Lower Key Stage 2
Under each skill area heading we've listed the skills we'll be teaching to your children in lower Key Stage 2.
Exploring and developing ideas
- Develop ideas based on questioning and thoughtful observation, considering process and purpose with support
- With support, begin to make informed choices e.g. in paper or media
- Begin to adapt and refine ideas as they progress
- Use a sketchbook to gather and collate art works
Evaluating and developing learning
- Express opinions about works of art, justifying ideas
- Begin to form opinions on the ideas, methods and outcomes of both their own and others’ work, and sharing these ideas
- With support, begin to identify and describe ways in which art works might be developed further, perhaps making some adaptations
- Include some annotations of art works within the sketchbook
Great artists, architects and designers in history
- Discuss similarities and differences between works of art/architecture, artists or styles of art, using visual language
- Articulately express thoughts and feelings about a piece of art
- Replicate techniques and styles used by artists/architects/ designers studied
- Draw inspiration from artists/ architects/designers studied when creating art works
Drawing
Year 3
- Begin to understand different grades of pencils, exploring their qualities
- Experiment with drawing different shapes and forms
- Begin to use shading techniques to suggest shadow and light
- Begin to use hatching and cross hatching to suggest texture and tone
- Begin to consider scale and composition when drawing
- Begin to draw for a sustained period of time at an age-appropriate level
- With support, create and begin to understand the value of preparatory sketches
Year 4
- Experiment with different grades of pencils and other tools to achieve variation in tone
- Explore relationships between line, tone, pattern, shape and texture
- Begin to identify and draw the effect of light using a variety of shading techniques
- Use techniques such as hatching and cross hatching to suggest texture and tone with increasing accuracy and skill
- Begin to consider proportion, scale and composition when drawing
- Begin to draw for a sustained period of time at an appropriate level, including from observation and the figure
- Create initial/preparatory sketches in preparation for final piece of work
Focus artists: Norman Foster, Giorgio Morandi, Paul Cezanne
Painting
Year 3
- Begin to paint with increasing confidence, using a variety of tools and brush techniques
- Begin to experiment with different effects and textures e.g. colour washes, scraping through and colour blocking
- Mix a variety of colours independently
- Build confidence in mixing colour shades, tints and tones using black and white
- Use existing knowledge of colour wheel to explore complementary and contrasting colours with purpose
- Work with confidence on a range of scales e.g. thin brush on small paper
- Begin to name and identify different types of paint
Year 4
- Paint with increasing skill, control and confidence, using a variety of tools and brush techniques
- Paint using a variety of different effects and textures
- Mix a range of colours, shades, tints and tones independently
- Work in the style of a selected artist, without copying
- Begin to work on preliminary studies to explore media and materials
- Name and identify different types of paint, and their characteristics and properties
Focus artists: J. M. W. Turner
Printing
Year 3
- Print simple pictures using a variety of printing techniques with increasing independence e.g. relief and press
- With support, discuss use of colour, shape and style when planning printing
- Make repeating patterns, and replicate patterns observed in natural or built environments
- Begin to design patterns of increasing complexity and repetition
Year 4
- Learn about the use of inks, and their characteristics and properties
- Begin to make decisions on colour, shape and style of printing when working towards an outcome
- Use media and tools with skill to produce clean printed images
- Print precise repeating patterns, expanding experience of multi-colour printing (2 or more colours)
- With support, use a variety of traditional printing techniques, such as monoprint, block and press printing
Collage
Year 3
- Use a variety of collage media to create images from imagination, experience or observation
- Begin to experiment with overlapping and layering a range of collage media
- Begin to consider colour and texture (rough and smooth, plain and patterned) when creating collaged images
- Begin to select and arrange materials for a particular effect
Year 4
- Use a wide variety of media to create textured collages, based around a chosen theme or idea, from observation, imagination or experience
- With support, explore a range of collage techniques and apply these ideas in their work e.g. photomontage, paper cut outs and joiners
- Select and arrange materials with increasing awareness, for a particular effect or purpose or to express feeling e.g. colour or texture
- With support, explore working collaboratively on a larger scale
Focus artists: David Hockney
Textiles
Year 3
- Identify different forms of textiles e.g. felt, cotton, hessian, binca
- With support, thread smaller-eyed needles using finer thread
- Learn and begin to use a wider variety of stitches e.g. cross stitch and blanket stitch, with support
- Stitch directly onto fabric, following a pattern or design
- With support, cut and shape fabric, following a pattern or design
- With support, join two pieces of fabric together using taught stitching methods
- Gather and pad a range of fabrics and textiles
Year 4
- Show a developed awareness of and name a range of different fabrics and textiles
- With increasing independence, thread smaller-eyed needles using finer thread
- Practice and use a variety of taught stitches with increasing accuracy e.g. cross stitch and blanket stitch
- Stitch directly onto fabric with increasing accuracy, following a pattern or design
- Cut and shape fabric, following a pattern or design
- Explore simple weaving techniques to create a pattern, showing an understanding of the process
N.B. Textiles appears only once as a unit of learning in art at Thomas Jones, as it is predominately taught within the remit of Design Technology. Each year group will be taught one textiles unit per year, as part of Design Technology.
Sculpture
Year 3
- Begin to model and develop work in clay through a combination of pinch, slab and coil techniques
- With support, use simple tools to explore different ways of finishing works e.g. surface pattern, paint or glaze
- Use simple joining techniques when working with clay e.g. slip, score and blend
- Begin to work in a safe and organised way, understanding why
- Construct and join recycled, natural and man-made materials with confidence and purpose
Year 4
- Begin to show an understanding of pinch, slab and coil techniques, creating recognisable forms in clay
- Use simple tools to explore different ways of finishing works e.g. surface pattern, paint or glaze
- Join two parts successfully when working with clay, using taught techniques e.g. slip, score and blend, and hollows
- Work in a safe and organised way, handling tools appropriately and caring for equipment
- Begin to plan sculpture and models through drawing, model making and other preparatory work
Focus artists: Christo, Andy Goldsworthy