Year 2

Term 1

We started off our work by looking at Leonardo da Vinchi’s drawings of “flying machines” which he drew before aeroplanes and helicopters were invented. We talked about what his drawings reminded us of and had a go at copying some of his sketches. We were then given the challenge of
designing our own flying machine based on a dragon or another animal of our choice.

Once we had designed our flying machines we had to make them out of junk modelling materials. We were allowed to work independently or as part of a small team. Once we had decorated them we took photos of them from above and we drew them really carefully. Finally we cut them out and stuck them onto maps so that they would look like aerial photographs.

Term 2

This term we have been doing some 3D artwork. We looked at the work of sculptor Rey Hernandez and talked about what we noticed about his work. We then built on the skills that we learnt in Year 1 and used a range of decorative techniques, experimenting with the different tools in the clay. We discussed which tools we thought were the most effective and why.

After that we looked really carefully at some photos showing reptile’s eyes. We tried to recreate the patterns and textures that we could see in our clay. Once our dragon’s eyes were dry we had to try to recreate the colours in the photos that we were looking at. We found out that by adding white to the colours we could lighten them and by adding black we could make them darker. We were all very proud of our dragon eyes.

In the last week of term we did some drawing work. We used pencils, chalks and charcoals to create some fabulous polar bears. We cut them out carefully and stuck them on blue paper with some icebergs and added some snow onto them. We loved that all of our polar bears had different expressions on their faces. 

Term 3

We have been learning about The Great Fire of London. We looked at the work of print-maker Em Varian who creates prints by drawing onto wood or lino and then carves away the negative space. She puts inks on the press and prints using this. We studied her work, House on Fire and looked carefully at the patterns she used within this lino print. We then had a go at drawing the fire, smokes, tiles and wooden slats in ourbooks and then replicated these on printing foam so that we could experiment with using the rollers and ink and printing with them.

We then thought about how we could make a print using different colours in our work. We looked at some photos of Tudor houses and had a go at drawing them in our books, focussing on the lines that we could see. We used these ideas to create our own Tudor house prints in black and white. After that we printed the River Thames in blue and then looked at mixing red, orange and yellow inks on the paint palettes to create the flames.

Finally, we cut out all of our pieces and put them together to make a huge collage of the Great Fire of London!

Term 4

In DT this term we have been learning to make moving pictures. We started off by looking at some books which have levers and sliders in them and we learnt how to make these different mechanisms. We discovered that different mechanisms make things move in different ways. We then looked at the story, Handa’s Surprise and talked about the different parts of the story which we could make move.

We split Handa’s Surprise up into enough parts for each child to have one and designed our pages including a moving part. We had to think carefully about if we wanted to include a slider, a lever or both to make the characters move. We also thought about the materials we would use to make the book colourful and eye-catching and attractive to younger children.

Finally, once we had finished our individual pages, we ordered them and turned them into a real book. EYFS borrowed our book and told us that they really enjoyed reading the story and trying out all the moving parts.

Term 5

This term we have been learning about Mehndi art which originates in India. Mehndi art is body art where they draw onto the skin using a special paste and then it dries leaving a pattern. They often use it for special occasions like weddings or festivals. We looked at the work of Mehndi artist Geeta Patel and had a go at copying little parts of her henna work using drawing pencils and charcoal.

We then rolled out some clay and drew around our hands. We cut the hands out and used the different tools to draw patterns onto our clay hands. We experimented with mark marking and pattern work.

After that we drew around our hands onto felt. We carefully cut them out and made our own shapes to sew onto the hands. We built on the skills we learnt last year when we made fish where we sewed using the precut holes. This time we learnt how to do running stitch without the holes. After we’d finished sewing the pieces on we added some sequins to our hands. Finally we put the hands onto a large piece of felt and talked about the best way to display our work. Daniel said that the hands looked like a peacock’s feathers so we agreed to turn our work into a peacock. We are very proud of our work!

Term 6

This term we completed a mini project all about colour. First of all we learnt the names of the primary colours which are red, yellow and blue. We then completed a colour wheel by mixing the primary colours to make secondary colours. The secondary colours are green, purple and orange.

After that Mrs Clarkson rolled out huge sheets of paper all over the desks and we were challenged to make as many tints of one colour using a primary colour and white as we could. Our winner was JJ who made 16 tints using red and white! We tried this using all three primary colours, trying to increase the number of tints that we made each time.

Finally we used this knowledge to make a painting of a moon with tints of blue around it getting progressively darker the further away from the moon that they got. We added a silhouette of a tree afterwards so that they stood out against the sky. We enjoyed learning all about colour mixing this term.