best sites I have seen comes from the Yolngu people of Ramingining in the northern part of Central Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory.
For one of their creation stories, click the link Twelve Canoes and wait for the site to load. The picture below will appear. Once loaded, click on the picture indicated by the arrow to see a creation story.
This graphic should not be copied.
I think you will find many interesting things on this site as well as one of their creation stories.
Indigenous Tourism in Australia Today (52:26min)
This embedded You Tube clip is not my video.
Driftwood Art – Mrs. Watson and her K/1/2/3 posted “World Oceans Day”
To visit K/1/2/3's post...
World Oceans Day
Mrs. Watson and K/1/2/3 visited their local beach the day before World Oceans Day so they, as a class, could help clean up their local beaches. Their post show what they found along their beach.
Once their clean up was complete, they had fun on the beach making driftwood boats and collecting materials for an art project. In my area there is an artist who collects driftwood in order to make them into works of carved art. I was once given a small piece about 30cm (1ft) long. I thought I would share two photos of what can be made from a piece of wood washed up in the beach.
 Top View
Side View
Can you see what the carving represents?
If you look carefully at pieces of driftwood on your beach, can you imagine what they might become?
Global Marionettes & the Battalion Hawk Bloggers
Battalion Hawk Bloggers have prepared a post on their marionettes...
Presenting...our GLOBAL Marionettes!
Hello Battalion Hawk Bloggers,
I was very impressed when I saw your Global Marionette presentation. With 200 nations in our world, it can be hard to decide which countries to represent and/or study but you have chosen four very interesting countries of a most certainly global nature. Here are our world's seven continents in their order from largest to smallest area and the countries you have chosen...
Asia - India - Often said to be the Indian sub-continent because it had once been separate but continental drift had it collide into Asia and caused the rise of the Himalayan mountains.
Flag of India
Nations of Asia table
Africa - Tunisia - The smallest North African nation.
Flag of Tunisia
List of sovereign states & dependent territories in Africa
North America - This is your home continent so you have it covered. You live there.
List of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America
South America - Peru - We have shared your studies on this country.
Flag of Peru
List of sovereign states and dependent territories in South America
Antarctica - This continent is international. While some countries, including Australia, lay claim to parts of it there are no real borders and no people living there permanently.
Europe - Ukraine - Once part of the former U.S.S.R., it is an independent nation.
Flag of Ukraine
 List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe
Australia - The only continent that is one country. I don't know of any national costume for Australia so clothing for a marionette could have many options. As well as the native Australians (Aborigines), Australians have many cultural backgrounds. My heritage before Australia is Scottish and English but I know my ancestors stretch across Europe, Africa and Asia. We are all in one big family.
Flag of Australia
Types of Puppetry
All of the below embedded You Tube clips are not my work.
Since I was little, puppets have interested me so I carried out a little research through Wikipedia to see what kinds of puppets can be made. Here are the types and You Tube clips of some I found and I must admit I hadn't heard of all the listed types...
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Black light puppet
Chelsea, Rayann and Rebecca from Battalion Hawk Bloggers were interested in black light puppetry. I explained black light (ultraviolet) puppetry doesn't need to be complicated. White paint or material can be used to make the puppets. Below is another black light puppet video from You Tube. The puppets are gloved hands with the people wearing black...
An ad has been playing on Australian television recently. It seems to be the actors in the ad are wearing fluorescent suits where colours can be turned off and on. They look like black light puppets but may be black light/body puppets.
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Bunraku puppet
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Carnival or body puppet
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Finger puppet
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Sock puppet
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Hand puppet or glove puppet
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Human-arm puppet
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Light curtain puppet
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Marionette
Jayden and Joyce were interested in the goat marionette video so I've embedded another video clip, this time of a marionette clip from "The Sound of Music".
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Marotte
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Pull string puppet
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Push puppet
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Toy theatre
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Rod puppet
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Shadow puppet
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Supermarionation
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Ticklebug
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Table top puppet
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Ventriloquism dummy
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Water puppet
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Object Puppet
I've added another below because this type includes my favourite puppet you will see at the end of the post. This type is really two types combined.
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Hand and Rod Puppet
Wikipedia Reference if you want to find out more....  Types of Puppetry
Can you see what type of puppets you made? Visit the "Types of Puppetry" link to read more.
