Middle Years  

Year 7 Japanese Calligraphy Incursion

The focus for the first semester of Year 7 Japanese is on literacy, with students working towards gaining proficiency in all 46 hiragana characters. We have also been learning some katakana characters, which are used for words that are not of Japanese origin. All of our students have been learning how to write their names using katakana. 

Last Thursday both Year 7 Japanese classes participated in a special calligraphy incursion in the Art room. After practicing the stroke order of the characters in their names, students learnt the way to write their names in Japanese calligraphy. We were fortunate to have the assistance of student teacher Chihiro Sakamoto, who showed students the correct way to hold the brush, and some basic techniques. We also learnt about the importance of quiet focus during calligraphy, and played traditional music in the background while students worked.

At first, students found using brush and ink incredibly difficult, but with practice and much reflection on their work, they improved considerably in a short space of time. It was lovely to see student assisting and encouraging each other, giving suggestions for improvement and helping to select their best pieces of work. The final pieces are a wonderful example of the huge amount of learning that has happened in only two terms in Japanese. These will be put proudly on display for Grandparents' Day next week.

Lisa Katsikitis

Languages Learning Leader

Year 7 Core Excursion

In Week 6, all of the Year 7 classes attended an excursion in the city to visit SA Water and the SA Museum as a part of our learning in Geography and Science.

For the Geography part of the excursion, we went to SA Water and learnt about water sustainability. We filled out a booklet about what we as humans need to survive. This was broken down into three areas; individually, as a town and as a whole world. We then proceeded to make a 3D model of a town and had to include sources of water sustainability, waste-water sustainability, environment sustainability, social sustainability and financial sustainability. I enjoyed this excursion as we learnt heaps and it was very hands-on.  

At the museum, we spilt into two groups because there were two rooms that we could explore. One of the rooms was about minerals and the other was about Sir Douglas Mawson. We received a booklet with questions we had to fill out. In the minerals section, there were lots of different minerals displayed which were really cool. We learnt that the mineral copper is in fact green not bronze and found in lots of types of rocks. In the second section, we learnt about Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition and how he was the first person to survive and walk the whole way through Antarctica. We completed another booklet and learnt lots. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun.

Cameron Koch and Alice Bearman

Year 7 Students