Dress Rehearsals

As the time for performing our P1 - 6 Christmas production is drawing near, intensive rehearsing is well under way... The S2 drama class have been enjoying working with the primary in both acting and backstage areas and have taken on their responsibilities well. All the children involved are working very hard to learn lines, songs and dances for their roles in the play. We are looking forward to performing it and we hope you enjoy watching it too!

Sleeping Beauty

S2 & S3/4 drama students took a trip to the Theatre Royal on Thursday 11th to see Scottish Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty. Not many of the pupils had been to see a ballet before so it was quite an experience for everyone! In particular, the costumes were spectacular and the scenery very cleverly constructed. Some interesting facts we discovered about the production were that, despite all looking no older than 25, the oldest performer was actually over 40 years old and all the dancers know at least 3 or 4 different roles so they can swap round characters for each performance.

Christmas production preparations...

Yesterday Scott began making some of the props for the school Christmas production, Colours of Christmas. He made a shepherd's crook for Finlay (who is playing the chief shepherd) and some for the P1/2 boys. He worked independently using cardboard poles, wire, foam, masking tape and paint to make them and he has done a great job so far.

Today the class went to "Material Things" to buy fabric for making some of the costume accessories for the play - red scarves and gold material for the angel Gabriel. For making the scarves we had to select material that would not fray or need sewing. Eventually we chose a thickish, red fleece material.

Frohliche Weinachtsfest!

This week, in Broader Curriculum, the Christmas Across Europe group were visited by Soly from GERMANY!

We all got to taste some STOLLEN- lovely German sweet bread, traditionally made and eaten at Christmas. Christmas in Germany seems quite different to here in the UK- the pupils like the idea of celebrating St Nicholas' day early in December and getting a shoe filled with sweets!!

The highlight of the afternoon was the 'Make-your-own-gingerbread-house' kits that Mrs Mc Neal brought in... German children make these every year at Christmas. Look at the photos and see which one you think is the best
!

S3/4 and S5 Art and Design work

We have been working on a few different projects in the S3/4 and S5 art classes - some pupils have been working on their fashion design projects and have been making up their designs to life size, some have been doing internet research for their critical study unit and some have been continuing their expressive work. We have been fortunate to have the help of Jane Fraser and Linda Mitchell for some of the textile work.

Here are some photos of what we have been getting up to:

S1 Art

In S1 art we have been looking at using different media - we have been working with acrylic paints this week. Compared to poster paints, acrylics give a brighter colour and a glossy finish. They give a similar effect to oil paints and are what we use in the intermediate level art classes.

Broader Curriculum! - Sculpture Project 2

Sculpture Project 2

Our Broader Curriculum series on sculpture is going great! After project 1 where we were making 'super-hero' sculptures using materials from the recycling bin we move on to clay!

Again, the theme was super-heroes. This time we were looking at faces and masks and made faces out of air-drying clay.

We made a thumb pot type shape to start and then added features with other pieces of clay.

Once these were dry we painted them and finally, glazed them using P.V.A glue.

Next... on to full figures using wire frames and mod-roc! What fun!

Mr J :)

An Inspector Calls...

We have just started work on unit 3 in S3/4 drama. This is a production unit where the class writes a short play, works through all the production stages, takes on backstage responsibitities and then finally performs it at the end. We are basing our production piece on a play called "An Inspector Calls" by J.B. Priestly. Today we revised the plot and began watching the DVD to help give us some ideas...

Snowshow!

S2 - 4 drama students took a trip to the Kings Theatre in Glasgow for a unique theatrical experience called Slava's Snowshow. Slava is a very talented clown from Russia who has created the extremely successful and long- running "Snowshow". He and his group of clowns use bubbles, cobwebs, dry ice and water to create bizarre, dramatic and exciting images and scenes. There was lots of audience interaction, including a giant beach ball game, before the show finished by engulfing us all in an indoor snow storm!