A Sweet Treat

Today Pam came with twenty two little brown houses that she had created at home. Each sat on a silver circle awaiting the creative talents of the Room 16 children.

Grinning with excitement

It looks like a Hansel and Gretel village

Nothing can stop us now

Great work Pam - thanks!

Excitement is in the air

Reaching for the lollies

Bright colours and Christmas themes

Ready, set ... pipe the icing glue!

Everyone is focused

Artistic ideas 

Delicious and delicate

Homes for gingerbread folk

Oh, they are hard to resist!

Uh oh, chimneys fall and blizzards strike!

Santa might find these chimneys a challenge

Excellent designs 

Stunning creations admired by all.

We cannot thank Pam enough for her hard work and preparation that enabled us to have such a special day!

Spaced Out!

The Apollo 11 Paintings

Watch this space for the movies which will give you a closer view of these magnificent paintings and a voiceover comment from each artist. We are looking forward to beginning to make our aliens next.

The Poster Process

If you're wanting to find out about some different authors or find out more about some of your favourites, you could come and read the posters in Room Sixteen. The authors featured are: Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl, Lauren Child, Beatrix Potter, Mo Willems, Emily Rodda, J.K. Rowling, Kym Lardner, Lynley Dodd, Dav Pilkey and Korky Paul.

13 October
Room 22 and Mrs Glasson came to Room 16 today to look at our posters and give us some feedback. You'll be able to read their excellent quality comments when you come and see the posters for yourselves!
Thanks Room 22!

Welcome Back

It was lovely to be together again today. We heard lots of stories about people's experiences during and after the earthquake.
This afternoon we talked about the good things that happened and how they fit in with the things we value at St Albans.
We'll be busy this week making posters about the author or illustrator we are most interested in.

Have you seen the cellos and guitars we made using vivids, dye and observational drawing skills? 

A Field of Particularly Beautiful Daffodils!

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Working Bee

Many thanks to the parents who came to help with the interior decorating this evening. It was another working example of the St Albans values. - It meant the world to me and will do to the children in the morning as well!

Good luck to Rooms 1,2,3 and 4 as you move into your new classrooms over the weekend.

Part Two As Promised

Here at last is the second installment of the calendar art. Enjoy...

... and don't forget to order a calendar, cards and a diary featuring the fabulous art work of your nearest and dearest!

Calendars, Cards and Diaries

You should have received an order form for the PTA Calendar fundraiser. The original art works are in a clearfile in the office so you can have a close up look at the work. We copied the style of art from Lauren Child. In the meantime we hope you enjoy the movie we've made using them. The children wrote and performed their own voiceovers.


Part two available now. Go to post of Friday 27th August.

Musical Instruments

Today we spent time listening to , playing and drawing a cello.
Keep checking this blog for the movie of the budding Room 16 cellists.
You can find out about other musical instruments at this website

Online in Room 16

If only you could have witnessed the buzz of excitement in Room Sixteen this afternoon as we used the laptop pod to crop and edit the silhouette photos taken last week.
The children worked in threes to download and edit their pictures then upload them onto the intranet again. When there was no "expert" support available to them they worked cooperatively on learning tools and games to keep themselves occupied.
I'd be lying if I said everything went to plan - but hey - whenever has it in teaching? You know what they say about never work with animals or children (and they came up with that expression before computers were invented!).
Once again the St Albans Values shone through with Fun, Creativity and Manaakitanga taking the lead.

Fun with Fabric and Fibre

We've had Fabulous Fun with Fabric and Fibre this term.
After making the spoon dolls the children had a lovely time creating environments for them and taking photos. I'm sure you'll admire the creativity the dolls and their environments display.
The "Bad Hair Day" faces were tricky but the children persevered and helped one another.
My sons reckon the Bad Hair Day Class Photo at the end of this clip looks like something from Doctor Who!

Acorn Bill

This poem must surely have been written for St Albans School!
Thanks Ruth Ainsworth, we love it!

An update on the building site

On Friday the 14th of May the concrete mixer was at St Albans School. We went out to make observational drawings of the concrete mixer at work.
We had those pictures photocopied and then we coloured them in with crayons. We were only allowed 3 or 4 colours. Next we dyed the pictures. We chose a dye colour that we thought would make our picture stand out. The last step was to paint a frame. The frame colour had to be the same as one of the crayon colours.

OK, GO!

We loved this Carin Berger book and used it as inspiration for the art works we made for this iMovie.
You can visit Carin Berger's website to find out more about her and her work.

Fabric and Fibre

I trust all the mothers out there had a happy day yesterday.
I've made a photo patchwork of the pin cushion photos.
Flynn thought it would be a good idea to post the instructions of how to make a pin cushion too, so here they are.

How to Make a Pin Cushion

You will need:

a hot glue gun
a piece of solid fabric about the size of your hand
a needle and thread (any colour will do)
half a giant walnut shell OR a milk bottle lid
stuffing
scissors

How to make the pin cushion:
Cut your fabric into a circle.
Thread the needle with a long piece of thread. Put a big knot at the end.
Sew a running stitch around the edge of the fabric.
Pull the thread so that you make the fabric into a sack.
Stuff your sack tightly.
Pull the string tight and stitch the hole shut.
Cut the needle off.
Put the cushion into the shell (or bottle top) and run a line of glue around the top of the shell and the cushion.
Let it dry then you’re done!

A Teachable Moment

Although it can be noisy and dusty the building site is certainly a focus of interest for many children at school.
We were all impressed by the finished drawings and many children remarked that they would never have believed that they could draw such a convincing digger.

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The Lorax

This Dr Seuss book is a classic tale of conservation and eco-awareness. We have been studying the story and drawing parallels with our lives. This is a photo of the Mural we have made. You will notice Truffula Trees, Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish.

There is a great website where you can read about Dr Seuss and play some games based on his stories. You can go there by clicking on the link below.
http://www.seussville.com/