We are learning all about a Swiss Sculptor called Alberto Giacometti. His sculptures are very distinctive from other sculptures and the children are learning to recognise Giacometti’s work. (Google him if you are interested in looking at his work) We are making our own Giacometti inspired sculptures using different medium. We made a sculpture using foil having explored different shapes with our bodies and drawn them “stick man style” This week we made figures using bread dough. We made two each, one to bake, paint and varnish and one to eat! In PE we worked with a partner and mirrored each others shapes. The children were so creative with their bodies and worked so well together.

I imagine Giacometti would have been delighted with the work his sculptures have inspired!

Babs, Jess, Lindsay, Ann.

Last Friday our journey exploring the Arts continued and we found ourselves at the wonderful Baltic. The Baltic is an amazing place which always inspires awe and wonder at the interesting exhibits they have on display. We started at the top where we had a wonderful view of the Quayside.  The children could remember seeing the different sculptures on the Smart Board and were able to identify them. We came down a level and explored an interesting art installation by Heather Phillipson  named “The Age of Love” which was a series of videos, sounds and objects. A little tricky to understand the meaning behind it but it was a very inspiring place to be in if not a little crazy. We came down another level and explored the sensory space where we had the opportunity to get involved in s range of different activities.

It was a quick visit but we are hoping to work with the Baltic in the near future on a creative project.

Babs, jess, Lindsay and Ann.

In PE we are learning about dance and how to express our bodies in the form of dance. Our teacher Christine has been reading a story about hibernation. We have been using our bodies to demonstrate the different stages of hibernation. We have been trying to mimic the animals by curling up and making our bodies small when it is time to hibernate and when it is time to wake up we have been making our bodies big by stretching and reaching up high.

We were also exploring the stages of a daffodil bulb growing. We started off by curling up and then got taller and grew leaves, our hands and arms, and then finally the flower blooming, stretching up as high as we could.

We look forward to working with Christine in the next few weeks.

Happy Friday, everyone!  We have had a very productive week, working and playing hard!  We have been practising the signs that we need to talk about keeping ourselves clean, and the children now know the signs for clean, dirty, brush hair, brush teeth, wash, shower, bath and toilet.  The children have been learning how important it is to brush their teeth and wash their faces.  Everyone has got their own toothbrush and wash cloth at school!

In our class, we spend lots of time learning how to share and take turns, whether that is at snack time, when we play games or when we are sharing resources in task time.  In September it was really hard for us to share, but now we are really good at being kind to each other, and enjoy our Thrive sessions where we can learn to think about the feelings of others and the importance of sharing our toys and games.

We enjoyed Red Nose Day so much we hardly got any photos, but we enjoyed a Half Term Achiever Assembly this morning, and swimming AND a party this afternoon.

We have really missed our poorly friends this week and hope they get better over the weekend.  We hope Hurricane Hannah isn’t too disruptive!