A few photos from group 2′s activities – hopefully more to come! From Miss Abell

Tuesday 27th March-A beautiful morning after a lovely night’s sleep.

Survival Day-Click link to see a video of the herbivores being chased by the carnivores at the start of the game.

As we prepare for our survival day, we offered the opportunity to the boys to say a little message and to discuss their best memories. Here’s a little message from the volunteers:

Monday 26th March-Gloriously sunny

11.30pm, the bells tolled and sleeping boys were evacuated from their warm comfy beds  into the fire assembly point.  After a quick count the boys were sent back to their dreams, after we learnt the cause of the false alarm…. a spray of deodorant from a 6th former from the other school staying in the other courtyard.

Another glorious morning welcomed us as we awoke naturally ready for another breakfast.  Today’s activities would be River studies and moorland investigation.

Activity group 1-Moorland Investigation

Firstly, we dressed some volunteers in adaptation features, water creatures have developed in order to survive at the bottom of the stream.

After a delightful drive through the beautiful picturesque village of Liversham we found ourselves at the top of the moor. We discussed what a national park is and why it is important to protect them.

Next we walked down the valley looking for our water source.

At the bottom we had a talk about the type of creatures we would be able to find in the water and learned the technique of kick sampling.

Some of the boys in action ‘kick sampling in front of the net which is located a few feet downstream.

Once captured, we then began sorting and classifying our water creatures, making notes of any adaptation features the creature had.

We then walked uphill to the top of the moor, where we discovered remains of an ancient settlement.

Finally, we played a game of fox and grouse; as you can see one or two boys found this game pretty tiring!

After dinner (soup, roast pork, and chocolate sponge) the boys then went to their evening class.  Here, we used microscopes to look at the creatures we had caught a little more closely, before drawing and labelling them in our books. The creatures were then released into the brook at the bottom of the road.

Group 2-River Study.  This is a repeat of what group 1 did yesterday, please read Sunday’s report for what we got up to, however here’s a few pictures of their river study day.

As we near our departure, we have the famous ‘survival game’ to look forward to.  The boys are split into groups, herbivore, lower carnivore, top carnivore and disease.They have to survive in the woodland by feeding (Herbivores feed from food stations, carnivores hunt the herbivores etc.  until finally the humans (the teachers) are released, so much to look forward to still.  The boys have been fantastic and have had an amazing time.  Hopefully the blog has allowed you to share in their experience.  I hope to add a video later this evening capturing the boys best memories.

Sunday 25th March-Sunny again!

Another good night’s sleep, and another hearty breakfast prepared us for our 3rd day. Activity Group One AGO headed off into the hills to complete their river study, whilst Activity Group Two AGT visited Flamborough Head for a coastal study and bird watch.

Group Ago-We visited three very different river sites to determine the difference in depth, width and speed at the three locations.  This involved  getting pretty wet as we had to wade in to collect our measurements.

First we measured the width of each river using a tape measure to measure from bank to bank.

We also measured the depth at different points across the river and collected rocks (looking at their size, shape & whether they were rounded or pointy) to see if erosion is different at each location.

We also undertook a velocity test of the river using a high quality floating device (a dog biscuit!) and recorded how long it took to travel 5 metres.  Using all of these calculations we were able to discover the differences at the three locations.

The first location was near the source of the river at Helwath Beck, next was a little downstream at Jugger Howe Beck and finally, much further downstream at the River Derwent.

Tonight’s activity involved drawing a cross section of each river, working out the velocity of the three rivers and labelling some of the key features we identified along the way.

Noah thought the day was excellent, Joe commented it was a fun and wet, whereas Rishi thought the day was fun, but a little messy!

Activity group 2, visited the beach to learn about coastal erosion.  Arches, stacks, stumps, caves and a wave cut platform were just some of the features identified.

Coastal Features. How to remember them:

Boys Sketching

We learned how each feature is formed and afterwards we had a little time to do some rock pool discovery work. We found a host of different sea creatures and identified them all.

