Specialists
Virtual fun, but with some sun!
Artes Escénicas
¡Hola Comunidad de Newlands!
First of all, a huge GRACIAS AND CONGRATULATIONS to our wonderful parent community for supporting, engaging and collaborating with our students during remote learning! All your efforts and encouragement has really shown, enabling our students to keep that enthusiastic spark and remain positive and calm during this hard time, again!
A massive thank you to our amazing and caring PFA for sending each staff member a beautifully drawn thank you gift card as an appreciation to us during remote learning! This has really pushed us to continue to deliver engaging and fun lessons this last week especially! We have all felt really touched, appreciated and valued by you all!
Remote learning 6.0, what can I say? Despite the lockdown challenges and restrictions with shows like Spectacular being cancelled for the 4/5/6 Mass Dancers, we have all managed to pull through surprisingly well and remain positive! We have mainly looked at the silver lining in this all! I feel like we have all really appreciated each other and our families during this time!
We have had incredible virtual fun, trying different backgrounds, dancing on screen, sharing our favourite toys, having deep and meaningful conversations about what is happening in the world and in general, smiling and seeing our peers and teachers!
My highlight has definitely been seeing all your smiling faces during our Wellbeing/Performing Arts' check ins and seeing you dance with your familias! Gracias familias for getting involved and having a great time dancing with your child! I especially enjoyed seeing familias collaborate in students' actividades so well, it was a lovely surprise and often made me laugh and smile! I appreciated parents encouraging their child to speak en español in the Drama actividades! This really made this lockdown and remote learning bearable and fun! I really do hope to see you all back onsite, face to face at school in Term 4! Have a well deserved relaxed holiday with your loved one's!
See you all on the other side! Spot your child or class in the photos, there are loads!
Srta Laura :)
P.S: Stay tuned for our virtual video from staff to you! :)
Visual Arts
Hola Newlands Family!
Thank you very much for making me feel so welcome and part of the fantastic creative community here at Newlands! It has been a challenging and rewarding start to a new job, but everyone here at Newlands has helped to make it a successful and memorable one! So how have I survived? I would say it has been the smiles, enthusiasm, positivity and kindness from students, colleagues, parents and especially my family here at home.
I have also survived Lockdown 6.0 by spending time in the sun on the verandah, working in my garden and taking my beautiful dog, Saami out to the park for a play most days. Enjoy your break everyone and I look forward to helping you discover your artistic talents next term. Take care.
Lydia
P.E
¡Hola familia de Newlands!
First of all, a big thank you to all my new colleagues, students and parents who made me feel warmly welcomed in this beautiful community since day one. My positive experiences during the past two months wouldn’t have been possible without your understanding and constant support. ¡GRACIAS!
During online schooling, I really enjoyed the creation of online lessons by making videos, pictures and delivering online content. I had a great time watching students and their families being physically active through PE activities. Aside from work, I have been focusing on my physical and mental health. So, I read heaps, ran often, meditated regularly and spent extra time with my partner and pets! All together is helping me cross the bridge safe and sound.
Enjoy your deserved school break and don’t forget to stay healthy!
Best wishes,
Raul Berral.
MUSIC – TERM 3
During this term and while remote learning, students from F – 3 have continued to investigate instruments of the orchestra, through a variety of listening and watching activities. Students are becoming more adept at naming instruments and identifying them by their sound. They loved the clip in which instruments played whale noises (on a barge in the sea) in an attempt to reach whales in the ocean. They identified the violin, trumpet, cello, double bass, french horn and tuba, even though the ‘music’ was very different to a normal orchestral performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRNbj8Ab2CA
Dance and singing has been a large focus in the F/1 area, practising action songs and responding to the beat and rhythm of the music.
Grade 2/3 students have continued to also sing as well as listening to various styles of music, often responding through drawing, movement or expressing how the music made them feel.
“It reminded me of leaves falling from a tree”
In the 4/5/6 area, we have continued to study genres and cultural music in line with their enquiry topic of this term. Students have often been asked to offer their opinion and preferences for different pieces and their responses have been both considered and perceptive. They are learning that you don’t have to necessarily like a piece of music to appreciate it.
“It was very interesting to listen but I didn’t like it that much”
We have listened to, and identified various genres including Jazz, Blues, March, Reggae, Country and Classical. Further study of famous composers has also continued. The following clip was used to demonstrate the clear styles of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and Chopin.