Mechanisms- Pull along Toy

This half term has been action packed with learning! We have been looking at mechanisms, in particular wheels and axels. The children have investigated what shape makes the ideal wheel and how they turn on an axel. They have practiced and fine tuned their skill of cutting a circle accurately and effectively using varying thicknesses of card. Through discussion, we came up with a design-criteria to make a pull along toy for a 1 year old child. This included safety aspects, aesthetics and the mechanism of the wheels and axels. The children have had such fun designing and making their toy, as you can see!

Next half term we are moving on to Food Technology, where we will be looking at nutrition and making smoothies. Your class teacher will let you know in advance, any ingredients that your child will be need to bring in for their session.

Have a wonderful May half term,

God Bless

Mrs Mather  

Sculpture and 3D - Paper Play

This term, the children have been looking at the different ways they could use paper. From 3D drawings through to sculptures. We have had so much fun manipulating paper into tower sculptures, the tree of life 3d art and a collaborative whole class spider sculpture! The children have shown so much resilience when the paper would not bend the way they wanted it to. This topic has been perfect for their fine motor skills and building up their finger muscles by rolling an array of different sized cylinders to produce their tower sculptures. Their imagination has run wild with this topic and they produced fabulous work!

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Michelangelo

I cannot believe we have arrived at the end of the second half term! What a wonderful term it has been, as we switched our attention to Design and technology and Textiles. We have had such fun experimenting and exploring a range of techniques with a plethora of tools to create our Nativity hand puppets. From joining various materials using different techniques and resources , to practicing our cutting skills when working with fabric. The children have been so enthusiastic to share their thoughts on processes, discuss why they have chosen certain resources and for what purpose. And to finish the half term, we have learned to thread a needle and use running stitch to make a pouch.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with your children and I cannot wait for the New Year, where we turn our focus to painting and mixed-media!

Have a wonderful, magical, Holy Christmas

God Bless

Mrs Mather

Make Your Mark!

What a joy it has been this half term, experimenting, exploring and investigating various media and mark making. The children have taken part in independent and collaborative tasks using new techniques to create pieces of art. The children have been so proud of what they have achieved and created, they are all such budding artists!

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Artists in year 1 this term , have been very busy learning about mark making and different types of lines and how to use them in their creations.

We experimented with a range of mark-making techniques, responding to music. We experimented different mediums and did observational drawing using all types of lines, starting black and white to a final piece in oil pastels, these were incredible successful.

" I don't say everything but i paint everything"- Pablo Picasso

In year 1 this term we have started our food tech. We looked at the difference of fruit and vegetables and we watch some fast growth videos of some vegetable and some fruits, from seeds to their ripe state, where we can then eat them.

The children were truly amazing to watach the video of a strawberry and a carrot.

We had a taster session of some fruit and vegetables and from that we made up some smoothies, some look rather green but we didn’t let that stop us and still had a try and it actually wasn’t that bad!

"The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen." - Paul Klee

This term the artists in year 1 have explored mixing primary colours to make secondary colours and inspired by the artist Jasper Johns style we painted our own “0 through 9”: experimented Lego printing and discussed all the patterns that the Lego created and had a go at trying to print our names initial.

Year 1 have looked at how a colour can have so many different shades and had a go at creating different shades of green creating a hand using the shades obtained.

The artists got to know about Clarice Cliff and his circle tree ceramics and tried to create their own inspired by the artist way of painting.

To end our term we did paint by the sound of the music, I played a couple of tunes and asked the children to first dance how the music made them feel and then using their paint brushes as their ballerinas to recreate that feeling on paper and thinking carefully on the chosen colours for that same music and feeling, it was a the perfect lesson to end our term!

“ The purpose of Art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” Pablo Picasso

This term the year 1 artists have been very busy.

We looked at Andy Goldsworthy and land art , we had a little try ourselves in the school garden. we also had a try in our sketchbooks with some tissue paper and followed Andy Goldworth technique. This was so much fun!

Together we found out all about sustainable art and how important it is for our planet and environment, we decided to upcycle everyday packages that would eventually go in the bin to each create a piece for a Christmas village, it was amazing to see the children’s ideas on their sketchbooks and there were so many great ideas! because we were all so in the Christmas mood we started our Christmas cards, children were encourage to create their own using any techniques/mediums there would prefer.

Year 1 Artists also looked at Primary colours and together we discussed and experimented making a colour lighter (add white) or darker (add black), the children absolutely loved experimenting!