Specialist News

ART/AUSLAN (ARTLAN)

We have had a great start to Artlan for Term 2! In the first two weeks, all classes from grade 1 through to grade 6 have learnt how to sign "Advance Australia Fair" to perform each fortnight at assembly. We have also had a look at how to do some bubble writing and used this to decorate our new art folios. We will use our art folios over the next few years to protect our work. 

This week we have started some new topics...

Grade 1 are learning about Indigenous stories. This week we learned about Waa the Crow and the Dreaming story of how his feathers turned black. 

Grade 2 are doing a study on Uluru and the artist Ken Done. 

Grade 3 are investigating Victorian artist Pete Cromer and Australian Birds.

Grade 4 are going to be making a string art piece based on their zodiac sign, using a piece of timber, hammer and nails.

Grade 5/6 are looking into the art movement "impressionism" and have been inspired by Claude Monet's waterlilly paintings.

Some amazing grade 4 examples of our art folios...

STEM

It’s been a busy and exciting term so far in STEM! 

Our Foundation and Grade 1 students have been getting hands-on, exploring and experimenting with the properties of different materials - lots of curious minds at work. Meanwhile, Grade 2 have been keen scientists, observing how materials can change physically through fun experiments and investigations.

Grade 3 are sparking their curiosity by diving into all sorts of heat energy sources, discovering where and how heat is produced in our everyday lives. Not to be outdone, Grade 4 are busy testing and exploring different forces, learning about pushes, pulls, and all the ways forces shape our world.

Our senior Grade 5/6 scientists have been shining a light on their learning - literally! This week, they’ve been investigating light energy, focusing on how light travels and bends (refraction) through different materials. There’s been plenty of ‘aha!’ moments in the classroom.

PE

Term 2 is well and truly underway in the PE department. We have begun our Interschool Sports with students travelling to and from and inviting other schools in friendly competitions. The sports being played this time around are Soccer, AFL, Teeball and Netball.

We also have had District Cross Country take place as the students went to Toomuc Reserve to run alongside six other schools. The students were amazing throughout the event, giving their all and showing their passion as they cheered each other on!

Coming up is our Athletics Day for our Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students as well as Hoop Time for the 5/6 cohort who wanted to participate in the event.

A special thank you to our volunteers who have helped making our days so successful and to our captains from various departments who have been helping behind the scenes as we prepare for each event.

Good luck to everyone and may the fun never end!

PERFORMING ARTS

In Performing Arts, students have continued developing understanding of the elements of music. They have been learning to use the voice to connect pitch with Solfege (Do, Re, Mi etc) and the Curwen hand signs. We have learnt half of our whole school dance for our concert next term and will begin working on class dances in the next few weeks.

Students in years 3-6 have participated in the semi-finals of the Hand Clap Challenge. The grand finals will be held in the next two weeks.

Our fantastic Victorian State Schools Spectacular Team had their second training day. I am so proud of the hard work and effort these students have demonstrated.

3-6 dance group has started their concert item and are working hard to learn challenging Lyrical choreography.

3-6 Choir is exploring a number of musical themed songs in order to prepare for concert.

P-2 Glee club runs on Tuesdays for junior students to have fun singing and dancing.

LIBRARY

In the library we are continuing our lessons on being safe and responsible on computers. 

It is amazing to find that so many students already know so much about computers, programs and games.

Preps have been taught how to use devices reponsibly.

Grade 1 and 2s now know about computer input and output. 

Grade 3 and 4s have been identifying and collecting data.

and the 5/6-s can explain what hardware and software is. They can also give real life examples of how some information moves through the computer.