Christmas grotto in our Nursery

This Christmas we have built a Santa's grotto in Nursery. 

 

 

We have used the backdrop for last year's Christmas production, made by the Artclub, and  hung pieces of voille in front and at the side to create an area where the children can play. 

 

 

They have enjoyed dressing up in the Christmas clothes, using the elf masks to act and simply enjoyed sitting on the bean bags looking at the Christmas books and tree.  It is great to be able to show off our children's artwork once again!

Launching our new project - the Robin Hood Pom-pom Owl

 

 

At the Christmas Fair on Saturday I was busy helping people make pom-poms.  Many pupils brought their families in to make pom-poms that will make the Robin Hood School owl.

 

 

Why an owl? 

 

 After our fabulous sheep project I have some lovely coloured yarn that just needs to be made into something.  This kind donation came from Edward Hill and Co. at Hollings Mill in Bradford and the Robin Hood School community.

 

For the sheep project we had to use wool as the exhibition it was made for was celebrating British wool. For this project there are no boundaries in what we can use, so wool, cotton, mixed yarns and feathers can all be included.

 

The creams, browns, blacks and greys are just the colours I would want to use to make an owl.

 

 

Of course, the Owl is synonymous with Leeds.  Owls appear on the Leeds Coat of Arms. Around the city centre, owls appear in many places - in Millennium Square, on St. Annes Cathedral and in the Leeds Tapestry, to name but a few. When I started researching the Leeds Owl I found out there are so many that there is a Leeds Owl trail where you can find the owls throughout the city www.leedsowltrail.com/.

 

At the fair I set the challenge of designing the Robin Hood Owl and many took me up on that challenge.



Lots of you have asked when we are having another pom-pom day in which every child in school makes a pom-pom.  The finished pom-pom will make up the finished owl.  This I will organise, so watch this space!

 

 

So thankyou for all your making - I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did.

Robin Hood welcomes the Armley Mill's Sheep

The sheep made by Sarah Barton at Armley Mills has arrived in school.  Miss Hinton has found a home for it in our new reading area.  She said that as the sheep was so colourful it just looked perfect here.

The sheep was made for an exhibition at Armley Mills to celebrate British wool in October 2012.

Every child in our school made a pom-pom from wool which has made up the body of either this sheep or the Robin Hood Primary School Sheep.  Mums, Grandmas, Grandads, sisters, Friendly Faces all helped and as we had so many, we could make two life-sized models. 

They are now both on display in school for you to see.

I hope you like them.  Can you recognise the pom-pom you made?

Visit to Hollings Mill, Bradford

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Hollings Mill in Bradford.
The Mill's owners Edward Hill @ Co. kindly donated much of the wool for the Pom-Pom Sheep project.

Mark Hill showed me around the mill.  It has been a working mill since 1830 and is four floors high.
Mark talked me through the various stages in producing a ball of wool and I saw all the fascinating machinery, much of it had been there for many years.  One of the machines had the maker's stamp and year it was made which was 1930.

There was machinery which unwound wool from cones into hanks to make it suitable for dying and machinery that turned the hanks into balls of wool and I learned there are different ways to wind a ball of wool. I saw where the wool was "relaxed" which is like a sauna for wool!  This makes the wool soft. Another machine created fancy designs which had metallic threads woven into it, whilst Mark showed me a catalogue of all the different effects that can be made, dating back decades.

 

 



Wool can be manufactured here to individual requirements for customers all over the world and it's right here in Yorkshire!

 

 

So thankyou Edward Hill @ Co for donating some fabulous wool.  This is the sheep we made here at Robin Hood Primary School.

Introducing the Armley Mills Pom-Pom Sheep

Can I introduce the sheep made at Armley Mills by Sarah Barton and her team.  It is on display there alongside other pom-pom sheep to celebrate British Wool Week which starts on the 15th October. 

 

 

All the pom-poms have been made by Robin Hood Primary School pupils and it's community, and put together to make this life-sized sheep.

 

 

The other contributors to the exhibition are Hilltop Primary School, Halton District Brownies, Moortown Nursery, The Leeds South East Trefoil Guild, Batley Hall Nursing and Residential Home, Visitors to the Museum's 30th Birthday Party and members of the Museum's staff.

 

The idea for the exhibition was inspired by the "Join the Flock" project run by Eden Arts in Cumbria where they turned pom-poms into mini sheep.  At Armley Mills they decided to make life-sized sheep from pom-poms so the museum could have it's own flock.  As a life-sized sheep takes so, so many poms-poms it was decided to have sheep of varying sizes - which are all unique and very appealing.

 

 

The sheep will stay at Armley Mills until the end of October and then it will come to school so we can all see how fabulous it is. You could even try to recognise the pom-pom you made. 

 

Thankyou to Sarah Barton and her team for giving us a wonderful project to work with, Edward Hill and Co. Ltd of Bradford for donating such a lot of the wool for our sheep and all the Mums, Grandmas and helpers who made extra pom-poms....

 

I know the children have enjoyed making the pom - poms and now we have them on display in a Museum where people can see them and enjoy them too. 

 

 

 

Armley Mills Pom-pom Sheep Exhibition dates...

The Robin Hood Primary School Sheep made by Sarah Barton at Armley Mills has been completed.

 It is ready to go on display on Thursday 4th October.  It can be seen there until Wednesday 31st October.

