Remote Guest Lecturing
A BBB room for guest lecturers to use when they come in and use our facilities to broadcast to the whole school.
For example... Assemblies where we normally have guest speakers like Andy Filkins giving important safeguarding advice.
String Art
Many thanks again to Ms Downing for putting together some inspiring ideas on making fun art using wood, nails and string!
Friendship Bracelets
From super easy to complex - nothing is nicer than the gift of friendship.
Pom-poms
Many thanks to Ms Downing for her fun take on an old favourite - use her simple guide to make a pom pom hanging decoration.
Learn to Knit
In 2003 an article appeared in the New York Times about a primary school teacher who taught her class how to knit: ''Knitting is like sleeping,'' said one of the students, ''It's so quiet,'' said another. ''I'm usually very jittery, but when I knit, I calm down.'
The teacher taught 85 children and 20 adults how to knit. Although it started as a winter activity during break times, It grew so popular that the sessions continued through spring and summer up until the last day of school. They resumed as soon as school started in September. By the time the article was written, more than 250 of the school's 535 pupils were knitters. The principal has learned to knit along with the children.
Knitting teaches success through persistence, concentration, control, follow-through and mastery. Knitting itself improves fine-motor skills, hand-eye coordination and brain development. The children said they just liked it. ''When I'm bored, I knit,'' said one 10 year old. ''With knitting, you don't have a care in the world,'' said said another.
Make your own Musical Instrument
Many thanks to Miss Jones in Music for a miriad of ways to make noise over Easter! As with all of the activities, hand in a photo (and/or a video) of your musical creation to win a prize!
Pop-up Easter Cards
Many thanks to Mr Sidwell in DT for a fun way to create Easter cards!
Origami
Origami is a Japanese art form, the word is derived from the Japanese ori meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper".
The traditional paper crane is probably the most famous of all origami models. It’s designed after the Japanese red-crowned crane. In Japanese mythology this crane is known as the “Honourable Lord Crane” and it wings carried souls up to heaven.
An ancient Japanese legend promises that if anyone folds a thousand paper cranes they will be granted a wish by the gods. In same cases you are granted happiness or good luck.
In Japan the crane is said to live for 1,000 years which is why one must fold 1,000 of them. You have to keep all the cranes to get the wish though. If you fold one and give it away that one doesn’t count.
The origami crane’s popularity is largely due to a children’s book written by author Eleanor Coerr called "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes". You can find out about her story below.
After you have made your own crane, try some of the other fun origami animals, or find your own from the many tutorials online. Origami paper can be made from A4 paper or spare magazines etc or is readily available online.
Sock Monkeys
The Sock Monkey is listed by Time Magazine as number 8 in it's 100 Greatest Toys of all time.
Home made toys for children had been popular since Victorian times, with the monkey and elephant the symbol of the exotic newly-colonised Africa. In 1929 America Suffered a huge stock market crash and during the 1930's there was a worldwide economic depression, meaning home made-toys were often the only toys children could own.
The Nelson Knitting Company created the first no-seam socks during the 19th century (in Rockford, Illinois). They were hugely popular with working families and soon copycat socks began to chip away at their business. A red heel was added in 1932 to assure customers that they were buying the original. As needs must during the Great Depression, mothers soon made use of this red heel as the mouth for an easy to make homemade toy that could be produced from a worn out sock. It was not until the 1950s that the Nelson Knitting Company acquired any kind of patent for a sock monkey, despite the fact that they had been including a pattern with each pair of Red Heel Rockfords for years.
The sock monkey is now seen as an important part of American childhood and has appeared in numerous films and books over the years.