Over the years I have made, used or seen a number of the puppet types. My classes have made finger, glove, shadow, sock and rod puppets. They can be sometimes messy to make but are always fun, especially when they're ready to use. 🙂
Recently, puppets have made it to big stage productions. Perhaps some of you have heard of the production, "War Horse". I find their puppets fascinating, particularly the adult horse, Joey. Below is a You Tube clip showing the ad for the production. Watch to see how puppets become "real" members of the stage show.
This is an embedded You Tube clip and is not my work.
Who or what is my favourite puppet? He is a hand and rod puppet you might know...
Â
Christopher was asking about The Muppets and the number of types they used. Below are some more Muppet clips. You will see glove, glove and rod, and body puppets. Cane you see other types?
Body puppets start what once introduced The Muppet Show on television.
This clip shows glove puppets. At the end Kermit (glove and rod) appears.
And for another student who likes Elmo.
North America Globe Graphic for Battalion Hawk Bloggers
For the original Battalion Hawk Bloggers post and comments...
Battalion Hawk Bloggers
Hello again, Battalion Hawk Bloggers.
After reading your comment on my last post for you, I thought I would put together this quick post so I could share the graphics used. It shows the original graphic and the parts. You can take and use the parts of the graphic if you find them of use. 🙂
The Original Graphic
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
The Parts
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
 The graphics were prepared using Photoshop. The world globe view of North America was created on Photoshop by looking at Google Earth positioned to show North America. I then drew and colour-filled the drawing using a graphics tablet. Here are the parts of the globe picture.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Once the map was created, I added a new layer to the picture. It's like adding a piece of tracing paper on top of the picture. It's tricky to explain in detail but what I next did was fill the new layer with black then selected and deleted the circle so the map looked like it's a picture of the Earth taken from space. It's done by hiding and showing the new layer so I can make the cut out circle the correct size.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
I then added a new layer over the top of the others, filled it with blue and adjusted opacity (how see-through it looks). This gave the world globe the bluish look I wanted so the silhouette would stand out.
The student silhouette was made using a photo taken on a school camp. The background was selected and deleted then adjusting lightness and contrast turned the students into a silhouette. As I have thousands of photos I have taken stored in my iPhoto library, I need only search for a suitable photo. It was pasted over the globe as the final layer.
Science Stop: A Colorful Science Lesson – An extended comment for Mrs. Yollis and class
Click below for link back to Mrs. Yollis and her class's original post...
Science Stop: A Colorful Science Lesson
Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,
Science is one of my favourite subjects. Okay, you probably know just about any school subject is a favourite of mine. It comes from being interested in so many things but science (zoology) was my study at university before I trained as a primary (elementary) teacher.
Light is fascinating. Light is a form of energy. Our very bodies have energy down to the atoms making us up. It’s the way our senses interact with the energy that allows us to see, feel, touch, taste and hear.
At first I was wondering if the students might try to trick you by using chemicals to make unexpected colour changes. Here’s a You Tube link to show how this might be done.
I can see they were very careful about their demonstrations so you were able to predict what colours would result.
Below is a colour diagram I created for you. There are three primary colours in light (red, blue and yellow). Mix equally any two primary colours and you will get a secondary colour (purple, orange and green). Â Mixing different amounts of primary or secondary colours can make all of the colours we see. Black is the absence of light whereas white light has all three primaries (which is why a prism can refract white light to show colours and we see rainbows when water droplets refract sunlight).
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
We use our eyes to see but do we all see the same? I suspect, being individuals with our own eyes, we don’t see colours in exactly the same way as others. I think there are slight differences but we learn what we see is red or blue, etc. If you could see through someone else’s eyes, the world might look a little different. What do you think?
I heard you all say light travels in a straight line. I don’t say light travels in a straight line. I say something a little different if asked…
Light travels in as straight a line as space allows.
The idea comes from Albert Einstein and his general theory of relativity (big words to explain how things work).
Have you heard of gravity? If we jump up, we are pulled back down by gravity. If you could jump high enough, the Earth’s gravity wouldn’t be able to pull you down but it would have to be a massive jump. Einstein’s theory tells us space is warped (bent out of shape) by gravity. While light travels in straight lines, the “lines” in space are bent.
Does that sound weird? I know it can be hard to get our minds around so I used a striped shirt and a round rock (geode) from my rock collection. Look at the picture below.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Can you see how the stripes on the shirt are pulled inwards and the shirt has bent down under the weight of the rock? If light was the stripes, it would travel in a straight line but space is warped (“bent”). We know this is true because, in a total solar eclipse (where the moon blocks the sun), we can see stars slightly behind the sun. The sun’s gravity has “bent” space so light appears bent.
