"Stop Motion" Animation Project!

For the summer term, my class worked on a "stop motion" or "claymation" animation project. We were inspired by cartoons like "Wallace and Gromit" and "Coraline".

In groups of 3 or 4, the children began by devising a plot for their film. 
Next, we were ready to create our characters! Each child created at least one model. 
We began by twisting wire to make a suitable frame. This gave our models stability and stopped their body-parts from falling off mid-filming!! 

Wire bases and models in their early stages.


After making the base, we were ready to build Plasticine around the wire to create a 3D figure. We learned lots of clay handling techniques during this stage.

We then needed to work together to create the backdrop to our movie! Our old "Food Dudes" boxes came in very handy for this. 

One backdrop set up, ready to take photographs!


After weeks of hard work, we were then ready to start taking photographs! We used the school set of iPads to do this, but you could use anything! In between each photograph, we moved our models a very, very small amount. This helped our films to run smoothly. In the end, we took hundreds of photos!!

The last step was to turn our photographs into a movie! We used "Windows Movie Maker" to speed up the pictures, add captions, music and sound effects.

Both the class, and myself, were delighted and proud with our final results!






Papier Maché Hot Air Balloons

One of my favourite projects this year has to be our papier maché hot air balloons.
It was tricky to learn to cover the slippery balloon with paper and paste, but we rose to the challenge!
These balloons have been adding colour to our classroom all through spring and summer, they are just so cheerful!


Native American Inspired Totem Poles

I studied Native American culture with my class this year, we had so much fun!
As part of our learning, we investigated the history and significance of Totem Poles and then, we decided to design our own. 
I am very proud of the results!!


"Frozen" Shoes!

Here are another pair of painted shoes that I made in autumn 2014. 
They have been a huge hit in my current school. 
I have certainly had lots of people asking me if I "want to build a snowman"!!