Specialists Updates and Celebrations

Mandarin (Prep)

During these two weeks, students have been learning the basic four tones of Chinese. Students learnt the tones through dancing and singing and completed their tones drawings this week. Parents, you can challenge your child to show you the first, second, third and fourth tones. I am sure they will be excited to show you! Starting next week, Prep will begin learning how to say and write numbers in Mandarin.

Visual Arts (Years 1 and 2)

The Year 1 and 2 students have begun learning about their Aboriginal Australian Art unit of work. It is important to note that students are not creating Aboriginal Art, but learning about the Indigenous culture and being inspired by their historic and contemporary art forms. The students focused on Bark Paintings this week. A style of Aboriginal Art which dates back thousands of years. For their activity inspired by the Bark Paintings, the Year 1 and 2 students used POSCA Paint Pens to draw Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander symbols on 'bark' which was images of bark printed on paper. They used lots of bright colours and shared the symbols they drew with their friends. Fantastic work, everyone!

Music (Years 3 and 4)

This term in the Year 3 and 4 Music Program our theme is Rock Music. We have kicked off our learning on this topic by looking at one of the main features of rock, the guitar riff. We have examined what a riff is, identified some of the most iconic riffs in rock history and started to learn how to play some of these riffs on guitar. In the coming weeks students will begin to write their own rock riff on the guitar to perform to their class. 

We have been Learning about the early years of rock including the genres that influenced it, key artists and how the first rock song came to be. We are covering rock material on the kalimba and marimba also to keep our skills progressing on these instruments.

Performing Arts (Years 3 and 4)

The Year 3 and 4 students have begun Term 2 by learning about the Performing Arts topic, Drama. The main focus these past few weeks have been understanding 'what' Drama is and important roles each person can partake in. Students have been developing their acting skills by learning about various techniques, such as: mime, monologues and improvisation. We will continue to develop these skills over the next few weeks. By the end of term, students will have a stronger understanding of these skills and have the confidence to create a performance of their own and perform in front of the class. 

Physical Education (Years 5 and 6)

Years 5 and 6 have started off Term 2 with the sport Handball. They have learnt the rules and techniques needed to play the game. Students have been practising their different throwing, catching and movement skills before playing a modified version of Handball. In this version, students are unable to move when they have the ball. This encourages more passing and teamwork. The progress students are making is excellent and their attitude has been fantastic.