| Gold Gold Gold, PolyCamp |
| "Children, quieten down please", was the call from teacher Symmetrical Malady. "I know there was plenty of activity out there in the yard during recess. But, I now want you to concentrate on ideas and help with the planning for our annual school PolyCamp. This year the PolyTeachers have decided to change the location for the annual camp to something more historical. So the PolyCamp will be held at the old historic gold diggings camp site at Chewton, situated in the Central Victorian gold fields, Australia. We will be travelling to the camp on the famous 'POLYDECKA' bus. This vintage double decker Leyland Atlantean bus belongs to the Goldenhope Bus Lines and is part of their historical fleet of buses. When the 'POLYDECKA' bus arrives at school you will notice that it has been decorated by children from a previous school camp. The Goldenhope Bus Lines have allowed a design of me to go on the bus as part of the preparation for the PolyCamp. Yes, Decagon Star, you have a question?" "Why are we going there?” "Well for several reasons. The main reason being that the discovery of gold in the 1850's along Forest Creek saw one of the world's largest migrations to a particular location with people coming from all parts of the globe. Tens of thousands of people occupied, or streamed through this valley that had become the richest shallow alluvial gold field in the world. Now many of you may even have had some of your relatives of long ago who went there, so it will be interesting to research that on an individual basis. Also from an historical point, to take part and feel the excitement of days gone by. Being such an important and significant part of world history we thought it would make an exciting experience for us all. Furthermore, Chewton's historical cultural heritage is based on triangular shapes, a constant reminder of the early chaotic days of gold rush Chewton. The triangle is symbolic of the myriad of tents, windlasses, mining cottages, flying buttresses, cooking tripods and poppet heads that covered the landscape. The Chinese who came to the gold fields brought with them the triangular game of tangrams, still used by the school children today in this PolySchool.The triangle is the base shape for polygons, polyhedra, prisms and pyramids which reflects the crystalline structure of the gold bearing quartz (including rare gold crystals) and the elements that make up the various clays. Remember we learnt about polygons |
| and symmetry last term. But first things first. Some preparation work! To keep the atmosphere as historical as possible we will all be sleeping and staying in tents. The tents will be erected on ground that was once used to house the original diggers tents. To work out which tent you are in we will be using geometric figures,totems/flags/banners as identifying markers. The totems/flags/banners are very significant. They can describe you as a person even show your own personality and characteristics. It's like designing different layers of yourself, each layer being a specific part of yourself that combines to produce a finished totem/flag/banner. Wherever you stay on the gold fields this will be your visual signature and the way you will be recognised. Now when you have finished designing and colouring in your totem/flag/banner I am going to laminate it. Then each day I am going to place the various totems/flags/banners at random on the desks instead of place names. In this way you will have to find your own totem/flag/banner and other children will learn to recognise where you will be sitting. After we come back from the PolySchool camp I will use clear contact film to fix your totem/flag/banner to your desk" Finally the day arrived and the 'POLYDECKA' bus pulled up outside the school. As usual there was a mad scramble for the window seats. You can see who got there first. |
Story by Raoul,Max & Moose
| Join in with the kids on their journey from PolySchool to PolyCamp and be part of the fun. You can do this by joining the dots together using basic right angled triangles, squares or rectangular shapes to form a totem/flag/banner design that will reflect who you are. Colour in your finished design as well as the rest of the 'POLYDECKA' bus. |