Art of Argentina: collage in the style of Antonio Berni

Ospreys learned about the life and work of the Argentinian artist Antonio Berni, as part of our class World Awareness weeks. We learned that Berni eventually gave up painting to focus on sculpted collages, telling stories of the lives of two fictional characters, Juanito and Romona. We looked at different works that he created throughout his life, from early surrealist paintings to later scrap collages. He often used recycled waste materials to make his pictures, and in his work shows how people are causing pollution. Ospreys used lots of different materials for their collages, sticking pieces on to a black background to make a picture. Pupils finished their pictures with painted colours.

Claymaking for World Awareness

The final activity for Ospreys’ World Awareness came on Friday, when we were visited by Julie Fowler. Julie guided us through the stages of modelling a capybara from clay. The capybara is a large species of rodent native to Argentina. Earlier in the week, pupils had found out facts about capybara, and made a sketch of one in their topic books. Children had to follow each stage to model the torso, neck, head and legs of the animal, carefully studying images displayed in class to capture the curves and bumps of the capybara’s shape.

Argentinian Chipas for World Awareness

Ospreys were busy in the kitchen this week, cooking a recipe from Argentina as part of our learning about the country for World Awareness. Chipas are a cheesy baked snack, which are popular throughout South America. Pupils blended baking powder and tapioca flour with grated hard cheeses, mixed in an egg beaten with milk, and then kneaded everything to a smooth dough. We divided each batch of dough to make two Chipas each, which were then baked for 20 minutes until crispy crusted and golden brown.

Maths Passport Travellers

Tuesday 16th October

Congratulations to these three pupils from Ospreys who moved up to the next continent in their Maths Passports this week. They were able to complete all recall test questions within five minutes, and then successfully answer a number of quick fire verbal questions from Mr. Payne. Well done all of you!

Art of Argentina: the paintings of Xul Solar

Ospreys today found out about the life and work of Argentinian surrealist artist, Xul Solar, who painted colourful, dreamlike visions of future worlds, landscapes and buildings. After discussing some of his most famous pictures, Ospreys used features of his work as inspiration for their own art. We began by making a careful sketch, before beginning painting with a background wash of thin colour, then adding smaller details with bolder colours. Pupils explored using vivid colours and let their imaginations run free.

World Awareness: Playground Games from Argentina

Ospreys had a fun afternoon learning some traditional games that children enjoy playing in Argentina. Carolina showed us three playground games. Mancha is a tagging game, where the person tagged must stand still with their hands raised until they are released by someone else crawling through their legs. For Pato Nato, children sat in a circle, while one child touched each person on the head, saying, Pato, until they said Nato! When Nato was said, they were chased around the circle by the person tapped, to try and get right around and back into the spare place before being tagged. In Uno, Dos, Tres, Pelo, Pelito es!, one child had to turn their back, saying the words Uno, Dos, Tres, Pelo, Pelito es!, before turning around. The rest of the class had to creep up the playground as far as possible, without being seen moving. Anyone seen moving was sent back to start again.

Maths: Fractions of A Number

What is 1/3 of 12? What is 1/4 of 20? What is 1/5 of 25?

These were some of the questions which Ospreys were today grappling, as we looked at finding fractions of number. We discussed how a number could be thought of as being one whole, and then divided equally into a different number of equal pieces. Some pupils used counters to share out the required number equally.

Science: Outdoor Learning with Stroud Valleys Project

Ospreys were today visited by Tamsin from Stroud Valleys Project, who explained to the class the different ways in which plants spread their seeds. We learned about winged seeds, parachute seeds, water born, juicy fruits, hard nuts, shakers and explorers: all methods used by plants to disperse seeds. We looked at examples of seeds and completed a quiz to identify different methods of dispersal. We then went out and about around the school grounds and on the field, to explore what different types of seed might be found. Pupils found that their pots were soon very full with a wide variety of berries, sycamore seeds, acorns and all kinds of fluffy and spiky seed pods. Finally, we brought them all back in to class to compare what we had found. Thankyou to Tamsin for a fascinating and fun morning, and we look forward to welcoming her back in the Spring, when we will learn about pollination.

Textiles for World Awareness

Today Mrs Nichols came to visit Ospreys, to show us how to make a bookmark with a threaded pattern. Pupils looked at some traditional Argentinian weaving patterns for inspiration, and noted the diamond and geometric striped patterns of different colours, before choosing a colour and getting to work with needle and thread.

Poetry Homework

For homework this week, Ospreys will be learning a poem by heart. We have written our own Autumn acrostic poems, and will continue looking at poetry in Literacy. Pupils will need to copy out and learn one of the two poems below, in order to recite it aloud in class at the end of next week. Our spellings tests will be on Monday next week, when new homework spellings will be given out. Ospreys also took home a Maths Passport practice sheet today, which should be handed in by next Thursday.