So how does this actually work? In week one the question was ‘Why do leaves fall?’ This led to discussions about the seasons, life cycles and habitats. To give an insight into the project, here’s an example of a warm up activity that the artists facilitated. All the children stand in a circle and there’s a small box with lots of photos of leaves, trees and blossom. A learner puts in their hand and chooses one at random. They respond to the photo with a movement and everyone copies. Several do this and then all the movements are linked together. Another example, is in small groups children are given a season each, they produce a mind map of everything they can think of related to that season. They bring those words and phrases together into sentences and produce their first instant poems.
During the feedback of each exercise, the artists are able to bring together the learning and further this by asking more questions. Children answer with both facts and imaginings. All are validated however we do introduce the vocabulary of facts, beliefs and opinions which is an important part of the KS2 science curriculum.
We’ll sign off with some of the interesting questions the children have suggested for next week’s explorations!
