nearly there!

Frantically trying to complete art pieces before the hols so we can start afresh in the new year.
These are some of the finished, grouted mosaics created by our y4's.

cameras

Today the y3's rounded off their artistic endeavours based on the theme of light by making small pinhole cameras.

From a 2d net they constructed working models that captured, on a small tracing paper screen (about 5cm sq.), recognisable images. This photo (showing an image of the art room windows - upside down of course) looks remarkably like the first picture taken by Fox-Talbot!

back at school - yay!

Managed to put our 'Tudor' houses on display - they were only completed on the final day of last term! Partnered them up with our model of the Globe to portray a small section of Shakespeare's London! It looks quite impressive in the flesh - each house stands around 25cm tall. 
(And I seem to be able to email myself pics again!)

The children made peg doll characters to populate the streets.

Warhol & Tudors

Y6 have finished their self-portraits in the style of Andy Warhol.

And our Tudor real estate is nearing completion. Today we fixed the upper and lower storeys together and added the internal roof structures. Just the thatching to do. Hope it doesn't rain before next week!

printing(2)

Yesterday the y5/6s continued to explore the possibilities of print. We began to investigate overprinting as way of enhancing our designs.

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.

dinosaurs finished

Some of the y2's completed their dinosaurs today. They installed the pneumatic systems that work the mouths and added other embellishments - eyes, teeth (making sure they were herbivore teeth!), tongues, claws etc.

 

 

Below is a very short video;

 

 

And now I've figured out how to upload videos, here's the one of my train automaton from a few posts back;

 

Apologies for the wobble at the end - the camera was stuck to a jar lid with blu tack. Must invest in one of those small, table-top tripods!

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;

trains

 

Our y3 children have been learning all about the Victorian era so we decided to make model steam trains. This pic shows the progression of my try outs and ideas.

 

This pic shows the completed model on top of the photocopied sheet that we eventually used.

The wheels are MDF and the 'chassis' is a pre-cut piece of 'Tech Card'. Next week we'll make the tracks and carriages.

cards & wood

More Chrimbo card designs that we've been having a go at this week. The children have been really pleased with their efforts.

 

Today was our school xmas fayre. Children bring stuff in...and then buy it back! I bet parents love getting rid of some unwanted bits and pieces only to have it replaced with someone else's stuff. This is a pic of wooden things that no-one else wanted. They went for the flashy plastic toys. Being a sucker for anything wooden, it was only right and proper that I saved it from the skip (where all the unsold stuff gets dumped). I've got ideas about repurposing the boxes with handpainted images and making some doll type figures out of the stacking toys - watch this space after Christmas.

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.

globe shaping up

Week 3 of our 'Globe' model. We've got as far as assembling the seating 'units'. Here they are glued and held together with bulldog clips. Each stack of 3 is about 30cm high. Stacked like this, even at this early stage, there's a semblance of similarity.

 

 

Once dry, the brown paper will be torn off and the boxes opened up. Next week we plan to floorboard and attach the front railings. Keep watching this space.

the globe theatre - foundations

Today in y4 we embarked upon an ambitious technology project. We are aiming to build a representation of the Globe theatre, using (real!) wood for the main structure. We sawed and glued a lot of pieces that we then assembled into panels that will be clamped together to form the cylindrical shell. It won't be an accurate scale model but will hopefully bear more than a passing resemblance to Shakespeares old stomping ground. I'm envisaging it taking a good few weeks to complete as we only get an hour or so once a week in which to do it. I'll hopefully post pics as it takes shape - if I can remember to take them in the heat of construction.

 

 

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.

car booty

Been to a car boot and bagged a book for 2 euros. My daughter has just gone off to UK to study art/textiles and I thought she might like it. I do anyway - an early 60s reprint of a 1952 volume with some wonderful colour plates and line drawings.

moving toys

Today we designed and made some simple moving toys that rocked.

Paper and card, standing about 10cm tall.

elephants in the room

Computer back and hopefully fixed! A few pics of what we've been up to lately - enlarging images using grids (after looking at Roy Lichtenstein's work) and appliqueing 'decorated' elephant designs (for a topic on India);

more moving toys

Thaumatropes today, continuing our look at moving toys. It's nice that in todays high tec world children can still be 'wowed' by very low tech stuff.

Managed a few snatched moments during lunchtime and sketched another 'stick' figure. Footy player this time. Part coloured with pencil crayons - beginning to like this style, might see if I can't 'do' a proper picture.