Today was our third session, I feel so much more confident using the Blackboard Collaborate Application. It takes little time to set up and the connection seems to be getting faster…or else I am!

We began with our usual studio check in, I loved hearing the children discussing Rhona’s project before she was even up on the screen! This shows that they are already developing a relationship with her and are interested and enthused by her work. Fionn had an excellent suggestion, that on the back wall behind her sculpture she could put her method and pictures of the different stages of the process, so that the public can understand and appreciate how she has made it.

Rhona asked the children what it means to ‘contour’. A few children with older sisters were very confident it was a way of doing your makeup! Unfortunately, this was not the type of contouring Rhona had in mind. Rhona showed us several of her own contour line drawings, the children then proceeded to do a few of their own using the waste we had collected. Kaiden was delighted with how his turned out and said it was the best piece of artwork he has ever created!

After break, Rhona asked the children if they had ever heard the term ‘animism’. Once explained they were able to provide lots of examples such as, Toy Story, The Muppets, Cat and Dogs, Trolls etc.

The class enjoyed watching the clip of The Muppets, especially as someone had suggested it! The children took inspiration from Marjory the Trash Heap and created their own class pet made from junk. They had to compromise during this task as everyone had to get a little of their design or idea in. The finished product was fantastic, when the group creating the torso viewed the other groups work, they were that impressed they asked for extra time to add to and improve their section. 

This project has made it even more obvious just how creative and innovative my lovely class are!  I have found that using a vast topic such as ‘What a Waste’ has been an excellent stimulus, they are getting excited about the topic through every subject, for example, their persuasive writing on recycling during literacy lessons and their math word problems on bin collection schedules. The children are thoroughly enjoying the cross curricular approach to learning.