Design and Technology: Blog items
Date: 17th Oct 2022 @ 7:55am
In DT, we made prototypes. Some of us used cotton but some used felt! We discovered that it was much easier to use fabric pens on cotton and therefore we think this would be a better material for the final design. When we evaluated the prototypes, we decided that the colouring needed to be much needed and that small areas of colour would be easier. We tried different sizes and decided that 20cm x 20cm was a good size. Next time, we would use more resources such as felt, buttons and sequins to make the designs more interesting.
Date: 17th Oct 2022 @ 7:48am
In Science we started to look at magnets. We discovered that magnets have a north and south pole. We spent some time exploring whcih attract and which repel each other. We then went on to investigate what materials were magnetic. We learnt that metal objects were magnetic but this did not include aluminium, copper or gold! We then went on to plan an investegation for next week answering the question 'Which magnet is the strongest?'
Date: 29th Sep 2022 @ 7:56am
Today we began to practice the skill of sewing because we had decided this was the best method to join our material together to make a puppet. We began by threading the cotton thread through the eye hole of the needle before carefully tying a knot at the end of the thread. Next, we began to practice our sewing focusing on a running stitch. We had to demonstrate lots of patience, determination and perseverance as it was quite difficult but we displayed a growth mindset and never gave up!
Date: 22nd Sep 2022 @ 4:39pm
This week in Design Technology, we practised our marking out and cutting skills. We drew around an outline to give us the puppet template before carefully practising our cutting skills to make sure it looked like a puppet and had smooth edges. These skills will be important when making our final product.
Year 3 are super seamstresses!
Date: 22nd Sep 2022 @ 2:51pm
In Design & Technology today we practised the running stitch. This was a stitch we were familiar with and therefore it was good to practise and refresh our minds. Those of us that mastered the running stitch moved on to learning the backstitch. This is in preperation for making our very own cushions!
Date: 22nd Sep 2022 @ 7:52am
In DT we explore a variety of cushions, ready to eventually make our own. We evaluated them based on their design, comfort and how well they were joined. As a class we discussed the pros and cons for each cushion and ordered them from best to worst. We will now use inspiration from these when designing and making our final pieces.
Year 5 Safe Skills in Forest School
Date: 15th Sep 2022 @ 4:04pm
Today was about gaining some skills in being safe around equipment, in particular, knives, axes and mallets. We cut some sticks down, used the knives and peelers to whittle them to a flat surface and decorated them as tree markers. We also made a small safe fire and cooked the harvest of pears, which were delicious. We also built dens, created our own games, found another frog and worked well as a team on our knots!
Reception exploring the outdoor area
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 8:34pm
This week the children in Reception have had a great time in our outdoor area. The children have been practising putting on their waterproofs and wellie boots ready to explore our wonderful outdoor provision. They have been role playing in the mud kitchen, riding on the balance bikes, building in our construction shed, exploring the water and mark making using paint brushes. The children have worked together brillianlty ensuring take turns, share the resources and put them away properly. Have a look at what we have been up to!
Year 5 Art begins with Typography
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 12:36pm
We have started our learning in Art by creating our own different styles of Typography. We learnt that typography is any form of print style designed to create an idea or emotion. We learned about Louise Fili who is a famous graphic designer who created posters for the New York Subway using different type fonts. By cutting up paper and sketching, we started to create our own letters.
Date: 8th Sep 2022 @ 7:26am
This half term, Year Two will be following a journey to create our own animal puppets. For our first lesson, we explored different types of puppets including: Marionettes, Glove puppets, Shadow puppets and Finger puppets looking at the materials they had used to create the puppets, who would use the puppet as well as exploring how the different parts had been joined together. We particularly enjoyed exploring the glove and finger puppet as they are easy to use and felt soft on our hands. We are looking forward to learning how to sew to eventually create our own to take home.
Date: 19th Jul 2022 @ 6:49pm
This week we completed our DT journey to make a fruit salad. Firstly, we designed our fruit salad, dicussing the ingredients and tools we would need to create our end product. We then learnt two safe ways to cut our fruit, the 'bridge' cut and the 'claw' cut. We practised these using play dough until we were ready to cut our ingredients. We designed our fruit salad using six fruits and a fresh fruit juice. We then use our skills to cut our fruit into bite size pieces to create an appealing fruit salad. It was then time to eat our lovely fresh fruit salad! Finally we evaluated our fruit salad, discussing things that had gone well and any improvements we would make next time.
Date: 7th Jul 2022 @ 3:53pm
Today, it was our first Forest School session with Jenna and Claire. We began the session by listening to our environment to see if we could see or hear any birds around us. We saw lots and a few different species too which we loved because in our last sessions we built bird boxes to attract them into our nature area. Then, we discussed what materials birds used to make their nests and attempted to make our own bird nests using the resources we could find including sticks, twigs, leaves, mud and grass. Finally, some of us made our own birds to take home. We are looking forward to our second session next week.
Nursery What The Ladybird Heard At The Seaside
Date: 29th Jun 2022 @ 2:41pm
We have been reading the story "What The Ladybird Heard At The Seaside" By Julia Donaldson and have created lots of learning opportunites based on the story. We have been practsing our scissor skills by cutting the mermaids hair - it was very tough and sticky just like in the story! We have been counting spots on to ladybirds and subisiting how many spots we can see and learring all about the letter L by making ladybirds out of the letter. We have created some beautfiul transient art pictures of mermaids and made some spinning ladybirds to hang from the ceiling.
