Design and Technology: Blog items
Year 2 Forest School Fun Part 2
Date: 4th May 2023 @ 7:58am
Last week in Forest School, we learnt all about the Elder tree. We begun the lesson by creating a shelter using a parachute to protect us from the wind and after we came out we went on a hunt to find the only Elder tree in our Forest School area. We then used parts of Elder to use a hack saw to make a small piece and pushed the middle out so we could thread some string through to create necklaces or bracelets. We had so much fun and enjoyed getting creative with the Elder. Those that decided they didn't want to make something had plenty of fun den building and planting some seeds.
Year 1 Making Our Playground Structure
Date: 20th Apr 2023 @ 2:55pm
Today we made our piece of playground equipment according to our design. We looked through our design, describing how we were going to make our playground equipment to each other. We then followed our design to create our playground equipment, thinking carefully about the components, materials and attachment techniques. We then discussed two key questions, ‘what we will do if we come across a problem while we are making our playground equipment?’ and ‘how can we make sure our piece of playground equipment turns out how we want it to?’ Finally, we considered how we were going to stay safe whilst we were working, before beginning to make our final design!
Date: 20th Apr 2023 @ 10:33am
Today we completed our final lesson on Tinkercad. We used everything we have previously learned to design and make our own 3D structure. We think our final products are brilliant and use lots of appealing features.
Date: 19th Apr 2023 @ 6:08pm
After exploring existing products, it was then time to explore different ways of joining and strengthening materials to create pieces of playground equipment. We learnt that when we design a product we need to make sure it is suitable for the purpose we are designing it for. We then began to experiment with different materials to see how to make pieces of playground equipment. We were given a variety of materials and we worked through making a number of different attachments techniques including the flange, slot, l brace and tabs. We had to make sure that each join was sturdy and strong and that it moved as it is supposed to. We then moved onto using the paper stores to make a range of 2D shapes that will support us when making the frames for our structures.
Date: 5th Apr 2023 @ 4:58pm
This week, Year Two have been making their moving vehicles based upon their initial designs. First, the children built their axles, wheels and chassis using construction kits before chosing a box of an appropriate size to use as the body of their vehicle. Next, we painted the boxes the colour we stated in our design and today we thought about the features of a moving vehicle and added them to our final masterpiece. We used a variety of materials to create windows, doors, registration plates, handles, aerials and windscreen wipers. The children have loved making their cars and cannot wait to share their learning with you.
Date: 2nd Apr 2023 @ 3:28pm
It's wonderful when a certain activity really engages children and you can see their skills developing. One of our nursery superstars has really enjoyed exploring the constructuion area recently and has been working really hard to develop his skills. He has gone from building simple towers, to adding features to his towers and is now able to build with a purpose in mind - this week he has made a train! Amazing work!
Date: 24th Mar 2023 @ 11:22am
On Thursday all the children fully embraced a whole school art day. From Nursery to Year 6 you could hear the sound of paper being ripped and cut as the children created collages of different things you can find in their home town of Blackpool. From transport in Year 3 to famous landmarks in Year 5, from trees and flowers in Year 1 to collaged signs in Year 6. The children have created some superb pieces of artwork and these are all going to be displayed together to create a whole school mural.
Date: 22nd Mar 2023 @ 2:28pm
Today in computing we have used all that we have learned so far to create name plaques and pencil pots. To do this we had to learn how to resize objects as well as creating holes in objects to allow items to be placed inside. We are really enjoying this unit of work and are looking forward to creating more in the next couple of weeks.
Date: 21st Mar 2023 @ 4:43pm
Today, we continued our wheels and axles unit by practicing our marking our skills ensuring we measured our lines accurately to ensure it would fit on our vehicle. Also, we practiced accurately and neatly cutting out our markings ready to be stuck on our vehicle. We are looking forward to beginning building our moving vehicles next week!
Date: 14th Mar 2023 @ 5:20pm
In today's lesson we learnt how to follow instructions to achieve an outcome. We recapped on the features of instructions and how they need to be in the chronological order to make sense. We learnt the importance of checking our instructions and ensuring they have every step included. We then gave instructions to Miss Kay and Mrs Webster, to tell them how to make a disgusting sandwich. Again, we worked hard to give clear and precise instructions. We saw what happens when we weren’t clear and how the end goal wasn’t quite what we wanted! We then designed our own disgusting sandwich and created them, giving us an opportunity to talk through and order instructions before writing our own instructions over the next few days. As these were disgusting sandwiches - we didn't eat them!
Date: 9th Mar 2023 @ 2:58pm
In DT, we have been exploring shell structures. We looked at a variety of existing shell structures and evaluated them based on their purpose, appearance and their strength.
