What a fantastic week in Art!  The Year 6 artists have truly outdone themselves, putting the finishing touches on their amazing clay tiles! This project blended Art and Geography as the children created tiles inspired by a continent we've been studying. They explored art methods like stippling to give their tiles texture and detail. The class took inspiration from the incredible artist Frank Bowling, who is famous for his vibrant, expressive work, especially his paintings of continents using bold, bright colors.

After all the creative fun, the children became art critics, carefully looking at their own work and explaining what they were proud of and what they might try differently next time to make it even better!

Rizwana loved the colours: “I liked the bright colors on my clay tile because the color combination was very effective. I was inspired by Frank Bowling because he also used a range of different colours.” Ayaan celebrated being different: “I liked my tile because it was unique and different from everyone else's because I chose Australia.” Fahmina focused on texture: “I liked my tile because it had an interesting texture which I did through mark-making.” Keep an eye out for these brilliant tiles, which are currently on display in the main office entrance.

Getting Creative

This term we have been getting used to life without Helen in our art studio. Year 4 learnt their first unit on Linear drawing and we focused on drawing portraits using mirrors. We discussed vocabulary such as texture, tone, form and colour. In addition, we studied parts of a paintbrush, how to hold a pencil and how to safely use wire pipe cleaners. 

Individually, we created wonderful drawings with inked backgrounds. Collaboratively, we used wire pipe cleaners in a group to create abstract faces. We all worked really well together and we were so pleased with our results. At the end of the unit, we thought about what went well and how we could improve. I think Helen would be very proud of us all!                 

In 3 Maple, since the beginning of Year 3, we have been reading lots of new books from our class book corner.  After reading, we’re always keen to do an accelerated reader test to show our understanding.  As you can see from this snapshot, 3 Maple have been doing plenty of reading all month long!

We have also been working hard at maths.  We have started learning more about addition and subtraction, drawing number lines and using number bonds to make the questions easier for us.  Radiant has a great example of our maths work. 

We have also been doing plenty of writing, too!  We have written three letters about The Day the Crayons Came Home and focused on different ways to start writing sentences and lists.  I particularly enjoyed Eva’s letter about Glow in the Dark Crayon.

This week, in Year 2 we visited the Idea Store in Whitechapel as part of our ongoing celebration of the joy of reading. The trip was a wonderful opportunity for us to explore a real library, discover new books and take part in an exciting scavenger hunt. 

During the scavenger hunt, we collaborated in small groups to find specific books, authors and characters around the library. This activity helped us become more familiar with how libraries are structured and encouraged teamwork.

In 2 Maple, we love reading! Every day, we look forward to choosing new books from our class library and getting stuck into exciting stories. Some of us like funny books, others enjoy adventures or books about animals – there’s something for everyone. We really enjoy reading together during storytime and often talk about our favourite characters or what might happen next.

This week, 1 Maple learnt how to use Beebots. These are little robots that helps us learn directional language and programming.  We learnt how to move the robots forward and backwards. We got the robots to race too. It was great fun.

We also went on a local walk to learn how to cross roads safely.  We learnt that we stay on the pavement when we are walking and only at a zebra crossing. We always look left and right for any cars coming before crossing the road. We also wait for the green man when we are crossing at traffic light junctions.

Reception Maple class has been visiting the woodlands to explore seasonal changes in Autumn. The children were excited to walk through the woods and the trees, noticing how the leaves had changed colour from green to vibrant shades of red, orange, brown and yellow. They collected fallen leaves, twigs and barks. Then they  talked about why leaves fall from the trees in Autumn and how animals prepare for winter. Later that week children used the leaves and enjoyed the activity ‘leaf rubbing’. The children  have had lots of fun learning and exploring Autumn in our classroom as well as outside.