sari's

We wrapped the woodblock printed fabric around a balsa wood 'figure' to represent an Indian lady wearing a sari.

 

 

 

They seem happy with their new garments!

moving art

In y1 today we made wheeled toys. Card and dowel were the materials to hand.

 

One chap added thread to his car to represent exhaust smoke!

 



In y5 we continued our discovery and exploration of space theme by making moving pics of 'Neil Armstrong' - "One small step...".

 



 

When  pulled, the tab causes the legs to move in opposite directions so that he appears to be walking. A5 Card and split pins.

 

slowly but surely

The Globe rises from the ground. Stage section is yet to be built.

 

A view along the middle tier - seating/audience yet to be installed.

The view from the stage area!

We think it's looking quite good. The plan is still to be able to poke your head up through the middle and imagine yourself as one of the 'groundlings'.

In y6 today we made some origami boxes, upturned them and repurposed them as tanks - to tie in with our WW2 topic.

woodblock printing

In y3 today, as part of their studies about India, we used our woodblocks to print onto fabric. We designed and made the woodblocks last week from balsa wood - a thick piece with cut balsa sheet glued on.

 

 

The children were encouraged to line up their blocks carefully to ensure a regular repeat pattern.

An overview of some of the printed pieces of fabric.

The intention is to display them by draping them around a simple silhouette, so as to resemble an Indian woman wearing a sari.

3d card models

Today y1 made robots. From a simple pre-printed sheet they crafted some very benign looking 'bots. None of your 'evil, destroy the world at all costs' characters here. 

 

 

Whilst higher up the school in y5 we created 3d space pictures.You probably can't see it all that well from this image but the astronaut figure is held out from the background by a pipecleaner (cunningly doubling up as the safety line).

cat & mouse

In FS2, after reading a 'dark, dark tale' about a cat and a mouse, we created collage pictures of the main characters. We drew round plastic templates, cut out and then stuck down the shapes to make our pictures. We added details (whiskers, tails) using pencil crayons.

 

 

The Globe

We thatched the Globe model today.Various threads, strips of felt, raffia and wools were wrapped and woven around the upper seating units to give an impression of coarse thatch.

 

 

These are the partially completed units temporarily arranged to give an indication of the size when complete.

The whole thing is just about ready for assembling - we've just got the stage left to do!

teddy bears

End of a very stressful & busy week. Spent the last part of today drawing teddy bears (in honour of Pudsey/Children in Need).

 

Hopefully, now the inspection is over, we can actually get on and enjoy teaching and learning stuff without having to worry whether or not we've crossed every last possible T and dotted all the I's.

the inspectors!

Apologies for the lack of posts lately - we are in the midst of a dreaded Ofsted inspection (ask anyone who is or knows a teacher and they'll concur). Hopefully it will all turn out fine in the end, fingers crossed. To calm the nerves I managed a couple of card drawings this lunchtime. 

 

 

I've tried listing them in my Etsy/Folksy shops and even sending samples out to various real shops but so far no takers. Still, I'm determined to keep trying.
I did sell one of my paintings on Folksy though - yay!

almost ready for 'launch'

The y5's have been rigging their ships today. Once the 'seas' have been done they'll be off on their voyages of discovery - around the school. We are going to display them in small groups at ad hoc points around and about the school building and 'allow' the rest of the school to 'discover' them as they are moving between lessons. We intend to move them around from place to place to keep it all fresh. We'll have to try and find some unusual places in which to place them.

 

caves

Today we made caves. We started out by making thumb pots, before turning them on their sides and reshaping them into cave-like structures. For added effect we embedded stones and twigs. For 4/5 year olds I think they did really well. They will be used to enhance their literacy work - story-telling.

 

 

The y3's have completed their embroidered applique elephant designs. En masse, pinned up on the wall, they look very effective.

Globe update

Our model of the Globe Theatre is really beginning to take shape. Today we added floorboards (lollipop sticks) and railings.

 

 

When it's finished (hopefully in a couple of weeks!) it should stand about 50cm tall and be not far short of a metre in diameter.