Beside the seaside - 1

On an end of year educational visit to the seaside, Y6 children sketched whatever view they chose when looking from either our lunchtime spot on the prom, or from the small harbour wall. They also made verbal notes in whatever format they chose: about colours, atmosphere, weather, etc.

Later, in school, they used both their visual and verbal jottings as prompts for making their own seaside picture in whatever medium they chose. (By this stage, late in KS2, they had had quite a bit of experience with each of many different ways of picture-making. They knew how to handle different materials, what sort of effect they could create and which they preferred - so their choice was a well informed one.)

I think these examples show clearly how each child produced a very individual, creative piece, even though they were all working from a given stimulus and had all been taught the same basic skills. They each looked carefully, but expressed what they saw in their own special  way.

(For anyone interested, notes on the teaching approaches that helped children towards these outcomes are on the COMMENTARY PAGES of this blog.)