Specialists News
Auslan News
Welcome to Term 3 of Auslan lessons!
Grade Preps have started the term with some revision of Auslan signs for feelings. Students have practised signing feelings through the story of 'Milo Armadillo.'
This week we have started a new topic About Me/Describing Myself! The Preps have had a go at signing a couple of sentences about themselves, starting by introducing themselves in Auslan: “Hello, my name is…”
I have shown the Preps how to fingerspell their own names however this is not formerly taught until Term 4. If your Prep child is interested in practising to fingerspell their name, feel free to print off the A-Z Fingerspelling Mat attached to the newsletter each week and have-a-go with them. Fingerspelling is fun and some students will be very keen to try it after being introduced to it in class this week.
Other sentences we have had a go at signing are: 'I am…years old', 'My favourite colour is…', and 'I love [animal name].'
Grades 1-6 have engaged in small signing conversations with a partner, learning to ask someone about their holidays, and responding to questions about holidays. We have also been revising signs from past topics, using the Auslan games, and joining in team signing challenges. The students seem to have really enjoyed playing the Auslan games this week, and there are some very competitive Grade 5-6s that were really drawing on their prior knowledge of Auslan signs, to beat their peers for the highest points in the team sign challenges!! 😊
Grade 1-2s have now started their new topic on Auslan signs for people: he, she, they, mine, yours, theirs, boy, girl, child, children, adult, man, woman/lady, person, people. They are beginning to build on these words to sign sentences.
The new topic in the Grade 3-4 classrooms is: days of the week and months of the year. There has been a big focus on fingerspelling in the Grade 3-4 classes with this topic. We are trying to fingerspell the Auslan alphabet with greater speed and accuracy. We were fascinated with a video we watched this week, of a deaf lady fluently signing the days of the week and the months of the year! We thought we were getting fast, but this lady was amazing to watch!!
Students are signing questions about the days and months, and learning the signs for: start/begin, before, and after.
Grade 5-6s have been revising the topic of HOLM + NMF which is an integral part of the Auslan language and important in the grammatical structure with Auslan being a visual language. Ask your child/ren if they can tell you what the letters in these acronyms stand for and what the meaning is behind each letter!
All students have been reminded this week that even though it might appear basic to be learning the “alphabet” in Auslan, fingerspelling is a very important part of the Auslan language because if we are unsure of a sign in Auslan then we can get around the language barrier by fingerspelling the word we need, and then the signing conversation can continue!! As we know the A-Z alphabet now, our challenge is to become more fluent and speedy at it! Keep practising at home. 😊
Mrs Riordan.
Sports News
State Cross Country
Congratulations to Max H and Jed H for representing the school at the State Cross Country Championships in Melbourne last week. Both boys finished in the top 60 of the 10 Years Boys event. This was a fantastic effort against the best runners from across Victoria on a particularly muddy Yarra Glen course. Max and Jed have displayed outstanding commitment to their training and we are all very proud of their achievements.
Sandhurst Division Netball
Well done to all of the students who represented the school at the Sandhurst Division Netball tournament yesterday. The standard of competition was very high and our teams are to be congratulated for the quality of netball they played throughout the day.
Our Grade 6 Girls team had successful day and were competitive in all of their games. They finished with 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 loses. The girls displayed great skill, teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the day and should be very proud of their efforts. I would sincerely like to thank Jess Egan for coaching this team.
Our Grade 6 Boys team also had a great day. For many of the boys, this was their first time playing competitive netball and they learnt a lot as the day went on. They played the game in great spirit and were an absolute pleasure to coach. Well done!
Sandhurst Division Football Tournament
Good luck to both our Boys and Girls Football teams who will be representing the school at the Sandhurst Division competition next week at Kennington Primary School. The Girls play on Tuesday and the Boys play on Wednesday. The winning teams from these tournaments will progress through to the Regional Final in Swan Hill later this term.