Saturday 24^th March 2012-Sunny Saturday!!!

After a peaceful night the boys awoke to a glorious morning of sunshine and smiles.  A sumptuous breakfast followed, to leave the catering staff with little to do, with only a stack of clean plates to wash up!

After breakfast, the boys split up into their two activity groups:

Activity Group One AGO drove off to Flamborough Head for their Seashore Visit whilst Activity Group Two AGT were Moorland Explorers for the day.

AGO made their way down from the car park to the ‘wave cut platform’ (see-I was listening boys) to look at the various stages of coastal erosion.

Once we finally reached the bottom we had a look in caves…

under arches…

and of course rocks!

We then had a fantastic hour finding as many creatures as possible in the plethora of rock pools…

And this is what we found…

AGT set off to Levisham moor to study how creatures adapt to living in a stream. Our two volunteers dressed up with items which represented features our river creatures needed to survive.

After a short scenic ride we were soon off exploring. The trail took us along a dry V shaped valley, plenty of scrambling over trees and branches.

We stopped to look at the insects and creatures we found in the river. George managed to capture a bull head fish to the delight of everyone. Not big enough for supper though!

In the afternoon we walked over the moor and on our way saw a Bronze Age settlement and an ancient burial ground.

The day on the moors finished with an exciting hide and seek game of Fox and Grouse. See if you can spot our expert hiders!

Friday 23^rd March 2012: First Day of Fun!

After leaving NHJS slightly behind schedule (as Mr Jones needed to double check that we had enough chess sets on board), we left Nottingham to reach the service station surprisingly on time.

You can see from the photograph below how happy the boys were to get back on board following our short break at Ferry Bridge, especially as we had so much to look forward to!

Upon our arrival at Kirby Grindalythe the boys quickly settled into their allocated rooms and had a quick tour of the centre, including the washing facilities, common room and the all important recycling station!

After lunch (ensuring our waste was deposited into the correct receptacle), the boys undertook a training exercise before our orienteering activity in the centre’s grounds.

The training obviously worked extremely well and congratulations go to:

Activity Group One:

3^rd place: ‘Ryderz’ (Mark, Patrick & Barnaby) 17 checkpoints completed

2^nd place: ‘$hooting $tarz’ (Will, Ben & John) 18 checkpoints completed

1^st place: ‘$masherz’ (Sebby, Eduardo & Joe) 19 checkpoints completed

Activity Group Two:

Joint 1^st place: ‘Tomska’ (Toby & Josh) & ‘TheSteakers’ (George & Skye)

Following orienteering we had a very informative tour of Kirby Grindalythe before our evening meal which was well received by boys and staff alike!

The last activity (as the boys work hard, even when they’re not at school!) was a classroom based session for both activity groups to prepare for the delights of tomorrow.

Quotes of the day:

‘This is the best trip I’ve ever been on’ Mark.

‘This is the best soup I’ve ever tasted’ Joshua.

Whilst at the centre the boys, under close supervision, took over the controls and learned how to manage traffic flow by monitoring the city’s cameras and using traffic lights and signs to keep the traffic around Nottingham running smoothly.

The pupils also carried out their own traffic survey and traffic flow analysis to identify any potential issues to help them discover ways in which they can alleviate any problems. Once back at school the boys put together their own suggested 10 year plan aimed at reducing congestion around the city.

Mr Simpson, teacher at Nottingham High Junior School said: “This is a great opportunity for the boys to learn about traffic management and the importance of planning, designing and implementing transport systems which play a vital role in keeping a large city like Nottingham on the move. It also makes their learning purposeful, as their work reflects a real life issue in Nottingham. I am really proud of all of the boys and their professional attitude to how they presented their solutions is absolutely astounding considering they are only 9 or 10 years old.”

Below are the boys’ presentations.

