Ripping, shredding, tearing …cut!

Well who would have thought that Dr Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ would result in graphic notation? Perhaps it was the realisation that paper came from trees that inspired our paper making and subsequently became the theme for 1ED’s dance.

Perhaps it was working with Miss Edwards and speaking with Mrs Stott. Their passion for music, rhythm and percussion certainly came into play. Either way, we have been listening to sounds, playing percussion instruments and painting our own graphic notations onto a BIG collaborative painting.

We inked up our press prints too and added them to our masterpiece!

Huge thanks must go to Ramtin in Year 4 and Mr Moore, who rose to the challenge of creating the music for 1ED’s dance using the software ‘Garage Band’. They recorded our voices to insert onto the track that they believed would work. It was time consuming and required much thinking but work it did. THANK YOU. Well done Evie for playing the drum in the dance so we knew when to start to ‘press, press, press, press, down!’

As a class, 1ED loved the book ‘The Lorax’. The illustrations, nonsense words as well as the story itself. Inspired by the description of the old Once-lers Lerkim, we made our own in groups using Lego. We also baked crumbles with Mrs Walker using fruit-not from Truffula trees!

Thank you interested adults, parents and Lubaya-one of ACE’s art ambassadors-who managed to attend Friday’s arts celebration. The children love to share their learning with you and as the feedback shows the feeling is mutual!

“The music drawing-Edward just told me ‘graphic notation’ was very impressive for Y1 children. This and Christingle are my favourite ACE events.”

“I loved everything this afternoon. I loved Adrianna’s work. So glad I came.”

“Very useful information for everyone. Felt good to see the artwork of the children. Really enjoyed.”

“Wonderful to see what they’ve been doing and learning. Very proud.”

I do take on board your suggestions and hopefully the dance will be performed again towards the end of the afternoon too so that parents unable to attend at 1:30pm have the opportunity to do so at 2:45pm!

Leaves are the food factory

THANK YOU 2HM for immersing yourselves in your arts fortnight. ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss, combined with the beauty of the autumn leaves encouraged us to look in greater detail at leaves. Together we discovered what an integral part they have in making the food for the tree and in exploring this we encountered photosynthesis!

Your dance shared how the sunshine, water and carbon dioxide were mixed together to provide the glucose for the tree and the oxygen for us! Thank you for working collaboratively to capture this process. You are the first class to incorporate material!

Collage was definitely a new medium for most of us and our first attempts did see tears as we grappled with the how and the why. However, as our individual collages show, you did learn the skills of ripping, tearing, coiling, plaiting and layering. Together with your observational drawings and paintings your final pieces did look stunning. Well done for creating a block print too.

How wonderful to receive an oak tree from the old Once-ler. Your letters must have showed him the importance of trees in keeping our world healthy and therefore his gift and message to you is one I hope you will remember:

‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.’ The Lorax-Dr Seuss

THANK YOU parents and interested adults for taking time out of your busy week to share in 2HM’s learning. THANK YOU for:

  • being the audience in the hall as they performed their ‘Photosynthesis’ dance
  • reading ‘The Lorax’ in their classroom
  • measuring leaves and recording the length in the library
  • baking apple turnovers-in the space of fifteen minutes-in the cafe!
  • appreciating their artwork and having a go at plaiting and printing in the studio

Here are just two of the lovely comments from parents/interested adults:

‘I really love these events. The excitement from the children when they get to show us their work and being able to involve their adults is priceless. Children enjoying their learning-FAB!’

What an amazing afternoon-innovative and interesting ways of learning, great to tackle a difficult topic in such a creative way. We have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience…’

 

Giuseppe Penone inspires at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

On Wednesday, thirteen pupils from Allerton CE primary met with eight graphic design students from Leeds Beckett University at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It was the first workshop of the ‘Barking Up The Wrong Tree’ project and blessed with a beautiful autumnal day we were certainly able to appreciate the outdoor gallery and create.

Inspiration came via Giuseppe Penone sculptures and exhibition, the beautiful trees in the park as well as our imaginations. The purpose was to build relationships and generate ideas for the project. Here is a glimpse of what we got up to:

The old Once-ler replies…

Well once again, Dr Seuss’ book ‘The Lorax’ inspired Y2HL’s Arts fortnight.

Over the fortnight we certainly began to grasp how important trees are to all living things. Shi-Ying shared that trees helped to prevent flooding; Rory knew that trees gave us oxygen and together we discovered how trees captured carbon dioxide. Our letters to the old Once-ler definitely communicated how cross we were about him chopping down all the Truffula Trees and the damage his actions caused to the environment. His reply to each and every one of 2HL acknowledged the importance of planting trees to replace those we chop down and the importance of us caring.

Our observational drawings of leaves inspired our plasticine creations and our final clay ‘Truffula Tree’ leaves. From wool we made pom poms to represent the tuft of these colourful trees while our prints captured trunk and tuft!

 

Sycamore seeds and horse chestnut seeds inspired the dance. Well done Y2 for working collaboratively to create your conker shapes and tree! I was particularly impressed with the ‘lift’ Mia’s group managed to incorporate. You now know how important team is in dance as well as perseverance-how many times did we rehearse the initial cross/windmill?!

 

Once again, Mrs Walker worked with the class and baked apple or plum crumble-the fruit was from our own orchard. I wonder what unit of measure was used in making sure there was the right amount. In measuring the circumference of the trees outside in the school grounds and the height of objects in the studio centimetres were used. Miss Lucas was impressed with how teams worked together in order to work out the measurements.

Thank you to the all the interested adults, who managed to squeeze in time in their busy day to attend all or part of the celebration on Friday. We are so glad you had ‘a great insight into their learning for the last two weeks.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.-The Lorax

Dr Seuss’ book ‘The Lorax’ certainly inspired our learning together. Thank you 3ES for working as scientists, mathematicians, artists, dancers, chefs and authors over the fortnight.  Together we:

  •         explored and identified some of the trees in our school grounds
  •         measured the circumference of tree trunks and the length of leaves

 

  •         created 5 word slogans to capture what we now appreciated about trees
  •         effectively used felt tips, wax crayons and acrylic paint to create                              collaborative mixed media leaf artwork

         

  •         shared the impact of deforestation through dance
  •         baked scrumptious apple crumbles
  •        built our own Lerkim’s
  •         wrote letters to the old Once-ler suggesting solutions so that the                             Bar-ba-Loots, Swomee Swans and Humming-Fish could once again live                 in the glorious place where the Truffula Trees grow
  •        transformed the art studio from a blank canvas to a celebration of your                   learning

Thank you parents, carers and interested adults for sharing in 3ES’s Arts Celebration-you were an appreciative audience as we shared our dance TWICE! It was wonderful to see the conversations and smiles as you engaged in the measuring, reading, baking and art activities alongside your child. Thank you for coming, your encouragement and appreciative comments.  ‘The Lorax’ books are on order for the next class. Hopefully the story will capture more year groups over the coming year.