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Outstanding advice from the UKs top education experts

10
RAPS

BANGING TUNES
Steve Bunce creates a cacopho fireworks display to a cacophony of sound

Riveting
Sue Nicholls catchy chants will develop childrens understanding of pulse & rhythm

CAN CHILDREN USE SCIENCE TO DISCOVER THE RECIPE FOR A PERFECT SANDCASTLE?

POINT
changing

the tipping

YOUR FACE OR MINE?

Robert Watts lesson plan on exploring juxtapostion through collage

TIMES
A victorian suitcase that hasnt been opened for more than 100 years will bring out the historian in your pupils

KS1 LESSON PLAN: HISTORY

times
CHANGING
Using the familiar setting of houses and homes, this lesson highlighted as outstanding practice in Ofsteds recent History for All report - gets to the heart of one of historys key concepts: change. Knowing that things havent always been the same as they are today is a vital way to help younger children begin to understand how and why changes happen or do not happen. This lesson could be taught in one long chunk, or divided up. You decide.

A Victorian suitcase that hasn't been opened for more than 100 years will bring out the historian in your pupils, says Richard McFahn...

Today you will learn...

> By touching and feeling some old Victorian objects and
guessing what they were used for

> To decide which objects go in which particular room in a

Victorian house 78

> To learn the different names used for objects and the
different types of room in a Victorian house

Starter activity
Immediately capture the children's imagination by telling them that you recently went to visit your grandmother. You talked to her about life when she was a girl. She went into the attic and bought down something even older: a large suitcase full of objects from her great grandmothers house, which you have brought in to show everyone! Raise the level of excitement by telling the children that you havent looked at any of the objects in the case. Ask the class if they would like to help you?

If you contact your local museum they often have schemes to lend such objects and artefacts. If not, you can easily pick an old suitcase up at a second hand shop the artefacts you can use depend on what is available, but recommended are artefacts connected to Victorian washing, i.e. washboards, irons and pegs and any artefacts connected to Victorian kitchens.

Main activities

Analysing artefacts

Slowly take one object out of the case at a time. Ensure they are wrapped in soft paper. Not only will this protect them but it will help the children understand that we should respect the past and its remains. Hand the object around fully wrapped, ask the children to feel the object, describe what they can feel and guess or infer what the object is and what it was used

for. Can they work out which objects belonged in which room of a Victorian house? It might be worth recording on the board the childrens inferences and thoughts. At this point, unwrap the object to see how close the childrens guesses are. Use directed questions to guide them and take their thinking deeper. Do the same with the rest of the objects, between 10 and 15 is the correct amount but dont spend too long here as you dont want to lose the momentum or the sense of excitement..

Guided tour

It is now worth showing an image or a reconstruction of a Victorian house that clearly depicts the different types of rooms. Can the children decide which room each of your objects belongs to? (You can use this link to allow your class to visit a Victorian house and gain a sense of the past geffryemuseum.org.uk/learning/walkthrough-a-victorianhouse/walk-through). Explain that the class is going to work together to create a display entitled, Victorian homes and houses. Ensure that you highlight and stress the key words, objects and rooms that you are going to ask different children to research for the display in part three.

A Victorian Discovery Visit at an English Heritage property. english-heritage.org.uk/education

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard McFahn is a School Improvement Adviser in West Sussex. He also runs a website (historyresourcecupboard.com), which provides fully resourced lessons and advice on history teaching.

LOVE READING

> Get the children to create a happiness graph (happy/sad on vertical axis, time along the horizontal). Introduce new inventions such as the washing machine, place it on the horizontal axis at the correct time and get the children to work

out how happy each one would make its owner. > Create a museum display with artefacts and labels for a Victorian house. Explain that children can only use five objects. Which objects would they choose and why?

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

Group work

Now you can differentiate your work according to ability. Divide the children into three or four different groups. Ideally you will have two teaching assistants to help you. Group 1: can work out how the Victorian washing process worked in the scullery. The best option would be for a small group to go outside with a teaching assistant and use artefacts to work out the order of the

Follow up and assess

THE WAYS IN WHICH YOU FOLLOW UP THESE ACTIVITIES WILL DEPEND ON THE STRUCTURE YOU HAVE CHOSEN. FOR EXAMPLE YOU COULD:

0844 576 8126 education@harpercollins.co.uk www.collinsbigcat.com

washing sequence. But you could also use images on cards of a wash tub, dolly, mangle, pegs, iron etc. Group 2: some of your lower attaining children can work with a teaching assistant. You will need to beg or borrow a Victorian doll's house here. Can they work out which objects go in which room? Place the objects in each room, and then the group can create some well chosen labels for the names of the different rooms and some of the objects. Group 3: your middle ability children could work on reinforcing what they have learnt about the different Victorian rooms, perhaps by creating a guidebook to a Victorian house. Their understanding could then be extended by exploring the difference between the functions of a Victorian house and a modern house. You could match up old and new objects on cards and identify the similarities and differences between each one.

Group 4: your more able children could use books to research more about the kitchen objects. They could draw and label and write captions for each item. Can they provide dates for each item? They can then arrange the objects, or captions, into chronological order. This will help them understand technological change. At the end of the group work, encourage each group to describe what they have been doing and what they have learnt about a Victorian house and its functions. Try and connect each groups ideas together to build a bigger picture. Use the image you used of the Victorian house earlier to emphasise this. A huge thank you must go to Michael Maddison, history HMI for Ofsted, who kindly agreed to allow me to use and adapt this lesson from his report, History for all, and the teacher who planned and taught this lesson in front of an Ofsted inspector. Well done you! If you want to read this report it can be found here (ofsted.gov.uk/resources /history-for-all).

> Have you ever asked your parents or grandparents what their lives were like when they were children? > What type of rooms do you think they might have had in a Victorian house? > What objects might have been used in a kitchen 100 years ago? > How different are houses today compared to the Victorian one? > What would make a good display about Victorian homes and houses?
79

USEFUL QUESTIONS

KS1 LESSON PLAN: SCIENCE

point
THE TIPPING
Children love to play with sand and their experience in sandpits or at the beach means they will probably have built a sandcastle. If they havent, they must be given the opportunity! If they have, they will know that it is important to get the right type of sand to make a good castle by that, of course, we mean a good mix of sand and water: too wet or too dry and the sandcastle wont work. Getting it right can provide a great opportunity for a fun materials-based science investigation.

Can children use science to discover the recipe for a perfect sandcastle, asks Sue Martin?

Today you will learn...

To develop your investigative skills: planning; obtaining and presenting evidence; considering evidence and evaluating; and practising your measuring skills. The aim of the investigation is to determine how much water should be added to dry sand to make a sturdy sandcastle.