Sebby, Eduardo & Joe

Joshua & Toby

Kasim, Alex & David

Matthew, Zain & Hassan

Josh, John & Adi

George, Skye & Oli

Noah, Akhilesh & Mathew

James & Rishi

Finn & Matthew

Boom! IndigoBones’ plane had just blown up and he was falling down to the sandy beach far
below. Arrows started whooshing past him. Was he going to die? Die so early in his quest to find the lost treasure of the Temple of Gloom. Thud! He landed hard on the sandy beach of the jungle shores. He stood up and started into the jungle.

Once Indigo had entered the jungle he stopped and stared. He had never seen such amazing scenes before. All around him was dense jungle. It was huge! He had never seen such amazing scenes previously in his whole life. The first thing he noticed was the heat. It was boiling and Indigo didn’t have any sun cream on him. Oh well he would have to carry on.

There were birds and animals everywhere he looked. The jungle looked very dangerous. What animals lurked in the shadows? Were there any snakes? (Indigo hated snakes) He didn’t even have a simple first aid kit! Oh why had he left Dan behind? He had a first aid kit! He would know what to do. (Though there were not very many options.) Oh why had he left him behind?

So he started walking through the thick undergrowth. It was the first time he had noticed he was panting and struggling to get oxygen into his body. Also he was finding it hard to see because the rainforest was turning white because of the heavy mist. But it still seemed like he was in a saucepan. He had expected it to get a lot colder when the heavy mist arrived. At least it had cooled down slightly, but it was still boiling. He sat down at the stump of a tree to have a rest.

He must have dozed off because when he awoke the mist had cleared, so he stood up and walked in the direction he thought the river was.

It felt creepy as he wandered through the dense undergrowth of the Amazon rainforest. Suddenly the rainforest went all quiet. It felt spooky. Instantly a bird squawked and then fell to the floor right in front of him. It had an arrow right through its chest. What was
happening?

Instantaneously a shower of arrows rained down on him. Some just landed an inch or two away from him. Just then he suddenly realised that he was under attack from an Indian tribe!

Suddenly another torrent of razor sharp tipped arrows descended down on him from the sky. He didn’t think. He just bolted towards the river. The Indians were gaining on him rapidly. Without warning an Indian sprang out in front of him. He stopped. He stared. He was surrounded by Indians.

Just then out of the silence there was a crash, so loud it made the ground shake. The Indians were so shocked they dispersed with fear. Indigo whipped his whip around a branch of a nearby tree and swung out of danger. Soon he was in sight of the river so hesat down to rest in peace.

Once Indigo woke he stood up and walked towards the river slowly and carefully in
case the Indian tribe had not completely stopped chasing him. He soon reached the river. He was very relieved to be out of the ‘boiling saucepan’ of heat but this was even worse!

In front of Indigo was the widest wildest river he had ever seen! He was having problems seeing to the other side of it. The river looked dangerous. The river looked deep. It
generally looked scary. The river was murky. He had already seen some crocodiles and piranhas and the river had a number of white water rapids. It was also very fast flowing and rocky as well. He really didn’t like the look of the river but, he was going to have to cross the river to get to the lost treasure of the Temple of Gloom. Just then Indigo saw a shiny black piranha leap high out of the water and into the air. It was the first time he had really stared at one of the piranha’s and they had huge sharp white teeth ready to kill and large bulging eyes almost as if they were trying to pop out of its head, and he had to face a whole river of them!

He had once been a good surfer so he could surf across the river. ‘No. Yes. No. Yes. No Yes.’ He thought. Yes I will do it. ‘It is going to be my only option.’ So he started customizing himself a surf board. It took Indigo about two hours to do it but after that time he was very pleased with himself. Finally after he finished his surf board he stood back and had a good look at it. It was roughly seven and a half feet long and one and a half feet wide it also had three large fins underneath at the back. After all that work it was actually quite good. So all that was left for Indigo to do was to get going!

Indigo pushed the board into the river and jumped on. It was quite easy at first when he was on the board but as soon as he encountered some white water rapids and rocks he was having large problems. Currently Indigo was about half way across the river and luckily so
far he had not had any encounters with crocodiles or piranha’s.

