Time the great dismantler….
We started our 2nd session with Ann by looking again at our drawings from 2 weeks ago. It was amazing to see how much they had changed again over that time. Time will naturally continue to dismantle our objects as we leave them..
Squashing an orange really isn’t the brightest idea!! Where does orange juice come from boys and girls? Yes, that’s right.. Inside an orange there is lots of orange juice!! Good job we had tissues at hand to help clear up the mess! 
Each group was given the choice of 3 of the fruit/vegetables provided: Kiwi, banana, small orange, spring onion or brussell sprout. After their planning time came the practical side. First of all, the noise level rose dramatically!! Being allowed to dismantle something in class was such a novel and exciting idea! Many children began their dismantling slowly, but as they saw other children dismantling their objects, they quickly changed their mind as to how they might dismantle theirs. Despite previous plans to carefully peel or slice objects, when you see someone else squishing it with their hands, it’s hard not to give in and do that too! The children had chosen the colour of paper to carry out their dismantling on and we soon discovered that the white paper was not robust enough. Green was a surprisingly popular colour! Some children used one page, some used two page and squashed the object in between (like above). There was a great buzz of excitement and variety of techniques… but in the end squashing proved very popular!
The children were divided into 5 groups and given time to think about different ways of dismantling things – in particular some of the fruit and vegetables Ann had requested me to get. The ideas being discussed and given back to Ann were fantastic – peeling, squashing, twisting, cutting with scissors, rolling. The talk was brilliant! When it came to the writing down of ideas however, I think they were so excited about the prospect of dismantling that their planning went out the window. The opportunity to smash, squash and stand on things simply became too much….. I guess it’s just human nature….
P5s had a little visit from a group of P2 children who had worked with Ann the week before. They told us all about how they had talked to Ann via the computer and their work on dismantling. They were fantastic at explaining how they had worked together to find ways of dismantling cherry tomatoes – even using their elbows and feet! I think this may have affected how some of my P5s decided to dismantle their fruit/veg later on! Sadly I was so engrossed listening to their little talk that I forgot to take some photos! Oops! Well done P2 though! Great job!
Our initial attempts to meet Ann were unfortunately spoilt by some technical issues which meant that Ann got put out of the room – virtually, not literally! So, to make the most of our short time, we began the session by exploring the theme Ann was working on – Dismantling! The children worked in pairs to think of what they thought this word could mean. We also made the most of our new set of class dictionaries to look up its definition. I was impressed by the ideas that the children came up with and how excited they were to feed this back to Ann.
The day had come when Primary 2 were about to begin the art project and meet Ann the Artist. Everyone was very excited not only at the meeting that was about to take place but at the fact that they could see themselves on the white board via the web cam. Everyone had a chance to give a little wave and an excited buzz was circulating around the classroom.
Introductions over and ready to work.
Ann had asked the children firstly could anyone read the word “dismantle” and secondly did anyone know what it meant. Two boys were able to read the word and several children gave their opinions on what the word meant. Some great suggestions where given and all were relevant. P2 surprise me every day : )
Everyone huddled together in their groups to see if they could suggest different ways to dismantle a cherry tomato. It was great to see the children discussing, working out their different methods and helping each other. At the same time making sure that the other groups did not hear their plans. It made me realise that maybe I do not do this sort of discussion group work often enough. It really works best when the children are away from their tables, sitting on the ground and huddled together.
Away we go!!!!!!!!
How would you dismantle a cherry tomato?
My boys and girls discovered lots of imaginative ways of dismantling their cherry tomato. The noise of the children as they squashed and dismantled their tomato echoed how much fun they were having. Tomato juice squirting everywhere ( and I mean everywhere) and some children enjoying the mess and mayhem whilst others were concerned about getting their tables cleaned.
The image that was left on the paper from the tomato, juice, seeds and flesh were drawn around with a pencil to create a drawing. Some pieces of paper where totally falling apart as the juices proved too much for the paper to hold.
The time had come to end our first session. Everyone had enjoyed their first day and their responses about what they had learned during our short evaluation proved how much they had enjoyed the day.
I was very happy how my P2 got on today, a lot of talking had taken place and not as much hands on activities as we had initially planned. The children responded very well and I cant ask for anything more.
My classroom is now smelling of sweet tomatoes.
It was great to get started into another art project with Ann. We have been working together for so many years and a school year would not be complete without an “Art Project.” It seems so normal to work with Ann whilst she is sitting in her studio in Rathlin and we are in our classroom in Banbridge, but it is actually something incredibly special. The opportunity to do an on-line project with children so young is both exciting and rewarding as well as an experience that the children will hopefully remember for a long time, as well as benefit from. It is very early in the school year for Primary 2 , the children are so young and only getting back into the swing of things, I do hope that all goes as well as previous years. I know that Ann and myself work well together and we can always work around any problems or hurdles that may arise.
What is new to the project this year and what makes it very exciting for me is that not only are P2 involved but also P5 will be participating for half of the duration of the project. This will involve the children of both classes working collaboratively and responding to each others work. The idea that these children shall be learning together and learning from each other is very exciting : )
Day 7 began with the class looking at their landscapes on the class journal. It was so impressive to see them on the interactive whiteboard. The children were so proud of their work and we started to chat and chat and chat about what they reminded us of.
As usual time was running away so we had to get started on the days task.
Primary 2 picked a vertical section of their landscape drawing. The children had brought bottles into school a few weeks before and they were so looking forward to using them with Ann. Now the time had finally arrived.
Vertical layers were created inside the bottles. Stones, moss, leaves, grass, bark, soil, pebbles, conkers, paper towels, fabric, twigs, lollypop sticks. The children were very imaginative and spent a considerable amount of time paying close attention to getting their layers just right. The concentration and enthusiasm was infectious.
