News
Language cards boost confidence
A new series of flashcards to stimulate language skills has been launched. Springboard to Learning cards feature pictures and questions to expand vocabulary and promote interaction between teachers and pupils aged three to seven. www.springboardtolearning.co.uk
Art workshops paint three towns red
The National Society for Education in Art and Design is holding a series of workshops for primary art subject leaders. They will be held in Cambridge, Norwich and Chichester between December and April. www.nsead.orgprimary
Maths teachers join forces
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics is holding a conference on professional development in Sheffield next Wednesday. The one-day event will focus on collaboration. www.ncetm.org.uk
DT
What the lesson is about
These are the first two sessions in a five-part unit looking at designing and making a moving picture that tells a story, using paper, card and found materials. It is aimed at Year 1 children.
Aims: pupils will -
- learn about pictures and what they might contain;
- make a picture by assembling ready-made images.
Getting started
You will need a selection of magazines and pictures that the pupils will be able to cut out. Explain that the children are going to make their own picture that will be special in two ways: they will not have to draw it and part of their picture will move. Tell the class that to do this they will need to understand pictures - the first task is to look at some images and see what they tell us.
Show the pupils a large picture depicting a nursery rhyme scene. Ask them what is happening in the image. What do they think was happening just before and just after the scene? Get the children to discuss in groups which parts of the picture they would want to move to make it come alive.
Taking it further
Tell the pupils that they are going to make a picture by using images or parts of images that have been made by someone else. Explain that they will need to decide what they want their picture to be about and which images will be important. They will then have to find pictures containing those images, cut them out, assemble them and add any details that will improve their picture. Demonstrate with an example (available on the link below).
In pairs, get the pupils to produce a picture following the steps you outlined.
Where to find it
The complete five-lesson unit was originally uploaded by NuffieldFoundation and can be found at www.tes.co.ukmoving-pictures
Maths
What the lesson is about
This uses a murder mystery to look at data-handling and constructing graphs, and is aimed at key stage 2 pupils.
Aims: pupils will -
- explain reasoning using diagrams, graphs and text;
- answer related questions by collecting, selecting and organising relevant data;
- construct frequency tables, pictograms and line graphs to represent the frequencies of events and changes over time.
Getting started
Ask pupils to take their own pulse. Get them to exercise for one minute and take it again. What has happened to their pulse rate? What else might make it go up?
Show the class the video clip available on the link below, setting the scene for the murder. What information could help to solve the murder? Tell the pupils you have data on each character’s pulse rate. How could they use this to solve the murder?
Taking it further
Give the pupils data showing the different pulse rates at different times of the day (available on the link below). Get them to discuss in pairs what would be the best way to show these pulse rates. Ask each pair to share their ideas and discuss how a line graph can show the changes over time.
Tell each pair to decide what to put on the x and y axes. Ask them to decide on a scale. What do they have to think about when doing the scale? Tell the pupils to plot the data as a line graph. Who do they think was the murderer and why?
Where to find it
The original lesson, plus video and accompanying worksheets, was uploaded by TeachersTV and can be found at www.tes.co.ukmurder-mystery-maths
Art
What the lesson is about
This looks at how artists display visual meaning in abstract impressionism. Drawing inspiration from the American artist Cy Twombly, pupils explore mark-making to create an abstract work that represents one of the seasons. It is aimed at upper key stage 2 pupils.
Aims: pupils will -
- explore different ways of making marks;
- use a range of marks to convey meaning.
Getting started
Explain that marks can be seen as adjectives, describing words such as soft or jagged. Tell the pupils that making different marks depends on the way you manipulate the tool you are using, demonstrating using graphite sticks. Divide a sheet of paper into eight boxes and make six marks based on different sounds, such as a short, sharp tap, a scratch, and drumming your fingers on the table. Ask the pupils to try to make a kind of mark that no one else can think of.
Show them a picture of the seasons by Cy Twombly (summer is pictured above and the set is available on the link below). Can they work out which image is which season? Discuss the artist’s use of space, colour and marks.
Taking it further
Ask the pupils to choose a season and write down eight things associated with it. Tell them to come up with an arrangement of marks - not pictures - to represent their season. Ask them to choose another season and compare it with their first.
Display the pictures and ask children to guess which seasons other pupils have chosen and why.
Where to find it
The lesson was originally uploaded by AidanQuigley and can be found at www.tes.co.ukart-fourseasons.
