In Our Classrooms

100 DAYS OF PREP!

Last week, our Preps celebrated their 100 Days of Prep by dressing up as if they were 100 years old! This fun and memorable event marked a significant milestone for our students. Here’s to many more days of learning and growing together!

TERM 3 SPECIALIST PROGRAM

Our Primary Years students have an exciting term ahead with their specialist program. Stay tuned to see some of their work throughout the term. Thanks to our specialist teachers for providing these wonderful opportunities.

Visual Arts

This term in Visual Arts class, students have been exploring the vibrant worlds of painting, drawing, and collage! Through hands-on activities, they learned how to mix colours and experiment with different brush techniques, creating beautiful paintings that reflect their unique perspectives. We also focused on drawing and colouring fundamentals, encouraging students to express their ideas through sketching, shading, line making and pattern creation.

In our recent lessons, visual arts students have been diving into the elements of art, with a special focus on shape. They’ve explored how different shapes can create depth and movement in their work, experimenting with both geometric and organic forms to enhance their artistic expression. In our collage sessions, they discovered how to combine various materials to tell a story or create dimension to their pieces. We can’t wait to showcase their incredible artworks in our upcoming showcase next term!

Mandarin

In Mandarin this term, the Year 3 students are learning countries' names and nationalities. They are also working on how to generalize sentences in Mandarin, such as "What’s your nationality? I am Australian." The Year 4 students are focusing on describing their hobbies and their family member’s hobbies. The sentences the students are working on are: "What’s your hobby? My hobby is….". The Year 5 students are expanding their Mandarin vocabulary by learning Healthy food words. They can generalize sentences in Mandarin confidently, such as "What would you like to eat/drink? I would like to eat/drink_____."

Performing Arts Prep - Year 5

It has been an exciting start for our new group of Performing Arts students this term. Our Prep to Year 4 students are already hard at work learning and creating dance routines and developing their acting skills. They have been learning how drama develops communication and collaboration skills and how it can help build confidence. Students have also explored body percussion patterns and songs and performed for their peers. They will continue to enjoy practical activities to explore dance, drama and music while practising different ways of working together and reflecting on how they can improve their performances.

Throughout the term, we will be making cross-curriculum links with the Olympics (Ceremonies Prep – Year 4), Light and Sound (Instrument Families Year 1), Mathematics (Rhythm patterns, counting, multiplying and subdividing the beat, Years 3-5), English (Storytelling, rhymes and chants, Years Prep – 4) and Italian (Songs and dance Years Prep - 2).

Year 5 students have an exciting Term 3 ahead as they dive into the world of percussion. They will explore a variety of percussion instruments, including African drums, classical tuned percussion, and bucket drumming. They will learn the basics of rhythm, develop their coordination skills, and experience the joy of making music in an ensemble. Through engaging hands-on activities and dynamic group practices, students will enhance their musical abilities, build teamwork, and strengthen their rhythm reading skills. We look forward to a term full of rhythm, creativity, and fun!

We encourage everyone to keep an eye out for announcements about assembly performances and Seesaw posts to watch and show your support for our enthusiastic performers. Thank you for helping to nurture their passion for the Arts.

STEAM

Prep

This term in STEAM, Prep students are learning about a simplified version of the Engineering Design Process (Think, Make, Improve) where they design and build solutions to a range of different problems. Students will explore what sustainable materials are and begin to explore how they can incorporate sustainable materials into their designs.

Year 1

This term in STEAM, Year 1 students are learning the basics of block coding using the app Scratch Jr. They will program their own interactive short story while focussing on designing a project, problem-solving and expressing themselves creatively.

Year 2

This term in STEAM, Year 2 students are learning about animation using the technique of stop motion. They are focussing on creating a short animation using an app stop motion animation to express their creativity.

Year 3

This term in STEAM, Year 3 students are learning about Simple Machines and how they are used in our everyday devices. Students will be planning and creating a Rube Goldberg machine with a focus on sustainability.

Year 4

This term in STEAM, Year 4 students are undertaking a Media Art unit. They will learn about responsible media practices and explore a variety of filming and editing techniques. Students then use their knowledge to create and present engaging video content for specific purposes with an awareness of responsible media practice.

Year 5

This term in STEAM, Year 5 students will use LEGO Education Spike Essential kits (LEGO robotics) to investigate how forces and energy can control movement, sound or light in a designed product or system. Plan.

ITALIAN

Prep

Prep students have been developing their pronunciation and fluency of Italian vowels and numbers through participation in games and action songs in class each week. They are keen to perform a fun Italian counting song at an assembly to demonstrate their understanding and confidence in this area. Students have enjoyed learning to recognise and imitate the Italian names of farm animals and their sounds. They will soon match the Italian words to pictures, trace and practise singing and saying this new vocabulary before learning to identify the noun gender and plural forms. Students will continue to use greetings and courtesy words and learn about Father’s Day traditions (la festa del papà) in Italy.

Year 1

In Italian, we are reviewing greetings and courtesy words. Students are learning what the most common farm animal and wild animal names are. Students will be introduced to basic Italian grammar points that will help them understand what nouns are, the importance of noticing the ending in Italian words, and how this determines the gender in nouns. Students are learning to sing songs, and playing card games to practise new vocabulary.

Year 2

In Italian, we are learning what the most common farm animal and wild animal names are. Students will be introduced to basic Italian grammar points that will help them understand what nouns are, the importance of noticing the ending in Italian words, and how this determines the gender in nouns. Students are learning songs to practise pronouncing new vocabulary that relates to animals.

This term in PE the students will be active in class and also have a chance to learn about the health effects on their bodies. The Prep and Year 1 students are completing a Health Unit, followed by Dance and Catch Units. The Year 2 students are completing a Health Unit, followed by Dance and Punt Units. The Year 3 and 4 students are completing a Health Unit, followed by Skipping and Fitness Units. The Year 5 students are completing Units on Ultimate Frisbee, Skipping and Fitness. In addition to PE classes, the Year 3, 4 and 5 students get an extra session of sport every week and these sports rotate and students get to learn the rules and play competitive games against each other.

VICTORIAN PREMIER'S READING CHALLENGE UPDATE

We are 160 days in with just 30 days remaining of the 2024 Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge and already 94 students have completed the challenge! Collectively the Primary Years students have read and registered 6,082 books.

According to our bookworms in the Primary Years, the most-read book is Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey and the top-rated book is still Peppa's Easter Egg Hunt.

Keep up the great work, Hazel Glen College!