Art with Mr Braddock

We are learning how to draw a rabbit

Step 1

We used our maths skills to check and measure how the object is going to fit on the page.  Our page is split into thirds.  We decided how far away parts of the body were from the edge of the page.

First work out the start and the finish lines eg. where the head and body will be. Then work out the big shapes e.g. the body.  After that work out the smaller shapes e.g. feet.

Step 2

Every new thing gets measured off what you have already done eg. we checked the width of the ear against measurement that we already had for the eye from the top of the page.

We got to stand up and share what we had done so far and make any changes.  

Step 3

Now we changed from pencil to crayon to do fine detail and shading.  We looked for the dark things first.  Check for things like the sparkle in the eye. 

This part was quite tricky because our crayons were fat.   

Step 4

Add yellowish dye to colour the rabbits body with sunshine.    Add a browny blue to the shady parts of its body.  Use blue for the shady side 

What we thought about our art:
"It was fun because we learned all the steps to get to the shading"
"Little bits, like the shading were hard to do"
"The eye was difficult to do because it was hard to get it like Mr Braddock's one.   Maybe it was because he was using a hard and thinner crayon than we were"
"We liked it when he dyed the rabbit at the end and added the finishing touches"
"The dye made the rabbit stand out"

Beginning of Term 3

Fitness
Our focus this term is to get ourselves fit and ready for cross country.  On Monday we started our fitness programme with a Beep test.    This is when you run 20m, starting with 10 seconds and it decreases by one second every ten laps.  We played 'Giants and Lumberjacks'.  This is when the Lumberjacks try to knock over 6 cones while the Giants pick them up.   If all the cones are knocked over then the Lumberjacks win.

            

Art
On Thursday we learned about Peter Max.  He is an illustrator and graphic artist.  We looked at some of his colourful artwork which was produced in the 1970s.   He uses a visual point to help create 3D look with his shapes.    Next week we will be adding colour to our own masterpieces.

Speeches
In class we have been practising how to write different styles of speeches.   The three different types of speeches are narrative, entertaining, persuasive, motivational and informative.    Our next step is to actually write a proper speech for the class speech competition which will be before Friday 30 August.   We might post some videos of our speeches... so don't go anywhere!

Wearable Arts
On Wednesday the whole school met in the hall for our Wearable Arts show.   The show was put into four categories: Margaret Mahy, Maori traditions,  Space, Out of the Box then Beauty and Colours.   Our class entry was worn by Keagan.  We dressed him up like a robot with bubble wrap, rope, plastic bags, chain, flexible tubes, and wires.  His cape was made from some silver fabric from an old screen.  We even used a computer board thing.

Waiata & Jump Jam
Our amazingly talented Mr Garmey taught us three new songs - one was made up.  They were 'A.E.I.O.U', 'We are Beachlands Primary School' (to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama), 'Three Little Birds (by Bob Marley).   Mr Garmey played the guitar while we we sang.   He was brilliant and didn't even have to look at it while he was playing.

Sharing Ideas

We are almost at the end of our inquiry about gardens and how they grow.   A lot of our learning has come from reading articles, watching videos and viewing Prezi presentations made by other people (these have been really interesting).  

Today we spent some time sharing our mindmaps with our Learning Buddy.    It gave us a chance to share our ideas and hear from others.   This allowed us to see if we had left anything out and ask questions about anything that we didn't understand.

Explanation Writing

As I write this blog, the Beachlands19ers are quietly writing to explain  'How do plants grow?'   We have been investigating through science and reading about plants the ways that plants grow.  Our inquiry has helped us to understand how seasons impact on growing, what gardeners can do to encourage healthy plants, why bees are so important and how seeds travel.  

We have carried out some whole class investigations (photos of these will be posted shortly) and the students are now carrying out their own science investigation, in pairs of by themselves.   The purpose of these investigations is to provide us with information that will support us with our own school garden.

Our next step is learn and understand companion planting, then make up two garden plans for our Year 5&6 garden - one for Term 3 and the other for Term 1.    Exciting stuff!  Can't wait to see what the Beachlands19ers come up with.

Mrs Croll

Week 6

Orienteering
We woke up on Friday morning to see, and hear, the rain pouring down in bucket loads.   This sadly meant that the orienteering at Te Puru had be postponed...  boo hoo :(

Now it will be held on Friday of Week 7... yay!! :)

Mihimihi Posters - Part 1

This term we have been learning about the mihimihi which is an introductory speech that takes place at the beginning of a gathering, after the powhiri.    We have learned that the mihimihi is a way to introduce ourselves in te reo Maori by sharing our whakapapa (family and ancestral ties).  Some of us have had to do some researching for Home Learning as we didn't know where our ancestors came from.  

We are learning how to recite our own mihimihi as well as make a visual mihimihi.   These posters will take some time to complete as they will be made up of many layers.  The first stage is to plan and paint or dye our background.    The next step will be to use three different mediums when we collage the detail.

We will post some photos each week so you can view our progress.   At the end, we are hoping to record ourselves reciting our mihimihi then attach this recording to a photo of our poster using something like Fotobabble or maybe Aurasma.    This will be very exciting!

Tree Planting

Today we went to Duders Regional Park to help plant some native trees.  Mags was the park ranger who gave us tips on how to plant these trees.  She was helped by Laura, Rebecca and Mr Duder.   We also had some amazing parents who transported us in their cars.   We planted manuka, flax, coprosma, and kanuka.  The land was quite steep which made it tricky in parts to not slip.

We worked really hard to plant heaps of trees - maybe over 100 in total so we were extremely hungry when we stopped for morning tea.  

It's going to be wonderful to walk through the park in 20 years time and say "I helped to plant all those trees."