Academy Raiders Blog

Henry Ford and Transport Work

 

We have done quite a lot of follow-up work for the topic on Henry Ford. The children worked in pairs to make a model car. 

(xxx) & (xxx) made a 'Ford Model T' and (xxx) & Michael made a model of 'Thrust SSC' - the supersonic car we saw in the Coventry Transport Museum.  We made the models move - the 'Ford Model T' had a motor and 2 batteries and a chassis from a kit & the SSC was a remote-control K'nex motor.

Each of the children now have an A4 piece if paper with the key stages of their model-making in photographs, which we have displayed on the wall.

The children drew and labelled a diagram of their models too.

Another thing we've done this week ....I gave each child 4 photos on a piece of A4, showing our trip to the Coventry Museum, (reflecting what interested them most), then they added text.  The boys chose to add their text straight onto the computer & (xxx) chose to handwrite her text.  The work was saved as a j-peg so I thought I'd upload (xxx) & (xxx)'s work to share on the blog.

I asked (xxx) (who is our youngest child) to prepare an activity for everyone else.  He was so pleased and prepared a LEGO production line, for us to be production line workers making 'Ford Model T' cars.  It was a lot of fun.  Some of the best activities have been when I asked one (or two) of the children to prepare something for the group.  This has often been (xxx) (the eldest) who has researched a new Renaissance Mind person, and given us all an 'introductory presentation' about the person.  As he is 15 I feel he needs to 'go deeper' than the rest of us.  He enjoys finding out obscure things, which are not very widely known then sharing with the rest.  Anyway, here are a few pics of (xxx)'s LEGO production line... 

We are moving onto Columbus next, (although tomorrow is scheduled for our Taco production line inquiry work!) Yum...

Henry Ford and Transport Work

 

We have done quite a lot of follow-up work for the topic on Henry Ford. The children worked in pairs to make a model car. 

(xxx) & (xxx) made a 'Ford Model T' and (xxx) & Michael made a model of 'Thrust SSC' - the supersonic car we saw in the Coventry Transport Museum.  We made the models move - the 'Ford Model T' had a motor and 2 batteries and a chassis from a kit & the SSC was a remote-control K'nex motor.

Each of the children now have an A4 piece if paper with the key stages of their model-making in photographs, which we have displayed on the wall.

The children drew and labelled a diagram of their models too.

Another thing we've done this week ....I gave each child 4 photos on a piece of A4, showing our trip to the Coventry Museum, (reflecting what interested them most), then they added text.  The boys chose to add their text straight onto the computer & (xxx) chose to handwrite her text.  The work was saved as a j-peg so I thought I'd upload (xxx) & (xxx)'s work to share on the blog.

I asked (xxx) (who is our youngest child) to prepare an activity for everyone else.  He was so pleased and prepared a LEGO production line, for us to be production line workers making 'Ford Model T' cars.  It was a lot of fun.  Some of the best activities have been when I asked one (or two) of the children to prepare something for the group.  This has often been (xxx) (the eldest) who has researched a new Renaissance Mind person, and given us all an 'introductory presentation' about the person.  As he is 15 I feel he needs to 'go deeper' than the rest of us.  He enjoys finding out obscure things, which are not very widely known then sharing with the rest.  Anyway, here are a few pics of (xxx)'s LEGO production line... 

We are moving onto Columbus next, (although tomorrow is scheduled for our Taco production line inquiry work!) Yum...

Being-There...Coventry Transport Museum

My husband had an unexpected day off yesterday so we headed to the Coventry Transport Museum as part of our topic on Henry Ford. It's free and there's loads there. 

(xxx) was quite taken with the pink Jaguar (Barbie) car in the foyer. After we dragged her away (!) we asked a museum guide if they had a 'Ford Model T' and he said that they had just put it back into storage. When he saw how disappointed we were, and heard how far we'd travelled, he took us behind the barriers and into the storage area to see the 'Ford Model T'. We were able to get up really close and have a long private question and answer time with the guide. It had not been renovated and this added to it's charm! There wasn't much room around  the car in the storage area, so the photos aren't the best but when we discussed our favourite parts of the day on our journey home, this was my favourite part. 

 

We found out that Coventry had a fascinating transport history. A sewing machine manufacturer in 1868 had branched out into bicycles which then developed into manufacturing motorcars.

Coventry was the leading car manufacturer in the UK right up until the 1970's. Famous makes like Daimler, Triumph, Jaguar and Rover were at one time all based in Coventry.

Coventry was really bombed in WWII because of the munitions factories. I never realized it before, but the munitions factories were directly related to Coventry's engineering/manufacturing motor history.

(xxx) loved getting 'up close' to as many cars as possible. There was a car cut in half! and his favourite part of the day was pretending to drive a little old Peugeot with no doors.

(xxx) was interested in the 'Thrust SSC' which is the holder of the land speed record 1997- it . It travelled at 763.035mph in the Black Rock desert. All the boys loved the simulator ride for Thrust SSC. 

We would love to hear about the Henry Ford museum. Is anyone planning to go?

Shakespeare

    We were really blessed to go to Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon. We actually went back in March to double up this outing as my husband's birthday treat. In a way this worked out really well, because at this time of year you would struggle to get a clear picture of the house without hundreds of other tourists. One of the things that the children will probably remember, is the 'living statue' of Shakespeare, outside Stratford's public library. For a 20 pence donation, he would wave, move and shake hands!

Inside 'The Shakespeare Center' you couldn't take photos except when we were queueing for our tickets.  Here, as we queued, the children were studying the ceramic tile map of Stratford in Shakespeare's day.

They were delighted to find a sundial in the gardens. It was pretty accurate, too. Since the Copernicus topic, we have loved sundials. The children tried to make one out of slate when they were staying with their grandparents.

They enjoyed making large Shakespeare posters, which began as the 'fact-wheel' inquiry. They wanted to have flaps and other moving parts on their posters, as well as the 'fact-wheel' with the answer window. I love how this activity involved research and choosing the facts that they wanted to include, then deciding which type of moving part would best display their information. Then they presented and decorated the poster in an attractive way too.

Here (xxx) is painting his Shakespeare 'fact-wheel'.

(xxx) and (xxx) worked together to prepare clues for 'The Shakespeare Fact Trail'. We enjoyed following the clues as a family and the sweets we found at the end!  

It goes without saying that we had an emphasis on 'Playwriting'. All of the children wrote their own play after we had studied the 'mechanics' of playwriting.  I think they learned a lot from this. We're still thinking about acting out and videoing our plays.