Year 6 DT write up Autumn 2020
This half term Year 6 have enjoyed designing and creating their own Greek labyrinths.
The children studied the Ancient Greeks as part of their history learning. Before we started thinking about our own designs, we enjoyed finding out about the history of mazes and labyrinths and exploring images of famous mazes around the world. We spent some time thinking about our designs to ensure that they were fit for purpose. We had to be very careful when measuring to ensure that our dimensions were accurate and precise – this involved some maths skills too. When marking out our mazes, different sketching techniques were used to show lighter and darker areas. We had to make sure that we had one entrance and one exit. The children enjoyed adding in extra paths that led to nowhere!
To create our labyrinth we used cardboard for the base and art straws to represent the walls of the maze. We had to cut the straws to size, measuring each wall accurately from our plans. The children used glue to secure their walls. Over time, we found that we needed to refine some of our designs and make improvements so that the product was fit for purpose. After the labyrinths were complete, the children evaluated their product to identify what went well and what could have been made even better. Creating the labyrinths definitely reinforced the importance of measuring carefully and precisely.
Year 5 DT write up Autumn 2020
This term, year 5 have been busy making Viking longboats which include a pneumatic system.
First we looked at the design, materials and build of the real longboats and concluded that the Vikings had incredible DT skills of their own.
We carefully traced around a template of the hull, onto a cereal box, and cut it carefully using a craft knife and craft mat. We made accurate measurements of square doweling to find midway points to drill a hole, using a hand drill. We measured the round doweling to find 1/3 of the length to make the mast, which we then cut with a hacksaw. There was a lot of problem solving involved, where we had to sharpen the round doweling to fit snugly into the hole, before securing with a glue gun. As we used cereal boxes, we sometimes found the folds were weak spots in the hull, so we reinforced these areas with patches of card.
We had to talk a lot about using the tools safely and so we used blu-tac to poke holes in the card safely for the shields to be attached with split pins.
The boats also have to look good as a finished product, so we used a technique called decoupage, to strengthen and join the structure, and to make the boats look wooden.
Sails were attached with glue guns and a pneumatic system attached to make the sail “blow“ in the wind.
Time was also given to evaluate our finished products and think of alternate ways to make use of the pneumatic system i.e blowing a shield off the boat!
Year 4 DT Autumn 2020
In the Autumn term, the children in Year 4 worked on a combined Art and D.T project. The task combined making a cake stand and decorating the top with a Roman mosaic. The children learned how to make the card stronger by folding and gluing together layers; a process called laminating. The more tricky part was constructing the legs and ensuring the cake stand was stable and level. At the end of the project, the children evaluated their cake stands by identifying what had worked well and the skills they could try to improve next time. The children really enjoyed the project and produced some amazing cake stands; it was fantastic to see some children had even baked some cakes and made use of their cake stand at home!
Year 3 DT Autumn 2020
This half term, the year 3 children learned about the fascinating Egyptian civilisation and some of the famous artefacts uncovered.
During their Egyptian themed day, the children had the opportunity to investigate some of the artefacts and how they might have been made in ancient times. The children chose their own tools to carve varying lines and create different effects on scarab beetle amulets made out of soap. They also did this to engrave their names in hieroglyphs onto their own cartouche made from clay, after moulding, joining and smoothing their product. The children finished by glazing their dried cartouches with colours chosen to match their symbolic meaning.
