dino done!

Managed to complete the dinosaur today, the last day of term. It will have to wait until January to move to its new 'museum' home elsewhere in school.

We like the fact that you can still see the underlying cardboard and unpainted bits of papier mache - a sort of impressionistic dinosaur sculpture!

boxosaurus (2)

Almost complete - just facial details to be painted on. Today we 'textured' the body using cardboard rolls to print a scale effect.

Christmas stars

Y2 today made simple but very effective stars/snowflakes from strips of paper.

moleskine doodlz

Just playing around with collage and crayons in my moleskine. (Inspired by the work of Suzi Blu)

Santa

As a way or rounding off the little origami project we've been doing in Y3 (boxes/packaging) we folded some Santa's and stuck them to cards.

fridge magnets

All of the cards we made in the school enterprise club sold at our xmas fayre, so for the last session we made fridge magnets just for us. Simple card backing with tacky-back protective film and a magnetic strip (1 euro for 2.5m - a bargain).

With a due nod to Mondrian.

Origami tree

In Y3 we rounded off our origami endeavours by folding successively smaller pieces of paper into star baskets - and arranged them in a Christmas tree sort of way. We thought about putting small treats in the different boxes and using them as table decorations. We even contemplated making an advent type arrangement but decided we would need to start off with very large pieces of paper for the bottom boxes.

We have also started to paint our Boxosaurus. First an undercoat of green...

A is for Art (again)

Had a double Y6 class this afternoon - it was too cold to go outside for PE and the hall was taken so we stayed inside and sketched. Showed them how easy it is to create a recognisable image using an 'A'.

boxosaurus

Today we began to construct a big dinosaur out of cardboard boxes. Pairs of children were detailed to make specific body parts, ie. body, head, leg etc. The whole was then assembled using tape and cable ties. We had time at the end to begin to papier mache it.

Y6 finished off their shoes by putting them into origami shoeboxes. I think they've turned out well.

origami

Y3 have been busy learning the gentle art of origami and have made simple boxes to tie in with their science topic on materials combined with a Design Technology unit on packaging.

At school we also run an arts & crafts enterprise club, where we produce items that we then sell on to pupils and parents. We have been busy making Christmas cards using stitches and buttons.

paper shoes

Today Y6 made paper models of the shoes they had designed. They were given a simple template of upper, sole and insole. It was quite fiddly but most seemed to manage.

teddy bear sketches

On Friday we had raffles and activities in aid of the Children in Need appeal. I drew a couple of teddy bear pics loosely based on Pudsey - a skateboarder and footy player. These are the initial sketches. I thought about doing a 'Pudsina' version but ran out of time.

I was also recently asked to do a teddy bear drawing that was loosely based on Mick Aston from the Time Team programmes. Again, here is the initial sketch wherin the Ted is excavating a 'sandpit'.

Animation

Taught Y4 all about animation today - well simple flick books anyway! We touched on 'persistence of vision' but kept it simple. They used post-its to make their books, some of which worked extremely well. Haven't sussed out how to add video clips yet so can't upload any of their 'films'.

observational drawing

Y6 have been drawing trees and shoes!

Y4 went 'fossil' hunting today and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They carefully (for the most part!) excavated the 'fossils' and then had the task of trying to work out just how they might fit together. Lots of discussion ensued as they tried to identify what might be a skull or a rib or a spine. As it dawned on them that they might not have all the requisite pieces they joined other groups and pooled their finds.

'Fossil' hunting

As part of our themed study about dinosaurs, tomorrow we are going 'fossil' hunting. The children are going to be given a tray in which 'fossils' have been buried. The 'fossils' are really the wooden parts from those model dinosaurs that you can construct. The idea is to get them to not only excavate the 'fossils' but then try to assemble them without having a picture or diagram to work from. This will hopefully put them in a similar position to the early Victorian fossil hunters who used a bit of guesswork and

conjecture to assemble their finds. Obviously after a while I'll put them out of their misery - maybe! Oh, and just to get them into the spirit even more, each tray does not necessarily contain all the parts of a dinosaur model.

Some of the Y2 children have also completed their woven bookmarks.