CRACK! Indigo had spoken to soon. A large crocodile had just bitten Indigo’s board in half. So… he jumped onto the crocodile and carried on! This crocodile could not dive beneath the surface of the water or Indigo would probably get eaten. Currently Indigo was
about five sixths of his journey across the river.

Splash! The crocodile dived. Indigo instantaneously whipped his whip around a nearby tree and pulled himself the rest of the way across the river. Phew! he thought. That really was a close one! I was very lucky to live.  Soon Indigo was in sight of the temple so he sat down under a small tree for a well earned rest.

When Indigo finally woke up he had a good look at the temple. It was the largest thing he had ever seen!  It looked like it was made out of gold. It really did look beautiful and old. In some ways it looked like an Aztec temple but in some ways it didn’t. Though Indigo had never seen any type of temple previously, he just had one little problem. How was he going to enter the temple?

Indigo thought the entrance would probably be at the top of the temple. So he started the long and treacherous climb. He found the climb surprisingly easy compared to lots of
things in his journey.

Once Indigo reached the top of the temple there was nothing there. Indigo walked around the top of the temple again and again. He was getting bored but just then he fell down through a trap door!

Once he had come through the trap door Indigo looked in front of him. There was a balance beam with a pit… a pit of snakes underneath it. Indigo looked up desperately for the trap door. The trap door had just closed. He had no choice. Slowly and steadily he started to walk across the beam. But then the balance beam started collapsing behind him. Indigo sprinted the rest of the way across the beam and only just in time because the last inch of the balance beam collapsed just as he finished the run. Then he suddenly fell down through a tiny trap door onto a giant chess board.

It was gigantic! All the pieces were as big as Indigo! It looked a bit like eagle warriors and black things. Anyhow, Indigo was playing as the black team.

The game was really difficult even though Indigo was quite good at chess. It took Indigo about an hour to finally overcome the eagle warriors.

Suddenly a muffled rumbling started, and then the ground started to crack all around him. Then the rumbling got to almost deafening point. CRACK! Indigo fell. He fell like a torpedo for what seemed like hours. It was getting unbearable. Splash!

Indigo was in a large cavern which was half full of water. He found that the water level was gradually rising. He needed to find an exit, and fast! Desperately he dived under looking
for a possible exit. After a few tries Indigo really couldn’t find an exit. The cavern was now three-quarters full and Indigo didn’t have much time. Indigo dived one last time and suddenly he found an exit!

He quickly swam into the passage and burst out into another large cavern which, this time was not full of water. He gasped. In front of him up on a high plinth was an eagle warrior’s helmet made out of gold.

He quickly ran up to the plinth lifted up the helmet, put it in his sack and ran. Alreadythings had started to happen. The roof was crumbling down to the ground all
around him. There was the exit; there was the exit right in front of him! Bang! The exit was suddenly blocked by a large boulder. He noticed that on it there were four symbols. Then he realised that you had to enter the symbols in the right order. He tried many times. Time was running out and he had already been hit once or twice by a small boulder. He had one last try in despair in which he whacked all the symbols at once and to his utter amazement the boulder
moved!

Quickly Indigo ran out and ran back to the river where he knew Dan would be waiting for him in the plane. So Indigo Bones ran to the river and jumped into the plane with the lost treasure of the Temple of Gloom.

This is an action adventure story. Does it have action? Is it exciting?  Is there good description and vocabulary? What editing advice would you give?

Indigo Bones had seen a river straight in front of him whooshing wildly down the murky
stream (ravine?). Murky water was raging with the current as muddy as a mud hole. Indigo Bones didn’t know what to do except from (for?) swimming through it. Exploding flying fish
flew in the air and soared (out?) of the disgustingly, unpleasant water so he didn’t feel like swimming in that! QUICK! Indigo Bones had to escape from the fish before they went all over him. Exploding water fish were hitting Indigo like a cricket bat smacking a really hard ball and splashing back in the murky water Yes! There was a vine dangling forwards and backwards. He quickly grabbed on to it and swung passed the revoltingly, disgusting water. YEAH!

