Finally a post about Cheetah

Cheetah has been missing out on the spotlight a bit lately. Mostly because him playing computer games or reading are not really Kodak moments.

This was definitely a Kodak moment though....

This is Cheetah's diorama he made for a school assignment. As you might have guessed, they were studying the gold rush at the time.

First they had to draw a sketch of what they wanted their diorama to look like, then plan how it was to be constructed & finally to make it.

This is completely Cheetah's own design. He also decided what materials would be used (except for the 'dirt' which he was going to use cardboard, but I suggested playdough).

It is amazing how much like his original sketch this actually looks.

For the close ups...

This is the miners tent, made of sticks & calico (with a bit of kitchen string holding it in place). The flag is Lego (Cheetah assured me lots of the miners had flags up in their campsite, identifying it as theirs - he also assured me that lots of miners had dogs).

This is a miner standing at the top of the hoist (Cheetah had another term for this thing, but I can't remember what it was). Unfortunately he wasn't sure how to make a handle for the hoist in the limited time that he had (2 nights because Cheetah had been procrastinating & I didn't realise that it was an at home assignment).

This is the poor little miner at the bottom of the shaft. The 'bucket' is actually one of the parts of the kids painting sets. It used to hold the green paint which you will notice became the grass in this diorama. I think the Lego miner is holding a light sabre with a piece attached which might have been part of a Lego boat once. Looks like an allright pickaxe to me. The veins of gold in the dirt is gold glitter mixed with PVA glue. You can't see in the picture, but there are gold nuggets in the bucket (small balls of playdough painted gold - you can see more of them at the feet of the miner manning the hoist).

This bit is my personal favourite. A miner panning for gold. The pan is made from playdough & the gold is glitter & glue.

He doesn't look overly enthusiastic, however he was very proud of the finished product & so he should be. I would like to add, that while I helped a little with the most fiddly bits (& making the playdough), this is his own design & his own work & I was very proud of him.

Unfortunately the report that was meant to go with it was not properly completed so I don't know how that is going to affect his marks. Cheetah is not the most consciencious student & we are working on that. In the meantime, we will praise the victories and continue to encourage him to strive for greater things.