Specialist News
Performing Arts
Over the last two weeks of term 3 and the first two weeks of term 4 we have been learning how to play musical instruments.
The Prep students have been learning how to play the drums. At first, we started with understanding how to hold the drum sticks and hit the beat, towards the end we started learning how to play notes, in particular a rest, crochet and quaver.
The grade 1 and 2 students have been learning how to play the Xylophone, we have learnt what the keys are and the different sounds the keys make. We practised playing different songs, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Baa, Baa", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "You are my Sunshine".
The grade 3 and 4 students have been learning about the drums. They have been learning 5 different notes; crochet, quaver, semiquaver, rest and triplet. They have also been practising playing two different notes at the same time.
The grade 5 and 6 students have been playing the Ukuleles, we have learnt to play the strings C, D, E and A and how to tune a ukulele. We have also learnt the chords; Am, F and D. The students have been able to play songs such as "Are you Sleeping", "Thunder" and "Happy Birthday".
Auslan
The last few weeks in Auslan has seen the Prep, Grade 1 and 2 students explore signs for well known Pokemon characters. They have been creating their own Auslan Pokedex and collating information about the characters. Students have learnt to sign the character's name, colour, type and their weaknesses.
FUN FACT: To sign "Pokemon" we start off with our hand in a fist, like a Pokeball. We then pretend to throw the Pokeball across the body and make the handshape below. The P handshape is actually ASL (American Sign Language). In our Auslan classes we discuss Deaf people all over the world and investigate many different forms of sign language.
Grade 3/4's have been investigating what makes an effective Auslan sign. This includes looking at HOLME; each sign has a handshape, orientation, location, movement and expression. We have been researching different handshapes and looking at minimal pairs (signs that are very similair to each other). There are 62 Auslan handshapes!
Grade 5/6's have been working on a "Bilingual" piece of Art for the Art Show by adding Auslan AND English to their artworks. They were inspired by Deaf Melbourne Street artist, GONKETA (aka Jaycob Campbell). Here is a sneak peak of some work by senior students Emily, Marshall and Ainsley. They have created their initials in Auslan.
Sensory Garden
Our plant donations from Bunnings Pakenham are thriving in their new garden beds!
Our "sight" garden bed has started flowering with beautiful colours and our "taste" bed has tomato and strawberry plants coming along nicely!
Physical Education
On Monday, October 21st we had two of our students compete in the Southern Metropolitan Athletics Event at Casey Fields Regional Athletics Centre. This is a significant achievement, as it is the final competition before the Victorian State Championships. The students that represented PHPS were Jy Hyndman and Aiva Ikupu, who both made it through in their repective age groups for High Jump. On this occasion they fell just short of making it through to the State Finals, but we are super proud of their efforts to make it this far in competition.
Phys Ed classes will soon be focusing on summer sports and their associated skills. In addition to these sporting disciplines, the grade 3 to 6 students will be working on being 'present' in a team, court/field positioning, and using their voices effectively. The Prep to 2 grades will be continuing to develop their skills in being part of a team, with motor skills such as catching, throwing and striking balls being a main focus.