What's Happening in our Specialist Subjects during Term 3

Please find an overview below from our Specialist Subject teachers about what's happening in their subjects this term.

Performing Arts

In Performing Arts, Term 2 was filled with many amazing folkloric dances and the creation of some incredible performances across all year levels. Students should be extremely proud of their efforts and what they created! See if you can spot the Hulu from Hawaii, Break Dancing from the USA, or Tinikling from the Philippines below!

It is with excitement and enthusiasm that we welcome Term 3, our first term of Music! This term is a busy one, with students across the school focusing on playing and responding to music. Not to mention, it’s concert term for our Year 6s!

Prep

Students in Prep will begin to explore the elements of music through the Magical Music Circus! They will use a range of percussion instruments and their voices to create music, while playing games and completing activities that encourage thinking about beat, rhythm, and pitch, among other elements.

Year One

Year One students will explore the elements of music in a hands-on way, thinking about how we create music and how that feels in our bodies. They will use percussion instruments, their voices, and bodies to make music and explore musical concepts. Students will also be introduced to the Magical Music Circus to help them grasp key musical elements.

Year Two

Throughout Term 3, Year Two students will continue exploring the elements of music. They will focus on learning games, songs, and rhythms that develop aural skills, notation abilities, and early composition skills. Students will use a range of percussion instruments and their voices to build these skills. At the end of the term, they will perform a body percussion piece to their peers.

Year Three

Year Three students will build their understanding of the elements of music through notation, composition, and aural activities. They will also begin learning the recorder, a wonderful, tuneful, and notoriously quiet instrument!

If your child has taken their recorder home to be labelled, please ensure it is returned to school by Week 3. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions about the instrument.

Year Four

This term, Year Four students will continue developing their understanding of the elements of music by composing and translating their ideas into musical notation. They will focus on their performance skills through continued recorder learning and peer performances. Please feel free to reach out with any questions about the instrument.

Year Five

Year Five students will develop their aural and notation skills while exploring how the elements of music contribute to composition. They will also learn about the role of digital tools and programs in music-making, creating their own songs and mixes.

Please ensure your child has their own working headphones for use in class this term.

Year Six

This term, Year Six students will polish and perform their musical, Aladdin. A culmination of six years of Performing Arts lessons, effort, and hard work.

Students will take the stage in Week 7 to perform for families and friends. Keep an eye out for a sneak peek performance during Book Week (Week 5)!

Glee Club

Glee Club continues this term for students in Years 4 to 6. All students are welcome to join at any time during the term. Glee Club meets on Tuesdays during first half of lunch.

Well done to the Glee Club for their confident performances at assembly and on Grandparents and Special F Day!

Monday Morning Melodies

Every Monday from 8:45 am, students in Prep to Year 3 are invited to sing, dance, and start the week with a smile in the Performing Arts room. Students are welcome to come along at any point during the term for a joyful start to the week!

Musical Update!

Only 42 days to go until the Year Six Musical! Students have been working hard to prepare a spectacular performance for all to enjoy. Ticket information and costume requirements will be shared later this term.

Program Cover Competition

Students across all year levels are invited to submit an entry to design the musical program cover!

Entries close: Friday, Week 2 (1st August)
Requirements: A4 size paper, with your name and class written on the back
Winners announced: Week 3 Assembly

I am looking forward to another busy and exciting term!

Be good and be good at it!

Visual Art

We are looking forward to a fun filled semester in Visual Arts. This term students will be working with Threads and Textiles where they will continue to develop an understanding of the elements and principles of art. These will be encompassed in their differing units of textile work, such as repetition and pattern, texture, space, colour, line and shape.

Art Competitions

We’re excited to offer two fantastic community art competitions for our students to get creative and share their talents!

National Water Week Poster Competition (All year levels)
Students are invited to create a poster around the theme "Be a Water Hero – Save Every Drop". This is a whole school opportunity to raise awareness about water conservation and there are cash prizes to be won.
Bayside City Council Art Competition (Ages 10 and up only)
Students aged 10 years and older are encouraged to enter this exciting local competition. This year’s theme is "Past / Present / Future", and there’s a generous $1000 prize pool shared across 8 winning artworks.

Full details and entry instructions for both competitions are below. We encourage all eligible students to participate and showcase their artistic talents. Please reach out if your child needs any support.

SEW Poster 2025.pdf

Young People of Bayside Art Exhibition 2025.png

Displays

Please enjoy some photos below of the students' Modelling and Construction artworks from Term 2. You can find a number of works throughout the school on display too.

Prep

In Term 3, our Prep students will begin by exploring fibres – discovering where they come from and how they are used to make textiles. Students will express their ideas and experiences through a range of hands-on activities. They’ll create a colourful paper weaving artwork using different materials, and begin learning simple textile techniques. As the term progresses, they’ll be introduced to new tools and vocabulary including embroidery hoops, knots, running stitch and threading, as they create a stitched animal inspired artwork.

