Design and Technology: Blog items
Date: 17th Dec 2024 @ 1:02pm
This half term we have been looking at architecture. We began our Art journey by exploring what architecture is and we looked at the work of Hunderwasser. We learnt that he liked bright, colourful buildings and would often use topsy turvy designs. We then designedour own buildings and chose a colour palette for our building. Over the last couple of days, we have been building, painting and decorating our houses ready to evaluate.
Date: 13th Dec 2024 @ 11:22am
This week Acorns have been reading the Gingerbread Man.
We have had lots of fun using the characters from the story to tell the story.
Omer - "Swim, swim"
We have enjoyed making our own collage gingerbread man and baked our own gingerbread cookies.
Date: 7th Nov 2024 @ 2:58pm
The children loved using some open ended resources to create their own rocks, They had to select the pieces they wanted and decide how they would attach them together. They also had to chat to their friends about the resources and share and take turns.
Year 4 -DT - Creating a lever and linkage
Date: 7th Nov 2024 @ 10:08am
In DT, we received a letter asking us to design and create a card. The specification was precise – we need to ensure it is a Christmas card, it is designed for primary school children and it has a linkage and lever system. We then looked at card designs and evaluated them.
Next, we learned about linkages and levers and created a basic one which we will adapt and use when we create our Christmas cards!
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 9:13pm
We have worked hard on following our final designs to create our pencil cases. We had to put all the skills we had practised into action including tying knots, threading needles and completing a running stitch. Some of us even used zips and buttons so we had to apply our skills to something new! We did a great job in following our designs and showed resilience, creativity and persistence in abundance whilst creating our final pieces. Well done Year 3!
Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 4:06pm
Acorns have been exploring and celebrating Harvest. Today we have been making bread.
We had lots of fun mixing the ingredients and trying to knead the dough.
Our bread rolls turned out great. Have a look.
Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 2:29pm
Nursery have thoroughly enjoyed reading "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen. They can all join in beautifully with the story and loved using musical instuements to make the sound of swishy swashy grass and squelchy squerchy mud. They created some fabulous bear puppets, counted and sorted bears by colour and even baked some delicious bear paw print biscuits.
Reception- Holly Class Bake Bread
Date: 4th Oct 2024 @ 4:39pm
After reading the story, Little Red Hen, Reception decided to bake bread. They all worked together, helping each other to weigh the ingredients, mix the ingredients and knead the dough before placing it in a bowl to allow it to rise. Then it was baked in the oven and eaten.
Unlike the story, where Little Red Hen had to do everything herself, all the children worked togther showing kidness and respect.
"It feels sticky" Harry
"We all helped to make the bread" Dina.
"Mmm it tastes delicious!" Riley.
"Little Red Hen's friends didn't help her" Hazel.
Reception Willow Class make bread
Date: 1st Oct 2024 @ 9:14pm
This week the children in Willow class have been reading the traditional tale 'Little Red Hen'. After reading the story we talked about the different ingredients we would need to make bread. We found out that we needed flour, yeast, water, salt and olive oil. We all went up to the kitchen to make some bread, just like the Little Red Hen. We measure followed the recipe and measure the correct amount of flour and water. We added some yeast, salt and olive oil and mixed it together to make dough. It was very important tha we kneaded the dough to make sure that the bread would rise in the oven. Once the dough was silky smooth we put it in a bowl and waited for it to rise. We then baked it in the own for 45 minutes. The children enjoyed tasty the bread when we took it out of the oven.
"It is delicious" Kevin
"It's hard kneading the dough" Lilah
"We need flour, salt, water and oil" Kamiyah
Date: 19th Sep 2024 @ 9:17am
This week we started to master the skills of sewing. We learnt how to thread, how to do a running stitch and we practised cutting precisely. It is a very difficult skill to master and we will be continuing to practise this in the upcoming weeks. Eventually, we will put this into practise to make our very own puppets! Watch this space!
Year 3 - DT - Investigating existing products and Market Research
Date: 9th Sep 2024 @ 9:05pm
To begin our DT journey, we looked at a range of existing pencil cases. We thought about what material they had been made from, how they had been joined, who the user was and how they opened and closed. We found most of the pencil cases were made from fabric and stitched together. Some pencil cases were made from wood or leather but these were less common. We also conducted some market research. We created a google form to gather data on what users would want from a pencil case. We thought about what we would need to put in a pencil case, the shape, the design, the material and how the case would close.
We then analysed the data to see what it told us. Our results showed that a character design is most popular. Those surveyed also wanted a soft pencil case that they could carry in their bags. We also found out that most children wanted lots of different things in their pencil case, so when we design our cases we need to make sure we have enough room and potentially a pocket for organising.
Date: 5th Sep 2024 @ 7:40am
Yesterday, we explored different types of puppets so we can take inspiration from them when we make our own puppets. We thought about what materials were used and how the parts were joined together to gain a better understanding of how they work and how these things make it appropriate for their user.