94

Starter activity
Ask children to share ideas about sand (where we find it, what its used for, etc) with each other, in small groups and with the whole class. They may tell you facts or just share experiences give credit for all their ideas and responses. Tell the children that you are going to make a sandcastle. Fill your bucket (a plastic container such as a large yoghurt pot will be fine) with dry sand, pat it down and swiftly upturn it onto a tray. Watch as the sandcastle rapidly collapses look disappointed! Ask the question, I wonder why it wont hold together? The

children are likely to say that the sand is too dry or needs water. Add far too much water to make a good consistency of sand and try to build a new castle. Too much water tends to lead to sand left behind in the bucket or the castle falling apart. From these outcomes, pose the question, I wonder how we can find out scientifically how much water is needed to make the sandcastles turn out well? Lets investigate. The children will probably be brimming with ideas of how they can make a good castle. Let them share ideas. Ultimately you will need to channel their ideas into comparing castles made with sand and a variety of water quantities. to make sandcastles this is easy to achieve in small groups. Yoghurt pots or plastic cups are ideal to use in the classroom. Provide each group with a tray on which to make their castles. To measure accurate quantities of water, syringes work really well. Give the children a chance to practise filling syringes with specific amounts of water, e.g. 2ml, 5ml, 10ml, etc. I have set up

Main activities

Prepare for the test

KS1 children will probably need guidance on how to carry out a fair comparison. The children should all have the opportunity

Carry out the experiment

Depending on the age and experience of the children, guide them towards making castles with the same quantity of sand each time (controlled variable) and progressively more water (independent variable). You will need to do a test run in advance of the lesson to check the amount of water that works for your quantity of sand/castle size. You may start with just a few millilitres of water. For each castle, the children should fill the plastic container with dry sand and pour it into the bowl. A measured quantity of water is then added and stirred thoroughly into the sand. (Hands are ideal for mixing purposes be prepared with cloths, wipes or bowls of water to avoid trips back and forth to the sink.) This mix is then put back into the plastic container, patted down and turned out onto the tray. It may be nice for the children to take a picture of the castle produced.

Ideally, this procedure should be repeated with different quantities of water the range should be between castles that are too dry and those that are too wet. The castles could be turned out next to each other on the tray to make direct comparisons and photos taken to show the results. If the quantity of water added is systematically increased, e.g. 2 or 5ml at a time (depending on castle size), it is easy to identify how much water is in each castle if written records are not made. Using a digital camera to snap results is always useful, as it is inevitable that a castle will be inadvertently knocked down!

Record the results

>How much water made a good sandcastle? Can there be too little/too much? >What does the water do? Children approach science tasks with their own ideas about whats happening. We ignore their preconceptions at our peril! Let the children talk about their ideas and use questions to guide them towards a better understanding. We would not expect KS1 children to understand how surface tension in the water pulls the grains of sand together, but you can talk about the grains sliding over each other when the sand is dry and sticking more when they are wet. With too much water, the grains can slide more easily again.

USEFUL QUESTIONS

95

TAKE TIME TO ANALYSE YOUR RESULTS > Discuss the results achieved there may be a very definite ideal, but it is more likely that a range of water quantities will work well. However, there will also be some that are too dry and some too wet. Share results between groups to see if there is consistency. This investigation is quite open and can lead to really good science discussion. > Can other substances be used to replace water? Let the children suggest and try other substances to mix with dry sand to bind the particles together. Consider whether the children follow a systematic approach to measuring out their suggested substances (they could choose a non-liquid and would need to find a different way of measuring the quantity used).
TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Martin is a Teaching Award winner and Deputy Headteacher at Talbot House Preparatory School in Bournemouth. Previously, Sue was Head of Physics at Parkstone Grammar School in Poole, Dorset.

WHAT WILL YOUR PUPILS DISCOVER?

this investigation at different levels with children from 3-7 years and found that some in each year group know immediately how to fill a syringe, whilst others have no idea. Make sure all the children have this skill and can measure a specific amount before they start their investigation. This activity can be a lot of fun for young children in and of itself.

In Cardiff Bay info@techniquest.org 029 20 475 476

Follow up and assess

KS1 LESSON PLAN: MUSIC

Sue Nicholls catchy chants will develop children's understanding of pulse and rhythm and create memorable links with literacy and the wider curriculum...

Raps are hugely popular with primary pupils and are so easy to incorporate into the curriculum. The term rap as used in primary schools embraces many styles of chant and verse, but most will follow a pattern of paired rhyming lines, i.e. rhyming couplets. They offer opportunities for cross-curricular work, most obviously in literacy, because of the bond with rhyme, syllabic stress, metre and poetic form, but can also be harnessed to great effect in every subject area. Raps belong in the musical domain because of the strong underlying beat (or pulse) which anchors the lines of text, giving a strong driving momentum; and the rhythm, dictated by the syllable patterns. Raps provide an attractive format for vocally inexperienced practitioners because they require no actual singing, yet they incorporate many musical features.

raps
RIVETING
sure/floor click/flick bend/end put/foot trip/flip hand/band groove/move slide/glide wave/rave high/try head - Fred knee - Lee still - Phil do - Sue whizz Liz kick - Nick bike - Mike keep on - John jive - Clive crawl - Paul squeak - Razik back - Jack

Today you will learn...

100
To explore a range of raps, incorporating pulse (strong beat) and rhythmic accuracy To recognise and use rhyme patterns and manipulate syllables to maximise effect To construct your own rap material using models and rhyme banks To add movement and actions to enhance performance

Starter activity
Try this echo rap with KS1 children. There's no need to display or memorise lines, the children just copy the leader to achieve a satisfying, instant performance. Echoing encourages focused listening and the actions are given as instructions (the imperative voice), making a valid link to literacy.

Hello to you!
(Taken from The Song Stack and reproduced here by kind permission of Music Education Supplies mesdirect.com. Some actions are described the rest are given in the text.) Hello to you! (arms outstretched with index fingers pointing round the circle) Move your shoulders: one, two! Now stamp your feet! And clap on the beat! Hands stretch up high!

Wiggle fingers near the sky! Give a smile, give a grin! Turn around and spin! Well done, everyone! (thumbs up!) Our musics begun! (open arms to include everyone in the gesture)

Main activities

Write your own raps

Hey everyone! Lets have some fun, So bend your knees Fold your arms and squeeze!... Create limelight moments by using names in your raps: Hey there, Fred, Get out of bed! Make your body jive And copy Clive!

awake - Jake sashay - May

Try writing raps with KS1 pupils in shared writing lessons. Make pairs of rhyme cards on contrasting colours, e.g. sure on yellow, floor on red, then introduce some modelled opening lines for the children to extend and develop:

Adding actions endorses the musical concept of pulse (strong beat), improves coordination and brings energy to the performance. Encourage children to invent moves to give them greater ownership of the material.

