Greek Almond Cake

Today the children baked this Greek almond cake. Very tasty!

Charcoal People

This week we had a go at drawing full body portraits. We used charcoal so we could make quick bold sketches. We worked standing at the easel which makes it much easier to stay clean. First we experimented to see what marks we could make with charcoal.

Next we took turns to pose. We used an egg timer to time 2 minutes for each sketch. I showed the children how to make quick stick men first, then widen the body and put in details.

Mum cheering By R

Mum cheering  By L

Mum on a stool by R

Mum on a stool by L

L on a standing by R

R standing by L

L on a stool by R

R on a stool by L

Book Reviews

Today the children had a go at writing a book review. First we read a story and read a book review from Amazon to get an idea of what to include. Next we wrote this book review together for the book Dear Zoo.

Rod Campbell made the book called Dear Zoo. Its about pets and if zoo animals are good for a pet. I like the pictures behind flaps; they're simple and dull. It's for babies a few months old; it's good for fine motor.  4 stars. 

The children then worked on their own book review. L wrote one for That's Not My Lion. 

Fiona Watt wrote the book That's Not My Lion. It's about feeling and finding the right lion. The pictures are nice and colourful. It's for big girls and big boys age 3 and older up to 7. They can just read it themselves. 5 stars

R did this book review for Each Peach Pear Plum. 

Greek Silver Platters

Today we made these Greek silver platters. They're made by covering a card plate with tin foil. The children drew a fight scene onto plain paper. Next they lay the design over the foil and went over it again with a pencil, this indented the foil beneath with the design. They're pretty hard to photograph because of reflections. Hopefully you can make out some Greek fighters, archers and war chariots.

By L

By R

Artist Study - Posing As People

This term we are studying the human form in art. You can read about our trip the the Art Gallery Of New South Wales (where we choose which artworks to study) here. As all our pictures and sculptures contain images of people we have had fun posing as the figures in the artwork. We have interviewed the people in the art works and also acted out what happens next.

Baklava

Today, to continue the Greek theme, the children cooked Baklava. It's really yummy but really unhealthy.

The first job was to layer the pastry with melted butter.

We added two thick layers of nuts and spices.

Whilst it was baking we made up the syrup to pour on top.

And here it is cut into slices.

Backyard Sports

This term Dad is teaching the children sports and ball skills. Today I snapped a few pictures during the first lesson.

Similes Poems

This morning we worked on poems using similes. First we made a poem together about the Sun. We brainstormed ideas about the features of the sun such as hot, bright and round. Next we came up with other things that share these characteristics. Then we wrote the poem together using our ideas.

The Sun

The Sun is like a camp-fire,

Warming people up.

It's orange like a mandarin,

Helping plants grow.

The Sun is bright like a rainbow,

Giving colourful light to people.

It's a circle like a satellite dish,

Looking up to space.

By R and L

Next the children used the same method to come up with a poem about the moon.

Brainstorm by R

Poem by R

The Moon

The Moon is a rock with holes like a colander,

Filtering aliens from Mars.

It's silver like a coin,

Shining to the Earth.

The Moon is a semi-circle like an apple cut in half,

Feeding a greedy alien. 

By R

The Moon

The Moon is like a coin,

Spinning in space.

It's like a freezing drop of water,

Dripping from an icicle.

It shines in the night sky,

Like the headlights on a car. 

The Moon looks like a crescent shape,

Like a boomerang in flight. 

By L

Weaving Fabric

Today we wove our own fabric just like ancient people did. Here are the children's colourful creations.

By L

By L

Ancient Greek Olympics

This week i ran a class for some of our home-education group on the Ancient Greek Olympics. Sadly running a class doesn't leave any time free for photographs!

First we had a short presentation about the Greek Gods and the Ancient Olympic games. Next I showed the children how to make a Greek art inspired flag - we will put them up together at our sports day.

By R

By L

We then had a Greek inspired morning tea of lamb kebabs, Greek salad, and tatziki.  The children cooked everything themselves as a team. I didn't manage to get a picture before it was all quickly devoured. Yummy.

Portraits

Today we had a go at portrait drawing. First I asked the children to draw a portrait any way they wanted; I gave no instruction.

By L

By R

Next I showed the children how to use guidelines to make their portraits more realistic. We used 2H pencils for this to keep the guidelines light. Once the guidelines were in we added basic shapes. Finally we went over the parts we wanted to keep with a darker 2B pencil.

By L

By R

We compared the 2 drawings and discussed which we thought was best and why. We talked especially about the placement of the eyes roughly half way down the head, not on top of the head.

The children also experimental with skin colour mixing. They used a basic recipe of lots of white, a bit of yellow and a tiny bit of red. They varied the amounts of each colour and added some brown to make a range of skin tones.

Mixing skin colours

We will use the knowledge we gained today in the next few weeks as we study the human form in art.