Year 6 - faisons la tarte tatin
Date: 13th Jun 2022 @ 5:32pm
Today we completed our cooking journey on making a tarte tatin. We began the day by researching a range of existing baked apple products and made a slides presentaiton with lots of informaiton about the products, including photos, recipes, history of the product and where they originate from. Then we tasted a few of these products so that we could evaluate them for their smell, taste, appearance and texture. Next we practiced the skills needed to make a tarte tatin - this involved using a peeler and sharp knife to peel, core and slice apples using a safe method. Finally, we ended the day by making a tarte tatin in groups. The trickiest part was making the caramel - we had to keep an eye on how much heat we were adding to the sugar because we didn't want it to burn and be ruined. Our finished products looked and smelled amazing. They tasted even better!!
Date: 25th May 2022 @ 8:40am
Year 6 have started the first of their maths consolidation projects. This project will focus on a bakery and we will use or skills in ration and proportion, money, percentages, 3D shapes and volume. Today we were using ration and proportion to work out how much ingredients were needed to make cupcakes. We then went on to work out the cost of ingredients and which shop was better value.
Date: 23rd May 2022 @ 4:18pm
This week children in year 5 began their project to design and create a device that includes an electrical circuit and a switch. We have investigated and discussed products that are currently available, such as security lights and burglar alarms, and identified how they are turned on and off. Pupils used wires, batteries, bulbs and buzzers to revisit their prior learning about electrical circuits, and also to familiarise themselves with new equipment, like switches and ammeters. I am happy to say that there were a few 'lightbulb moments' and the children are now ready to start designing their own product.
Date: 20th May 2022 @ 8:08am
In Year Three we had a Design Technology day where we designed, made and evaluated fruit kebabs to make a healthy snack. This involved tasting a range of pre-existing products including pineapple, mango, cantaloupe melon, watermelon and pomegranate seeds. We rated them on taste, smell and appearance. This then led to use designing our own fruit kebab and even considered how to stay safe in a kitchen. Finally we were able to make and eat our healthy snacks!
Nursery enjoy learning about Farms
Date: 19th May 2022 @ 6:05pm
We've had a brilliant week finding out about animals that live on a farm. We've learnt that milk comes from cows and made our own milkshake - it was delicious! We also set up a farm shop and the chidlren made the labels themselves! We had alots of farm based activites in continuous provision and even worked together to paint and collage some farm animals.
Date: 12th May 2022 @ 8:32pm
This week we have read the fabulous story "Superworm" By Julia Donaldson. This story is great for developing an understanding of rhyme and the children were super at joining in with the rhymes. All our learning was based on the story and included comparing the size of worms, make worms of different lengths out of playdough and counting bugs and matching them to the correct numerals. The children got creative by making their own magic wands just like Wizard Lizards and made superworms living in a garden. They also practised writing their names by writing them inside a worm and explored capacity and what happens when they mixed different liquids to make magic potions.
Date: 4th May 2022 @ 8:22pm
This week nursery have continued to find out about growth and change. We have been keeping a close eye on our tiny caterpillars and they're not so tiny anymore! Infact, they're getting rather big! As well as watching the caterpillars grow, the children have also been planting seeds. We started with cress seeds and will be moving on to sunflower seeds later in the week! We have been talking about looking after the seeds and that we have to make sure we keep them watered to help them grow. We have also been using different types of bricks to build the tallest bean stalk and practising matching numeral and quantity using seeds.
Date: 27th Apr 2022 @ 8:08pm
This week we have began our DT journey and began learning about mechanisms. Today we made levers! For this mechanism we linked our learning to the story Jack and the Beanstalk. We read and discussed the story and we were then ready to turn part of the story into a moving picture using a lever mechanism. We followed each instruction carefully and all successfully made a lever to show Jack and his beanstalk! We recapped on the importance of safety whilst using scissors and putting split pins through pieces of paper and card. We evaluated our finished product and talked about two top tips we could share with other children to make levers!
Date: 6th Apr 2022 @ 4:07pm
We spent an exciting day making our final product of a pillow! We used our designs to decorate the outside of our pillow with fabric pens, felt and sequins. We then used the backstitch that we had been practicing to attach the fabric together. We had to really concentrate to ensure our thread didn't get knotted and we didn't un-thread our thread. Have a look at some of our final pillows!
Date: 1st Apr 2022 @ 4:15pm
This week we began to make our moving vehicles. To make the bodies of our car we wrapped cardboard boxes in white paper. We then used PVA glue to stick the body of the car onto the chassis we made earlier in the journey. After we had glued the body onto the chassis we painted it to our chosen colours based upon our designs. The day after- when our paint had dried we used our marking out skills to mark out windows and used paper and cellophane to create windows and extra things that we wished to put on our car. Some of us even put headlights, brake lights and indicators onto our cars using foiled paper. Some of it was really tricky but we persevered and helped each other and everyone is proud of their finished products.
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 5:22pm
Today in Year 2, we began to make our moving vehicle that will transport our Fairytale character to their event linking to our current Reading into Writing journey. We began by exploring fixed and free axels and discussed the differences before evaluating which we thought would be the best to use for our own vehicle. We chose free axles and used dowels putting them through a card template to ensure our axle was steady before choosing some wheels to attach to our axle. We then decided blu tac would allow more movement for our wheels compared to glue so secured our wheels to our axles using this. It was really fun but it wasn't always easy and the children showed great perseverance and teamwork to support one another.
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 2:25pm
This week in Reception the children have been talking about the importance of reusing and recycling unwanted waste. We collected a range of different bottles, cartons, boxes, tubs and tubs and used them to create our own junk model animals. We use tape and glue to attach the items together and them used different matterials and paint to decorate them. We made some fantastic wild animlas including parrots, elephants, giraffes, snakes and monkeys.