By Hassan

Whoosh!
The force of the wind was so strong that I had to cover my face with my whole body, as I descended down to the forest floor. At first I thought I wouldn’t encounter any problems until I actually got to the temple but I was wrong. My parachute had got stuck in a tree. I was left dangling down helplessly. I didn’t expect this problem so I didn’t bring a knife. But I did have something else sharp, my teeth…

By Rishi

There was no sign of wildlife in the dark forest. Indigo thought to himself “Quiet, too quiet” and wondered where the animals had gone. The path hadn’t been used for so long that it had
disappeared with vines growing all over the place all twisted together like rope, interlocked completely, and hiding the path. Indigo excavated the path by cutting all the low down vines but suddenly one of the vines wasn’t as he thought because it was moving. It was a king cobra which attacked Indigo’s arm. Reading the body language the cobra was not in a good mood. Quickly he grabbed the snake’s head and ripped it off his arm and chopped its head off
with his machete. Indigo was petrified .He would die alone in the forest of poison. Remembering the ancient map he ran through the rest of the forest, desperate to get to the river to wash the venom out of the wound before it got into his blood! He reached the river. Knowing about the crocs he dunked his arm into the water any way. A shiny clean river like light leaning on the surface of the water shone all around the area. Sloosh went the river as it zoomed across the gap in the land.

By Matthew N

The closer I got to the temple the more worried I became. Standing before me was a
ginormous cliff as high as the clouds. I started to climb but I just kept on falling back down. I got bored. Hour after hour I wasted but at nine o’clock sharp I discovered something amazing. I put my hand on the wall and suddenly two secret lift shafts appeared. They looked like they reached high up into the cliff and could take me to the top where the temple was. I had to choose which one was booby trapped. Luckily, I had some gold coins which I threw into the
left hand lift. Suddenly spikes flew up from its floor and skewered the coins. I therefore walked carefully into the right hand lift. But I didn’t think getting a lift to the top of the cliff and the temple was going to be that simple.

I was right. As soon as I entered the right hand lift a voice appeared from nowhere. It was like the cliff was talking to me – its secret conscience. I knew I would have to complete some challenges to take me further up. The conscience said “The first challenge you will face is to read an Ancient Egyptian piece of writing”. Luckily, I was an archaeologist so I could
translate the Egyptian hieroglyphics that were carved around the walls of the shaft. The lift ascended, taking me further towards my goal and the next challenge.  “Your second challenge” the cliff said “is to calculate how many coins there are in this bag”. A dusty old
leather bag dropped from the ceiling of the lift, I swerved to avoid it hitting me and knocking me out. I held the bag in my hand and tried to estimate from the weight of it how many coins it contained. “Six”, I replied confidently. The conscience said I was correct and the lift moved higher for about a minute. Then it stopped. The cliff commanded again. “Your final challenge to get you up to the temple is to remember this sequence – zero, zero, circle, zero, cliff,
circle, temple”. I paused and repeated “zero, zero, circle, zero, cliff…..mmm mmmm..circle?..temple”. The conscience replied, “Correct. This lift will now self destruct in ten seconds”. The doors opened and I flew out of the lift and ran for cover. The voice rang out, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one”. Boom!  I’d survived and as the dust from the explosion settled I gazed at the towering temple ahead of me.

By Skye

Indigo cut himself free and landed on the ground. He tentatively started to walk. He could hear frogs croaking, birds chirping and the cacophony of insect noises. The air was damp and humid. He was sweating profusely. There were overhanging vines with monkeys expertly jumping from one vine to another. The canopy of the trees sheltered him from the sun. The towering trees were the biggest he had seen anywhere.

The sky suddenly turned dark and he could hear the deafening roar of thunder. He ran to take shelter as there was a sudden downpour. He stumbled against the undergrowth and fell. He lifted his head and found himself staring into the eyes of a boa-constrictor. He lay very still with his heart pounding. The snake slowly slithered into the dense rainforest. He took shelter under a tree until the rain stopped. He was muddy, dirty and thirsty. He set out to find the river. He walked endlessly until he heard the beautiful noise of cascading water. He had reached the river!