Year 1

In Term 3, the Year 1 students will experiment with art elements, skills, techniques and processes in the area of textiles. They will explore and discover fibres, where they come from and how they are created. They will then create a paper weaving project using a variety of different materials. Their textiles unit will encompass a collage creation using material, wool and beads. They will also produce a take home gift to celebrate their Dad, father figure or special person. We are looking forward to using many of the skills and techniques we have learnt in our Visual Art sessions and applying these to our creations in Term 3!

Year 2

In Term 3, the Year 2 students will develop their understanding of fibres and fabrics, while learning how textiles are made. They will use this knowledge in a range of projects that explore sewing, stitching and design. Students will create a material collage portrait to celebrate a special male in their lives and combine their knowledge from Science to make a windsock textile sculpture that demonstrates their understanding of forces.

Year 3

In Term 3, the Year 3 students will explore the history of textiles and learn how fibres are transformed into fabrics. They’ll refine their visual arts skills through projects that involve hand stitching and fabric design. Students will create a heartfelt stitched gift to celebrate a special male and go on to experiment with making their very own fabric softie. Along the way, they’ll learn key terminology such as running stitch, backstitch and knot.

Year 4

In Term 3, the Year 4 students are building on their understanding of the origins of textiles and how different fibres become the materials we use every day. To honour a special person in their lives, students will design and create a felt textile badge using fabric shapes and embellishments. Following this, they’ll apply planning, designing and making skills to bring their own felt soft toy to life.

Year 5

In Term 3, the Year 5 students will begin by deepening their understanding of natural and synthetic fibres and the fabrics they create. They will apply their knowledge in two unique ways, firstly by crafting a macramé bracelet as a take home gift for a special person, and then by designing and sewing a felt buddy bear. This project will be gifted to their 2026 Prep buddy, helping form early connections and offering a warm welcome into the school community.

Year 6

In Term 3, the Year 6 students will explore the impact and origins of textiles throughout history, with a focus on both natural and synthetic fibres. They will create a felt portrait gift to celebrate a special male in their lives. Later in the term, students will use stitching, embellishment and a variety of textile materials to create an embroidered artwork honouring a cultural hero, combining visual storytelling with fine motor skill development.

Physical Education

Welcome to Physical Education for Term 3! This term we will make the most of the space in the hall and outdoor learning areas. We are looking forward to the house athletics event for students in years 4 to 6 to apply the skills they have been practicing in PE. With cooler weather continuing please ensure students have warm clothes and runners for their PE days and to have a safe place to put jewellery for the session. In Term 2 we had a number of students competing in interschool competitions like cross country and weekly sport. Congratulations to those students who progressed through the school competitions and are looking forward to division gala days in Term 3.

This term in Physical Education, the students will:

Prep

Practise fundamental movement skills and movement sequences using different body parts and in response to stimuli in indoor and outdoor settings. Students will finish their Gymnastics program early in term 3.

Participate in games such as soccer and AFL and mini games in FMS

Follow rules when participating in physical activities

Year 1 and 2

Participate in games such as soccer, AFL and mini games in FMS

Follow rules when participating in physical activities

Discuss the body’s reactions to the experience of physical activities

The Fundamental Movement Skills program for Foundation to year 2 will provide extended practice of skills learned in PE.

Year 3 and 4

Participate in gymnastics lessons, focusing on safely performing movements with appropriate technique.

Combine gymnastics skills to create routines.

Demonstrate fairness in games and modify sports to promote inclusion.

Students will describe changes in the body related to training and fitness.

Year 5 and 6

Participate in gymnastics lessons, focusing on safely performing movements with appropriate technique.

Combine gymnastics skills to create routines.

Recognise how members of a team can positively contribute to success.

Create small-sided games that promote participation and fair play.

Students will describe changes in the body related to strength training.

Environmental Science

Welcome back to Term 3 in Environmental Science.

This term, the students will...

Prep

The Prep students will explore the characteristics and needs of living things, focusing on plants. They will learn what a living thing is and participate in a guided walk around our school to identify and sort familiar living and non-living things. They will examine what plants require to survive, learning the importance of water and sunlight to plants’ existence. We will culminates with a focus on the essential role of water for all living things, with Preps participating in a guided investigation to see how water travels through plants.

Year 1

The Year 1 students will explore the diverse features and groupings of animals and plants beginning with an introduction to animal body parts. They will also learn how different features like wings, shells and legs help animals move, survive and eat. Using descriptive language, they classify animals based on observable traits and group animals accordingly. Year 1s will observe and compare plants in their school garden, using their senses to identify features like colour, texture and size. Finally, they will examine plant parts such as roots, leaves and flowers, and categorise plants based on shared characteristics.

Year 2

The Year 2 stud will explore different types of energy and learn about energy in the world around us. They will learn about stored energy and energy in motion and sort energy into these categories. Year 2 will experiment with transferring energy from one object to another. They will learn about light energy and electrical energy and brainstorm ways to conserve energy, along with the benefits of renewable energy.

