Year Level & Specialist Curriculum

Foundation:

Year One:

Year Two:

Year Three:

Year Four:

Year Five: 

Year Six:

Term 4, 2023 Specialist Curriculum Overviews

Our Specialist programs will cover the following during Term Four:

Please note: Things may slightly change throughout the term due to weather and availability of programs but hopefully we can achieve all of this this term.

Physical Education

Term 4, here we go!! After a jam packed term 3, I am looking forward to finishing off our year with some fun in the sun! Starting with our Twilight Sport evening on Wednesday 1st November.

Prep: This term we will begin preparing for the Twilight Sports. Our first few sessions will be preparing the students for the various events they will experience - jumps, throws, relays, sprints and a team event.  We will continue our topic on alternative ways to keep active and help the students understand what changes occur to our bodies when they are active. 

Throughout the term we will focus on our two handed striking -  we will incorporate some fun games using some striking equipment like tennis, cricket and tee bats. We will conclude the year with some fun games.

Year  1 / 2: This term we will begin preparing for the Twilight Sports with our first three sessions  preparing the students for the various events they will experience - jumps, throws, relays, sprints and a team event.  Throughout the term we will focus on our fundamental skill of striking and build on what we have learnt over the past year or two. We will incorporate some fun games using various striking sport equipment; cricket bats, tee bats and tennis racquets. We will conclude the year with some fun games.

Year  3 & 4:  The first few sessions, students will be involved in game creation. Students will be required to form groups to come up with new games with specific rubrics they must follow.  

Following this, students will have a session to prepare them for Twilight sports.  Our final sessions will focus on striking and net games to prepare them for Gala Days next year.  Particularly rounders for year 3 and tee ball for year 4 and tennis.  We will conclude the year with some fun games.  

Year 5: Our first few sessions will start with some fun boxing fitness sessions with the group.  We will then move on to some Twilight Sport practice.  From weeks 4 to 7 the students will participate in a SEPEP unit.  Sport Education in Physical Education Program (SEPEP) is a curriculum- based model where students learn to plan, implement and play in a sporting competition. Students and teachers work collaboratively to assign the different roles and responsibilities to effectively plan and organise a structured competition. We will conclude the year with some fun games.  

Year 6: Our final term for our year 6’s will hopefully be a fun one! We will begin the term with some cricket games so those students that have elected to participate on our District Cricket day on October 6th can get some practice in.  We will then start our unit on Touch Rugby.  We will do some Twilight Sport events at school so these students can run the event on the evening and then finish off with some different minor games that demonstrate the skills they have learnt and developed in their primary school years.  We finish off the term with a fun PE Amazing Race. 

Visual Arts

Welcome to Term 4 Visual Arts! We have many exciting things to look forward to including Christmas Art. We will also have a celebration of the Visual Arts so please keep your eyes out in the newsletter for information about this later in the term.

Prep:

Students will be assessed on their interpretation of line and shape. They will practise their cutting and pasting skills through a range of activities. Students will then complete a variety of Christmas art to finish the year.

Year 1: 

Students will practise their use of pattern and shape whilst looking at a well known artist, ‘Laurel Burch’. They will also create self portraits inspired by Todd Parr. Students will then complete a variety of Christmas art to finish the year.

Year 2:

Students will explore the use of background, middleground and foreground in pictures. They will then create their own picture that incorporates these concepts. Students will also explore the use of tints and shades in art and create an art piece with their learned skills. They will then complete a variety of Christmas art to finish the year.

Auslan

"Signs are to eyes what words are to ears." ~ Deaf Proverb

Welcome to Term 4 in Auslan! Across St James, we will continue to solidify our previously targeted signed vocabulary and extend our sign bank through signed interactions, visual representations, silent games, vocabulary matching and repetitive phrasing. The concluding term of each school year is a personal favourite, not only because we have the chance to enjoy some signed Christmas activities in the final weeks, but because all of our St James children exhibit their language development in a signed presentation to their class. 

Preps will extend their signed vocabulary to include family signs and foundational questioning. They will continue to consolidate the topics they have learned throughout the year, including fingerspelling, animals, colours, numbers and greetings. These topics will be drawn together for their signed self presentation and also appear in our signed children’s literature throughout the term.

Year 1 & 2 will continue to solidify their signed vocabulary, in the area of work and life with signed language games. They will expand their everyday conversational sign bank, particularly with the introduction of signs relating to the natural world, which will then be utilised in their class presentations. 

Year 3 - 6 responded with interest while viewing clips of Victorian Deaf community members engaged in their working life, in the real world. The occupation and community signs students have already learned in Term 3, will be used in conjunction with the introduction of weather and nature signs in Term 4. This targeted signed vocabulary will form the basis of their class presentations. Additionally, students will continue to explore sentence building and voiceless communication, in a range of learning activities. 

