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The Redbacks Web

‘The painting of Psyche and Cupid was introduced by a group of Year 6 pupils, who had visited the Fitzwilliam Museum. Their interactive presentation and drama inspired the class. During the next art lesson the class studied the picture and analysed the different sections. They attempted close up drawings of sections of the painting. Through drama they learnt and acted out the story. We then planned and wrote our own stories and the class chose the one they liked best.

They chose the story of two Redback spiders who lived happily in their web. Everybody had lots of ideas about what it should look like and drew these in the sketchbooks. We discussed how we could make the pictures using collage and tried it out using different materials. We used photos of spiders to do observational drawings of our main characters using different mediums.

I met with a local artist, Lucy Burt-Grey and we discussed materials and design ideas for making it flow as one long picture/story board. On the day of the Big Draw we worked together, with parents as volunteers to create 6 boards. The different groups created the sky using oil pastels, cut pieces to create the trunk and leaves.

After a childs suggestion we used a glue gun to create the web. Finally we stuck on spiders, the slide, trampoline and chalk swish marks. When we made the green tissue paper background using PVA. As well as making strong literacy links this project inspired children to work together, listen to each others ideas and adapt plans that didn’t quite work out.’

Lyndsay Lees, Year 3 Class Teacher

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