Khalsa Secondary Academy's visit to Stanley Spencer Gallery

On Monday 16th June Year 7 Class 2 visited the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham to start work on their project which will be looking at Identity and Self-Portraits.

Before learning anything about Spencer and his artwork they started their project by making observations about him based on his self-portrait.  They then wrote a list of questions which they would like to find out about him and they explored the gallery to see if they could find out any more information. 

Stanley Spencer - Self-Portrait 1914

Paul Grandidge, Education Officer at the Stanley Spencer gallery, then talked to the group about Stanley and his art work. He told us about how Stanley loved Cookham so much that it became his nickname amongst his art school friends at Slade, he was home schooled by his sisters in his garden shed and how he was a very religious person.

Learning all about Stanley Spencer     

All Saints C of E School

As part of the Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead Museum Learning Project, Ms Strydom's Year 4 class from All Saints Church of England Primary School have been working on a 4 week project focusing on the Ancient Greek Olympics. 

We began the project by looking at the question 'what is art?'. After a discussion the students realised that there are many different art forms that we see everyday! They then created a mind map of all the different type of art forms associated with Ancient Greece - and there were lots of them! They listed things like sculptures, theatre and pottery!

We then learnt about the Panhellenic Games in Ancient Greece which were made up of the Olympics, Nemean, Isthmean and the Pythian Games. We talked about the link between art and the Olympics. In the modern day Olympics they used to have art competitions up until 1948!

We then looked at some different artists who had created artwork inspired by the Olympics.

Finally, we finished off by creating a 'random word poem'. We all wrote down as many words as we could think of that are associated with the Olympics on to pieces of card. We put them all into a box and each person picked out 10 words each. These words were then arranged into a poem! 

We then stuck them down onto paper and decorated them!

Wraysbury Primary School

On Thursday 5th July Wraysbury Primary School Year 1 ventured to Herschel Park to spend a lovely morning in the sunshine! 

Miss Clark's and Miss Forster's classes learnt about gardens in Victorian times and how before it became a park it used to be a private garden for the houses that surrounded it!

They looked at the Victorian features in the park and made Victorian style clay plant pots!

After completing a trail around the park they took pictures of some of their 

favourite things.

We are going to use the photographs for our art project which we will continue in the classroom next week!

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation Year 3 returned to Windsor Museum to curate an exhibition of their wonderful clay models inspired by objects in the collection.

The group researched their objects and learnt how to write museum labels and interpretation. They then wrote label cards explaining what object their model was based on, how they made it and why they chose to make it!

They learnt about positioning the objects in a case using perspex lifts and stands and making sure the labels were clear for everybody to read!

They also came up with a name for their exhibition. They chose 'Museum of Clay.' Everybody made a poster for the exhibition to try and encourage their friends and family to visit the museum to see their wonderful work on display!

The exhibition will be on display until 2nd July so make sure you visit the museum to see it! Visit http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/museum.htm for museum opening hours and visitor information.

Well done Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation for all your hard work!

Cookham Dean start work on their animation!

Mr Edmond's Year 3 Class started work on their First World War themed animation!

They have created two sets for their film - a trench and a convalescent home. After learning about convalescent homes on their visit to Maidenhead Heritage Centre the class decided to research them further. They looked at how big, fancy houses and buildings were turned into hospitals during the war and there was even one in Cookham Dean! Whilst they were researching they came across pictures of Brighton Pavilion so decided to make their set look like a miniature version!

                                           

They also made props for their sets including sandbags, rats, spiders for the trench and hospital beds and lamps for the convalescent home to make it look more authentic!

They also created models of their characters which included nurses and soldiers and they came up with a story before going on to draw a storyboard of it!

                                                 

Next time we will start filming our animation! Stay tuned for a premiere of it on this blog soon!!

Riverside Primary's Visit to Eton College Natural History Museum

On Tuesday 3rd June Riverside Primary's Willow Class visited Eton College Natural History Museum. 

They brought along their instruments they had made in the classroom and we started the day by creating a Willow Class orchestra and came up with a rhythm for each section to play on their instruments! After many practices, we recorded the rhythm and played it back so everybody could hear how it sounded!

After lunch, the students explored the Robin Hanbury-Tenison collection of ethnographic objects in the museum and they learnt all about the people who used them, what they are made from and how they are used. They explored a Nambiquara Nose Flute, Suya Arrows, Borneo Fishing Charms and a Penan Blow Pipe.

They also learnt about Robin Hanbury- Tenison, who is an explorer who used to go to Eton College. He traveled the world and met lots of different people. The people he met gave him many of the objects that we saw in the museum's ethnographic collection as gifts. 

The class then worked in smaller groups to write a story. They were set the task of writing a story with no more than 10 lines and it had to include the museum object they had been looking at and the main character in their story had to be Robin Hanbury-Tenison!

After the story was written they added some sound effects and they then performed it for the rest of the class! We also recorded their stories and added them to the backing track that we recorded earlier in the day!

Check back here soon to listen to the sound story they created!

Thank you to Willow Class for all their hard work on the project!

Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation's Visit to Windsor Museum

On Monday June 2nd Year 3 from Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation School in Slough visited Windsor Museum to start work on their creative museum project!

They started their day by learning all about how to be a museum curator. Louisa Knight from Windsor Museum talked to the group about what her job involves. She told them all about how she creates the museum displays, carries out research and how she cares for the objects by making sure they are kept in the right conditions and making sure they aren't nibbled on by any annoying museum pests and insects!! The class then asked Louisa lots of questions about her job and about the objects in the museum's collection.

After this the class explored the museum and chose their favourite object on display. They researched all about it by reading the label and asking Louisa questions about it. 

Then they used their artistic skills to make a sketch of the object...

 and then made a model of it out of clay!

Next time they will become museum curators and create an exhibition of their clay objects!