Participation and Contribution - How do we ACE?

How do we show participation and contribution during our ACE time in the Allen Centre?
Mrs B decided that each class needed a challenge that involved each child HAVING to first contribute to a plan, then participate in order to get the task done.
What fun we have had so far!

Keep an eye out below to see the pictures of our weekly challenges unfolding.

Room 5 - CO2 Cars

These cars are made out of balsa wood. They are definitely starting to take shape.  I can't wait until we race them.  Who will be the fastest?

Our amazing helper!  Thanks so much Marty!

The Cars are starting to really take shape.

The  Finished Race Cars ready to roll...

The first challenge the kids had was to learn how to use a craft knife safely. I chose a carrot car challenge as the context to learn a few safety tips!
The carrot car had to successfully roll down a ramp, showing that all four wheels were rotating.
The children were only given a carrot, two kebab sticks, a craft knife, and a potato peeler.

We had a few crashes off the side, and quite a few of our cars slid and then disintegrated on impact!! Lots of our wheels just fell off!!

The winners?  Congratulations to Liam, Toby, and Easton. True artists and engineers.  I applaud you on your problem solving skills.  Well done.

Room 6 - Mystery Chef!

We gave the children buckets with everything they needed in them.  Just like the real Mystery Box challenges.

Then the teams were off!  Each team had to make a butter icing and then decorate three cupcakes within the time frame. 

The tidy up was a very important part of Mystery Chef.  Everyone in the group had to pitch in and pull their weight to get it done in the time frame.  I was SUPER impressed with the kids.

The end results were AMAZING.  What very clever kids. 

However, there can only be one winner!  Expect there were actually three winners!   William won the best cupcake,Team Bridgette, Nick, and Jacob W won the best tidy up team, and Jacob C and Andrew won the best working team.

Well done everyone. 

The next week was twice baked potatoes.  This easy peesy recipe was chosen so as to give MUM a night off cooking.  Bake your potato, scoop out the cooked potato and mix with sour cream, grated cheese, and really anything else you fancy.  Pop back in the  potato shell, and into the oven. Bake until the top is nicely browned and bubbly.  YUM YUM - put up your feet Mum! The kids are on dinner tonight!

Room 7 - The Mystery Bag!

Room 7 was given the task of guessing what to do with their ingredients in order to get something to eat!  What fun we had guessing how to!

What do you get when you add milk to a mystery powder, then put in a plastic bag and shake, shake, shake?  Astronaut Pudding!  The only clue the children were given was -  plastic spoons.

I was amazed at not only how well they planned, shared, and worked as a team, but how quickly it dawned on everybody what they had to do.

A really fun and problem solving time had by all!

This week we made a very easy gift idea.  BUBBLE WANDS and BUBBLE MIXTURE!

So easy, inexpensive, and what a lot of fun can be had.  Make up the mixture, place in a little jar,  and attach the wand to the jar with a lovely ribbon.

 Once the sun finally decided to  shine, we got outside to try our wands with the bubble mixture.  It took a bit of technique and patience, but once the beads got soaked in the soapy liquid, the big bubbles REALLY started to appear.  If you get the chance, you defiantly have to try this!!!

If you would like to make these follow the link below:
http://www.redtedart.com/bubble-wands-melty-bead-suncatchers/

Room 3 - Let's Get Growing!

Room 3 was learning all about seasons, and I just LOVE spring.  During our ACE time we decided to explore growing, and create some nifty, fun crafts.

Our first challenge was HAIRY HEADS!  The see-through plastic cup meant we could also track what the roots of the lawn seed were doing, as well as watching the head grow.  

After two weeks in the sun, the hair was ready to be trimmed, plaited, or pig tailed!

The next week we made a REALLY cool gift idea.  Little Seed Starters.  These can be planted straight into the garden or a pot.  We used wildflower seeds.  They were super easy to make, although a little fiddly.  The children had to be patient as we only had one sieve to push the excess water out!

If you would like to make some, just click on the following link:
http://www.madeeveryday.com/2011/04/hello-spring-diy-shredded-paper-seed-starters.html/



Room 2, and 4 - Learn a Musical Instrument - The Ukulele.

This is Room 4 playing the chord 'c', and singing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.

Room 9, and 10 - Contribution to the School - Tukutuku and Kowhaiwhai panels.