 

It has been made from the pom-poms made by the pupils during a "whole of school" activity and then by the community after school, who made a lot more.

 

In total we made 300 multi-coloured pom-poms which I delivered to Armley Mills during the summer.

The sheep will be part of an exhibition to celebrate British wool and will be shown alongside other group's sheep of varying sizes.  We can't wait to see it.....

For details about Armley Mills please visit their website at www.leeds.gov.uk/armleymills

Pom-Poms delivered to Armley Mills

The pom-poms made by the Robin Hood Primary School community have been safely delivered to Armley Mills.  Three hundred pom-poms in different colours were taken to the mill where Sarah Barton is going to turn them into a sheep which will be displayed alongside other pom-pom sheep made by groups in Leeds in an exhibition to celebrate British wool. 

 

 

Whilst we were there we dropped into a workshop where we discovered some Victorian games and made a splendid peg doll.

 

 

 

We wandered through the old rooms looking at the original sewing machines and looms.  We dressed in Victorian clothes and read all about how life in the mill was when it was once the largest woollen mill in the world, exporting its goods to North and South America, Europe and the Far East.

 

 

 

 

We had a lovely afternoon and cannot wait to go back to see our Robin Hood Primary School Sheep in the exhibition!  You can visit Armley Mills website at www.leeds.gov.uk/armleymills. Watch this space for exhibition details.

Artclub Visit to Beechwood Dental Care, Woodlesford

On Thursday 19th July the Reception Artclub were invited to Beechwood Dental Care in Woodlesford to view their paintings they had been creating all term.

The three paintings are inspired by children's stories all about losing teeth.

The first painting as you enter is based on "Titus's Troublesome Tooth" by Linda Jennings and Gwyneth Williamson.  The children have retold the story in comic strip form, depicting all the gruesome ways Titus the Goat's farmyard friends suggest they help get his tooth out!

The second painting is inspired by "Tooth Fairy" by Audrey Wood.  The painting shows the Tooth Fairy Castle made from all the teeth she has collected (the Tooth Elves are still adding to it). The Tooth Fairy can be seen showing two children around the Hall of Perfect Teeth where perfect teeth are displayed on plinths (each pupil has their name on a plinth).  Underneath in the Tooth Dungeon the Tooth Robots are cleaning the "not so perfect teeth", making them beautiful again!

The third painting based on the book Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman depicts Bear, with a wobbly tooth and his friends, Mole, Hare, Badger, Wren and Owl trying to pull it out!

We had a lovely time showing our families and friends what we have made. To see them up in the place they were designed for added to the whole experience.

To see how we made the paintings visit http://artandcreativityrobinhood.blogspot.com

Thankyou to Mr and Mrs Reid, Practice Principals, for letting our children be artists.

Summer Reading Challenge at Rothwell Library

Robin Hood pupils were asked by Rothwell Library if they would create some art work to promote the Summer Reading Challenge that takes place throughout the summer holidays.

They asked if the pictures could have a sporty theme and could include the characters that are featured in the "Storylab", which is part of the Summer Reading Challenge.

During this half term Years 3 and 4 topic was Sport. Year 3 had an ideal opportunity to undertake this project whilst Year 4 were at Rothwell Sports Centre, improving their swimming. 

The challenge to Year 3 was to draw a character from the Storylab doing a sport they imagine they would love to do.

Caroline Higson-Blythe and one of her colleagues from Rothwell Library recently came in to talk to us about the Summer Reading Challenge during our Monday Morning Assemblies.

Pop down to Rothwell Library to see if you can spot your art work and get involved with the Summer Reading Challenge.  It sounds great fun!

New art work exhibited at the Children's Centre

The Children's Centre in Lofthouse have a new display of art work up by Robin Hood Pupils.
It has been created by our Key Stage 1 pupils and is art made during the Rainforest topic.

It is featured in the main mall at the Children's Centre and will be seen by lots of people who visit there.

In September Key Stage 1 Artclub will have the exciting opportunity to work on a real life art installation at the Children's Centre.  This is a project to design and create sculptures based on butterflies and other flying insects for the Community Room there.

We will be drawing, painting, printmaking and creating three dimensional wire structures to suspend from the ceiling.

This room opens out on to the Community Room in which our "Under the Sea" animals are displayed. 

If you are in Key Stage 1 and want to be in the Art Club to take part in this fabulous project then complete the "Clubs" letter which you will receive when we start back to school in September.

Latest displays at Artforms, the West Park Centre, Leeds

On Friday Mrs. Mistry and myself set off to Artforms - The West Park centre, Headingley, Leeds to display some of our fabulous artwork created at Robin Hood.

As the meeting rooms there have such vast walls we are delighted to be able to display the "Year 5/6 Classroom Painting" that was painted by KS2 Artclub for the Year 6 summer production in 2011.

It could not be in a more appropriate place! 

In one of the meeting rooms we have displayed the set of 12 Easter paintings Years 3/4 designed and made for the Easter celebration Assembly.

Our huge thanks to West Park for letting us use this space.  As their meeting rooms are so big, we are able to display all these pieces together which allows the visual story to be told without a break.  It would not have the same impact if it was in two different locations.

This space is perfect for the "Ransom Art" which Year 5/6 produced after their visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

I hope many people enjoy looking at this art...