3 2
HI! MY NAME IS BRAD
(Taken from The Manchester Singing School books, reproduced by kind permission of the Manchester Music Service primary curriculum advisory team.)

The Mummy Rap!

(By kind permission of the partnership between Derby City Young People's Directorate and the Museum Service: the Flagship Learning Programme funded by Renaissance.) This KS2 rap reinforces historical vocabulary and describes the mummification processes. Add suitable actions and bandage some volunteers to enhance your performance! Chorus: (Step from side to side; arms crossed over the chest) Im a mummy, Im a mummy and Im all in white! You can only see an outline cos Im wrapped up tight! Im off to the afterlife, thats a fact So special things are done to keep my body intact! A really good wash with water from the Nile The embalmers dont hurry; this job takes a while. Chorus Organs like my liver, intestines and lungs Are sealed in jars with special bungs! The brains taken out with a very long hook It goes up the nose - praps you shouldnt look! Chorus Im stored in Natron salty stuff It dries up the body so it wont go off. Drying it out takes forty days Then everythings oiled for the final stage. Chorus A bandage for every finger and toe Then legs and arms wrapped nice and slow! Amulets hidden in layers between Charms make the afterlife calm and serene. Chorus

USEFUL QUESTIONS

This chant, written by Maurice Walsh, is a real winner, demanding serious concentration in order to place the clicks correctly! Children should click their fingers - or clap - at the asterisks. Hi * * my name is Brad * * Ive got a sister * she nearly drives me mad! * * Fiddle dee dum! * * Fiddle dee dee! * * If only she could * be good * Shed be as nice as me * Hi * * my name is Joy * * Ive got a brother * hes such a naughty boy! * * Fiddle dee dum! * * Fiddle dee dee! * * If only he could * be good * Hed be as nice as me * Hi * * Im one of the teachers * * Ive got a class * of orrible little creatures!* * Fiddle dee dum! * *Fiddle dee dee! * * If only they could * be good * Id take them all to McDonalds for tea! Once the words are familiar, ask the children to write new versions using other names and rhymes, e.g. Hi * * my name is Alice * * Ive got a friend * who owns a golden palace * *

Use raps to... > Impart information, e.g. topic work > Introduce or embed vocabulary > Introduce concepts > Stimulate dialogue and drama > Tackle revision > Retell stories, support narrative >Give instructions (imperative voice) > Introduce assemblies > Approach sensitive subjects (PSHE)

101

Follow up and assess

DISCUSS WHAT MAKES A GOOD RAP AND ENCOURAGE THE USE OF MUSICAL VOCABULARY SUCH AS PULSE, RHYTHM OR PATTERN. percussion patterns to accompany > Organise a rhyme bank board, and drive the rap performance to asking children to research and keep the pace steady. write rhyme pairs on Post-Its, to > Write your own raps for different add to the class collection. > Experiment with simple repeated topics and add actions.

08450 264 703 www.mesdirect.com sales@mesdirect.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Nicholls is a freelance music education consultant. She is a national Sing Up trainer and co-chair of the National Association of Music Educators' EYFS and Primary Focus Group.

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

IN HARMONY WITH MUSIC EDUCATION

KS2 LESSON PLAN: SCIENCE

coats?
SHOULD SNOWMEN WEAR
We put on clothing to stay warm, so is dressing up Frosty going to keep him cool or hasten his demise, asks Sue Martin?
The next time there's a snow day, use the opportunity to do some great science investigations. Ask the students to find out whether or not their snowmen will last longer with or without clothing. They could do an investigation in full scale or with miniatures. And if it doesn't turn out to be a white Christmas, you can model the conditions using ice cubes and bring the fun indoors any time.

Today you will learn...

84 > Children will be encouraged to develop their Sc1 investigative skills: Planning; Obtaining and presenting evidence; and Considering evidence and evaluating. > They will also learn about Changes of state (Sc3 2b, 2d) and Thermal insulation (Sc3 1b). The investigation aim will be to determine whether a snowman will remain frozen longer if it is insulated.

Starter activity
As an opening activity, tell the children you are going to set them a challenge: they will each be given an ice cube man and must try to keep him from melting for as long as possible. I use a Lego ice cube tray to produce icemen. Having a character / fun shape makes the challenge of keeping it from melting more meaningful and exciting, but of course its not essential. There are many other cheap moulds to be found dinosaurs, fish, shells, hearts, etc. Make the ice shapes in batches, turn them out and store them in a freezer bag until there are sufficient numbers for the investigations. To being with, give pupils just a few minutes to think about how they may want to stop their ice character from melting. Be prepared to let them use any means they suggest (within reason). Children may want to wrap their ice, but equally they

may choose to place it in a particular location, put it into water, etc. Try not to comment on any choices made. Once everyone is clear about the plan, allow the children to collect any materials required (a container may be useful to prevent too many puddles) and then give out the ice cubes. As soon as everyone is ready, start a timer and allow 10 minutes melting time. During this time, ask the children to talk about their choices first in pairs, then in groups and finally ask the groups to share their ideas with the whole class. Once the 10 minutes is over, allow the children to recover the icemen and compare the results in their groups. Which icemen were the most intact? Which had melted? Can they account for the observed differences?

Make predictions

Pose a question for the investigation: 'Should a snowman wear a coat and if so, which material would be best to use as a coat for a snowman?' Discuss how groups could set up an investigation to answer these questions. Assuming that snow is not available to use, first consider how ice can be used as a suitable alternative to snow and whether conclusions drawn from the results can be applied to snowmen. Ask the students to make a suitable hypothesis or prediction focus on the need to wear a coat and also the best coat to use.

