On Friday 12th February Year 4 had an exciting opportunity to visit Shireland Collegiate Academy to take part in an ‘Arts day’. The day consisted of: aspects of art, dance, drama and music.
On arrival Year 4 were split into their two classes – 4J began with art, dance and drama, while 4B started with music.
Upon their arrival at Shireland’s ICT suite, 4B were split into a further two groups – one to create a spooky soundtrack, the other to create music using instruments.
To create the Spooky soundtracks the children used a program called ‘GarageBand’. This worked in conjunction with the Apple computers and provided the children with plenty of sounds and background music. Next, 4B were given a stimulus picture and using their noticing and reasoning tools, they decided which sounds needed to be added. After creating their soundtracks, they played them to the rest of the group.
Then everyone made their way to the music room. There the children met three very talented Musicians (Dave, Jon and Brian), who showed them the different kinds of guitars they were using. They showed the children how to play each guitar (Bass, Electric and Acoustic) before teaching them to play a simple beat on the drums; as well as how to play the keyboards. To bring it all together, 4B created their very own ‘super-group’ and performed together using each instrument!
After that, it was time for the two classes to swap over. After a quick lunch Year 4 went along to the ‘Immersive Room’ where they learned two styles of dance: Musical Theatre and Contemporary. The children were thrilled to learn that they would be dancing to The Lion King’s ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King’ and found themselves in the jungle due to the special effects of the amazing projector screens on the walls! After mastering the upbeat musical theatre dance, the children moved onto a slower, more emotional and dramatic contemporary dance entitled Shadowlands’ again from ‘The Lion King’ production.
After rehearsing another excellent routine, the children were then given some time to draw and colour in characters from the Lion King film. The whole of Year 4 enjoyed a thrilling day at SCA and all of the children were asking when they could go back again!
Staff and children from VPA would like to thank everyone at Shireland Collegiate Academy for their hospitality and for arranging activities which made for a fantastic day out!