Dinosaur skeletons

In Y4 today we had a go at creating a representation of a dinosaur skeleton. We used lollipop sticks, craft sticks, sellotape and mod-roc.

We constructed the armatures in stages.

Then we covered it with mod-roc strips.

We added details - using paperclips and pipe cleaners. When they're dry we might give them a coat of white paint to cover over any parts of the armature that are still visible. The finished skeletons will be displayed in a mini museum we are hoping to set up in school.

Dinosaurs

Managed to do a bit of sketching with Y4 today. Showed them some easy ways to draw recognisable images of dinosaurs. Nothing too specific, but a simple framework that can be adapted and altered as appropriate.

Weaving

Back after the half-term break. Y2 followed up their paper weaving with simple yarn pieces. We'll tie them off and use them as bookmarks.

Black History day

Today at school we celebrated 'Black History'. In art we looked at the work of noted artists, namely Stephen Wiltshire and the indigenous people of Australia. We attempted to work in the style of Stephen by looking at an aerial view (of Venice) and then trying to draw it from memory in as much detail as possible. Not the same as actually being there I know, but when you've only got 50 minutes to introduce, undertake and then evaluate the activity, its the only viable option. With regard to Aboriginal art, we looked at examples and then tried to paint in a similar way. We used previously 'textured' paper to represent rock/bark and used our finger tips to apply the paint.

skeleton prints

In Y4 we have just completed a science unit about moving and growing. As an assessment activity I decided to get them to print, in as much detail as possible, human skeletons. This is what one girl produced which, I think, clearly shows an understanding of how the skeleton changes as we grow.

We used white paint, cut-down lollipop sticks and finger tips!

Kokeshi doll

I recently cobbled together a few bits of wood and painted it up using acrylics in the style of a Kokeshi doll. The hair was made from Fimo but didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. It stands around 12cm tall.

Naive art

Today just showed Y4 how to do a wash, which we then overpainted with simple, representational images of animals. Turned out in very much a naive/folk art style.

Roman soldier

Y3 have been studying the Romans. We made semi-relief sculptures from air-drying clay, painted them when dry, and today mounted and displayed them against a wax-rubbed (over a card block) background depicting Celtic warriors.

Greek Pots

In Y6 we have been fashioning coil pots to tie in with an Ancient Greek theme. Not having access to a kiln, we used air drying clay. Due to timetabling the pieces were left for over a week before the handles were added and shrinkage caused cracks to appear. This was despite very careful smoothing and use of slip. However we think that it was a happy accident as it gives the appearance of very aged pots that may well be a couple of thousand years old!

Paper weaving

Following on from the weaving we did for the kilts of the Katie Morag figures - we did larger, individual pieces today. We also interwove thinner strips to add to the overall effect. Have also been playing around with robot images. Painted these two ACEOs over the weekend - acrylics on heavyweight paper.

Robot

In Y6 we constructed robots to tie in with a sci-fi link to book week. Simple pre-printed nets were customised and detailed to resemble retro robots. Bent paperclips were used to represent an aerial. They stand around 20cm tall.

Icarus

Greek Myths with Y6 today. Daedelus & Icarus. Created images using oil pastels and black paper for the silhouette.

Poe-tree

Today in Y3 we constructed Poe-trees! These are card 'sculptures' from which hang word leaves - on which will be written anything to do with poetry (hence the name) - rhyming words, notable phrases, WOW vocabulary etc. They are designed to be interactive and can be altered as appropriate. The children had great fun making them.

Back up and running

After almost a year without a viable pc set-up I'm hopefully back up and running, with every good intention of posting regularly.

Going to start off with stuff we've been doing in school today. Being as it's book week and Y2 have been looking at Katie Morag stories it seemed obvious to create life-size figures. We did the obligatory scrunched tissue for her woolly jumper, whilst the kilt was fashioned by weaving paper strips onto small cut card 'looms'. Eyes still to be added using buttons (just visible), hair to be completed and the whole to be finished off by placing copies of Katie Morag stories in hands.

We created two pieces because there are two classes! The one with outstretched arms will have them bent into position in fornt of her as if reading said book.