2
In each case, the iceman should be weighed, wrapped and the timer started. After a set time, say 10 minutes, the iceman is unwrapped and weighed again. A number of icemen could be timed simultaneously in a group situation. One iceman should be tested with no insulation to produce a control result. This will enable the class

Ensure a fair test

Depending on the age and abilities of the students, either plan an investigation together as a class or in individual groups. The students need to identify key variables (size / shape / mass / volume of ice / ambient temperature / materials for insulation / thickness / layers etc.), how they will measure the changes to the icemen, and decide on the time the ice should be left to melt. The earlier investigation should indicate a reasonable time to allow. In measuring how the icemen change, it's probably easiest to measure the change in mass. Each should be weighed at the start and end of the desired timescale to determine how much its mass changes during that time. Each group could test a number of different insulating materials on the icemen, or a different material could be given to each group, with the results shared after the investigation, depending on time available for the class. insulator or coat material for a snowman. Results may be gathered together from groups to create a table, e.g:
CHANGE IN MASS OF ICEMAN (g)

USEFUL QUESTIONS

Main activities

Start the clock

to conclude whether some insulation (a coat) is better than no coat at all. The results from the insulated icemen should enable the class to decide which material is the best
MATERIAL No insulation Bubble wrap Sponge cloth Kitchen roll Etc. MASS OF ICEMAN AT START OF INVESTIGATION (g)

>What is a thermal insulator? (A material that does not let heat flow through it easily. Different materials have different insulating properties. Materials that trap small pockets of air make good insulators, e.g. polystyrene, bubble wrap, foam sponge.) >Why should insulation be useful to a snowman? Snow melts when heat from the Sun reaches it. The insulation reduces this heat flow so the snowman melts more slowly. > What factors affect the effectiveness of the insulation? Consider type of material/thickness /layers, etc.

85

MASS OF ICEMAN AT END OF INVESTIGATION (g)

Follow up and assess

TAKE TIME TO ANAL YSE YOUR RESUL TS > Ask the students to consider how the results may be used to reach a conclusion and answer the original question. They should first demonstrate an understanding that insulation reduces the rate of melting, i.e. it is better for a snowman to wear a coat. Secondly, the iceman that has the smallest change in mass has the best insulation surrounding it. Students should be able to present the results in a bar chart and rank the insulations in terms of their effectiveness. Encourage students to look at the materials and consider similarities in the best insulators they may see that many good insulators trap small pockets of air.

In Cardiff Bay info@techniquest.org 029 20 475 476

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Martin is a Teaching Award winner and Deputy Headteacher at Talbot House Preparatory School in Bournemouth. Previously, Sue was Head of Physics at Parkstone Grammar School in Poole, Dorset.

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

WHAT WILL YOUR PUPILS DISCOVER?

KS1 LESSON PLAN: ICT

tunes
BANGING
Steve Bunce creates a spectacular fireworks display to a cacophony of sound, without setting fire to the classroom...
With Bonfire Night approaching, these activities, which combine music, poetry and ICT, can be used to create a virtual firework display in the classroom. The lesson starts with a reminder about the different types of fireworks and how a display can be set to music. The children will then record themselves reading a Bonfire Night poem before adding sound effects to this. Finally, they will use software to create a fireworks themed pop music track.

Today you will learn...

> to use online simulations to create a virtual fireworks display > to create and record fireworks sounds and rhymes using online tools > to record and playback fireworks rhymes using song creation software 92

Starter activity
Start with a fireworks display to capture the children's attention. Using the Disney Fireworks website (disney.co.uk/disneycreate/fireworks) you can create you own display with a variety of fireworks: fan, big bomb, parasol, Roman candle, supernova and Catherine wheel. You can also introduce the idea of setting a display to music by selecting one of three different backing tracks (or no music) from the toolbar towards the top right of the screen. You could prepare a fireworks display before the lesson or use the pre-recorded demo display (select the video camera icon at the bottom right-hand side). Watch the simulation full screen for the best effect. Ask the children at what times they see fireworks (at celebrations such as New Year, the opening of the Olympics or Bonfire Night). Do they know the date of Bonfire Night? Is it the same date every year? Why do we celebrate Bonfire Night? This could lead to an introduction to the Gunpowder Plot. You can also find a KS1 firework safety pack, which contains details of the story, rhymes and advice, here:

Main activities

Remember Remember

Share the rhyme for the Gun Powder plot with the children and chant it together: Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot, We see no reason, Why gunpowder treason, Should ever be forgot! Ask children if they understand all of the words? Which words rhyme? Would they like to record themselves reading the rhyme? Even better, would they like to add a backing track and become pop stars? Most computers have ways of recording voices; for example, you might use Windows Sound Recorder. Standalone microphones, such as the Easi-Speak (tts-group.co.uk), are also very useful for capture and playback. Sounds can be recorded online, too. Using Vocaroo (vocaroo.com), the children can chant into the computer microphone and listen back to their recording straight away. (You may get a small warning screen requesting access to your microphone. Select OK' to continue.) The finished recording can then be downloaded or emailed.

Snap, crackle and pop

The children can now create and record sound effects to represent fireworks. For instance, what does a Roman candle sound like? Can the children make that sound? In the first activity, children made single track recordings. Now they can have a go at recording multiple tracks using software such as Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) or Myna (aviary.com/tools/audio-editor); both of which are free. Ask children to think about the recordings they make. Why do they think their noises sound like fireworks? How could they improve their sound effects?

Many free sound effects are available online. With support from the teacher, the children could listen to firework sounds to help make their own impressions more realistic. Two example sites are: >freesound.org/browse/tags/fireworks >soundjax.com/fireworks _sounds-1.html There's also an opportunity for using percussion instruments and other improvised sounds, e.g. when twisted, bubble wrap makes an excellent crackle. Working in groups, children can create their audio fireworks displays and record them.

To create our fireworks song we can use a fun piece of software called Microsoft Songsmith (research.microsoft.com/enus/um/redmond/projects/songsmith). It is free to use for a total of six hours (a duration of actual use, not the time from installation). When children chant the fireworks poem, Microsoft Songsmith will generate a musical accompaniment to match the pitch of their voices. Children could begin with the Remember, Remember rhyme or use Irene Yates' poem, Bonfire Night that's included in the fireworks safety pack mentioned earlier. It starts: In the night-time darkness, In the night-time cold, Did you spot a Catherine wheel Raining showers of gold? On opening Microsoft Songsmith, select New song and you will be presented with a choice of genres. My children liked the Bluegrass style, but there are many others with which to experiment. You can adjust the speed of the music we found that a tempo of 60 bpm worked well. Press 'record', wait for the introductory bars to complete and Songsmith will tell you when to start. Chant the poem and try to match the words to the beat of the music. Once complete, press 'stop' and listen; an instant soundtrack is created to accompany the words. You may have to experiment with the volume and the pace of the chanting to get the best results. However, many pop stars have to re-record tracks over and over, so it is important for the children to realise it is not an easy task.

Roman candle in the wind

> Remembering can you name three types of firework? > Understanding - why do people celebrate Bonfire Night? > Applying - can you tell someone else how to record their voice? > Creating - can you create a new poem for the fire safety code? > Analysing why do people need a fire safety code? > Evaluating how could you make your firework sounds more realistic?

