This week, the children have been enjoying the wonderful story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. We explored the story in a variety of fun and hands-on ways that supported learning across different areas of development.

The children strengthened their fine motor skills by using tweezers to pick up and collect "worms" for the baby owls. They also enjoyed retelling the story using props, helping to develop their communication, language and storytelling skills as they remembered the characters and events.

Our creative activities included painting beautiful owls and practising gluing and sticking techniques to make collage owls using a range of materials. The children were very proud of their creations and loved sharing them with their friends.

It has been wonderful to see the children's imagination, creativity and confidence grow as they brought the story of Owl Babies to life! 🦉🍂✨

This week, Reception enjoyed exploring the wonderful story Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins. The children loved following Rosie the hen on her journey around the farm while the mischievous fox got into all sorts of trouble trying to catch her. They found the story very funny and enjoyed talking about their favourite parts.

As part of our learning, the children painted pictures of Rosie the hen and the fox, and created colourful collaged foxes using paper plates. At the storytelling table, they retold the story using puppets and small world figures, helping to develop their confidence, language and understanding of the sequence of events.

Outdoors, the children took part in a Rosie’s Walk obstacle course. They used positional language from the story, including around, across, over, past, under and through, as they navigated the course and retold Rosie's adventure. This was a fun way to reinforce their understanding of both the story and key mathematical vocabulary.

It has been a fantastic week of storytelling, creativity and active learning, and the children thoroughly enjoyed bringing Rosie’s Walk to life.

"That sneaky fox kept trying to catch Rosie" Wilhem

"The fox kept getting into trouble =- it was funny!" Olivia

"The fox fell in the pond...and the bees chased him at the end!" Junior

During our Art Day, we explored the work of the artists and illustrators Quentin Blake and Inbal Leitner. We looked at some of the books they have illustrated and discussed their different styles and the techniques they use to bring characters and stories to life.

Next, we learned about sculptures and completed a step by step tutorial on how to create animals out of dough. This helped us practise shaping, joining and adding details to our models.

We then looked at a range of existing monster sculptures and shared our opinions about them. We discussed what we liked about the sculptures and what we would change to improve them. This helped us think carefully about design choices and creative ideas.

Using what we had learned, we planned and designed our own unique monster. We drew our ideas and considered features such as colour, shape, texture and expression. Finally, we brought our designs to life by creating our monsters from colourful plasticine. We enjoyed using our imagination and developing our sculpting skills to make creative and original pieces of art.

Year 3 enjoyed a fantastic outdoor learning session, exploring the natural world around them. The children took part in a scavenger hunt, searching for different flowers, smooth and rough surfaces, and a variety of animals. They showed great enthusiasm and curiosity as they investigated their surroundings.

The children then gathered natural resources from outside to create imaginative faces. Their designs were brilliant and incredibly creative, with some children using grass to make hair and adding colourful flowers for extra detail.

To finish the session, we learnt about the work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy and explored some of his nature-inspired artwork. Using natural materials, the children recreated some of his techniques, including stacking, balancing and layering objects. They worked thoughtfully and creatively, producing some wonderful pieces inspired by the natural world.

We were so impressed with the children's teamwork, creativity and enthusiasm throughout the day! 🌿🎨🍃

This week, the children explored the story The Three Little Pigs. We read the story together and focused on developing oracy skills by learning and using new vocabulary from the text. The children practised saying sentences using these new words, showing growing confidence in speaking.

At the storytelling table, the children used puppets to retell the story, demonstrating their understanding of the sequence of events and characters.

In the creative area, the children painted a pig and created their own paper plate pigs using collage techniques. They independently selected and attached different materials, building on their fine motor skills and creativity.

In writing, the children wrote simple sentences about the story, using their phonics knowledge and showed increasing confidence in applying their phonetic skills in meaningful contexts.

