Design and Technology: Blog items
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.
Date: 12th May 2022 @ 8:32pm
This week we have read the fabulous story "Superworm" By Julia Donaldson. This story is great for developing an understanding of rhyme and the children were super at joining in with the rhymes. All our learning was based on the story and included comparing the size of worms, make worms of different lengths out of playdough and counting bugs and matching them to the correct numerals. The children got creative by making their own magic wands just like Wizard Lizards and made superworms living in a garden. They also practised writing their names by writing them inside a worm and explored capacity and what happens when they mixed different liquids to make magic potions.
Date: 4th May 2022 @ 8:22pm
This week nursery have continued to find out about growth and change. We have been keeping a close eye on our tiny caterpillars and they're not so tiny anymore! Infact, they're getting rather big! As well as watching the caterpillars grow, the children have also been planting seeds. We started with cress seeds and will be moving on to sunflower seeds later in the week! We have been talking about looking after the seeds and that we have to make sure we keep them watered to help them grow. We have also been using different types of bricks to build the tallest bean stalk and practising matching numeral and quantity using seeds.
Date: 27th Apr 2022 @ 8:08pm
This week we have began our DT journey and began learning about mechanisms. Today we made levers! For this mechanism we linked our learning to the story Jack and the Beanstalk. We read and discussed the story and we were then ready to turn part of the story into a moving picture using a lever mechanism. We followed each instruction carefully and all successfully made a lever to show Jack and his beanstalk! We recapped on the importance of safety whilst using scissors and putting split pins through pieces of paper and card. We evaluated our finished product and talked about two top tips we could share with other children to make levers!
Date: 6th Apr 2022 @ 4:07pm
We spent an exciting day making our final product of a pillow! We used our designs to decorate the outside of our pillow with fabric pens, felt and sequins. We then used the backstitch that we had been practicing to attach the fabric together. We had to really concentrate to ensure our thread didn't get knotted and we didn't un-thread our thread. Have a look at some of our final pillows!
Date: 1st Apr 2022 @ 4:15pm
This week we began to make our moving vehicles. To make the bodies of our car we wrapped cardboard boxes in white paper. We then used PVA glue to stick the body of the car onto the chassis we made earlier in the journey. After we had glued the body onto the chassis we painted it to our chosen colours based upon our designs. The day after- when our paint had dried we used our marking out skills to mark out windows and used paper and cellophane to create windows and extra things that we wished to put on our car. Some of us even put headlights, brake lights and indicators onto our cars using foiled paper. Some of it was really tricky but we persevered and helped each other and everyone is proud of their finished products.
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 5:22pm
Today in Year 2, we began to make our moving vehicle that will transport our Fairytale character to their event linking to our current Reading into Writing journey. We began by exploring fixed and free axels and discussed the differences before evaluating which we thought would be the best to use for our own vehicle. We chose free axles and used dowels putting them through a card template to ensure our axle was steady before choosing some wheels to attach to our axle. We then decided blu tac would allow more movement for our wheels compared to glue so secured our wheels to our axles using this. It was really fun but it wasn't always easy and the children showed great perseverance and teamwork to support one another.
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 2:25pm
This week in Reception the children have been talking about the importance of reusing and recycling unwanted waste. We collected a range of different bottles, cartons, boxes, tubs and tubs and used them to create our own junk model animals. We use tape and glue to attach the items together and them used different matterials and paint to decorate them. We made some fantastic wild animlas including parrots, elephants, giraffes, snakes and monkeys.
Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 9:25am
In Year 3 we have begun our new Design Technology unit of sewing! We have been looking at different pillows and which stiches they have used to attatched them. Today we focussed on how to thread a needle and how to complete back stich.
Date: 3rd Mar 2022 @ 5:00pm
This week we began our Design Technology journey and looked at a selection of moving toys. We enjoyed exploring how they worked and disucssing the similarities and differences between the different toys. We discovered the reason they all have round wheels and looked at the various ways in which the wheels and axels were attached to each other. We are looking forward to the rest of the journey and creating our own moving vehicles.
Reception Pancake Day- Holly Class.
Date: 1st Mar 2022 @ 8:51pm
Today, Holly Class have been busy making pancakes and choosing our own special topping!
We measured the ingredients then mixed them together before Mrs McAllister cooked them. It was such fun watching her flip them in the pan. Luckily, none of them hit the floor or the ceiling! We then chose our own toppings and filled our faces with the most "sweet" and "awesome" pancakes ever!