USEFUL QUESTIONS

93

Follow up and assess

> In the lesson the children have enjoyed recording and listening to themselves chanting and making fireworks noises. To conclude, we can display fireworks safety advice (bbc.co.uk/schools/events/bonfire_ night/worksheets.shtml). > Which instruction do the children think is most important? Could they create a simple chant or poem to warn other children? Could they record it using one of the methods we have mentioned? > To finish, playback the recording and create a fireworks display to accompany it using the on screen fireworks web page (maylin.net/fireworks.html).
TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Bunce is VITAL's ICT CPD leader for the North East and Yorkshire & Humber at Open University. VITAL is all about supporting teachers and schools to develop their use of ICT professionally (vital.ac.uk).

KS2 LESSON PLAN:

ART & DESIGN

pose
Using a few simple lines and shapes, children can create powerful and instantly recognisable images, like those imprinted on Robert Watt's mind from the 1972 Olympics...
Starter activity
The beauty of pictograms lies in their simplicity. Many 20th century artists explored ideas around reducing the visual world to its simplest elements: Mondrian, for example, began his career by making intricate, detailed drawings of trees, before gradually reducing their forms to the squares and rectangles of his later abstract work. In this creative project, children will follow a similar journey with their own artwork, learning how the simplest of shapes can effectively communicate ideas and actions. Theyll begin by experimenting with observational drawings of each other enacting poses that evoke the exciting movements of Olympic or Paralympic events, drawings that will then be used as a springboard for further experiments in collage and ICT. Start by showing the class some examples of everyday road signs that feature pictograms, and draw their attention to the way the actions of the figures are communicated without words. Ask children to suggest reasons why pictures are sometimes more effective than words for communicating information - some will understand, for example, that drivers on a busy road have little time to read instructions on a sign but are quick to read the information contained in an image. This notion of reading images is central to the practical work the children will make.

STRIKE A

Today you will learn...

> to make observational drawings of each other in dynamic sporting poses > to reduce the drawings to their essential visual elements to create pictograms that represent Olympic events > to extend your work into collage and ICT

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Remember the 1972 Olympics? Perhaps you dont, but I certainly do. I was seven years old at the time and obsessed with three things: sport, maths and art. With its combination of athletic achievement, record-breaking statistics and dynamic visuals, the Olympics was the perfect event for me. I spent much of 1972 drawing diagrams of running tracks, compiling lists of champions and running around a makeshift Olympic arena in the back garden. Those were the days. But theres a particular visual element of the 1972 Olympics that lingers in my memory more than any other. One innovation of the games was a brilliantly designed set of wordless images, or pictograms, each of which symbolised a particular area of sporting activity. The pictograms each represented human figures, reduced to circles and rectangles but drawn in such a way that the nature of the activity represented was perfectly clear to the viewer. These pictograms were so effective at communicating essential information in a dynamic, engaging way that they have exerted a strong influence on subsequent signage used at the games. forty years on, design studio Someone has created a new set of pictograms for the 2012 games (try typing London 2012 pictograms into n search engine).

Introduce children to Olympic and Paralympic pictograms the 1972 originals or the contemporary versions are easily found online and explain that they will be making their own pictograms, representing a range of sporting events. Remind children that the audience for these pictograms will be international, so each event will need to be captured in a clear, simple, distinctive image.

Main activities
Begin by asking children to adopt action poses inspired by their chosen sport. Some choices will be more popular than others, so you might need to do a little extra promotion for certain events and try providing a few props for sports such as archery. Children should work in pairs or small groups and decide which pose best represents the chosen sport, before beginning observational drawings of each other. At this point, encourage children to simplify their drawings as much as possible. Stress that they need not include eyes, noses and other features instead, encourage children to look for regular shapes such as squares, rectangles and circles. You could also emphasise the importance of proportion: children should try to ensure the relative size of each section of the body is fairly accurate. A great way to encourage children to look closely at proportion is to ask them to make drawings of wooden mannequins that can easily be twisted into interesting action poses. (Another advantage is that they tend not to complain about being asked to maintain awkward poses for several minutes!)

Observational drawings

Children will now use their observational drawings as inspiration for some striking collages of figures in motion. Provide scissors, magazines and glue sticks, together with a selection of round and rectangular objects that can be drawn around (though older children could practise constructing rectangles and circles using rulers and compasses). Explain that they need to find blocks of colour in the magazines from which rectangles and circles can be cut. Once children have assembled a collection of these

Paper collages of figures in motion

shapes, ask them to work together to create collages of figures in sporting action. Images of the Olympic and Paralympic pictograms can provide inspiration, but encourage children to develop their own ideas beyond those they can see. Place the pieces on paper and experiment with arranging and rearranging them into different compositions. When children are happy with the composition of their figures, they should paste them into place on large sheets of paper. Each individual piece could then be combined with others to create an impressive wholeclass artwork.

> Assemble a collection of signs that use images to communicate information. Which do you think are the most original or effective, and why? > If you were to design a set of pictograms for display around your school, what might they look like? > People often say that a picture is worth a thousand words. What does this mean, and do you think its true?

USEFUL QUESTIONS

93

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

www.apfs.org.uk info@apfs.org.uk 0800 027 1939 0800 019 5220
TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

Robert Watts is the Programme Convener for the MA Art, Craft and Design Education course at the University of Roehampton, London, and the co-author of Teaching Art and Design 311, published by Continuum Books.

Follow up and assess

> Extending the collage activity from scissors and paper into screens and pixels is an exciting and engaging way to develop the project. Even the simplest of painting programs will allow children to construct regular shapes such as circles and rectangles on screen: combining several of these to create pictograms of sporting stars is a relatively straightforward process. The process is particularly interesting if you have access to software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, which provides the option of working with layers of images. Place one shape on each layer, then experiment with copying each layer and moving it around the screen to adjust the pose of the figure.

FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS STIMULATION FOR CHILDREN SUPPORT FOR ART

KS1/2 LESSON PLAN:

ART & DESIGN

OR MINE?

face
Mixing up portraits can lead to some unexpected, amusing or even unnerving results in Robert Watts' lesson on exploring juxtaposition through collage...
Collage is one of the most fascinating processes used in art and design, one guaranteed to engage children across the primary age range. For younger children, collage can be as simple as cutting a shape from one piece of paper and sticking it to another. As they grow older, however, children become more ambitious as they realise they can use collage to create complex compositions that both extend their thinking and challenge their preconceptions. One reason why many children are initially drawn to collage is that it requires relatively few technical skills. As children progress through KS2, they become increasingly aware of whos the best in the class at drawing or painting, and those who lack a little confidence can easily become discouraged and disillusioned with art. Collage is a process concerned more with imagination than technical dexterity and, as such, it can be an effective way to engage those children whose interest in art is starting to decline. A key reason why children find collage interesting is that it offers opportunities to create exciting juxtapositions. Juxtapositions occur when one object or image is placed next to another, resulting in new images that can be unexpected, unconventional, often funny and sometimes scary. Juxtaposition can be a very quick and efficient way of creating striking and memorable artworks, and its the theme that underlies the ideas presented in this project, which itself juxtaposes traditional techniques with contemporary equivalents.

