Trip to The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 2017

Reception

Reception were very excited to go on their first coach trip out of school and we had a fantastic time at the Fitzwilliam museum.
We went in particular to look at a very old ornate cabinet, the children loved seeing the 'secret drawers' hidden in the cabinet, and we thought of lots of special things we would put in a cabinet like that, like 'my favourite hair clips', 'pirate treasure' and 'sparkly jewels'.
We kept looking up at the ceiling which was really fancy and 'super cool', we really enjoyed looking around the museum and lots of children said they would love to come back with their families to show their mums and dads the cabinet. Upon returning to school, we were busy making our mini museums and sticking in all our favourite items.

Year 1

Year 1 enjoyed their visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum as they were able to finally see the painting that they have focused on and been inspired by in the Art lessons this year (‘The Duchess of Southampton – Elizabeth Vernon’). Year 1 even got to interview one of the people that worked at the museum as well as spending time looking at the ceramic figures and trying to find people doing different things in various paintings.

Year 2

Year 2 really enjoyed their visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum. We worked in small groups and did lots of exciting activities. We looked really closely at paintings in various galleries and we were lucky enough to see the painting we've been learning about this year 'The Magic Apple Tree.' The children noticed how different the original was to other prints we've looked at. The original seemed so much brighter and we were able to see pencil marks and extra detail. The children also enjoyed working with the educational co-ordinators to build a poem about a painting we looked at.

Year 3

Year 3 went on an exciting trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum, where we had access to all the galleries to discuss, imagine and try our hand at sketching in similar styles. We were lucky enough to have a guided session in the flower gallery where we were encouraged to look closely at the paintings. We noticed that most of them had been painted in a similar style, with dark backgrounds and in a very realistic way. On closer inspection, we found a great variety of detail included in each painting, including; butterflies, moths, frogs, different fruit and even a monkey! We also enjoyed thinking of ideas for a King’s Hedges trail at the Fitzwilliam Museum, coming up with ideas like a ‘Where’s Wally’ style task, hide and seek and spot the difference.
In our teacher-led sessions, we enjoyed talking about the paintings in different galleries, saying what was good or bad about them and picking our favourites. We then independently sketched a painting of our choice and then wrote a creative poem about it; to help a reader to imagine the scene in the painting.

Child quotes:
Anna- We really liked looking around the galleries and seeing the paintings. Most of them looked like real photographs.
Gabriel- My favourite bit was when we tried to think of games for the trail. I thought of spot the difference and finding objects in a painting. I liked writing poems about famous pictures and having the chance to draw them too.

Year 4

Year 4 visited the Fitzwilliam museum where they had the opportunity to look closely at a wide variety of artwork focused on ‘water’ which has been our theme for the year. The children spent time looking at different pictures and then picked one in the gallery. As a team, they created clues for other groups to find their chosen picture – the children spotted lots of detail in the paintings and then explained which one was their favourite and why.
After this, the children then had the chance to go on a Monet hunt around the museum. Once they had discovered them, the children compared two Monet paintings; one showing a calm sea in comparison to a stormy sea. The children were inspired to write acrostic poems and even found time to sketch some of the paintings!

Year 5

Year Five visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Before the visit, we sketched our own interpretation of the paintings in the Dutch gallery based on descriptions. We then went to find our paintings by looking for similarities. We also looked at several of paintings in detail with the help of the museum staff and tried to unpick the stories behind them. Linked to that, we wrote weather symbols to match the weather in the paintings to form part of the King’s Hedges summer trail. We also went to the French gallery to see some different paintings that showed weather.

Year 6

Year 6 visited the Fitzwilliam museum where they had the opportunity to look closely at some of the artwork they have been taking inspiration from this year. The children spent time looking at a painting entitled "The Last of England" and had lots of in-depth discussions about what was happening in the painting. The children had lots of different ideas and were able to link these to current affairs in the world too. Finally, the children had the opportunity to discuss ideas about what had happened both before and after the 'Snapshot' of the painting.

Then, the children were given the chance to explore other artwork in the painting which had a thematic link to 'The Last of England'. When we got back to school, each child conducted a short presentation on the painting they had chosen which linked. After this, we had a discussion centered around the question "Is All Art Linked?" The children had lots of different ideas and expressed themselves confidently and with passion in front of the group.