This week, in English, Year Two have started to read their new text – One Day on Our Blue Planet: In the Ocean.
For their book launch, the children were told that they were going to create a piece of artwork linked to their new text. However, at this point, the children didn’t know what their new book was. Each group was given a different animal to draw, including dolphins, manta rays, turtles, whales and jellyfish. First, the children drew the outline of their animal in pencil. Then, using oil pastels, they added detail and colour. Once they had completed their drawing, the children painted over it using blue watercolour paint. This created the effect of the animal being underwater. The children learned that this type of artwork is called a wax resist. When they had finished, the children were able to identify that all of the animals they had drawn lived in the ocean and their new book was revealed.
Although the children were very eager to listen to the story, before they did, they made some predictions. They were told that the dolphin in the story helps another animal to solve a problem. The children had some fantastic ideas about what the problem could be and how the dolphin might help. For example, some of the boys and girls thought the animals might be tangled in plastic or taken to an aquarium. The children thought carefully about the solution to their problem. Some decided the dolphin would untangle the trapped creature, whereas others plotted a great escape from the aquarium tank.
