Term 1 Specialist Newsletter

MUSIC - Mrs Lisa Scott (PLT Leader)

It has been wonderful over the last few weeks getting to meet my new classes and to see so many smiling and enthusiastic students.  In Music this term we will be covering the following topics:

Prep students will explore familiar songs and nursery rhymes.  They will develop their skills in keeping a steady beat through singing, dancing and playing a variety of percussion instruments. 

Year 1 and Year 2 students will be developing their knowledge of beat and rhythm through a variety of ‘hands on’ practical music making activities and games. They will continue to develop their singing skills. 

Year 3 students will be focussing on how to play a variety of xylophones, glockenspiels, metallophones and marimbas and also learning about the instruments in the orchestra. They will develop techniques to play music in unison and in two parts. 

Year 4 students will be learning techniques to play the ukulele and will use these skills to play and sing along to a variety of music. They will also explore how the elements of music are used in a variety of different pieces of music to create effect.

Year 5 studentswill experience playing the keyboard. They will be learning to play melodies and chords to accompany a variety of songs in whole class music making.

Year 6 students will further develop their individual skills in instrumental playing by choosing an instrument that they wish to study (Guitar/Keyboard/Ukulele/Marimba). They will unite as a whole class to perform songs to an audience. 

Additionally, we are excited to have auditioned and chosen 16 students to represent Hillsmeade in the Victorian State Schools Spectacular and look forward to starting our rehearsals for the event.

PERFORMING ARTS – Mrs Carmen Collins

I am so excited to be continuing our exploration of all things Performing Arts with the students this year. It has been so rewarding to revisit some old favourite games and teach the students some new theatre sports in the first few weeks this year.

 For the remainder of Term 1:

Prep students will focus on role plays with animals and fairy tales whilst using the learning space safely and explore the ‘Little people big dreams’ series of inspirational people through drama. 

Year 1 students will be developing their knowledge of acting and performing focussing on everyday situations and emotions from books. 

Year 2 students will be continuing to recognise and recreate characters traits and emotions from literature and create some finger puppets. 

Year 3 students will be challenged to use their acting skills to perform drama games and skill development activities including improvisation. 

Year 4 students will be challenged to refine their acting skills including effective use of their voice, the space and how a character may move and act. 

Year 5 students will explore the elements of drama through improvised and planned performances. Learning that Performing Arts is a safe place to express your individuality and expand your comfort zone. 

Year 6 students will further develop their acting and performance skills using stage combat, theatre sports and readers theatre to enhance their acting and performance skills. 

There will not be a whole school production this year but we are excited to be working with the VSSS team for their performance in September and other opportunities to shine such as during assembly performances.

STEM – Miss Jemma Dunstan

 Hello, my name is Miss Dunstan and I am excited to be taking on the role of STEM teacher this year. Some students may already know me from my time as a Year 4 teacher last year, as well as organising the Marine Ambassador program. 

It has been lovely meeting the students in the first few weeks of term. I am looking forward to continuing the learning journey in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths. 

In STEM students will be asking questions, thinking critically and creatively and engaging in collaborative and independent tasks. 

Prep - Students be making predictions and identifying different materials and their purpose. They will explore, build then evaluate different materials and their suitability for purpose. 

Year 1- Students will have a chemical science focus, looking at how materials change. They will predict and experiment with heating different materials and cooling them to identify changes and reflect on why. 

Year 2- Students will have a physical science focus, looking at the way objects move and varying forces. They will identify how light and sounds are produced. 

Year 3 – Students have a chemical science focus, looking at changes of state between solid, liquid and gas and the properties of each state of matter. They will be experimenting with cooling and heating different substances.

Year 4 – Students have a physical science focus. They will be focusing on push, pull, gravity and friction and experimenting with these forces and others with various object in class. 

Year 5- Students have a chemical science focus. They will explore the properties of solids, liquids and gases and experiment with melting, freezing and evaporating to change materials. 

Year 6- Students have a physical science focus. They will be investigating different forms of energy, with electrical energy being the main focus. 

Physical Education - Mr Jeff McGann & Miss Tabitha Carter

Semester 1 is a busy term with a range of sporting and athletic events for our students to experience.  We have already held the Hillsmeade swimming trials at Kings Swim where students competed for positions in the Hillsmeade swimming squad. The students that made it into the swimming squad competed in the District swimming competition at the Koo Wee Rup swimming pool on Friday 1st March. 

Our Year 4, 5 and 6 sports teams have also been working hard in preparation for the interschool and Lightning Premiership competition. This semester we have teams in cricket, T-Ball, netball, badminton and soccer. Students in years 4 to 6 will be competing in the Hillsmeade cross country on Friday the 23rd of March for the opportunity to represent the school at the District and Division cross country events later in the semester. Students in these year levels will also participate in the Hillsmeade Athletics Carnival in term 2. This is a fun day where students will get to try each of the athletic events as well as the opportunity to represent the school in the District and Divisional athletic carnivals.

