Specialist Team News

Visual Art

Welcome back to the art room! We spent the first few art sessions getting to know the amazing artist, ‘Frida Kahlo’. All classes will be taking a close look at her vibrant use of colour, Mexican cultural themes and unique self-portraits this term. Students will be using these artworks as inspiration to produce their own pieces over the next few weeks. All classes began our term sketching one of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits and I am so impressed with the work produced!

The Grade Prep’s were given an A3 photocopied face of Frida Kahlo. They then used a variety of colourful shapes and paper pieces to create an amazing headdress that was inspired by Frida’s love of floral arrangements in her hair.

The Grade 1/2’s will begin using their school photo portraits to create self-portraits. We will be using black paper as our base and oil pastels to create a sharp, colourful contrast. I can’t wait to see these come to life.

The Grade 3/4’s will be looking closely at the proportions of the face in preparation for creating their own self-portraits. We will spend some time practicing detail and accuracy when sketching eyes, noses, ears and the mouth.

The Grade 5/6’s will also be preparing for their own self-portraits but with a twist. We will be using a monochromatic colour theme using coloured paper to create the facial features and structure. 

Art Club

Art Club is a new activity which has started this year. Various year levels will have a turn to volunteer each term. The schedule for 2025 will be as follows

Art club started on Tuesday. We are offering up some Golden Tickets for Grade 3/4 students to attend Tuesday lunchtimes to create various interesting things. This week we made a variety of 3D, layered coloured flowers which will be added to our oversized Frida Kahlo portrait in the foyer of the office. Stay tuned for this one to go on display.

5 x 7 Art Competition

Over the holidays I attended the Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre in Altona to see all the amazing entries from across Hobsons Bay. It was lovely to see some of our students there and the art pieces they created. There are photos on the Hobsons Bay Art Society Facebook page if you are interested in seeing some of the other artwork entries. The mounted board with all the artworks will be on display in the office foyer from tomorrow. A huge congratulations to all those who participated and for our 2nd prize placement. We have a $100 Atelier voucher to spend and I’ll let you know what we purchased when it happens.

Art smocks

Just a reminder to bring in your Art smocks. Please hand them into your classroom teacher for storage. I recommend an old, oversized t-shirt or shirt with your child’s name on it. 

Warm Regards,

Marcia Evans (Visual Art)

Physical Education

Fortnightly Curriculum Focus in Physical Education – Term 2, Week 2

Welcome back to Term 2! It’s been fantastic to see all our students return with enthusiasm and energy for another exciting term of Physical Education.

• Prep: Revisiting key locomotor skills and beginning to explore simple team games to build cooperation and confidence.
• Year 1 & 2: Engaging in cooperative games and movement challenges that build teamwork and communication.
• Grade 3/4: Launching into our Invasion Games unit, with students learning about movement, space and strategy through modified team games.
• Grade 5/6: Exploring a combined unit of Inclusive Games and Net/Wall Sports, where students participate in accessible activities like seated volleyball and skill-based games such as badminton.

Sports Update

This week, all Grade 3–6 students will be heading down to the Newport Athletics Track for the Willy Primary Athletics Carnival! With events ranging from sprints to relays, high jump to shot-put, it’s a day that celebrates participation, effort and team spirit. It’s always a favourite on the calendar, and we’re looking forward to seeing every student have a go and support their house.

Good luck to everyone competing – and stay tuned to hear the winning house announced at our next assembly!

Warm Regards,

Paddy Gallivan (Physical Education)

Performimg Arts

Performing Arts : Keyboards , Xylophone and Marimba

Preps:

Preps have returned willing ,ready and eager to play the keyboards and xylophones. We are continuing with the elements of music and introducing musical symbols in readiness to play on a tuned instrument. 

Grade 1

The students are reviewing the African rhythms from last term and the alphabet and notes we use for the keyboard. Also creating their own rhythm composition using familiar characters from Pokemon, Minecraft and My Little Pony. 

Grade 2

The students are being reintroduced to the keyboard, also looking a Staff and finding notes on the staff. Learning the note names, plus listening the solfege scale (do,re,mi). Fing 'C' on the keyboard and xylophone.

Grade 3/4 

Keyboards are back and the students are reviewing pitch, the music staff, the treble clef and notes on a staff in order to play the  tuned instruments. Introducing the bass clef and discovering chords and how to play a sea shanty, "Wellerman." working on creating their own Sea Shanty.

Grade 5/6

Playing chords is the focus with the student this term. Learning about the major and minor chords and their differences. Hearing the distinct difference in how they sound.  Using a 2 note chord or 3 note chord whilst playing to popular songs with the chord transitions displays. 

Warm regards,

Faye Ferry & Lynne Georgiadis

Performing Arts Teachers   

LOTE (French)

OH LA LA!!

The term has started very strong with the Preps beginning their journey in the immersive setting of the French room. They were initially introduced to the French room with a walk through to identify and discover the world of France as a way to spark curiosity and inquiry. Very excitingly, the classes are being delivered in French only till the end of this term. Students get to engage using the English language while I respond to them in French the whole time, supported by tone and body language. Amazingly, the Preps response to it is nothing short of outstanding: They have displayed excellent focus and attention as they think that I cannot speak English and we are in the room for them to teach it to me. WIN-WIN!! Week 2 is showing a noticeable growth in the students who are already comfortable with the French routines such as hearing their names in French and responding to the roll all the same. Preps have so far explored the ‘Bonjour, Merci, Au Revoir’ and French alphabet songs. The verbal practise of simple words and sounds is being supported with introductory writing work in their brand new French books!

Year 1s have been exploring the days of the week with our ‘La Semaine’ song to prepare for playing the French cultural school yard game ‘Le Facteur’ (The Postman). This week students even experimented with their newly learned vocab by adapting it to the ‘We Will Rock You’ tune. That was quite a hit which means fluency is developing well!

Year 2s are working on creating a French book calendar to independently gather information from around the room about numbers, days of the week and months. So far, they have got the days of the week sorted and have analysed all the components required to create a fully structured date: Le jour (the day), le numéro (the number), le mois (the month), l’année (the year).

Year 3/4s have dived into the strong connection between France and Australia with the Anzacs’ involvement at the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. They have read as a class French content explaining the circumstances that lead both nations to unite and worked cooperatively to follow linguistic clues to take them to a comprehensive translation. Students pondered over Europe today and then as well as the geographical implications of France sharing its borders with six different countries 109 years, in a time of war. With language, geography and history coming together, students were humbled and able to appreciate the Anzacs’ bravery in what it means for the people of Fromelles to have their village still standing today.

Lastly, year 5/6s are currently attending French classes every fortnight till the end of this term. Our focus is on ‘La Cathédrale Notre-Dame’ as a continuation of the introductory conversations we had about it at the end of Term 1. In the context of its recent re-opening since its unexpected partial reconstruction, students now get to grow their perspective on this historically incredible ancient Paris landmark. Throughout the term, they will be in charge of completing their own inquiries to unearth relevant cultural and historical information. Those inquiries are being guided by prompt questions in French that students have to read as a class in order to decode and share before going off to find out about it.

Madame CRICRI