r our house models took a lot of skill and concentration!
Our topic for now is The 3 Little Pigs (and consequently, houses) and, as luck would have it, our classroom was flooded over the holidays and the removal men have had to empty it ready for a new floor to be laid. It was hard work and the men needed a tea break… See below how we were inspired by this!
Cookery this week was Oat Biscuits.
First of all we wondered how to melt the butter.
“Put it in the oven – it makes it hot….It will get all soggy.”
“It will be sticky.”
We watched it melt.
“It’s turned into sauce!”
“Does butter come from bread?”
“No, the farmer.”
“There isn’t a butter plant.”
“You make it.”
The children were very surprised to learn it is made from milk!
We made the dough then wondered what the biscuits would look like when they were cooked.
“It won’t stay all lumped up.”
“It’s gonna be flat.”
“A little bit hot and even might be crunchy!”
“They’re going to be sticky and crunchy.”
“They’re gonna look hard.”
“We won’t see the oats – we can see them now.”
“I think we can’t see the sugar and they will be really crunchy.”
“They will be a flat circle.”
We counted the biscuits. There were 11. How many could we have each?
At first we thought 11, but then realised that if 1 person had 11, they would be all gone!
And after that?
“Zero!... Are the other group going to make biscuits…So we could have 2 each!”
We needed to put the biscuits in the oven but how did it work?
“You turn the knobs.”
“Actually it’s made by electric. It’s something that makes everything go like the TV, microwave…it’s got wires inside it.”
“Not inside the oven ‘cause it will burn!”
“It won’t work anymore.”
“The wires are inside the metal.”
We looked in the oven.
“They’ve gone all flat.”
“They’re not the same anymore.”
In the afternoon the children became builders and after a while they needed a tea break, just like the removal men – luckily they had biscuits to eat too!
“I’m wearing ear defenders ‘cause of all the noise around – machines and concrete mixers.”
“This is for the concrete for the bricks. You press this button for a little bit of concrete and this for a lot.”
“This is a roof – he has to squeeze under to get in.”
“I’m going to make a plan.”
“These are solar panels…”
“These are the lights…”
“The solar panels are connected through here and here to the lights – wires.”
“Shall I do a satellite dish?”
“Look at our house now. It’s even more better. It’s got spy detectors to get the wolf.”
We talked today about how to make brick walls strong by putting them in a pattern. The children soon got the hang of it using the interlocking bricks.
Later in the afternoon we printed with bricks and lots of the children remembered the pattern!
Learning to draw a pig.
Last week we planned out next DT project – a house and this we work began in earnest.