Hokusai’s half-term included several highlights such as the children’s first school trip, a meet the musician lesson with the BBC Proms and even a VIP lunch in the community room! The children learned all about the human body and how it works so effectively, plus we enjoyed getting stuck into reading Bill’s New Frock and writing about The Skeleton Girl.
Music
We had an enjoyable cello workshop where we got to meet the talented Michael Atkinson, who plays in the BBC Symphony Orchestra. We joined in with claps and stamps as he taught us about the different parts of an orchestra, the importance of rhythm and how to play as an ensemble. We listened to different pieces of music from Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Latin America that helped us to appreciate the cello, and we had lots of questions for the musician at the end of the session.
French
Learning the names of different body parts was our main focus this half-term. Now that we know words like les yeux and la bouche, we will use these along with the shapes and colours we have already learnt to create and describe our own faces in Spring 2. Madame Bellaloui is very happy with the progress we have made already this year.
A Trip to the Science Museum
Syeda: When we visited the Science Museum, we looked at different things like bones, bodies and organs. I explored the body parts and I saw brains.
Alexia and Taqwaa: We went to two parts of the museum. One area was about medicine and things that can save our lives. The other area was a collection of unusual objects linked to the human body on lots of shelves and cabinets. We thought we saw a doll’s house, but it was actually a mini hospital.
Khadija: I enjoyed going on the little hunt for skeleton parts in the exhibits – the eyes in the jar made me jump. I think the museum would be a good place for a science lesson.
Aleena and Mechid: We learnt more about what human bodies look like on the inside, and there was a display about your emotions.
Manha and Umar: The museum was magnificent! The dusty bones and shaking hands with the tall, golden statue were our favourite parts.
Uthman: I would recommend this place to someone who is studying the body because they can learn a lot from the special artefacts here such as things about the blood and the skeleton.
Yahya M: I saw that there are some people who have an ambulance on a bike. They wear helmets and have a bottle and special equipment. I’m going to recommend the museum to my family because they love science.
Art
We loved getting mucky while making plaster sculptures in art. Our pieces were inspired by the work of British artist Henry Moore, who has famous works of art in public spaces around the world. We worked with a partner to create a maquette (a sculptor’s small preliminary model) – this was a way Henry Moore worked before he moved on to his final large sculptural works. We have almost finished our maquettes and are looking forward to sharing the finished works with you soon.
