Design and Technology: Blog items
Date: 8th Dec 2022 @ 11:17am
This year for our enterprise task we have been making and preparing 'Reindeer Food' for Christmas Eve and Sweet Bags for the Christmas festivities. We spoke about what enterprise means and understood that we were making things to be sold. The 'Reindeer Food' and Sweet Bags will be sold at the school Christmas Fair next Wednesday!
Date: 5th Dec 2022 @ 9:31pm
After being visited by Hedgehog Rescue, the children had fun making hedgehog bread. They weighed out the ingredients (strong white flour, yeast, oil, water and salt) and then mixed them all in a bowl. They each had a go at kneading the dough and then after three balls of dough were moulded, using their hands, into a hedgehog shape they had great fun snipping at the dough to create the quills on the hedgehog. It was then left to rise before being baked in the oven and enjoyed by all in the afternoon!
"You have to push the dough really hard to make the bread" Harper.
"The prickles are called quills- I cut them with my scissors to make it look spikey" Lennox.
" The bread got bigger in the bowl before we cooked it in the oven!" Sheraa.
Date: 9th Nov 2022 @ 3:49pm
In DT today we have looked at 4 different types of stitching: running stitch, back stitch, over stitch and blanket stitch. The children practised each one to make sure their technique was good in order to use in their own piece in a few weeks times. We were very impressed with the skills the children demonstrated today.
Date: 6th Nov 2022 @ 11:08am
In the lead up to Remembrance Day on 11th November, Year Two have been creating poppies in Art. We glued two sticks together to create the cross and used our weaving skills to weave red wool through a template. This created a cross on the front and a square on the back, when we removed the cardboard template it created the shape of the poppy. It took a lot of perseverance to ensure we followed the number sequence correctly but everyone did very well!
Date: 31st Oct 2022 @ 6:22pm
Today, we began the start of our new half term by enjoying a DT day!
Firstly, we looked at existing products to explore the different mechanisms and moving parts in a range of picture books. We talked about how the moving part moves, how it works and what effect it has.
We then began to make two prototypes, a lever and a slider. We linked each mechanism to a story to create a moving picture for each. We all talked through the safety points and watched our teachers make an example, reading through the instructions together and spotting where they went wrong! We then each had a turn to follow the instructions, read them carefully and make our two prototypes.
We verbally evaluated our desgins, talking about what had gone well and what we could improve next time.
Date: 21st Oct 2022 @ 3:37pm
Today, we turned our designs into actual puppets that we could play with. We used our previously practiced skills to thread and knot the needle before beginning a running stitch. To finish them off, we cut different materials including felt, pipe cleaners and buttons to design our animal and add their features. Whilst making the products we had to display a variety of characteristics including: resilience, perseverance and patience.
Date: 19th Oct 2022 @ 2:51pm
Nursery have been reading the story "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" By Michael Rosen and have been having such a good time! The story has a repetitive text which is great for encouraging children to join in with stories. From the story we have had so many wonderful experiences including adding music to the story, making binoculars, making bears and making some delicious biscuits. To finish of the week we even went on our very own Bear Hunt and found the bear hiding in the woods with a delicious treat for us.
If you would like to share the story with your child here is a link to the author reading the story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iou5LV9dRP0
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.
