April 25, 2008
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Character Fair
Last night was the big “Character Fair” night at Isaac’s school. I have posted in the past about how Isaac is fascinated with all thing “Titanic”, so for his project he chose to create a power point presentation about the Titanic. Earlier this year he wrote a report for school on the subject, so we used that as a starting point for the presentation. We read lots of books, did research on the internet, scanned in pictures and decided which important points we wanted to include. Then he and I sat at the computer and put together the show. He told me what he wanted in it, and we tried out different “effects” until he was satisfied. Below is the finished product. It looks a little different here than in real life. The web-hosting site doesn’t “translate” everything exactly the way we had it set up, and it seems to play a little longer here than it does on our home computer. The original show also had music that played automatically, but I couldn’t upload that with the presentation on the site that is hosting the video either, so if you want the full effect you will have to play the audio track here at the same time as the video, since I had to include them separately. Click on the power point video first, then on the audio. Additionally, for some reason slide #13 doesn’t want to advance, so you will have to advance it manually when you get to that point. Further down the post I have also included pictures from last night, of Isaac proudly explaining his work. He and my husband built the Titanic model kit I got for him about a month ago and that was also included as part of the display.
Uploaded on authorSTREAM by mommo5Isaac standing by his Titanic model.
Closeup of the model.
The power point playing on the laptop.
They had the laptop connected to the “Smart Board”, but because of the lighting is was a little hard to see. Most people who came by chose to watch it on the smaller laptop screen.
(People are looking at the laptop)
Lots of people came! You can see the smart board with Isaac’s presentation on the back wall of this room.
Participation in the Character Fair is voluntary. Even so, many students chose to enter some sort of exhibit. There were lots of categories that students could choose from, including computer (Isaac’s category), sculpture, drawing, painting, science, photography, history, performance (instrumental, vocal, dance, reading, memorization), collections .. there were more, but I can’t think of them all!
Some “admirers” of Isaac’s model ship.
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I really enjoyed helping Isaac with this project. I had never worked with the power point program before, so it was as much a learning experience for me as it was for Isaac! Now that I know how it works, I’m sure I’ll find other ways to use my newfound skills.
We are already thinking of possibilities for next year’s Character Fair!
Comments (18)
Tell Isaac that his presentation was phenomenal! I loved the effects that he picked ,the music and the drawing at the end.Both thumbs up!
Boy, have we come a long way since book reports when I was in school! Isaac is a cutie! I’ve looked at power point before but haven’t had a reason to work with it. But if I ever do, I will probably ask you lots of questions. What sparked the Titanic interest in Isaac?
Forgot to recommend and star it the first time. I have now!
Isaac sure looks like he’s enjoying himself! I’m sure he had a lot more fun then the boys did at choir. They practiced getting on and off the stage and listening to the admonitions Mr. Prefect General gave them.Thanks for sharing the pictures. I was thinking about him last night and how he was doing. It appears his display was quite popular.
@tater40 - About a year ago the movie was on television. He didn’t see the whole thing (some parts are a little mature for him) but enough to pique his interest. Since then we have gotten several more educational videos (one by National Geographic, another the dvd version of the Imax presentation) and all of the books we can get our hands on. We have also read books on other famous ship sinkings, specifically the Lusitania and the Andria Doria. I think he may have a future as an oceanographer!
@tater40 - Thanks for the rec and the stars!!
@VJ - This whole project has beed a very good experience for him — a real confidence builder! He got to show the presentation to his classmates earlier in the day and I overheard several of them last night telling their parents to “come watch Isaac’s cool Titanic video” He was beaming all night long!
@seedsower - I will tell him! Thanks for the thumbs up!
WOW! that was impressive! I like how the word DISASTER came spinning in!
@DanishDoll - I thought that was a cool choice as well. Isaac is a very visual child, and I think those instincts were working well when we tried out different thing (like how the ship sort of “steams” across the page on Setting Sait, or how it sinks away to the bottom in several instances).
Thanks for voting!
What a cool idea! We only ever had science fairs. Isaac looks (rightfully) pleased with his project!
How cute! He looks like he’s having fun.
WOW!!!! What a great project! What an impressive project and the effects used on the power point really went well with the information Isaac was trying to get across. May I ask how old he is?The model that he and his dad built is quite impressive!I noticed one of facts presented was the massive amounts of rivets used. I recently read or saw an article or story that said they believe the problem was inferior rivets. Because there was such a high demand for rivets they started accepting and using poor quality rivets.Great job Isaac!
that was fantastic and so informative! You must be so proud! How old is Isaac? GREAT JOB ISAAC!!
Good Job Issac!!! (And Mom too =0)) That is one adorable boy you have too.
@skanickadee - @eneventure - Isaac is 9 years old — in third grade. I showed him that I had posted his project on my blog, and he read all of the nice comments/compliments. He said “and Mom, I don’t even know these people, so they don’t HAVE to like my project!” So thanks for making his day!
awesome job! wow!!