I know the idea is hard to understand but it’s one of those fascinating things about our world. I’m not an expert in science but have fun thinking about it. I always hope I get my facts correct. 🙂
Have a great winter break. I look forward to your shared learning adventures in 2013.
@RossMannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia
Maoris, Volcanoes and Aboriginal Rock Art (some notes) for Roadrunners and their comment.
For the Roadrunners original post ...
ROAD RUNNERS
For the Extended Comment carrying their comment as a stimulus for this post...
EXTENDED COMMENT
Hello Roadrunners,
My apologies for taking a few days to answer. I had a DVD/CD project taking more time than expected and am now catching up on comments. My reply to your comment had some links so I created a new post to share them.
I think you have been able to identify the key similarities when we look at native cultures around the world. They have connections to nature and animals in a way our western culture seems to have forgotten. How could it be any other way when they only had what was in their environment in which to survive?
 Waimangu Valley, New Zealand -Scan of an old 35mm slide.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Maoris and volcanoes
You may already know a little about one part of Polynesian culture, the Hawaiian people. They believed in Pele
Pele and the Hawaiians
Pele is the goddess fire, lightning, wind and volcanoes. I have done a little research into the Maoris' beliefs.
The first link gives some information about the Maoris around Rotorua (very popular place for tourists to visit) and their traditional stories...
Maoris of Rotorua
The first three help with traditional stories, i.e. "Creation", "Ngatoroirangi" and"How the fire demons brought geothermal to New Zealand"
Another link is...
Maoris and Volcanoes
This link has some modern explanations along with brief recounts of traditional stories.
Aboriginal Flag - Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Torres Strait Islander Flag - Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Aboriginal Rock Art
Aboriginal rock art is found under ledges or in shallow caves where people were able to shelter from cold, wind and rain. Here is a link to a National Geographic film on rock art
Aboriginal Rock Art - Paintings
The rock art video looked at northern language groups and their art. Around Sydney and other areas you wouldn't find rock "art". You tend to find rock engravings. I have photos of some in my collection but here is a link...
Aboriginal Rock Art - Engraving
I hope these links help. 🙂
Aboriginal Cultural Resource Links for the Roadrunners
To see the class blog...
Roadrunners
Hello Roadrunners,
I see you are going to be looking at three native peoples from around the world, namely the Aboriginal people of Australia, the Maori people of New Zealand and the Native American people of your own country. I thought I would see how I might be able to help. Living in Australia, I have had some experiences meeting people from various Aboriginal Cultures (there isn't one Aboriginal culture). I've also been to New Zealand a number of times and experienced some of the Maori (a group of the Polynesian culture also found as far north as Hawaii). I'll start by sharing some things about the Aboriginal cultures.
There are a number of sites dealing with the Aboriginal people and the culture. Here are some links with information...
The Aboriginal Culture site has good information on the history, religious beliefs and cultural aspects of Aboriginal society. You will also find it has links to other sites with useful information. Click the picture below to go to the site...
This graphic appears at the top of the site. It isn't my work.
I have often said one of the advantages of visiting blogs, commenting and sharing is what I learn in the process. In researching for this post I have come across a new website I think, even without viewing all its contents, offers a great deal to young students. The next link below is a treasure worth discovering.
This site is from the Yolngu people of Ramingining in the northern part of Central Arnhem in Australia's Northern Territory. Their traditions have been passed from generation to generation and now they offer to share with the world. Click the picture below to visit the 12 Canoes website and start your journey. Listen to their story unfold..
This is the opening screen from the site. The site is interactive by clicking a picture.
A major source of images in Australia comes from the National Library of Australia. You can search for images but here is a link for a search for "Aborigine". There are also book lists and many other resources for viewing and or purchase. Click on the picture below to go to the National Library of Australia site...
A search on the web for Aboriginal art has come up with a wealth of images. You can see modern art influenced by tradition in these mostly Aboriginal modern works. Click the graphic below to see what I found...
We can't forget Wikipedia also has sources of information...
Dreamtime
Indigenous Australian Languages
Indigenous Australian Art
Indigenous Australian Music
Now for some videos care of You Tube.
The first video is of a favourite Dreamtime story of mine
A traditional instrument played only be men and forbidden for women is the didgeridoo. It is a hollowed out tree branch. Listen to the sounds it can make...
