The Arts, Technologies, Health & PE
Health
In years 3 and 4 the Health curriculum further develops students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their health, wellbeing, safety and participation in physical activity.
Students will begin to explore personal and social factors that support and contribute to their identities and emotional responses in varying situations. They also develop a further understanding of how their bodies and their brains grow, develop and change as they get older, valuing the differences in others.
Throughout the year classes are going to explore knowledge, understanding and skills that support students to build and maintain respectful relationships, students will discover the benefits of developing a Growth Mindset - a Growth Mindset is when we realise mistakes are OK and mistakes are a part of learning and that there is a physiological reason why learning something new is hard, they will learn to make health-enhancing and safe decisions, and interpret health messages from different sources to take action to enhance their own health and wellbeing.
The Arts
This year, Torrens students will be participating in Friday Arts and Technologies. Students will take part in Dance, Music, Media, Visual Arts and Digital Technologies. They will be working with a different Torrens teacher each time, offering students a range of experiences and expertise. This is a great chance for students to try things they may have never done before, have some fun and laughs as well as develop new skills and abilities.
Physical Education
Children’s engagement and enthusiasm for physical activity is vital for their wellbeing.
Daily physical activity promotes a healthy heart, healthy mind and healthy body.
Being active is easy and can be as simple as gardening, taking the dog for a walk or going ten pin bowling with the family. This year we will continue to promote the importance of physical activity through PE and through the Premier’s Be Active Challenge, a program for all South Australian children. At the end of the challenge, what better way to be rewarded than with a medal to take home and keep, not to mention a fitter, healthier you! More information about The Premier's Be Active Challenge will be provided at a later date.
This semester, children will continue to develop and refine fundamental movement skills and increase levels of fitness, through cooperative games, exploring different sports and involvement in a fun, functional circuit style of training. Functional circuit training provides strength, mobility and stability to thrive in their daily lives and participate in sports. Children will learn basic movement patterns like pushing, pulling, squatting, walking and running.
They will be given opportunities to apply strategies to participate with others in physical activities in a safe and fair way, learning to follow basic game rules successfully. Children will regularly engage in warm up sessions, promoting and learning the importance of stretching before and after physical activity.
Children will develop and refine their gross motor skills through various ball sports, involving throwing, catching and kicking a stationary and moving ball. They will also engage in various types of locomotion such as dodging, weaving and running.
Throughout the semester children will be involved in sporting clinics, explicitly teaching children skills that can be implemented and developed throughout the year.
Children have been busy getting off to a great start, establishing learning agreements and building on teamwork and sportsmanship. With our annual Sports Day coming up at the end of Term 1, Friday 29th March we are busy practising the tabloid events, ensuring children can feel confident, successful and participate with enthusiasm on the day. Sports Day supports children to build confidence, foster communication between peers and learn important social skills like turn taking, sharing and encouragement in a safe, supportive environment.
Students are reminded to wear suitable clothing and footwear to all PE lessons to ensure their full participation.
Our Torrens PE lessons are Monday T16 and T17 and Tuesday T 18 and 19.
PE Teacher
Amy Byrnes
Technologies
Technologies is divided into two strands -
Design and Technologies and
Digital Technologies.
Some of the learning within this subject are integrated into other areas - especially significant given the chrome book ownership by all students. Digital literacy and safe practises online will naturally be a key focus.
By problem solving during Technologies lessons, students will have the opportunity to use and further develop their decision making and critical and creative thinking. Students will not only need to identify the possible benefits and risks of creating solutions but will also need to consider appropriateness, suitability, sustainability and impact on the future for themselves and others.
Students will also have opportunities to build their knowledge and skills using technical terms and techniques with coding. By independently investigating and exploring algorithms students will be able to successfully code using blocks before moving onto creating sequences of their own.