Year 3

The Year 3 students will learn that living things all have certain characteristics. They will use these characteristics to differentiate between living and non-living things. Year 3s will group plants and animals by their observable features.

Year 4

The Year 4 students will learn that living things have life cycles. They will describe and compare life cycles of different animals and plants. Year 4s will explore an aspect of the life cycle of a flowering plant through an experiment.

Year 5

The Year 5 students will examine and understand that living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment. They will analyse how the form of living things enable them to function in their environments, and understand that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behaviour and reproduction.

Year 6

The Year 6 students will investigate how physical conditions of the environment affect the survival of living things. Investigating organisms that live in extreme environments, students will learn that changes in physical conditions will affect the behaviour and survival of living things, including animals that migrate or hibernate, and mould growth. Year 6s will investigate how changing the physical conditions for plants impacts on their growth and survival, and understand that First Nations Peoples’ knowledge of the physical conditions necessary for the survival of living things helps them protect the natural environment.

Japanese

Welcome back to Term 3 in Japanese

This term, we will celebrate the Tanabata (Star/Wish) festival. During Tanabata, the students will discuss their wishes for the remainder of the year. These wishes can be for anything, from personal dreams to hopes for peace and happiness.

Our students are continuing to communicate with our sister school, Minowa Elementary School in Yokohama. At the end of Term 2, students produced a letter and drawing, writing in Japanese and English, and we have sent these to Minowa and are hoping for a reply very soon. We will continue to strengthen our bond with our sister school.

This term the students will…

Prep

This term, Prep students will continue to build on their Japanese cultural and language experiences by learning about the Tanabata festival, and shichi, go, san festival (7, 5, 3 festival). They will continue to work on recognising and writing their names in Katakana, counting, reading and writing numbers in Japanese.
They will continue to participate in guided group activities such as games, stories and origami activities, and build on language skills to answer Sensei questions with 'hai, iie' (yes and no) regarding preferences for sports, food and games.
The Prep students will access Seesaw and write their Japanese name, have a go speaking in Japanese to say a mini self-introduction and will listen to their voices.

Year 1

This term, Year 1 students will continue reading some hiragana characters and begin to read hiragana mini books series 1. The students will participate in story creation using only Japanese during this time. They will also look at traditional Japanese sports and compare to sports we play.
During our Art lessons this term, we will be utilising our knowledge of Japanese colours, shapes and sizes when learning about Yayoi Kusama. We will be building and expanding on these Japanese concepts and will be able to explain some of the artistic elements using our Japanese language skills!

Year 2

This term, Year 2 students will communicate with each other in Japanese and start to read simple Japanese books called, Bonnie, Benji and Boris.
They will learn high frequency verbs, nouns, adjectives, and conjunctions to help with their comprehension of books.
They will continue to write hiragana and kanji characters using the correct stroke order each week as the password to enter the class.
They will enjoy having jobs in the classroom and participating in cultural events such as Tanabata festival on July 7th.

Year 3

This term, the Year 3 students will continue to communicate with each other in Japanese and start to read a Japanese book called Burgerman.
They will continue to learn high frequency verbs, nouns, adjectives, and conjunctions to help with their comprehension of the book.
They will write Hiragana and Kanji characters using the correct stroke order each week as the password to enter the class.
They will enjoy having jobs in the classroom and participating in cultural events such as Tanabata festival on July 7th.

Year 4

This term, the Year 4 students will continue to practice their hiragana/ katakana reading by doing weekly ikana tests on the iPads.
They will enjoy communicating and working on building the time only spoken in Japanese each week.
They will continue to learn high frequency verbs, nouns, adjectives, and conjunctions to help with their comprehension of the book ‘ O-soto raria’.
They will write Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters using the correct stroke order each week as the password to enter the class.
They will enjoy having jobs in the classroom and participating in cultural events such as Tanabata festival on July 7th.

Year 5

This term, Year 5 students will continue to practice their hiragana/ katakana reading by doing weekly ikana tests on the iPads.
They will enjoy communicating and working on building the time only spoken in Japanese each week.
Students will write Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters using the correct stroke order each week as the password to enter the class.
The Year 5 students will revise and continue to read Hiragana mini books from series 1-5 independently and with a partner. They will all try to read ‘Challenge’ books at the end of each level.
They will enjoy having jobs in the classroom and participating in cultural events such as Tanabata festival on July 7th.

Year 6

Students will continue to work on their belts. This term, they will work on their orange, green and blue. This will encompass telling the weather today, tomorrow and yesterday, writing and saying the days of the week, completing role plays situations in the classroom, reading Hiragana mini books, making origami tsuru, singing a Japanese song, creating sentences about family using a variety of adjectives, writing and saying numbers from 1-00, writing the seasons in Kanji and naming a variety of Japanese sports.
The students will continue to practice their Hiragana/ Katakana reading by doing weekly ikana tests on the iPads and practice reading simple Hiragana mini books.
They will enjoy having jobs in the classroom and participating in cultural events such as Tanabata festival on July 7th.