YOUR

Today you will learn...

> to create collages that juxtapose images, resulting in surprising combinations > to use pencils or charcoal to make observational drawings that can then be collaged > to extend your work into collage and ICT

Starter activity
The origins of modern collage date back 100 years to the experiments Picasso and Braque carried out in their Paris studios (the term is derived from coller: to glue). A century on, collage continues to be a medium that appeals to contemporary artists. Londons Saatchi Gallery may be famous for Damien Hirsts pickled shark and Tracey Emins unmade bed, but its also the place to find some of the most interesting and innovative artists work

ever made with paper and scissors. Two such artists have inspired some of the practical activities on these pages. David Thorpes atmospheric images of urban landscapes are made from paper meticulously cut into precise shapes, juxtaposing flat areas of colour to represent the visual world. Meanwhile, John Stezakers collages take us from landscapes to portraits, with juxtaposed images of forgotten movie stars from the 1940s and 50s. These images are ideal for introducing children to the creative potential of collage.

Once children have completed their photographic collages, offer them opportunities to experiment with drawn portraits. Working in twos or threes, ask them to use pencil or charcoal to make close observational drawings of each other. These can be scanned and printed if you want to preserve the originals, otherwise, each drawing can simply be cut in two, with each half juxtaposed against another. In the example shown here, children have experimented with cutting irregular lines around the features before combining the images.

Pencil portraits

Main activities
Begin by introducing children to collages made by John Stezaker (saatchi-gallery.co.uk/ artists/john_stezaker.htm). Children will immediately respond to the images theyre likely to find the unexpected juxtapositions of facial features amusing, unnerving and intriguing and will quickly recognise that they could easily create similar images of their own. If youre carrying out the activity with the whole class, its useful to have a printed portrait photograph of each child ready to save time. If youre working with a small group, however, getting children to take photographs and upload them to the computer is a useful lesson in itself. Children will need to work in pairs for the activity, each with their own portrait photograph. While they might prefer to work with their close friends, the finished images will be more effective if they can work alongside someone whom they doesnt physically resemble too closely (it can be a good opportunity for girls and boys to collaborate). All children need to do is to slice one of the portrait photographs in half and place it on top of the other photograph. It sounds simple, but in order for the juxtaposition to be really effective, theyll find they will need to experiment with a few different arrangements before deciding which is the most striking. Children might decide, for example, that they would like certain features, such as the nose or mouth, to be shared equally. Even if partners cant quite agree on a composition, they have the chance of making a second variation using the discarded pieces from the first.

Juxtaposing photos

> When we place one image next to another, do both the images look the same as they did before? Or does one change the other? > How do you look similar to your partner? How are you different? What would the world be like if everybody looked the same? > Do you ever see examples of juxtaposition in advertising, or on television? Try to collect some examples, and reflect on why you think the designers have chosen to juxtapose particular images.
69

Landscape collages

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Watts is the Programme Convener for the MA Art, Craft and Design Education course at the University of Roehampton, London, and the co-author of Teaching Art and Design 311, published by Continuum Books.

Follow up and assess

> Encourage children to work in small groups to gather a selection of images of faces from magazines. Each group should then experiment with placing the features in different combinations before selecting the composition they are happy with and pasting the features into place. > A natural extension of the double portrait idea is to carry out the activity onscreen. Children can open their initial pair of portraits in an art and design software package, then simply select a section of one image and copy and paste it over the top of another.

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

www.apfs.org.uk info@apfs.org.uk 0800 027 1939 0800 019 5220

FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS STIMULATION FOR CHILDREN SUPPORT FOR ART

David Thorpes collages of urban landscapes have inspired this activity, which offers opportunities to make some final unexpected juxtapositions (saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists /david_thorpe.htm). Load two images onto your PC that you want to juxtapose in a collage. Place a thin sheet of paper over the PC screen and trace the part of each image that you want to use. On paper, colour in each of the images - try using dark tones to create silhouettes - and assemble them onto coloured paper to create the finished collage.

USEFUL QUESTIONS

KS2 LESSON PLAN: MUSIC

painting
Sue Nicholls hunts for musical inspiration in Rousseaus Tiger in the Tropical Storm..
Rousseaus celebrated painting Tiger in the Tropical Storm has been used by many primary schools as the focus for art and design led topics, but it's also a good starting point for music activities. Rousseau painted The Tiger in a Tropical Storm in 1891. Many critics dismissed his work as naive and childish, but Picasso, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec defended his style. The artist never actually visited a jungle, in fact and some say that he sketched plants in Parisian parks to inspire his tropical landscape. The picture is full of detail and atmosphere: lightning and torrential rain, waving branches lashed by the wind and luxuriant plants that cover the jungle floor in lush green layers. Our eyes are drawn to the hunting tiger, but we cannot see his prey.

STEP INTO A

Today you will learn...

> To sing and extend some jungle-themed songs > To perform jungle raps with percussion and vocal effects

1
1

Playing tuned percussion

5 CEG WE

6 CEG

7 DFG

8 CEG WE

What can you see

Tune: Pease Pudding Hot, starting on note C) Leader: What can you see? All: What can you see? Solo group: We see a waving tree All: So can we! Y5 & Y6 Tiger's about! is a song inspired by Rousseau's painting. Sing it with the class and aim for clear diction, a strict tempo (no hurrying) and a consistent, even singing tone, particularly when the tune goes higher.

Y3 & Y4 Try this simple instrumental accompaniment to What can you see? on tuned percussion. There are two note clusters (or chords), C E G and D F G, to be played on the beat, i.e. twice per line on underlined syllables. The three notes are divided between three players. 2 CEG 3 4

WAVING SO

> Simon plays note C (and D on beats 3 and 7) > Ruby plays note E (and F on beats 3 and 7) > Kosh plays note G all the time Invite each group to perform their verse while one player keeps a constant strong beat (pulse) on a tambour to represent the tigers measured prowl across the jungle floor.

CEG

DFG CEG

WHAT SEE? WHAT? SEE?