"You need eggs, flour and milk" Charlea- Rai.
"Mix it all up in the bowl" Sab.
"Cook it in the pan and then flip it!" Charlie.
"I like chocolate spread and strawberrries" Amelia.
"I like syrup" Oscar.
"Bananas were yummy!" Mercedes.
Reception Pancake Day in Willow Class
Date: 1st Mar 2022 @ 3:01pm
Willow Class have been busy celebrating Shrove Tuesday and making pancakes today. We followed the recipe to make the pancake mix. We need eggs, flour and milk. We worked together to whisk the mix and make sure was no lumps. We had lots of different toppings including strawberries, chocolate spread, lemon, sugar, syrup, bananas and blueberries. The children helped to chop and prepare the fruit using the knives carefully. When the mix was ready Mrs McAllister made the pancakes by pouring the mix into the pan. We waited for it to cook and then flipped it in the air. The children thoroughly enjoyed tasting the different toppings.
"My favourite was the strawberries and chocolate" Indi-Anna
"The syrup is so sweet" Harrison
"I like the bananas best" Leo
Year 6 Making Mobile Phone Cases
Date: 8th Feb 2022 @ 5:06pm
Today, we have had a full day of DT. Our project was to make a mobile phone case and today we have managed to create these. To do this we have followed a journey in order to make sure we have fully researched the product and had a chance to plan it. Today we have researched existing felt mobile phone cases, looked at developing a success criteria, planned and designed our product, made a prototype and then created our final product. To finish, we now need to evaluate our case against our success criteria.
Year 5 Fabulous Frame Structures
Date: 8th Feb 2022 @ 4:32pm
Our Design and Technology unit this half-term has been all about frame structures. These are usually hidden structures inside buildings, furniture or toys that provide stability and support. We have been learning about structures and how they can be strengthened in various ways, especially using triangles. In this lesson, pupils were given a design brief and then asked to build a cube-shaped frame for a product. Pupils used various equipment, including hacksaws, to measure, cut and construct there cube frames.
Reception Chinese New Year Celebrations!
Date: 4th Feb 2022 @ 4:31pm
This week we have been celebrating Chinese New Year!
We decorated our home corner and made Chinese lanterns and dragons. The children learned the skill of folding paper into a concertina and attaching a handle and sticks to their work. Ribbon dancing, fan dancing and dragon dancing was enjoyed by everyone and we read The Chinese New Year Story (how the new year animals were chosen) and wrote about our facvourite animal from the story. This year it is The Year of the Tiger!
Date: 3rd Feb 2022 @ 8:39pm
Nursery provides a mixture of experiences and some of these come straight from the children! This week they have been coming up with lots of super ideas. When they were playing outside, the children asked for some blankets so they could turn the crates in to beds! Then they used the bricks in some really inventive ways. One little girl said "It's my phone. I'm on my phone!" The chidlren also asked if they could have some dressing up clothes which led to super interaction and speech and language opportunities.
Date: 27th Jan 2022 @ 2:55pm
This half term, Year Two are creating our own glove puppets based on an animal from some of the stories we have read to inspire our Writing journey. After some experimenting with which material is best to use to join two materials together we decided we would sew. Yesterday, we spent some time learning to thread a needle, tie a knot in the thread and begin to sew. We all enjoyed it despite it being very tricky! Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were proud of the determination the children demonstrated and how supportive they were of the peers. Keep this up for when we sew our final products!
Date: 23rd Jan 2022 @ 10:55am
This week, we had our half-termly No Pen Day! This is a day where nobody, including the teachers, can use any form of pen or pencil!! We have to get very creative to be able to continue with the journeys we are in for each of our lessons. This is how we did it this time...
During Maths, we used spaghetti sticks to work out multiplication sums. To do this, we researched the ancient Japanese stick method where you have to put the number of sticks down in a diamond shape to represent the numbers you want to multiply. Next, you have to count how many times the sticks cross over and that is your answer. It took us a while to work it out, but once we had the hang of it, a lot of children said they preferred this method!!
For Reading into Writing, we continued with our 'Persuasive Letters' journey. The children had to cut out a jumbled up letter and put it in the correct order. We then used the Chromebooks to research the benefits of having a support dog in school.
In the afternoon, we made three types of paper aeroplanes to see which one would travel the furthest. We talked about the different designs and how air resistance would have an impact. To finish the day off, we went outside to test them!
