Teaching and Learning Areas
Foundation
We can’t quite believe that it’s the final term for the Prep students!
We have begun the new term with an investigation of money and the Australian currency. This involves lots of play based exploration including students making things to sell for a play shop.
Students have also begun learning about different families and discussing how all families are different which they have really enjoyed.
Finally, the Preps have learned all of their Stage 6 sounds including tricker digraphs, /th/ and /ph/, and decoding multisyllabic words. They are enjoying being able to read and decode more complex texts.
Grade 1/2
Mini-whiteboard work
During our Literacy block, the 1/2s have been using mini-whiteboards to practise writing words and sentences that apply the weekly phonics focus, high frequency words, writing conventions and handwriting. They are provided with immediate feedback and supported to correct any mistakes, encouraging a growth mindset where we can learn from our mistakes.
This week, most students were focusing on:
- Phonics - the various graphemes for /oo/: ‘ue’ as in blue, ‘u-e’ as in rude, ‘ew’ as in blew, ‘ui’ as in fruit
- Extension: the ‘ure’ grapheme and synonyms and antonyms relating to these words
- High frequency words: ‘does’, ‘little’, ‘who’
Just before the mini-whiteboard work, students engage in a dance ‘brain break’. These movement breaks give students an opportunity to move their bodies, allowing their brains and bodies to reset, refocus and process information more easily by breaking the Literacy block into smaller chunks. The students are now experts at these classroom routines, allowing them to transition more readily from one activity to the next.
Grade 3/4
The 3/4s had an incredible time at Camp Cave Hill Creek! Students embraced every adventure, from testing their aim in archery to tackling the exciting crate stacking challenge while safely harnessed in.
They developed teamwork and problem-solving skills through the low ropes course, map reading and eye spy activities, and enjoyed getting hands-on with damper making over the campfire.
Hut building and bush walking gave everyone the chance to explore the beautiful surroundings and connect with nature.
It was a wonderful few days of fun, friendship, and new experiences!
Grade 5/6
Welcome back to Term 4! We’ve had such an exciting start to the term, beginning with the celebration of our Term 2 PBL learning through an exhibition based on our Merri-Merri unit.
This incredible 9-metre-long collage depicted the Six Layers of Wurundjeri Country (developed by Mandy Nicholson). Each of the six panels represented the significance, connections, and living things that inhabit each layer:
- Below Country
- Water Country
- On Country
- Wind Country
- Sky Country
- Star Country
The Six Layers of Country framework helps us understand that Country is more than the land we walk on. It includes the skies, waters, plants, animals, and the deep spiritual connections First Nations peoples hold. Our students did an outstanding job showing how these elements are interconnected and how we all have a responsibility to care for them.
We were thrilled to see so many members of our school community come along, ask thoughtful questions, and share in the students’ enthusiasm and knowledge. Thank you for your ongoing support!
To complement our learning, students also ran a clay fundraiser stall, selling their handmade clay pieces. The stall was a huge success, and we’re excited to announce more mini-clay stalls will be held on Wednesday after school at the basketball courts in Weeks 3 and 4. Come along and help us continue raising money for the 5/6s.
Visual Arts
It has been a busy and exciting semester in Visual Arts! Here is a snapshot of different projects that have been happening in each year level:
Foundation students have been learning about colour theory through different story books such as “Monsters Love Colour” and “Little Blue and Little Yellow”. Students have been exploring primary colours and the process of mixing them to create secondary colours. Once they found a colour that they loved they painted a monster that they designed.
Grade 1/2 have just completed a unit study on the contemporary Japanese artists, Yayoi Kusama. Students grew familiar with Kusama’s style which uses lots of dots and organic shapes to represent the universe. Through studying the intricacies of diatoms, cells and micro-organisms, students designed different patterns based on these shapes. Students also worked with air drying clay to create a mini pumpkin using the pinch pot technique.
Grade 3/4 students are almost at the end of a Street art unit. They focused on the works of various street artists such as Keith Haring, Pam the bird, Banksy and French artist Invadr. At the beginning of the unit, students created various stencils which they then printed onto A3 paper. The printed images were inspired by the comic style characters that Haring used in his work. Students also focused on the ‘Balance’ principle of design, and filling the negative space with different line to show movement, as well as different emotions.
Grade 5/6 students finished a unit of work on the collaborative New York artists duo Chiaozza. As a part of this unit, students complete two works, one which was a 3D plant sculpture using mod roc, wire and foil, and the other a gouache painting inspired by the duo’s ‘Slow Growth’ series. The ‘Slow Growth’ series was a modern take on 16th century Dutch Still Life paintings. Students explored creating depth in their painting through including a foreground, middle ground and background.
