19 | May | 2020

Archive for May 19, 2020

Matt’s first BJblog post.

Dear Ben Jonson,

Can you believe it has been almost 8 weeks since schools closed for most children? What a long time it feels – longer than the summer holidays! I am thinking of you all. I hope you and your families are all healthy and happy. I have spoken to most of the children in Coral Class on the phone and generally everyone is well, but a little bored. I completely empathise with this feeling, as I am feeling it too. Having said this, thankfully the weather is very nice at the moment.

What are you doing to keep busy in lock down? Have you completed the new outdoor learning yet? If not, please do check it out! Go to the Ben Jonson Primary home page, click the BIG, YELLOW home learning link, find your year group and click ‘Outdoor Learning’ in ‘Week 7 Activities’. Getting outside is a crucial ingredient for overall health; it triggers the body’s production of vitamin D, lowers high blood pressure, helps muscles and improves brain function.

Last week I went into school on Monday and Thursday to look after the few children that are continuing to go in. It was lovely to see them all, and catch up with the adults too. We focused on making and creating. Check out the pictures and descriptions below. If you want, you could try and make similar things at home too.

On Monday, we made Paper Mache Space Helmets. This was a big project that took a couple of days. The results speak for themselves though, look how fantasy they looked at the end! If you fancy making your own, there are step-by-step instructions with pictures on the hobby craft website. Click the link below.

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ideas/kids/how-to-make-a-space-helmet

On Thursday morning, we were animators with a simple Stop Motion app. The app is free to download from the Apple Store; it’s called ‘I can animate Lite’. It was a really fun activity that only requires a tablet/iPad and some plasticine. If you don’t have plasticine at home, you could use Play-Doh, toys like Lego or leaves from the outdoors. As you can see from the pictures, we also made a little studio with a large cardboard box and spare paper.

This activity needs time and a few helpers. If your family members are available (brothers and sisters are very useful), get them involved too. Give them specific roles like director, camera controller, set and props maker.

The key to this activity is patience – the more pictures you take (they are also called frames), the better your animation movie will be. The best way of demonstrating this is to download the app and have a play around with it.

For more information, have a look at the Tate Kids website. There are simple instructions and lots of great ideas. https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/make/art-technology/be-animator

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On Thursday afternoon, we finished off making board games. Guy started this with the children – I can’t take the credit for this great idea! The children thought about their favourite board games like Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly and Chess. Using these ideas are inspiration, they made their own games out of cardboard. The theme in school was all about space. Check out the pictures below to see what they came up with.