What a 'fab' end to the half-term Brown Bears had making their own Fabergé 'style'  Eggs.  We studied the delicate art sculptures and explored the history behind why they were made and what they often contained.  The children then spent some time designing delicate eggs inspired by Peter Carl Fabergé.   Then came the messy part!  After a trial run, the children spent time covering a balloon with newspaper and then tissue paper to create the eggshell.  Patiently waiting for over a week, the children were then able to decorate their eggs with precious gems and colourful ribbons.  I'm sure these will make a great centrepiece when they come home.

The children also had the chance to finish their Jackson Pollock inspired pieces of art.  In small groups, the children worked collaboratively to drip, flick and drizzle different paint colours on their page.  The hardest part we found with abstract art was knowing when to stop. The second hardest part was trying to see what other people saw in the paintings as for some of us our imaginations really took us away.  Look at our work.  What can you see and how does it make you feel?  

In our English lessons, we produced some brilliant pieces of writing linked to the book Katie's Picture show.  The children had great fun listening to the naughty things Katie got up to every day when she climbed into a famous painting at the art gallery.  They were then able to come up with their own mischievous antics for her as she climbed into the following pictures.  How many of these paintings can you name and do you know the artist for each one?  I wonder what you would get up to if you climbed in to the picture for the day!

During our Science lessons we have been exploring the properties of different materials.  Thinking about which materials bend, stretch, twist and squash has made the children understand why certain objects are made from different materials.  They have also understood that the same material can have different properties depending on how it is used.  For example, some metals can be thin and bendy and make good paper-clips, whilst others are hard and rigid and make good table legs.  Our project finished with an experiment to test which elastic band would make the best catapult.  We made some very sophisticated paper aeroplanes and then used elastic bands to launch them.  This took quite a bit of skill to do, but lots of children managed to fly their planes really well.

Recorder lessons have come to a close in Music and I have been so impressed with how much the children remembered from their lessons in Year 1.  Not a squeak was heard!  There were certainly some favourite tunes to play along with and the children did well to find out some of the new musical terminology and learn the musical notation and types of notes.  If you have a recorder at home, why not challenge your family to play Happy Birthday.