Year 2 Exploring free and fixed axles
Date: 9th Mar 2023 @ 1:28pm
We investigated different types of axles - fixed axles and free axles to see if they were different. We found that the free axles moved faster and they were able to turn . The fixed axles were slower and they could only travel in straight lines.
Year 6 - DT: Evaluating existing products
Date: 28th Feb 2023 @ 4:10pm
As part of our Food Technology unit we will be making savoury scones. Today, we tested several different savoury products and evaluated them for their appearance, texture, taste and smell. By doing this, it gives us ideas about what we like and what we can use in our own product when we make them in a few weeks time.
Year 5 - Creepy Crawlies Welcome
Date: 27th Feb 2023 @ 8:42am
Pupils in Year 5 have completed their 'frame structure' projects. After evaluating current products, pupils designed and created their own 'bug hotel'. A frame structure was created before pupils added sides and tubes for insects to live in. The children then decorated their products and evaluated them.
Year 5 - Making our Designs Come to Life
Date: 27th Feb 2023 @ 8:36am
This week, pupils in year 5 began to construct their Bee Boxes. The children used various wood-working tools, including G-clamps and hacksaws, to measure, cut and build a cube frame for their structure. After cutting the wood, triangles of cardboard were used to strengthen the structure. Soon pupils will turn this frame into a 'Bee Box' or 'Bug Hotel' to place around the school grounds.
Date: 24th Feb 2023 @ 1:41pm
Nursery celebrated Pancake Day on Tuesday. We read the story "Mr Wolf's Pancakes" and wrote shopping lists of all the ingredients we needed. Then we worked together to mix the batter and Mrs Welch cooked the pancakes! We chose the toppings we wanted, we could have chocolate spread or lemon and sugar. They were delicious and there were lots of cries of "Please can I have some more!"
Reception- Pancake Day in Holly Class!
Date: 23rd Feb 2023 @ 9:10pm
The children have been celebrating Pancake Day by making pancakes in the kitchen.
The next day, the children then wrote about how to make pancakes.
Here's what we did.
"Mix the ingredients flour, milk and eggs in the bowl" Lennox.
"Pour the batter into the frying pan" Dillan.
"Cook it" Dolly- Anne
"We said 1,2,3 PANCAKE!"
"Mrs Mcallister flipped the pancake" Alfie- Ray.
"We then put the toppings on it" Harper.
"I had lemon and sugar" Archie
"i had chocolate sauce- it was yummy!" Halleigh
Date: 21st Feb 2023 @ 4:41pm
As part of our learning in Design and Technology, we were asked to design and create a food item with cultural significance. We decided to make a sweet treat to celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi. After a discussion about food safety and taste-testing some products already on the market, we worked in small groups to prepare and bake vanilla flavoured biscuits , which we decorated with icing in bright colours.
Date: 20th Feb 2023 @ 5:31pm
Today, we explored some existing toy cars and looked at how the cars moved. We discussed that the cars moved because they all had wheels and thought about why different sized vehicles have different sized/different amount of wheels. We then explored how the wheels are connected and learnt they are joined by an axle that ensures the wheels move together.
Date: 20th Feb 2023 @ 9:49am
The nursery children have shown a real interest in building over the last few weeks. They have worked together to build some amazing constructions and have worked as a team to build tall towers, ramps for cars and houses. The children were so good at solving problems that they only needed a little help from the adults - super work!
Date: 19th Jan 2023 @ 6:47pm
This week we enjoyed our DT day! We began by tasting lots of different fruits, talking about how we knew if certain foods are fruits or vegetables. We then moved on to designing our own fruit salad. We wanted it to be colourful, have at least four fruits in and to be cut up into bite sized pieces!
After creating our design, we then practised our cutting skills using play dough. We learnt how to use the bridge grip and the claw grip and once we had mastered the skills we moved onto making our fruit salad. We used the two cuts we had learnt to safely and sensibly prepare and make our individual fruit salad. We all enjoyed tasting them! Finally we completed our evaluation to identify what we liked about our design and what we might change if we were to make another fruit salad.
Date: 9th Jan 2023 @ 3:56pm
Today, we began our Design Technology food journey by fruit tasting so we are aware of the fruits we like and dislike before designing and making our own healthy fruit snack. We tried lots of different fruits including: blackberries, strawberries, mango, pineapple, pears, bananas, kiwi and apples. We realised we all enjoyed different fruits for different reasons and used adjectives to describe each fruits texture and taste.
Date: 13th Dec 2022 @ 11:51am
Today we made our linkage and lever system Christmas cards. We used loose pivots to connect the components together, then we attached the components to the card itself using a fixed pivot. The children designed their cards themselves, with a design brief of Christmas! Take a look at the QR code to see the cards in actions.
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.
