Specialist News

Visual Arts

Within the Visual Arts room there has been such energy and high levels of creativity!!!  These have been some fantastic weeks of art.  The grade 5/6 students again should be very proud of the Notable Banners that they have created!!!  They have also started exploring the artist Edward Hopper.  In class we have read the book Edward Hopper Paints His World. They have then taken photos in the artists style and will be exploring light and shadow.

The grade 2/3 and 3/4 students are also creating some really nice artworks!!! They are exploring the artist Vassily Kandinksy and have read the book, The Noisy Paintbox.  They have been listening to music from Mozart and Beethoven and have thought about how best to ‘represent what they hear’.   All students have critically considered abstract line, colour, tone and composition.   These artworks are playful and highlight the rhythm of the music.

The grade 1 and 1/2 students have been exploring the artist Pablo Picasso. They have discussed his artworks – noticing the shattered shapes, the sharp lines and vibrant block colours that Picasso used.

The students have then had a photo of themselves taken to create their own ‘Picasso Portrait’. Students have explored tracing and creating a shape filled background.

In Prep, we are looking at the artist Claude Monet.  The preps have been thoroughly engaged in this 5 week study; as we have discussed 5 of his paintings, the landscapes he inhabits and the soft brush work techniques he used.   All students have found his artworks calming and relaxing.   They have closely looked at the ‘Waterlilies’ and have created their own water lily with a paper plate, cellophane, paint and crepe paper. They will also be exploring other artists who also depict landscapes and will specifically look at botanical art.

Keep experimenting, sketching and creating, young artists!!!

STEAM

The Prep, Year 1T and Year 1/2D have been coding in the lab.  They have been following the program code.org. While using this program students are develop their coding skills by using north, south, east and west.  Some students are learning about the repeat button which is used instead of writing out every step of the algorithm.  

Year 2/3 and 3/4 continue to explore solids and liquids.  Students have expanded on their knowledge of how we define a liquid.  We have discussed how it takes on the shape of the container that it is in and the viscosity of the liquid in particular honey.  

DEFINITIONS:

Viscosity - the state of being thick, sticky, and semi-fluid in consistency, due to internal friction.  The state of viscosity increases when it is cooled. 

Liquid - a substance that flows freely but is of constant volume, having a consistency like that of water or oil.

Solid -firm and stable in shape; not liquid or fluid. 

Year 5/6 continue to explore light.  We have discussed how light travels in straight lines and this is how shadows are formed.  We see objects only when light travels from the object to our eyes.  We have used ray diagrams to show how and the direction that light travels. 

DEFINITIONS:

Shadows - a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface. 

Physical Education

Year 5/6 students are developing their invasion game skills in particular attacking and defending skills.  

Year 2/3 and 3/4 are learning about how to create space within a game situation and working within a team.  

Year 1 and 1/2 continue to working on their throwing and catching skills making sure of their correct position.  

Preps are focusing on catching and making a nest with their hands and their hands are close to there body.  

Library

Scholastic Book Fair

We would like to thank all the people who came and supported our book fair last week. There were lots of interesting books to buy and there were titles from many of our favourite authors!

A special thanks to the many families who also bought a book to donate to their classroom reading boxes. These have been catalogued and are already being enjoyed in the classrooms.

We sold a lot of fabulous books and raised over $400.00 for the school library.

Everyone who made a purchase at the fair received a raffle ticket for the lucky door prize.

……and the winner was….Billy and (his mum!) Prep

Zahir and Nicholas – Library Captains