Primary Specialists

Visual Arts 

Students in Visual Arts have been busy creating wonderful pieces of artwork over the past two weeks this winter. During week 6, all students contributed to  collaborative artworks as they showed empathy and respect to the first nations people during Reconciliation week. Students learned about the horrible injustices faced by indigenous Australians over the years since British settlement, which has now led up to the creation of Sorry Day and Reconciliation week.

Preps

Preps have began their final assessment pieces for the term where they are putting their knowledge about Impressionism into practise. They are creating oil pastel and watercolor paintings inspired from Claude Monet's famous artworks about water lilies. Students have learned about perspective and distance as they were taught that larger flowers and lilypads at the front of the page show objects that are near and smaller flowers and lilypads at the top of the page show objects that are far away and give an impression of distance.

Year 1

Students in Year 1 have been recreating Monet's famous painting The Japanese Footbridge as their final assessment piece for the term. They have been learning about Impressionist short strokes and creating shadows to make the bridge look three dimensional. They will complete the piece with a resist technique as they paint with blue food colouring and see the oil pastel resist against the water colour.  Students will also use rice to soak up excess liquid which will create an impressionist effect on the completed piece of artwork once it dries. 

Year 2

Students in Year 2 have commenced their final Pablo Picasso inspired artwork for the term.  They explored numerous Picasso portraits and identified the various geometric shapes, curved, angular lines and abstract features used in his portraits. Students then began constructing their own abstract cubist inspired portraits which they are still painting and completing.

Year 3

Students in Year three have been looking at Picasso's various watercolour landscapes through this term.  They have recently learned about the rule of thirds, where there is a foreground, middleground and background in a picture. Students are beginning to create their own landscapes where they will apply their skills and techniques of watercolor paints for their final assessment piece. 

Year 4

Students in Year Four have been learning about the history of  Vincent Van Gogh and his life through this term.  They have been developing their skills in watercolour painting and have commenced their final assessment piece.  Students have been developing their drawing skills and are recreating Van Gogh's famous Sunflower painting. They will apply watercolour paint to their final piece and blend various shades of yellow and orange as they complete their final artwork.

Year 5

Students in Year Five have begun their final piece of artwork inspired by Vincent Van Gogh called Cafe Terrace at Night.  They have learnt about one point perspective and the vanishing point as they recreated and drew their images of the street cafe. Students will continue to paint layers of water colours onto their final piece showcasing various tints and shade of yellows and blues. 

Year 6

Students in Year Six have been developing their ability to show form and 3 dimensional drawing as they have been working on shading and highlighting over the term. they have put these skills into practise as they create their final assessment piece. Students will draw and paint a still life fruit bowl.  They have been developing their ability to show light and form in their final pieces. 

Spanish

Hola y bienvenidos…

We are excited to bring you the latest edition of our Spanish Learning Newsletter, where we will update you on all the wonderful things, we have been learning in our Spanish classes. We have been working hard to consolidate our knowledge and expand our skills in various areas. Let's look at what we've been up to in the past weeks.

Our students have been focusing on greetings, colours, and numbers. Greetings like "¡Hola!" (Hello) and "¡Adiós!" (Goodbye) are essential for establishing communication in Spanish. We have been practicing these greetings to greet our teachers and classmates with confidence. Additionally, learning colours and numbers allows us to describe objects and count in Spanish. We have had a lot of fun playing games and engaging in interactive activities to reinforce our understanding of these concepts.

In our recent lessons, we have dived into the topic of furniture, rooms, and parts of a house. We now know how to say common furniture items like "mesa" (table), "silla" (chair), and "cama" (bed). Exploring different rooms of a house, such as the bedroom ("dormitorio"), kitchen ("cocina"), and living room ("sala de estar"), has allowed us to expand our vocabulary and describe our surroundings. We have also learned words for specific parts of a house, such as "ventana" (window) and "puerta" (door). It's been exciting to discover new words and envision different living spaces!

For our upper-level students, we have introduced the "5 W's" in Spanish. These are the basic questions that begin with "Quién" (Who), "Qué" (What), "Dónde" (Where), "Cuándo" (When), and "Por qué" (Why). These question words are vital for communication as they enable us to introduce ourselves, ask simple questions, and gather information. We have been practicing using these question words in class discussions and role-plays, which has enhanced our speaking and listening skills.

As we continue our Spanish learning journey, we encourage you to keep practicing and exploring the language. Take advantage of the Spanish resources in SchoolBox- Spanish page to  reinforce what you've learned in class. Remember, language acquisition is a continuous process, and every effort you make brings you closer to fluency.

We are proud of your progress and enthusiasm in learning Spanish, and we are excited to see your continued growth. Keep up the excellent work, and let's look forward to more exciting adventures in our future lessons.

Señor Javi y Señor Pasten

MUSIC 

Hi friends, this fortnight all classes have been looking at music through the lens of language and communication.  

Grade Prep have spent time exploring the story 'Peter and the Wolf'. The story uses different orchestral instruments for each character to help tell the story.  

Grade 1 are experimenting with patterns, representing rhythms with shapes and symbols.

Grade 2 and 3 have been creating rhythms and writing simple musical notation to represent the length of sounds then sharing them to perform to each other in small groups. 

Grade 4, 5 and 6 have been given tasks that require them to explore the music staff. They are writing their own melodies using notation that is familiar to them as they create music from changes in pitch and the length of the note. 

DANCE.

Students have recently been working on the different dynamics of range, and range of movement, and the significance it has to other elements outside of dance. We have worked on and addressed the power of cause and effect regarding this, and the outcome created when range is either increased or decreased, depending on what actions are taking place. Through this we have acknowledged and identified different perspectives and perceptions to the tasks set out, and discussed the mindset and approach to how we can best alter our focus to get the desired results. 

Students have been very engaged in these exercises, understanding the relevance this has to their personal journey through school, sports and various activities. This has created a deeper understanding of how they can achieve more with the right focus and actions to follow.

Dance Extension students have been working hard on a combined routine over the last few weeks. The most important and rewarding element that has come from this is the string bond and team work that they have created while working together to achieve their common goal. This has been seen for everyone, but especially more so in the Junior dance extension team. Eager and hungry to learn more, they have been practising and support each other so much while in the studio. Through this they are learning and understanding the importance and power of teamwork, and how this will impact their future journey. So proud of these students!

Victorian State School Spectacular Dancers have been practising and rehearsing well together over the last few weeks which has seen a great improvement in all areas. We finish off this term strong as we head into our 3rd combined schools Hub rehearsal next week. Our Saltwater dancers have set a great standard and we are so proud of how far they have come. 

Tickets are on sale for Victorian State School Spectacular and details have been sent out on Xuno.