Tigers about
(Tune: Head, shoulders knees and toes)

Starter activity
Y3 & Y4 Display Tiger in the Tropical Storm on the whiteboard and collect the childrens reactions, thoughts and any offered descriptive words or phrases. Divide the children into small groups to make lists of things seen in the painting e.g. trees, shrubs, tiger, sky, rain and use these to create alternative lyrics for line three in the song What can you see? right.

Striped Tiger Stalks his prey, stalks his prey Striped Tiger Stalks his prey, stalks his prey Rousseau conjures up a jungle thunderstorm Striped Tiger Stalks his prey, stalks his prey

USEFUL QUESTIONS

Composing jungle songs

Im in a bad mood! Im a snake Under the tree Tiger, Tiger Dont eat me! [Tiger] My tums empty...

Y5 & Y6 Make a class list of things observed in the painting, adding unseen creatures, plants and items that would be found in a tropical habitat e.g. insects, lianas, spiders, snakes - including adjectives. Sort these into groups of one, two and three-syllable words and phrases, e.g. 1) snake, trees, rain, sky, hot, leaves 2) shadows, insects, tropics, stealthy, prowling 3) in the night, hunts for food, velvet paws, tearing claws, waving trees... Create new lines for Tigers about! using the song structure, but retaining the original line 7: Rousseau conjures up a jungle thunderstorm. Line 1: I syllable Line 2: 2 syllables Line 3: 3 syllables [repeated] Line 4: repeat line 1 Line 5: repeat line 2 Line 6: repeat line 3 Line 7: Rousseau conjures up a jungle thunderstorm Line 8: repeat line 1 Line 9: repeat line 2 Line 10: repeat line 3

Try making up a rap or chant in the form of a playground game, following agreed rhyming patterns e.g.

Beastly raps

Im a butterfly. [Tiger] My tums empty... Im a crocodile. [Tiger] My tums empty... [Tiger] Cant find supper Under this tree Nothing worth hunting Nothing for tea! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Tigers Hungry!
Tiger, Tiger Under the tree Tiger, Tiger Hunting for his tea? [Tiger] My tums empty I need food! Cos Im hungry

Y5 & Y6 Encourage pupils to take responsibility for developing and performing this rap, incorporating musical elements - e.g. dynamics (loud and quiet), tempo (pace), vocal texture (the two choruses can be chanted together) and instrumental timbre - to create tension and build atmosphere. Encourage experimentation with solo and group voices, adding improvised musical interludes, rhythmic patterns played on percussion: world instruments such as the caxixi, chekere or binasara would really complement the vocal work. Create new verses by writing alternative versions of the changing line.

Musical experimentation

Tigers going hunting

(*asterisks show clapped rhythms) Prowling through the jungle Over hill and plain Searching through the bushes In the driving rain Chorus 1: Tigers going hunting Tigers on the trail Tigers going hunting Tiger, do not fail! Chorus 2: Thun-der * * overhead Light-ning* * fills the sky Jun-gle* * wet and hot Tig-er * * passing by Prowling through the jungle Over hill and plain Parrots squawking overhead In the driving rain Chorus 1: Chorus 2: Prowling through the jungle Over hill and plain Insects buzzing in the grass In the driving rain Chorus 1: Chorus 2: Prowling through the jungle Over hill and plain Velvet paws keep walking In the driving rain

> Did the singing stay in tune? Did we listen to each other as we sang? > Did we keep in time and maintain a sense of ensemble with the accompaniment? > Did the substituted lyrics make sense within the song structure? > How could we improve the songs; make better links between verses? > Did the raps have a strong underlying beat (pulse)? > Was the excitement and atmosphere conveyed through the rap performances? > Should we ask for audience feedback? > Have we discovered more about the painting through our musical activities?

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08450 264 703 www.mesdirect.com sales@mesdirect.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thanks to Philipa Toulson of Folk South West (folksw.org.uk) for this brilliant song-writing idea.
Sue Nicholls is co-chair of the National Association of Music Educators' EYFS and Primary Focus Group These ideas presented here are part of a training workshop for KS1 & 2. Visit suenichollsmusic.com

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

IN HARMONY WITH MUSIC EDUCATION

KS2 LESSON PLAN:

DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

fast
THINK
80

Ironically, we sometimes come up with our most imaginative ideas when we have the least amount of time to think. The pressure of time forces our natural instinct and intuition to take over, so that ideas are more spontaneous and innovative. This may also apply to some of the children in your class who might surprise you with the quality of their thinking when working within tight time constraints. A couple of years ago, the Design and Technology Association led a successful project with primary schools in Shropshire called Butterflies in My Tummy. A major aim of the project was to provide activities for KS2 children to maximise their risk taking and innovation when designing. The good news is that they are all freely available. Just go to data.org.uk, click on 'resource vault' then 'non-members', and scroll down the page until you see the link. One of the activities, Extending the Range, is an excellent strategy to have up your sleeve when you want children to quickly come up with ideas for what they could design and make. During this activity, children are put in the position of a professional designer and asked to consider an existing range of products.

Today you will learn...

> To look closely at a collection of products and say what they have in common > To come up with quick ideas, using design criteria, for another product that could belong to the same range > To evaluate your own and other childrens ideas, using design criteria

them think about what they will say to the class:

> What is the range called? Why did you choose to collect them? > What do you like about their design? > Which is your favourite? > Are there any others in the collection that you dont have?

Starter activity
We all know that children in KS2 really enjoy the latest craze. Some of these involve children collecting products, such as soft toys or miniature cars or top trump cards that belong to the same range and have a number of characteristics in common. A few days before you plan to carry out Extending the Range, ask for volunteers who would like to bring in their collection of

objects to show to the rest of the class. It is important that what they bring in has been designed and made and belongs to a recognisable brand. It could be that a number of children own one product from the same range, such as a make of training shoes or type of bracelet, and might therefore work together to prepare a presentation. It is helpful to provide the volunteers with some questions to help

Explain to the class that during this lesson they will be learning some new skills as designers that will be really helpful to them in this terms D&T project whatever product they happen to be designing and making. After each volunteers show and tell, ask the class to say what their collection has in common? What

is it that shows they belong to the same range? For example, with soft toys, children might say they are all animals, furry, squidgy, have different characters and names, are funny to look at, can be made to sit up or lie down etc. Ask children to go through the same process for each of the collections they bring in and note the childrens ideas on your whiteboard. Drawing on their brand awareness, the purpose of this activity is to help children suggest the shared characteristics or design criteria for each group of products.

