Planning a DT lesson

For our end of year play, our teachers decided to make our own production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; after the success of last years Joseph performance. In this particular lesson we have been planning then designing an invention to use in our play.

Before we could start we had to create our own learning objective and success criteria.

Learning Objective: I can design and create an invention that can be used in our play.

Context: Caracticus Pott's inventions, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Success Criteria: To be successful I can:

• I can draw a clear and labeled design; using annotation


• I can write estimated measurments for our invention


• I can use my imagination


• I can experiment with different ideas


• I can draw different views of our invention (Bird's eye, Side view, Rear and Front view)


• My design will clearly communicate my ideas clearly to others

Ext: I can begin to think about how the invention will function and the materials needed

Brief Description: We will design the invention (Vaccum machine) considering the size and design.

Plenary: All the members of our group will review the design against the success criteria. We will then consider what improvents we could make. We will create a target for the next time we design.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - costume design

Today in Year Six we prepared for our upper phase production,Chitty Chitty Bang bang. We split into groups of about six and each had a job to do.

One group did the designs of some of the main characters such as Truly Scrumptious, Jemima,Jeremy,Caratacus Potts,Grandpa Potts,Child Catcher,Toy Maker,Baroness Bomblast and the Baron. After we drew the characters we had to anatate each part.

Another group designed the car.They had to think about where each character would sit and what would look like.

A different group created the script for the production. They had to think about how the what the character would do and how they would feel. The last group thought about what they would like to do in the next literacy lesson. Here are some examples of the outfits for the characters:

Building a bridge

It was an experience that we would never forget. The design of the bridge-o-matic was stable and tough. As a result of this, ultimately in the end we won holding a staggering 13.6kg+ record. Nevertheless it was a real challenge. Our teacher had supplied us with only 2.5 meters of tape and 12 papers! The techniquie we used to roll the paper was to roll from the the side to make it stronger because more layers were inside the circle.Once we had rolled all our 12 sheets of paper we began to stick them together with sticky tape to form a winning platform.

The Winning Design:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Stop Motion Animation

In Year 6, we have been learning about Isambard Kingdom Brunel in our History lessons. This week and last week, we have been planning and making a stop motion animation video about one of Isambard's inventions (e.g Clifton Suspension Bridge).

First, we had to research facts about Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his inventions. Later in the lesson, we planned a story board about one of his inventions and made the characters that were in our plan,out of plasticine. This was quite tricky because we had to try to make the models lifelike and the plasticine was too hard to mould.

Groups models

Today, when we had finished our plastacine models, we started to make our stop motion animation film using Digital Blue Cameras . This was really fun and exciting but it was really challenging because we had to make every shot perfect. For example, we kept taking photos of each others hands which meant that we had to start our scene all over again. First, our teacher demonstrated to some of the people how to use stop motion animation. Those children who already knew how to use stop motion animation started doing their work straight away. Next, we had to stick our backgrounds onto our stage before we got started. Afterwards, started to film. We started by taking fifteen shots to start our film. Every other small move that we made, we took three shots. In the next few weeks, we will start adding extra bits like narration.

Here is an example of the initial scenes from our groups movie:

enlarging images

This term in year 6 we have been enlarginging images. First we had to take a picture and draw a grid on top of it. Then we had to use the grid to help us sketch the outline. Using techiniques from previous weeks, we had to then use aquarrel pencils. In our next art lesson we had to draw a bike using the same skills. After, we got to draw our shoes. We had to sketch the basic outline on to A5 paper then place a grid on top. We had to then draw the picture onto A3 paper. Next we had to use the aquarell pencils. Finally, we took pictures of our actual shoe and our drawings. We could draw the shoe from different points of veiw.

My ISPACE writing

Trickling over smooth stones, the crystal clear water flowed like rabbits searching for food.Emarald vines dangeled into the flow of calmness with trees reaching over to the opposing bank.Above the ripples and trickles steam rises to the the hevens high above.

Thundering like war horses,water cascaded over the towering cliffs water foaming and spraying in all directions.

I thought this was one of the best decriptions I have ever written I am happy and proud of it.

Building a motorised vehicles (part 2)

Hi all.

On the 10th of December, Year 6 continued with their project of creating motorised vehicles. The day before, they had created their chassis and was one step closer to making their vehicles.

That day, after maths, our teacher showed us how to make a circuit and attach it to the car. Everyone was raring to go and were all happy when our teacher sent us off. Excited, we all found our vehicles and grabbed the equipment that we needed for our circuit. We had to attach the motor to the batteries and the switch. Some people had two motors and some people had a lot of gearing wheels.

It was really hard for people to stick the circuit onto the chassis because it was so thin and the batteries would not stick on properly. Luckily our teacher saved the day as he was able to give gaffer tape to everyone.

Soon everything was stuck on and people were doing a lot of test drives. Fortunately, most of the vehicles worked.

Hopefully our car will win the race because it has two motors! See our car in action!