Indigo quickly constructed a raft and got past the river. After pushing through a few bushes he could see the temple. The temple was in a shape of a pyramid. He could sees the diamond glistening in the sunlight.

As he entered the pyramid he saw a narrow staircase leading to the top. He was claustrophobic!  He cautiously started climbing the stairs.  He heard a noise. He looked up and saw a stone flying at a great speed. It smashed right next to him. He felt a chill down his spine. He continued as he desperately wanted the diamond. As he was climbing a big stone dislodged
from under his feet, he lost his balance and suddenly a spear came flying out. It shot and narrowly missed him by an inch. “Phew that was close” Indigo exclaimed.

By Adi

]]> http://5s.nottinghamhighblogs.net/2011/10/23/more-indigo-bones/feed/ 1 http://5s.nottinghamhighblogs.net/2011/10/08/indigo-bones/ http://5s.nottinghamhighblogs.net/2011/10/08/indigo-bones/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:06:55 +0000 abell.ja http://5s.nottinghamhighblogs.net/?p=119

Year 5 have been busy writing Indigo Bones stories this half term. Our hero has plunged into the verdant rainforest, faced countless threats and overcome terrifying obstacles, all in pursuit of the Temple of Gloom and its priceless treasure. Keep an eye out for extracts coming soon…

Alex’s start:

Reaching the destination:

Indigo Bones must enter the rainforest in order to begin his quest for the Temple of Gloom. The class was asked to write an action start, using short sentences, onomatopoeia, strong verbs, repetition and character thoughts and feelings. How did they do?

Indigo’s next two obstacles are a journey through the dense heat of the tropical rainforest and crossing a raging river. The boys were asked to write a combination of description and action. They needed to use all of the techniques they had been taught so far: fantastic vocabulary; long, descriptive sentences; similes; alliteration; short, sharp action sentences; onomatopoeia; repetition for effect and character’s thoughts and feelings. That was a lot to remember – and all whilst also trying to do their very best writing! How did they do?

John’s rainforest description:

Sebby’s river crossing:

We will upload some more film later this evening from the boys, however here’s a quick newsflash from the North York Moors…

Day 3- Sunday

Today, one group visited Flamborough Head and Bempton Cliffs to look at coastal features, life in rock pools and the bird life, whilst the second group visited 3 different places to study the journey of a river and how it changes.

 Rather than today’s activities being written up, a few of the boys have decided to broadcast what they have been up.

Should you wish to add comments below, I’m sure the boys would really appreciate it.

We have been researching coastal defences and as a task the boys could either complete their research in their books OR produce their own video on coastal defences. The outcome has exceeded all expectations and I am really impressed with the number of boys that have taken up the challenge and filmed their coastal defence presentations. They’re brilliant. Well done boys.

Please spend a little time viewing their efforts and add a comment. They really do appreciate your comments.

James W

Oliver

James R

Taylor P



Ishaan B

William has already completed his homework on the coastal defences. He wrote notes and decided to film himself reporting the positives and negatives. Well done Will, I think this is brilliant and I am really proud of your efforts.

Adam has also decided to complete his coastal defence work using video. I am very impressed, especially with the embedded images to supplement your description of each coastal defence. Brilliant!

Ralph recorded his presentation on Coastal defences and I think it is excellent and very detailed. Superb work Ralph.

Bilal

Watch the video below and write a heading with a short description of what it is for each of the 5 coastal defences witnessed in the video and bullet point the postitives and negatives for each one.

For example each one should look like this:

Main Title: Positives & Negatives of Coastal Defences

Sea Walls (Title)

Short Description (of what it is and looks like)

Positives: List as bullet points

Negatives: List as bullet points

Below are the boys’ presentations. (Apologies for the lack of light and shaky camera)