Classroom Insights
Art Room News
Grades 3 and 4 have been working on Badger Bates and Jimmy Pike inspired foam ink prints. They focused on drawing Australian native animals and using lines and patterns surrounding the animal to make it eye catching.
Grades 5 and 6 have been focusing on one-point perspective colour wheels. They experimented with watercolour techniques to create these visually striking artworks. Each student used various colour values within their artwork to show shading and distance in each colour segment.
Adventure to Coburg High School
Last Wednesday, the Grade Fives and Sixes went to Coburg High School. We had an amazing day! We walked along the Merri Creek to get there. It was a beautiful walk. Some of the Grade Sixes even ran into their older siblings!
Some of the Year Sevens helped us out with navigating around the school. We were split into 4 groups and got to attend 3 different classes. The groups went to either Art, Humanities, Science or Drama.
In Art, we made an artwork called Neurographic art. We made an organic looking squiggle and shaded where the points joined. Then we painted watercolour in the lines.
After the first session we all went out to the canteen for our first break. There were loads of delicious foods like pizza, cheese pies and brownies. After the first break, we went to our second class.
In Humanities, we studied what school was like in the 1820s, 1910s, 1960 and today. We took notes about how schools have changed over time.
In Drama, we played lots of different games like ‘Spaghetti’, where you make a circle and take turns walking in the middle with a different style each time. Some people did ‘surprised’, some did ‘happy’ and some did ‘sad’. It all was incredible and a fun experience! After ‘Spaghetti’, we played ‘Forks and Knives’. For this game, you walk around normally and one person yells out an object and how many people it needed. For example, for ‘cutlery’, we needed two people - one person would be the fork, and one person would be the knife. If you were last or did not get it right, you're out. We also found out that next year Coburg HS will be doing a play called ‘Back to the 80s’. When we found out we were all really excited!
In Science class, we made elephant toothpaste and slime. We also patted a lizard called Regina who had funny stickers on her enclosure.
After our last session, we had one more break where there was a sea of Calipos from the canteen! Everyone had a sweet treat before we left. On the way back, we stopped at a park with a big oval and castle playground. We had lots of fun playing, learning, acting and learning about high school.
By Clementine B, Maggie S and Margo F
Classroom Insights: Grade 5 Inquiry
Term 3 has seen a lot of learning about Australia throughout our Inquiry unit. Working our way back from trades with the Macassans, to the First Fleet, Gold Rush and World War II, we have explored the different push and pull factors for migration.
We explored the different attitudes and beliefs that people had during these times to migration and built up understandings of what it means to be an Australian.
We have also compared the experiences of migrants and refugees, thinking about what factors might cause a person to decide to move, or be forced to move countries. In our final weeks of term we are creating advertisements about migration, persuading people of specific time frames to make the journey down under!
Alongside our Inquiry unit, we have been preparing for the Term 4 Darebin Yarning Conference. Select students are chosen to attend, but the activities help foster community and awareness of the issues that First Peoples experience today.
This year we explored the theme, 50 Years of Deadly, discussed the importance of truth, and unpacked what Treaty looks like. Students wrote reflections poe, explored black out poetry and wrote their own in response to the learning materials. We then came together as a cohort to write a Bell Primary, Yarning Poem using our best lines.
Our next steps will be creating posters for the Darebin Yarning Conference, and for our school, to both celebrate our learning and encourage community.
Check out our Poem:
Wurundjeri land, a land that thrives, flourishes and forgives,
The ancient stories of these lands,
These waters, skies and stars still speak to those willing to listen,
Gathering long before decisions were made in buildings of stone and glass,
Nourishing Country with our hands and hearts,
Where golden dirt lays on the ground, history hidden all around,
The soil is wet, the trees grow high and,
Bunjil flies; full of courage and creation.
But their land, their kids and their home was stolen,
The stars and skies couldn’t find a light,
When the storm is loud and deep,
Every soul has looked back,
At past colonial wrongs,
The unfair and abuse and discrimination,is not part of our nation,
The true owners of this land
Forced to feel blamed and ashamed.
Begin to ask“Will we survive?”
Treaty is how we make that future possible,
We can say sorry,
Justice can prevail,
Truth and courage grounded in generations,
Truth that belongs to all,
Truth that we write together,
As we march and sing to Country and,
Keep the fire burning.