Spotlight on Learning Room 7

Earlier this term, our middle primary was fortunate to have a visiting artist from Carclew Institute come to our classrooms and share with us their inspiration for art influenced by their passionate understanding of culture. Having a visiting artist share their inspiration and cultural insights helped greatly enrich the students' understanding and appreciation of art and of First Nations culture. Such experiences can also inspire creativity and curiosity among the students, encouraging them to explore their own cultural backgrounds through artistic expressions.

On Monday, we were lucky enough to have a second artist visit our classroom with the theme of connections to culture through music. This was a thought-provoking learning experience that combined art, history, and social awareness in a meaningful way which allowed students to express themselves through images, words and song. Discussing topics such as Australia’s history (connecting to our HASS learning focus), challenges, and strategies for working in harmony, in the context of working with a visiting artist added an extra layer of creativity, perspective and expression to the learning process. Encouraging students to think about words and images that tell these stories allowing them to connect on a personal level with the themes being explored and to express their perspectives in a variety of ways.

We then broke out into groups, which allowed students to have the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and learn from their peers’ perspectives. This collaborative approach not only enhances their understanding of the topics at hand but also promotes teamwork and communication skills. Students then pooled their ideas to our lovely artist, Katie, who then merged them into a beautiful song which the students named “Voices for change.” Both Rooms 6 and 7 wrote an individual verse for the song before coming together to sing in harmony.

Voices for change.

Room 7 Verse

Be brave in who you are.

Respecting our Elders, respecting the land.

Celebrating culture, this is Kaurna land.

Chorus x 1: We need to change for the better.

Reconcile our differences

Let’s all come together

Listen to our voices - for change.

Room 6 Verse

We love our elders, they tell us stories.

Acknowledge the past, create a better future.

Our difference is beautiful.

Be kind.

There’s strength in community.

Chorus x 2: We need to change for the better.

Reconcile our differences

Let’s all come together

Listen to our voices - for change.

Below are some images from our learning we would like to share with you and some examples of the individual work that the students completed before combining their ideas into song.

Miss Kira Fabbro

Year 3/4 Class Teacher

Room 7