Date: 17th Jun 2024 @ 4:06pm
We continued our 'Mechanical Systems' unit by finding our more about pulleys and gears. We learned how pulleys an gears can be used in mechanical systems before experimenting making different gear chains. We also made pulleys from wooden dowel and cotton reels.
Reception Clay Bog Baby Models and Habitats
Date: 11th Jun 2024 @ 11:21am
Reception have been reading the story 'Bog Baby'. As part of our art work all the children made their own clay model of the Bog Baby. the children looked carefully at the different features of the Bog Baby including his big googley eyes, long spikey tail and little mouse like ears. The children explored the clay using their hands to manipulate the shape and size. They used the teachniques of slip, score and blend to successfully attach the different parts to their model. When the models had dried the child painted them carefully. Every child made their own home for the Bog Baby which they used a range of different materials from the create area.
"The water helped the clay to stick together" Mathew.
"Yo have to blend it properly or the tail will fall off" Elisha.
Date: 21st May 2024 @ 6:28pm
Today we finally finished our homes! We put all the finishing touches onto our final products using paints and other materials. We have worked very hard throughout this half term to look at existing homes, design our own home, make our prototype, make our final design and evaluate what we have made.
Date: 17th May 2024 @ 1:01pm
Today we followed our designs and prototypes to make our homes. We thought about key ideas we needed to talk about before we started to make our homes, e.g. how can we stay safe when making our homes? And how can we make sure our homes turn out the way we want them too? We then worked to follow our own designs and prototypes to each create our home. After we had created our final product we checked really carefully that there was nothing else to do to improve our finished product.
Date: 9th May 2024 @ 11:03pm
This week we have been reading "Nornan the Slug with the Silly Shell" by Sue Hendra. In the story, Norman the slug meets some snails and loves their shells! We looked closey at the spiral pattern you find on shells and then made our own jammy spiral pastries!
Date: 23rd Apr 2024 @ 4:53pm
Today we created a prototype for the front of our home. We continued to work safely with resources to follow our design. We evaluated our designs as we were working with our partners and after we had finished our prototypes we then discussed as a class what had gone well and what we had to change before making our final product.
Date: 10th Apr 2024 @ 8:57am
After spending time exploring a variety of existing shell structures, looked at creating nets and CAD, it was finally time to make our final products. We made our very own Easter themes boxes to hold a chocolate surprise. We had to carefully use a hot glue gun and measure accurately to ensure that they folded together correctly. We also used moulds to create different chocolate shapes to go inside, proving our designs were fit for purpose!
Date: 8th Apr 2024 @ 6:51pm
We began todays lesson by thinking about how many different homes we could think of and what types of homes people live in around the world. Together, we then looked at a number of different homes, talking about what kind of home it was, what shapes we could see in the home and what materials the home was made from. We then looked a number of different picture cards showing different types of homes. We read and orally answered a number of different question cards and identified which houses fit each question/description. We also went outside to observe the different types of homes we can see from our school environment, revisiting our local area knowledge from earlier in the year.
Year 2- Making Moving Vehicles
Date: 26th Mar 2024 @ 3:48pm
Today, we used our designs to make our moving vehicles. We painted the wheels before using our marking out skills to mark out windows and doors to cut out. We used cellophane to create a glass effect in the windows before painting them the colours we had chosen in our design. We cannot wait to test them out tomorrow to see if we were successful in meeting the design brief.
Date: 14th Mar 2024 @ 2:48pm
In D.T we have been looking at making shell structures. We have been making shell structures as Easter gifts and have been using CAD to design our products.
Date: 13th Mar 2024 @ 12:07pm
In Reception we have been learning about space. As part of our learning the children have been using a range of different recycled boxes, tubes and materials to create their own model rockets. They had to think very carefully about the different matierals they were using looking at shape and size and decide the best way to fix and join them together. The children had some brilliant ideas and used thei problem solving skills when they were faced with challenges. Have a look at some of the rockets they made.
Date: 5th Mar 2024 @ 10:26am
As part of our DT unit, Shell Structures, we have looked at nets. We carouselled around the room completing a series of activites. These included usingmagnet shapes to make shell structures, deconstructing 3D shapes, cutting and folding nets and finally we made nets to replicate real life objects! We even linked it to History and made some historical landmarks!
Date: 29th Feb 2024 @ 4:52pm
Today, Year Two enjoyed their first forest school session of the spring term. We begun by discussing how the season has changed from Autumn to Winter and what has changed in the outside areas; we then went on a hunt around the garden to find signs that spring is nearly here! Next we made friendship bracelets, working well together to twist the materials tightly and tie a knot so we could wear them before we had a team race to see who was the best at tying knots in string. Finally, we explored shelters and used the parachute to protect us from the cold before making our own dens in the garden to protect a teddybear.
