Specialist Update
Prep Visual Arts
Our Prep students have had a wonderful time exploring the world of Visual Arts this year. They have been learning about the art elements of colour, line, space, shape and form, using these to express their ideas and creativity.
Throughout the year, students have experimented with a range of materials and techniques, including painting, drawing with pencils and oil pastels, clay modelling, paper construction and collage. These hands-on experiences have encouraged them to develop confidence in making and sharing their own artworks while exploring different ways to communicate ideas.
There has been great excitement in the Art room as students prepare their artworks for the upcoming Art Show. They are looking forward to sharing their creativity and celebrating all they have achieved.
Year 6 - Steam Punk
Here is a sneak peek of some of the AMAZING steampunk creations our Year 6 students have been busily working on! They have been learning about the steampunk retro-futuristic movement, which blends 19th-century Victorian aesthetics with imaginative steam-powered and clockwork technology. Through this project, they have designed and created 3D models while developing their creativity and modelling skills.
Be sure to check out their incredible work at the Art Show at the end of this term!
Italian Specialist Showcase
It was wonderful to welcome families to our Italian Specialist Showcase! Parents joined their children for an interactive Italian lesson, where they learnt how to greet one another with "Ciao!", ask "Come stai?" (How are you?) and introduce themselves with "Mi chiamo..." (My name is...). Our students were fantastic teachers, confidently coaching their families through each conversation and proudly sharing their learning.
Families then explored some of Italy's most famous architectural landmarks before taking on the Leaning Tower of Pisa Challenge. Using only spaghetti and plasticine, families worked together to design and build the tallest free-standing tower they could, with the goal of keeping it standing for 10 seconds. There were some incredibly creative and impressive engineering designs, with students and families demonstrating excellent teamwork and a touch of ingegno (ingenuity)!
It was an absolute pleasure to share a glimpse of what our students have been learning in Italian. Grazie mille to all the families who joined us and made the afternoon such a success. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn, laugh and celebrate Italian language and culture together.
Arrivederci e mille grazie!
Performing Arts - Music
Year 4 students have been developing their listening skills by exploring how music can be represented visually through pictures, symbols and patterns.
They have been learning to listen like ‘musical detectives’, identifying changes in tempo, pitch and instruments.
Students explored music maps as a way of showing how music changes from beginning to end. They then created their own maps using shapes, symbols and patterns to represent what they heard, explaining the musical choices they made.
Students also explored how movement and dance can respond to and bring music to life.
In the coming weeks, they will continue developing their understanding of graphic notation and use their music maps as a starting point for creating and performing their own music.
Year 5 students have been exploring beat and rhythm, discovering that the beat is the steady pulse that keeps music together, while rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds that fits over the beat.
Through body percussion, echo rhythms, partner activities and our ‘Fruit Salad Rhythm’ challenge, students have practised keeping a steady beat, clapping rhythms and responding to changes in tempo.
They have also worked collaboratively to create and perform their own four-beat rhythm patterns using claps, pats, stamps and clicks.
In the coming weeks, students will continue developing their rhythmic skills, performance confidence and musical vocabulary.
Innovation Technology - Specialist Showcase
What an exciting experience sharing our amazing Innovation Technology program with our families!
We enjoyed a relaxed and interactive session where families had the opportunity to explore some of the programs, apps and digital tools our students have been using throughout the year. It was wonderful to see families learning together, asking questions and having a go at the activities themselves.
Our Junior students shared some of the programs they have been exploring, including:
• Puppet Pals 1 & 2
• My PlayHome
• GarageBand
• ScratchJr
Our Senior students showcased their skills in:
• Stop Motion animation
• Photography
• Coding with Micro:Bits
A special highlight was seeing our students take on the role of the teacher! They proudly guided their families through the different programs, demonstrated their skills and helped them create and experiment with the technology.
OLP
In OLP, our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students have continued to build their skills in the Italian language through a variety of fun and engaging activities.
Students have been practising new greetings; such as “Excuse me”, “How old are you?”, “May I please have a gelato?” and some other everyday Italian expressions, building their confidence in using simple words and phrases in the classroom.
The Prep students are particularly enjoying the VET roleplay rotation - experiencing what it is like to work with animals, exploring their creativity with building blocks and playing a memory card game with Italian words for different foods, which helps them remember and learn more vocabulary in Italian.
The Year 1 students have been enjoying learning how to pronounce gelato flavours and how to order an ice cream in Italian. They are really enjoying the Gelato shop roleplay- experiencing what it is like to work at a gelato shop, exploring their creativity with creating their own Pinocchio book and playing a bingo game with Italian foods, which increases their vocabulary.
Our Year 2 students have been exploring drama and Italian through reader’s theatre (this term it is Pinocchio themed), making their own hand puppets and small plays and learning simple Italian phrases.
