Regular readers might be wondering about the overly long hiatus between posts. This, sadly, is due to the fact that I have fractured my ankle (dangerous sport, running) and am confined to quarters while it heals; restricted to photographing my early morning cups of coffee…..
the snow through the window…..
and the odd evening glass of wine.
Rest assured, I will be posting again just as soon as I am allowed to return to work.
What a colourful time we had last Thursday! We used all the colours of the rainbow in our patterned poetry-writing! And here is a selection of some of our favourite lines. Why not try reading them out loud as you look at the pictures?
Red, red are these juicy raspberries
Orange, orange is this morning’s sky
Yellow, yellow is the dainty daisy
Green, green is this slippery seaweed
Blue, blue is the shiny racing car
Purple, purple are velvety figs
Pink, pink is our favourite ice cream
Grey, grey is my sleepy cat
Can you think of any more colourful lines you could add?
With thanks to Mrs H for stepping into the breach…..
Some people are said to wear their hearts on their sleeves. And then there are those who wear them twirling round their toes and looped around their legs.
So many different socks. There are long socks…..
and short socks.
Multi-coloured socks…..
and bi-coloured socks.
Pinkish socks!
Pussy-cat socks!
Polka-dot socks!
Patterned socks. It would appear that the children in Class 2i have a penchant for patterned socks. Let’s take a closer look. How would you describe these socks?
How many pairs of stripy socks; can you count by two?
Matching pairs….
and – oh dear - even some odd socks!
Such pretty socks.
We learned a new game today. In art! Do you want us to teach you how to play? Well, you need a few friends, each with one long, narrow strip of paper, a paintbrush…..
and some paint.
First, think of a shape that you can paint; it needs to be one that you can repeat, so not too complicated. A diamond would work really well.
Paint your chosen shape, using your chosen colour, at one end of your strip of paper. Your friends will all be doing the same with their chosen shape in their chosen colour on their strip of paper. When everyone has done, say these words, ‘PASS IT ON’ all together, as you pass your strip on to the person on your left.
Then again, paint your chosen shape, using your chosen colour, next to the shape that will already be on the strip you have just been given.
Everybody ready?
‘PASS IT ON’!
And on; and on; and on. Until you get to the end of the strip of paper.
‘And what next?’ you might ask. Well, you have probably already spotted a pattern along the strips of paper. Which started with your shape, and then continued with the shapes from your friends, before making its way back to you for your shape a second time.
But why not take a look at all the strips from all your friends. How are they the same? How are they different?
How many different ways can you arrange them? Perhaps you can make the patterns line up in columns.
But how about trying to make them line up diagonally?
What about in one long continuous strip? However you decide to arrange them…..
I am sure you will agree that it is a great game. So why not ‘PASS IT ON’ to someone else?
Daniel arrived at school on Thursday clutching a very fancy woven briefcase. A very fancy woven briefcase, with a very fancy ‘criss-cross’ pattern. If you look closely, you should be able to spot how the pattern repeats. Even if at first glance it looks quite complicated.
But that was not all. Inside the woven briefcase (amongst a plethora of other patterned treasures) was a fancy woven place mat (that Daniel’s brother had made and allowed him to bring to school to show us; thank you Daniel’s brother!) This too had a ‘criss-cross’ pattern, a bit like a checkerboard. Can you spot how the patterns are the same? And how they are different? How many different colours do you see on each?
And now look at these. An oven cloth from Can (‘It’s made in China from cotton. It has a check pattern. You can see stripes and diagonals,’ he told us.) and a kerchief from Shinnosuke. ‘It has a pattern like this,’ he said, crossing his fingers. Quite.
Liv had lots to say about her napkin. After all, as she pointed out, ‘It is a complicated pattern.’ She went on to explain, ‘This is a pattern. It has all kinds of coloured stripes on it. Green. Dark green. Orange. Yellow. Light green…..’ Complicated all right!
More stripes from Alex and his feline friend.
‘Gold, pinkish gold with a bit of white. Stripes. A striped pattern.’
Next it was a quick hop to Asia with Leonor. She had brought some book marks, patterned like…..like what exactly? Where might you have seen patterns like these before? Enakshi was quick to tell us that she had seen something similar in temples in India. Further discussion led us to hand-knotted carpets. Which may very well have been the inspiration for temple decorations. Or vice versa.
Finally. Dhaluni (and her sister) had worked extremely hard to make this.
How amazing ! You should have heard us all gasp as she carefully took it out of the protective plastic sleeve. Do you need a closer look?
4 different kinds of seed (so a nice link to our previous unit on plants); peppercorns, red lentils, ‘gram’ or mung beans and red rice. All individually and precisely stuck in concentric circles.
Do you have a favourite pattern? Why not bring it to show us one day?
What a bright(ly patterned) lot we are in Class 2i; from the tops of our heads…..
all the way…..
down…..
to the soles…..
of our shoes!
Did I just mention tops of heads? How is this pattern…..
the same as this one?
And how is it different?
Stay absolutely still for a moment. And look all around you. What do you see?
Well, we’re in the classroom, so as you might expect, we can see ‘classroomy’ things like desks and chairs and books and pencils - and sprouting courgette seeds? (Well, it is class 2i after all!)
But take a closer look. What patterns do you see? How could you record the patterns you spot so you will be able to talk about them later? What about this one?
Look closely. How are some patterns the same? What are the similarities between this one…..
and this?
And how are they different?
What words could you use to describe them? This one is spotty!
How about this one? What shapes do you see?
I wonder. How many of the patterned things here can you find? They are all in the classroom!