Year 3 have made an exciting start to their new art topic, Cloth, Thread and Paint, all in one creative day! We explored the work of artists like Alice Kettle and Hannah Rae, discussing how they combine fabric, thread and paint in imaginative ways. The children recorded their ideas and responses in their sketchbooks. We then focused on mark making, looking closely at how artists use different lines and patterns to create texture and movement. The children experimented with their own marks, building confidence and beginning to develop their own artistic style. It was fantastic to see so much creativity and enthusiasm! 🎨

The children explored the life cycle of a butterfly through a range of engaging activities. Using a variety of art resources, they created butterfly artwork, focusing on symmetry and developing their fine motor skills through cutting and attaching materials.

This learning was enriched by a real-life experience in the classroom, where we observed caterpillars as they transformed into cocoons. The children showed great curiosity and excitement while waiting for them to hatch and become butterflies, encouraging discussion and questioning.

We also shared non-fiction books about butterflies, helping to deepen the children’s understanding of the life cycle and key vocabulary. The children were highly engaged throughout the activities, showing enthusiasm and creativity, and produced some fantastic butterfly artwork.

"I saw a butterfly in my garden... it was on a flower" Bonnie

"We looked for them ouside with Mrs McAllister- I saw a colourful one" Faith 

"The caterpillar transforms into a butterfly" Theo

Year 4 Art & Design: Storytelling Through Drawing – Final Artwork

To complete our Storytelling Through Drawing art journey, Year 4 pupils created a thoughtful and imaginative final piece inspired by poetry. Pupils began by experimenting with soft sketching pencils in their sketchbooks, practising how to use light and dark tones to create atmosphere, detail, and expression.

The children then listened carefully to readings of the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, discussing the vivid language and unusual imagery used by the poet. Pupils shared their interpretations of the poem and talked about how words can inspire powerful visual ideas, even when meanings are unclear or open to imagination.

Using this inspiration, pupils selected their favourite part of the poem and created a detailed pencil illustration to show the story they imagined. They focused on line, shading, and composition to communicate mood and narrative, drawing on techniques explored earlier in the unit and inspired by artists such as Shaun Tan and Laura Carlin.

The final artworks show fantastic creativity and individuality, with each drawing telling its own story. Year 4 should be incredibly proud of how they used drawing as a tool for storytelling.

Year 4 Art & Design: Storytelling Through Drawing

This week in Year 4 art, pupils began an exciting new creative journey inspired by the AccessArt ‘Storytelling Through Drawing’ project. The focus of this unit is on how artists use drawing to tell stories, share ideas, and communicate meaning without words.

Pupils explored the work of illustrators Shaun Tan and Laura Carlin, carefully looking at how their drawings create mood, suggest narratives, and invite the viewer to ask questions. The children discussed what they noticed in the artists’ use of line, detail, space, and expression, and shared their own interpretations of the stories they felt the images were telling.

Through sketchbook work and discussion, pupils began to understand that drawings do not always need to show everything clearly—sometimes mystery and imagination are just as important. They reflected on how images can guide a viewer’s thoughts and feelings.

In the next lesson, pupils will build on this learning by creating their own artwork to tell a story, drawing on the techniques and ideas they have explored. We are looking forward to seeing their creativity and storytelling skills come to life on the page!

🌍 Redwoods Class Blog – 3D Planet Sculptures 🚀

This week in Redwoods class, we had an exciting and creative time making 3D planet sculptures using paper mache 🎨🖐️. The classroom was buzzing with energy as we transformed simple materials into impressive models of planets from our solar system ✨🌌.

We had to show lots of resilience and patience 💪😊, especially when building up the layers of paper mache. It took time for each layer to dry properly before we could add the next one ⏳, but we didn’t give up. Our hard work really paid off in the end 🌟.

Once the sculptures were ready, we carefully painted them 🎨🖌️. We chose planets such as Neptune, Earth and Venus 🟦🌍🟡, making sure to use the correct colours and details. The finished results look fantastic and we are very proud of what we created 😄👏.

Well done, Redwoods class, for your brilliant teamwork, creativity and determination! ⭐👏