My Antarctic Model

In about week six of term one, both of the year six classes had to make a model of Antarctica. I decided to pair up with Elizabeth Popper. We had so many ideas but finally we decided what to make. 

We started off wanting to make a volcano blow up, but found it too complicated. So then we started building a big model of Mawson's hut. One week after starting that we had only just finished the base. We decided to stop and do something else. We had used one hundred paddle pop sticks just for the base and so they didn't go to waste, we had a great idea to re-use them. 

We painted the base all white and then made one-fifth of it blue so that part could be the sea. Before letting the paint dry, to save glue, we sprinkled tiny bits of foam on the base for a snow effect. I then made an iceberg and stuck it onto the river. Elizabeth was busy making some animals out of plasticine so I decided to make Mawson's hut. I used paddle pop sticks to make a frame. When everything had dried I placed cardboard around the sides.

Elizabeth brought in some doll clothes and we started to build Mawson. I made his face and then we stuck everything on his body and put his clothes on. While Elizabeth finished making penguins, a whale, and a seal, I created the effect of water shooting out from the whale's hole on his back. Mawson needed to be seen doing some kind of activity. Elizabeth and I made him a sledge being pulled along by two dogs. Both of us stuck on all of the objects together and started to apply all of the details. The effects that we made were things like stretching pieces of cotton throughout the snow area. Also to make the scene more lively, we added some white paint near the area of where the whale was placed to make a diving and splashing effect.

This job took us two to three weeks and when finally finished but not really satisfied, we decided to add something else because the model looked too plain. We thought, a volcano wouldn't be near a camping site so the only other option was a mountain range. I quickly took three foam cups and painted them brown, but still just one more thing was missing. Then Elizabeth had the idea of sticking cotton onto the top of each mountain so applied it to our finished model.

Everyday after finishing was everyone's worse nightmare. Especially the cleaners! There were bits of foam all over the classroom.

After working with a partner on such a big task, I found that it is much easier to work by yourself because you will have your own ideas and will work a lot harder!