Education News
Celebrating the ARTs – Free Activity Time
As part of Education Week - Celebrating the Arts, more than 20 parents/carers, including several ES staff volunteered their time to come into the classrooms during Free Activity Time (FAT) to run or participate in an art activity.
Students were excited to have their parents/carers and adults in the room highlighting many of the skills we have in our community.
In room 18, (Maddie’s room) AJ, Lola’s dad, a graffiti artist, worked with a large group of students creating their own graffiti name.
In the same room we had a group of students from right across the school experimenting and showing their skills in painting.
Room 16 organised nearly an hour of musical performances and improvisations.
The idea for the performances arose after Pete, (Lily’s dad) suggested the day before that students who had musical instruments might like to bring them in the next day and perform. The performances were solely organised and run by the students. Julie and Pete were blown away at the student’s musical skills but also their collective effort to organise and run the event.
Pete said: “The kids began with a freestyle intro. full of interest in each other's doings & creative exchanges (teaching pieces, improvising pieces), then there was lots of very attentive listening & observation during a rotation of individual performances & we finished with a joyful shared experience of all playing the beginning of a familiar song together as a group.”
“What struck me on reflection was that this could only have happened the way it did & on such short notice because, in addition to whatever the school does in this space, there are more than a dozen families (from that one room alone!) that obviously value & embrace the benefits of the arts.”
In room 13, Jill a member of our ES staff worked with students making hand puppets and some amazing constructions.
Room 20, Jamie’s room had a heap of parents, I believe at least 5 running a range of activities, from print making, painting, paper cutting, paper plane design and a paper plane flying competition. It was a great atmosphere with a wide range of activities happening.
Room 21 was extraordinarily crowded with students eager to participate in Naomi’s (Charlotte G’s mum), paint blot art activity. The students were excited to see the beautiful stunning results once they unfolded their paper. Naomi said: “I love children’s art. I truly believe this is the great thing about MPW. There is a deep understanding of the importance of The Arts and a unique teaching style that not only meets the central model of state curriculum but empowers our children and ignites their intrinsic motivation.
I am truly thankful for the teaching style here at MPW and I am thankful to find a school with an ethos that fits with my child’s future".
In Jenny’s room Max D’s mum Andrea was running environmentally friendly paper bag stars.
In room 7 Jennifer was doing origami with students and in room 5 parents popped in and out to see what art activities Emma had organised.
It was hard to find a spot in room 6 with heaps of mums and toddlers joining in the activities, mask making, and photo collage…….
In Mel’s room, room 3, students made bird’s nests out of recyclable and found objects.
The atmosphere across the school was a buzz with excitement, fun and creativity. I took so many photos but could not publish them all.
Perhaps this could be a regular community event, once or twice a term? Feedback welcome.
On behalf of the Creative Arts team we would like to thank all the parents/carers, ES staff and teaching staff that offered their time to come into the school, share their skills and work with the students during FAT.
Grade 3/4 excursion to IMAX and the Melbourne Museum
On Thursday 7th June, all the Grade 3/4 students went on an excursion. Our Inquiry topic is Earth Science - Shaping the Earth’s Surface and we got to watch the Forces of Nature IMAX film which was amazing. It gave us lots of information about volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes.
After IMAX the 3/4’s got split into groups led by teachers into the Melbourne Museum. We saw so many exhibitions including, Bugs Alive, Dynamic Earth, Darwin to DNA, Marine Life, WWI, the Mind Labyrinth and the Forest gallery. Even though we were there for earth science stuff, we got to see so much more.
In Dynamic Earth we watched a 3D video on volcanoes which showed us that they can be under sea or on land. In Bugs Alive we got to see how spiders shed their skin and some of the bugs that live in Australia and even in our homes!
By Mia, Olivia, and Teodora– Room 12
Arthur Reed Photos
