Trojan chair

Here we are frantically trying to complete projects before the end of the school year. We've lost lessons along the way and some things have invariably taken much longer than anticipated!
This is the completed Trojan Horse that will serve as the backdrop for our display of Greek Warrior sculptures. 

It was once just a 3-legged chair.

sculpture

Yesterday our y4s had a Tudor Day and came costumed accordingly. They took part in a variety of activities, one of which was to do a 'stump' doll version of themselves. A peg, pipecleaner, felt and their skill were all that were needed to end up with mini-me's!

Y3s are sculpting Ancient Greek warriors and have now added mod-roc to their armatures. I think I can hear the strains of 'Zorba' starting up somewhere behind this one!

Tudor houses, Greek sculpture & forest schools!

Yesterday the y4's continued to construct their 'Tudor' houses by assembling the panels of the lower storey.

Y3's made wood and wire armatures in readiness for next week when we'll wrap them with mod-roc.

At school today we had a Forest School event. 'Forest School' is really an updated version of what used to be called Nature Study. We have a huge area behind our school that has trees, large open spaces, even a stream(!), that the children utilise to enhance their learning across a whole host of curriculum areas. In y3 we used clay to make faces - the premise was that the Ancient Greeks believed that trees had spirits (Dryads) - so we made representations of them on the actual trees. The activity certainly brought out the creative sides of both the children and their parents!

sgraffito & Tudor housing

Today y3's decorated their fired terracotta coil pots from last week. They used a sgraffito technique to scratch through a layer of black paint back to the clay.

Meanwhile the y4's have embarked on an ambitious Tudor housing project. They are aiming to construct 20+ two-storey dwellings complete with thatched roofs! First part today was to cut the timber to construct the panels that will make up the lower storey.

going round in circles

Tenuously, as part of their Ancient greek studies and with a nod to Pythagoras and Euclid, y3 created some designs and patterns using the 'old' compass-drawn method. 

 

 

 

They actually enjoyed the preciseness of the task and 'magical' way in which the patterns emerged. None of them had ever used pairs of compasses before!

Meanwhile y1 have been making bugs from lollipop sticks and card;

today

Pen sketches of mini-beasts in Y2.

 

And 'Greek' mod-roc statues in Y3.

Lollipop stick and wire armatures.

 



yesterday

A bit of wax resist with Y3. Ancient Greek designs which we are going to cut into vases and urns.

 

Watery-paint blown trees and finger print leaves with Y1.

greek & roman

In Y4 we began to create our mosaics following on from last weeks designs. We are using small reconstituted tiles (as our tesserae) that can be cut (carefully) with scissors and glued into place with ordinary PVA glue. Once they are complete and dry we'll grout them.

 

In Y3 we have decorated our 'Ancient Greek' coil pots. We used sharpies so as to get a better and finer line. We might PVA threm to seal everything together, we might not!

no time to breathe!

A very busy last couple of days in school. In FS1 they are currently looking at 'when I grow up...'. So we did drawings that literally grew up!

 

 

In Y3 they've just started studying the Ancient Greeks so we drew Greek warriors and mythical beasts. Next week we'll be making pots using the coil method, which we'll then decorate with similar images.

 Today, Y1 painted some huge papier mache trees. We completed 5 in all - they will form part of a magical forest (hence the strange colouring!).

And finally, in Y2 we drew some dinosaurs.

Oh and we've also been making clay islands (based on an upturned thumb pot) but I didn't manage to get any pics! Nearly the weekend - might have a chance to recharge!

on my worktable

An ancient Greek version of the recent Viking figure. Am seriously thinking of putting together a booklet of warriors through the ages, that utilises this generic, very simple but ingenious method of construction. Any thoughts on which figures to include?

 

painted pots

Today in Y3 we painted the 'Greek' pots we made over the last two weeks. A mix of black paint and s'graffito with a bent paperclip resulted in this image of Medusa.

 

 

A lot of the pots had cracked but this only added to their 'ancient-ness' - we chose to explain it away by saying that of course they'd be like that after over 2000 years!

clay

Today in y3 we made coil pots. The children have previously only made thumb pots so these are a big step forward. We used air-drying clay as our kiln is still in it's wrapping awaiting installation in it's new home. When they've dried out we'll paint 'Ancient Greek' patterns and designs on them ('cos, funnily enough, the children are studying the Ancient Greeks!).

 

 

greek sculpture

Over the last 3 weeks the children have been undertaking a mini-project - to create Ancient Greek sculptures from 'scrap'. This is one of the results!

A stunning recreation of Aphrodite (Venus) rising from the sea. She stands around 40cm tall and has been made from card boxes, tubes and thread. The child who made her was insistent that her modesty should be protected - hence the strategically placed arms!

greek shipping

As part of our Ancient Greek studies we've been learning about ships. Rather than just draw and label a pic I made a quick template to create a moving version. The tab moves the oars back and forth by means of a hidden linkage and the flag lifts to reveal a 'fascinating fact'. This is my 'here's one I made earlier' example - the template was very basic and left a lot of creativity open to the children.

We painted our 'Greek' pots yesterday. We scratched back to the terracotta clay using a pin for extra detail. They're sitting on our 'market stall' waiting to tempt passers by.