In preparation for the school’s athletics carnival, students in Year 3 to Year 6 will be developing their skills in high jump, long jump, triple jump, discus, shot put, hurdles, sprinting and relay racing. 

Our junior students will be exploring the fundamental motor skills of running, jumping, hopping, skipping and sidestepping. These students will be developing these skills through simple games and throughout rotational activities.

Art – Mrs Andrea Garwood & Mrs Lainie Owen

Welcome to term 1!  

Prep students will be looking at primary and secondary colours. They will be experimenting with mixing paints to make new colours and creating an umbrella colour wheel picture. While doing a monster activity they will learn about mixed media artwork where they use oil pastel, watercolour paint and paper cut out on one piece of artwork.  Through this activity they will be able to see how the resist technique works by painting over oil pastels. They will practice their cutting and pasting skills and look at how texture can be added to paint. 

Year 1 and 2 students started the term writing their names in creative ways. They will look at primary and secondary colours through a rocket drawing, which they will mount onto a background for display.  We will also discuss different types of lines. They will be introduced to printmaking using paint rollers and stencils to create a scene with bugs.  With stamps and paint tool, students will practice creating patterns and design an artwork. They will look at the artist, Alexander Calder, and use paper to create a 3D sculpture. 

Year 3 & 4 students will be looking at using fabric and textiles to create artworks. They will use wool and hessian squares to create a stitched design. They will then use wool to create pompom creatures.  Students will explore different methods of printmaking including, stencil prints, monoprints using acetate sheets and block printing.  They will use block printing and watercolours to create a cityscape artwork. Students will use their understanding of printmaking to learn about positive and negative shapes.

Year 5 & 6 students will be exploring textiles and the ways they can be used to create artworks. They will create a stitched artwork using wool and squares of hessian. They will then present these for display. Students will also use felt and wool to create a small, decorative pencil case. Students will explore different methods of printmaking including, stencil prints, monoprints using acetate sheets and block printing. They will look at the artist Andy Warhol and use block printing to create a pop art style print. Students will finish the term by using corrugated card to create a collagraph print. 

Digi Tech  - Mr Hardev Singh & Mrs Janelle Struth

Prep, 1 and 2: Students have been learning how to use QR codes to scan different activities and will further use this skill for the rest of the semester. We are also learning how to type on a keyboard by using a range of activities to do this as well as looking at the different functions different keys do. 

Students from Years 3 and 4 have embarked on a journey to harness Microsoft Teams and MS Word, enhancing their digital literacy and educational experience. Through interactive lessons, they've mastered wellbeing tools within Teams, fostering a supportive online learning and personal growth environment. Digitech sessions focus on effective communication with teachers, ensuring a seamless exchange of ideas and feedback. Additionally, students have uploaded their assignments to hone their skills in creating and uploading MS Word documents, laying a solid foundation for their academic tasks.

Year 5 and 6 participants embarked on a creative exploration through the digital world of Scratch programming. They began by animating their names, mastering the basics of block-based coding, and advanced to developing a simple Pong game, acquiring essential concepts such as loops, conditionals, and variables. These sessions nurtured critical computational thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Tailored strategies supported high-ability and ESL students, ensuring an inclusive learning atmosphere. Through hands-on activities, collaborative sharing, and reflective discussions, students gained a solid foundation in programming while unleashing their creative potential.

Mandarin – Miss Wei Wang

Welcome to Term 1 and happy Year of the Dragon. It has been a great joy seeing our students across all year levels settling with the Mandarin class routines, and it didn’t take very long for our 2024 Prep students to start saying ‘ni hao’ to me proud and clear in the yard! Here is a brief overview of what our Term 1 looks like in the Mandarin program.

Prep students are focusing on basic greetings, thanks and goodbyes in Mandarin. They have been introduced to numbers up to 10. Their language learning journey has started with extensive exposure to texts in both Pinyin (Romanised pronunciation) and Chinese characters.

Year 1 students are extending their knowledge of numbers and colours and will learn to name some common pets. Singing along to children’s rhymes is a critical element in building strong speaking skills, particularly in the junior levels.

Year 2 students have started practising a mini dialogue (how are you) as a part of our roll routine. They are exploring basic family words, and will revisit and extend their number knowledge.

Year 3 students have learnt to name some fruit and will start expanding their food vocabulary to sweets. In Year 3, our learning focus is shifting from word to sentence level.

Year 4 students have revisited basic numbers and learned to use them in naming months (e.g., January is ‘the first month’ in Mandarin). Students have been introduced to season names. They are revisiting some challenging initial sounds (e.g., x and q) through this topic. Students will explore seasonal features in weather and learn to name clothing items.

Year 5 students have been focusing on groups of country names. They will apply these words in sentences describing their own and others’ nationalities or ethnic background. Students will engage in speaking activities and practise a scripted mini dialogue to exchange this information.

Year 6 students reinforced their Chinese character typing skills and applied this knowledge when using online dictionaries for their guided translation exercises. Students will start revisiting contents covered in previous years and learn to write a small paragraph about themselves including name, age, gender, family, ethnic background, favourite food and sports, etc.