K/1
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Visual Arts
Our class has been learning about various festivals and celebrations worldwide in Geography, History, and English. You'll hear more about these in the coming weeks, but for now, we're showcasing some of the art inspired by our learning.
To celebrate the beginning of spring, the Japanese people celebrate Hanami, a traditional festival of sakura (cherry blossoms). K/1 students viewed designs of porcelain Japanese vases, including precious artefacts from Mrs. McCallum. After practising patterns, the children added them to their paper vases, followed by delicate cherry blossoms. Manipulating tissue paper into blossoms is much harder than it seems, so this exercise was great for developing fine motor skills.
The children were fascinated by the lanterns illuminating the sakura during the nighttime festival, so we decided to make some of our own. These will come home in Week Three once we add more details.
VAES1.2 Experiments with a range of media in selected forms.
VAS1.2 Uses the forms to make artworks according to varying requirements.
MUSIC
It is that time of year when K/1 get to play Mr Francis’ favourite instrument - the recorder! It truly is such a great instrument as they are cheap and portable and allow our students to read, play and compose their own music. If anyone asks what your child may like for Christmas or a holiday activity, finding a Yamaha descant recorder would be a great way to further your child’s musical development, and I would happily send some music home as well. So far, we have learned how to play B and an A, have learned about crotchet rests, and the difference between crotchets and quavers (which we say ta and ti-ti for). The children have also started writing their own compositions using these notes.
MUES1.2 Creates own rhymes, games, songs and simple compositions
MUS1.3 Uses symbol systems to represent sounds.