Show and Tell

One of the highlights of school for Nicholas is doing show and tells.  We started off with simple show and tells with something interesting to show and a bit to talk about, then we thought a poster would be a nice accompaniment, next we followed the trend of making a power point presentation to give the talk structure and we ended the year off with what we think really works well: a power point presentation, something interesting to show and a lot to talk about.  For the topic we always choose something that Nick knows a bit about, something that he can learn more about, something that he is passionate about and something that ties into we've done and/or relates to one of their topics at school.  Nicholas is very proud about the fact that his teachers always say his show and tells are very interesting and that they learn something new from him every time!

Teeth

This was round about the time when everyone in Nick's class started loosing their teeth so it seemed like a good topic at that moment.  He showed a couple of shark's teeth, one of his teeth and an adult tooth complete with root and visible nerves.  He also had an x-ray and a couple of photos of a 6 year old child's jaw showing the new teeth waiting in the gums to make their appearance!

Life in the Rock Pools

This was a really fun one to do.  We had a fine collection of stuff that we collected on the beaches during our wonderful holiday in South Africa (double beach holiday: Tweenie in Natal and Jacobsbaai on West Coast).  We constructed a poster with photos to go with it.  We also did a bit of research about creatures that thrive in the intertidal zone which was great because it meant learning about the stuff we saw and collected.  Nicholas was particularly interested in the food chain aspect which also tied in nicely with the topic of habitats so that was the angle it took in the end!  

Animal Vision

A few boys were doing power point presentations at this point so we decided to jump on the band wagon.  It's definitely a good way to give the show and tell shape.  Nick's first power point show and tell was on Animal Vision.  His choice of topic was inspired by one of our visits to the Natural History Museum and a workshop we attended there.  We focused of weird and wonderful eyes of the animal kingdom which tied in nicely with their science topic of 'eyes and vision'.  Looking back now I realise that we didn't actually have any artefacts to show but it went down well all the same! 

Eyes

Around the same time Nicholas went for his annual check up at the optometrist.  The doctor was most impressed with his questions and observations during the thorough examination.  She emailed us these photos of the back of his eyes for him to take to school.  They were very well received by the science teacher who encouraged Nick to do an impromptu show and tell about eyes to his class!

Volcanoes

Next topic was volcanoes simply because of Nicholas' obsession with them.  I thought it was a nice topic because it was a melange of History, Geography and Science.  We had a fantastic time exploring the topic from every different angle and it was a big learning experience for all of us.  To end off Nicholas did a little science experiment using his volcano kit to induce an eruption!

Birds

Nicholas choose this topic because of our trips to SA where we spent a lot of time bird watching with Oupa and Ouma and also because of a visit we had to the Natural History Museum. The added bonus was the boys were going on an outing to Bird World later that term.  I didn't take a photo of his artefacts but we had a lot to show like nests (a weaver's nest and a humming bird's nest), eggs (an ostrich egg and a quail egg), feathers (owl, eagle and peacock feathers) as well as some sound waves of different bird calls (for the boys to guess).  It's useful having friends like Caitlin who have the most amazing collection of exhibits for us to borrow!

St Paul's Cathedral

As you may remember we went on a class outing to St Paul's Cathedral during the May half term.  I decided to organise this because the boys were doing the Great Fire of London in History.  Miss Jackson asked if Nicholas could do a quick show and tell on the outing to summarise what they learnt.  He gladly accepted the invitation!

The Solar System

This was definitely Nicholas' best show and tell.  Apparently he spoke confidently for half an hour with all boys totally engaged.  I think the success came from the fact that space is one of his biggest passions and he really does know a lot about the topic.  We built a model of the solar system to go with the presentation, which all by himself, he turned into a prop for a quiz at the end of his talk.  The teachers were so impressed that they even got him to repeat it for the science teacher, the headmaster and the other class.  He was thrilled with when he earned a well deserved Semper Magis certificate for it!

The Age of Trees

As homework for the April holidays the boys got a choice of four projects to do in relation to the theme of spring and growing.  Nicholas choose trees.  We learnt quite a lot about the different ways  to identify trees and to estimate the age of trees.  We tied it in with mapping out all the trees on the green in front of out house, identifying them and estimating their age.  One of the old neighbours confirmed that we were roughly correct as he has lived here for 50 years and remembers when the different trees were planted!

  

The problem with having posts in the pipeline for so long is that sometimes some of the material goes amiss.  I can't find all the notes Nicholas made for each show and tell.  The purpose of the notes was to give Nicholas a chance to really think about what he was going to to say and to give to the teacher in case he forgot some facts.  The good thing is that he is learning to speak without notes which something he is confident and proud about!