Main activities
Before the lesson, put together a PowerPoint slide with images of a collection of wellknown products that belong to the same range. A little bit of research on Amazon will help you to find out what ranges of childrens toys are particularly popular at the moment for the age of your class. Alternatively, you might opt for a familiar brand of fruit smoothies for kids, or training shoes from a manufacturer that is popular with children in your class. As a whole class, explore the range with the children. What are they? What range do they belong to? Who are they aimed at? Draw out and list the features of the products which they share, e.g.

Setting design criteria

branding, colourful, stylish, fashionable, comfortable, funky, cool, stylish healthy, fun, comical.

Tell the children they are designers with a mission: to extend the range! Using one Post-it per child, ask them to individually generate an idea for the next product in the range using words and/or a quick sketch. Put a time limit of five minutes on the activity. Ask the children to place their Post-its on the whiteboard or a display area

Evaluating ideas

so that all the children in the class can see them. Give some time for the class to look at and evaluate the designs. Ask them to decide which of the ideas meets all the design criteria and which ideas meet only some of the design criteria and arrange these into these two groups. You might also ask individual children to say which they think is the best idea for extending the range, emphasising that this means best in relation to the design criteria the whole class originally came up with.

> What is the range of products called? > Who is the manufacturer? > Who are they aimed at? > How do you use or play with them? > What do they have in common? > How did you feel about other children evaluating your idea? > How did you feel about evaluating other childrens ideas? > How did you feel about only having five minutes to come up with your idea?

USEFUL QUESTIONS

81

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gareth Pimley is a freelance primary education consultant, specialising in design and technology and whole curriculum development. For more information please contact garethpimley@btinternet.com or 01939 291103.

Follow up and assess

> When observing Extending the Range it is important to think about how effectively children are able to adhere to the design criteria when coming up with ideas. Compare this with the last time they carried out a D&T project. Think about how well they responded to the pace of the activity and the extent to which they evaluated their own and other childrens ideas in an objective way. > In design and technology the way to test how well children have learnt a new designing skill is when they apply it to design and make products. Children could apply a similar. approach to generating ideas as part of their D&T project for the term. Having evaluated a range of existing products which depending on the project might be toy vehicles, bags, money containers or different types of bread the children then come up with their own design criteria and rapidly generate initial ideas for what they could design and make.

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

www.tecniquest.org

KS2 LESSON PLAN: ICT

colours
TRUE
When I took on a Y6 class in the spring term, I used this lesson to help me get to know pupils in a short space of time. It involves planning and photographing self-portraits that capture children's distinct personalities. As well as giving you the chance to familiarise yourself with a group of new faces, the lesson also allows children to find out more about one another. You could try the activities in KS1, but I find it works best in KS2 where pupils find the creative combination of ICT, art, PSHE and English particularly engaging.

Ask children to capture their personality in a single photo and they will discover more about themselves and others, says Roger Billing...

Starter activity

Today you will learn...

88 > To understand that a single image can be planned and photographed to show a persons character and personality > To develop the ability to honestly share thoughts and feelings > To think about the composition of photographs, and how this can alter the mood of a picture > To develop descriptive writing through discussion and the use of a thesaurus

Introduce the children to photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz. A Google search will produce some good examples, but take care as some of her photos include nudity. Annie Leibovitz began her career as a staff photographer for Rolling Stone magazine where she rose to prominence throughout the 70s and early 80s. She continues to photograph famous people from all walks of life and children will enjoy looking at her portraits of well known faces such as David Beckham, Barack Obama, Brad Pitt,

Muhammad Ali and the Queen! Ask the children to think of words that can be used to describe Annie's portraits. The photos are visually striking and so should produce some great responses. Children are also very media savvy and I often find that their ability to talk about the technical components of a photo is quite remarkable. Now explain to the children that they are going to plan and take their own portrait photo. Discuss how this is a chance for them to show everyone else who they really are.

Planning the portraits

The children's first task is to draw up a sketch of what they would like their photograph to look like. This is an important part of the process and children should be given time to experiment and develop any initial ideas, while teachers and other staff act as supporters and questioners. Children should be encouraged to think of words that describe their personality and write these down around the edges of their sketch this will develop their self-awareness and assist with your questioning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roger Billing is deputy head at The Wroxham Primary School. See photos from his Emotional Photography project here: roxhamschool.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/ the-stunning-yr6-portraits-that-represent-them

Fig.1

Composing the photo

Children then move on to think about the more technical aspects of their portrait, such as camera angle and any special effects. Should the photograph be a close up or a wide angle shot? Would it be better to be photographed from above or below? Will they be looking at the camera or looking past it? Do they want the portrait to be black and white, colour, vignette (dark edges), or perhaps they have an idea for a different effect? Children should include their thoughts on the photo's composition in a 'key info' box alongside their sketch. This will help to make sure that the final picture matches what they have envisaged.

> What does this photo make you think about? > What type of person do you think this is? > What words could you use to describe your personality? > What camera angle would be best for your photo? > Would your photo be best in colour or black and white? > How can you develop the language in your sentence?

USEFUL QUESTIONS

89

> With the portrait photographs

printed out, the children can start thinking about sentences that describe their photo and personality. Introduce a thesaurus and talk about using the most descriptive, powerful words rather than sticking to the ones they

already know. The children can decide how they want to write up their sentences: either on the photo like the example (see fig.1) or on a small piece of card, like you would find in an art gallery. > The photos can lead onto circle time

sessions, which can really help with any issues you might have in the classroom, or in the playground. It always amazes me how much detail appears in the writing that follows the photographs, which is great for inspiring later writing in other subjects.

TEACH PRIMARY HIGHLIGHT

Follow up and assess

www.apfs.org.uk info@apfs.org.uk 0800 027 1939 0800 019 5220

FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS STIMULATION FOR CHILDREN SUPPORT FOR ART

I have run this activity with 15 cameras and I have also tried it with an 800 camera, it really doesnt matter. The thinking process involved in planning the photo is the most important aspect of the lesson. Children can work in pairs or small groups and take the photos themselves. Alternatively, a teacher or TA may want to operate the camera. Before taking the photo, the photographer should talk to his subject and check her original sketch to ensure the portrait matches her brief. When the photo has been taken, make sure that the photographer shares the image with his subject, asking the important question 'is this photo right?' Once all the photos have been taken, it's time to add additional effects using one of the many photo editing software packages Photoshop, Elements, Sumopaint or Gimp (free to download at gimp.org). Depending on the age and ability of your children, they can either edit and print the photos themselves, or you can do it for them. When the photos are complete and the individual is happy with the finished product, you can leave it there; or you can use the photos to develop descriptive writing.

Photographing and editing

THANK YOU!
JOE CARTER, EDITOR -TEACH PRIMARY

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