Year 7 and Their Inflatable Dinosaurs
Yesterday, was World Book Day. It was an exciting day for all the boys dressing up in pyjamas or as characters from a much-loved book and meeting a children’s author.
At the top end of the school Year 7 spent Monday of this week thinking about how they could enhance the experience of World Book Day for the younger boys in Rec- Y2. They were desperate to wear inflatable dinosaur costumes and make the day fun, so they put together an idea.
During our Seesaw sessions, the boys have been reflecting on their learning and how to set targets to help them achieve. Their target this time was how do I make an idea a reality? They got started! The first thing they did was decide on their idea which was to make a film of them reading a book for the younger boys. The second step was to plan what they needed to do. Off they went to Reception asking, ” Do you have a storybook which is about dinosaurs ?” They came back with the book Dinosaurs Love Underpants. They then planned all their parts, practised and learned how to video and use a green screen in preparation. They photographed each page of the book ready to be the background for their short film. The boys organised their outfits and ordered them to arrive the next day. Super teamwork. Everyone had a role.
Thursday arrived and the boys came in all excited. They got dressed into their outfits and disaster struck on many fronts. Leon, the green dinosaur, had a fan failure and his outfit deflated before we could start filming. Aidan had an issue with his zip and it broke so he couldn’t inflate the costume. We went into the spare classroom and realised the dinosaurs were so large they couldn’t fit on the green screen. The boys were downhearted. I was so proud of them though. They have been working on developing their problem-solving skills and resilience and they put this to good use. Fans were shared out ! Madame Douglas and Mrs Anton were asked to help with the zip. The camera was placed on the table and the angle was changed. The boys got together and in an hour had produced their short film.
On Friday we did an assembly on the value of teamwork, planning, problem-solving and resilience. We told the Year 7 story and showed their film. The boys watched it fully engaged and at the end, gave Year 7 a huge round of applause. Year 7 then went on to help give out the Headmaster’s and Kindness Certificates. Later in the morning, they went over to each class from Reception to Year 4 to show their film and then dressed as dinosaurs to answer any questions.
The best part of today was to see this class of boys take an idea and make it a reality using teamwork, problem-solving skills, resilience and patience. If you would like to see the film put together from idea to reality in a matter of hours, please see below.
A job well done Year 7 !