The modern didgeridoo is also used in contemporary music. Here is a famous group from the 1990s named Yothu Yindi
Sad times for the people
The Aboriginal people weren't given the right to be Australian citizens until 1949. It was only by 1962 all states in Australia allowed Aboriginal people the right to vote in state elections. (Source: Wikipedia) . One tragedy for the people was what has become known as the Stolen Generations. During this period (1869-1969) Aboriginal children could be taken from their families and placed with non-Aboriginal families or made wards of the state. When I was growing up I knew a boy named Claude. Many years later I found he had been taken from his family and placed with another. Many people from the Stolen Generation were able to find their real families as did Claude. It was a sad time.
Unlike Native Americans, no formal treaties existed with Aboriginal people. It's only in modern times the status of Aboriginal people as the first Australians has been recognised through land rites and respect of their culture. Times are changing but there is still more to be done.
At official school functions, it is normal for a representative of the local Aboriginal people, in my case the Yuin people, to say the Acknowledgement of Country and recognise the traditional owners of the land. One of my tasks in my local area is to produce DVDs for school performances. During the making of this year's DVD for a performing arts festival, I recorded a high school girl saying the Acknowledgement of Country. Click below to hear this audio recording of what was said...
Acknowledgement of Country
 The study and comparison of cultures can enrich our life and help preserve traditional knowledge. I hope this post is of some use in your studies looking at Native Americans, Aborigines and Maoris.
@RossMannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia
“Wrong” shapes for 4KM and 4KJ
To see the 4KM and 4KJ post...
Learning About Shape
Hello 4KM and 4KJ,
I found your post on shapes interesting. Many times my classes had looked at the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. I have also had to draw shapes very many times but some of my favourites include 3D shapes we might be able to draw on paper but they don't make sense in the real world. Here are two examples.
If I were to cut out a triangle and a hexagon from a piece of timber, paint the triangle red and the hexagon blue then place one on top of the other, would they appear as below? What is wrong with this picture?
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Some 3D shapes we draw can be impossible in the real 3D world. Below is a shape known as a blivet. Look at it carefully. What did you notice?
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Making the smiley face in a post for Global Grade 3
Global Grade 3 asked how the nose was made on a smiling face used in a post on dots...
Global Grade 3 post and comments
Dot post with smiling face
Hello Global Grade 3,
Since the mid 1980s, I’ve been using graphics on computers to help me when creating worksheets or other things. While I do use graphics created by others at times, some having been in my graphics collection for over 20 years, I am trying to create unique graphics in all my latest extended comments. This is so students will be able to use them without fear of having a copyright owner chase them. The smiling face has become an icon in modern communication and appears in many forms all based around a simple pattern.
My smiley version was created using Photoshop. I used circles, the only exception being the curved marks at the end of the smile. They were added using a graphics tablet and stylus pen although I could have added them using the mouse.
When you create shapes in Photoshop, they are added in layers. Think of layers like in an onion. Each layer can be a different part of a picture. This allows us to work on just one layer at a time without changing the others. The nose is really a copy of the mouth layer. Once copied, I compressed the smile from the side (made narrower) until it was the width you see. Next, I compressed the smile vertically (made less tall) until I was happy with the shape of the nose.
The mouth itself was really a copy of the two circles I used to make the face and the eyes were copies of the black circle used for the face. I adjusted the sizes and erased the unwanted parts of the circles.
It does seem a little tricky but I having been doing things like this for a very long time now. Here is a series of pictures showing the face take shape. There are other ways of doing this but these steps show you how I made the face.
The first layer was a black circle.
I copied the black, pasted it on as a new layer, made it a little smaller and turned it yellow to give yellow face a black border a black border.
Next, I copied the two face circles and made them smaller. The yellow circle was made a little smaller again to make the mouth look a little larger than the face outline. I then merged (joined together) the two smile circles and erased the unwanted part so just a smile remained on the face.
This is when I used the graphics tablet to add the small curves at the two ends of the smile. You can do this using a mouse.
I then copied the smile layer and pasted it on. Using a tool called Skew, I was able to compress the copied smile laterally and vertically (I made the copied smile thinner and shorter) until the nose was the shape I wanted and was in place.
Finally, I copied the main face’s black circle and reduced it in size to make an eye. This only left me needing to copy the eye then place the two eyes in position.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.