Curriculum - other

The Arts

This semester, students will be working on The Arts with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island perspectives and Geography. Students will express and share their ideas through dance, visual art, music and digital technology. Every six weeks, Mellor classes rotate into a new arts area with a new focus.

In Visual Art, students will create and display artworks to communicate ideas to an audience. Students will respond to visual artworks and consider where and why people make visual artworks focussing on Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander art. Students will create work which may feature landscapes, the sea and animals.

In Dance, students will perform movements that communicate ideas to an audience, including dance used by cultural groups in the community. They will respond to dance and consider where and why people dance, starting with dances from Australia including dances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

In Drama, students will respond to drama and consider where and why people make drama, starting with Australian drama including drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. They will view dreaming stories and create plays influenced by them.

In Media Arts, students will respond to media artworks and consider where and why people make media artworks, starting with media from Australia including media artworks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. They will create and present media artworks that communicate ideas and stories to an audience using Toontastic on iPads.

In Music, students create compositions and perform music to communicate ideas to an audience. They respond to music and consider where and why people make music, starting with Australian music, including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

In Music, students become aware of rhythm, pitch, dynamics and expression, form and structure, timbre and texture. They explore sounds as they learn to listen to and make music. Students learn to discriminate between sounds and silence, and loud and soft sounds. They learn to move and perform with beat and tempo as well as listen as performers and as an audience.

An Open Night will be held in Term 4 showcasing the work students have created in The Arts this semester.

HASS

This semester in HASS, students will be working through a Geography unit. The question that we are proposing is, ‘How are people connected to their place and other places, past or present?’ This unit is focussed on the world around us. The student's inquiry will be based around our connection to the River Torrens, and here at school. Students will be describing different features of places, how we use these spaces and their environmental features.

We are also looking at how Australia is connected to the world, and as it is Olympic Games time, we will be having a closer look at the Rio Olympics.

We will be going on several outings throughout the semester, including outings to Warripringa at Bedford Park, Hallett Cove Beach, the Torrens Outlet at Henley Beach and The Adelaide Zoo. We are looking at going on or around the 7th of September to the Adelaide Zoo. The Yr1/2 classes will be going on regular walks including along the Torrens.

LA1 Jonathon Lamb - Drama

LA2 Richard Barwa - Music 

LA3 Rosemary Saxon - Media Arts

LA4 Mandy Jones - Visual Arts

LA5 Jaymee Martin - Dance

Technology

In Mellor, students have access to a number of forms of IT throughout the day. Students work on the interactive whiteboard daily independently and in groups. Children will use programs and games such as Jolly Phonics, A Sound Way (phonological awareness skills), Dice Strings (maths strategies game) and Early Years Maths Pack to practise essential skills. The interactive whiteboard will also be used to show short videos and songs that supplement our programme.

Children can access iPads and laptops to consolidate their skills in many curriculum areas such as Maths, (addition, patterning and counting activities), English (letter formation and reading), The Arts and HASS.

There are a growing number of apps and word processing programs  that are designed to have the student create content, making them a powerful and engaging tool in the classroom. Much of the focus for Semester 2 will be on students using the iPads as a way to create and share work. Attached is an overview of Apps we will be using to create and share work together.