I look forward to seeing all levels engaged in our Deaf-created visual content, and especially all of our St James students showcasing their signing skills in their class presentations!

Performing Arts

This Semester students in years 3-6 will participate in Performing Arts sessions, with Tracey O’Connor taking Year 3, 4 & 5P, Claire Feild taking 5S and Molly Masters taking the Year 6s. 

Year 3 - Students will begin by revising reading and clapping rhythm patterns, and will then explore 3-beat and 4-beat music. Students will have the opportunity to play Boomwhackers and xylophones, which will develop their skills in reading notation and playing in time. Students will also listen to and reflect on different musical pieces over the term.

Year 4 - Students will explore some of the Elements of Music, and they will then use their understanding of these to create their own compositions. Students will learn the ‘Cup Song’, which will give them the opportunity to develop their skills in recording music, playing in time with others and creating their own rhythms. Students will also listen to and reflect on different musical pieces over the term.

Year 5P - Students will begin with a focus on the Elements of Music, and they will use these understandings to compose their own pieces using Incredibox. Students will then try their hands at ‘bucket drumming’, and will work on developing their ability to read notation to play a short piece on the drums. Students will also listen to and reflect on different musical pieces over the term.

Year 5S - Students will work on developing self-confidence, taking risks and supporting their classmates through drama. They will be using their expressive skills, such as facial expression and hand gestures, and using these skills when performing a short scene. Students will develop their improvisation skills, and work on staying in character, as well as adding their own ideas, to a performance.  

Year 6 - Students will have a strong focus on how to communicate meaning by comparing drama from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including in the drama of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They will end the term practising improvisation as well as practising public speaking which will get them ready for high school.

STEMMS

Preps - Students will be consolidating their skills on a computer, using skills to navigate around the Google Apps console, finding and opening docs and using skills within docs.   Students will be building on the coding they did last term, using Codeapillar, a coding caterpillar, where they will sequence the caterpillar to complete activities.  They will also be introduced to “cause and effect” whilst using the Codeapillar.  We will also look at some design and creativity using the app Puppet Pals.  Here students will design and create their own puppet show and then will share these with the class.

Year 1 - Students will be exploring the design and create components of STEMMS using the Strawbees kits.  Here they will imagine, plan, create and test different structures that they are challenged to build. Following this the students will build on their coding skills using the robots-Botzees.  Students will program the robot using block code to enable it to perform certain actions and sequences.  They will also develop knowledge in conditional code - if and then, ie if my robot sees an obstacle then the robot will turn 180 degrees and move away.  Using Botzee the students will also explore AR-Augmented Reality and Botzee moves within AR.

Year 2 -  This tem the students will explore design and building concepts using the MakeDo construction tools.  They will be set challenges to design, create and test structures using cardboard and the MakeDo tools.

Following this students will then use the Sphero Indi robots.  Here they will explore the colour coding cards, what they do and cause and effect they have on the Indi’s. They will use their coding skills to program the Indi’s to complete activities. 

Year 3 -  Students will be using the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits.  Here the students will build, modify and code their projects.  They will look at a variety of areas i.e. speed, pulling, sensors. lifting, tilting etc.  They will also create their own robots for certain tasks ie speed tests.  They will use the STEM process to imagine, design, test and modify their Lego robots.

Year 4 - Students will look at Push and Pull Machines, the science behind them, how they are used every day in our lives and will then build a variety of push/pull machines using Lego. Following this the students will continue their coding skills using Codebugs.  Here students will develop their knowledge of algorithms, precise instructions and debugging.  The students will use the Codebug to complete a variety of activities and then to develop their own program for the Codebug.

Year 5 - The students this term will be creating their own Podcast.  Students will do research into what podcasts are used for, target audiences and what makes a successful podcast.  Students will then create their own podcast on a subject of their choice. They will use sound effects to add to their podcast and will create a podcast logo to help “sell” their podcast.  Students will also investigate electric circuits using the Littlebits kits.  Here they will look at components such as inputs, outputs, wires, switches and how they are to be used and in what order they need to be used for the circuits to be successful.

Year 6 - The students will be involved in a Game Design unit.  The students will firstly play and review “old school” games then design their own game.  The students then will be looking at five different platforms to build their games.  Students will choose a platform most suitable for their game and will then modify their design so they can build a game for their target audience.  Following this, the students will be involved in using Drones.  Students will look at Federal Aviation requirements, safety, drone components and will then build their skills to code, race and manoeuvre their drones to complete tasks and courses.