Specialist Report

Term 3, 2020 Highlights!

Performing Arts

The Argus community developed their creative ideas in DRAMA for Performing Arts. They started the term with identifying and expressing different emotions, using their facial expressions, movement in the space and voice to role-play. The Ulysses and Achilles communities began the term with acting as different fairy tale characters and worked on using improvisation to develop their drama skills. All students used their imagination to explore and express their acting in response to the weekly drama tasks. These included themes such as: Seasons, Heroes and Villains, The Gruffalo Story, Community Members and Toys. It was great to see fantastic family participation and students using what they had at home to bring their scenes to life. The use of props and costume pieces were amazing! 

The Xenica community worked on expressing their ideas about DANCE in Performing Arts. They started the term with learning a dance about basketball, demonstrating energetic combinations each week until finally being able to present the full routine. Students then developed their own creative sport dance using the skills of accuracy, control, confidence and focus. The Icarus community developed their dance skills through a futuristic themed dance, where they combined actions of an android with that of their human selves. Students identified and expressed the dance dynamics of strong and sharp movements contrasting with soft and smooth. They were then able to use their imagination and knowledge of the dance skills to choreograph their own futuristic dance performance. All students finished the term with researching and presenting a dance style including: Bollywood, Breakdancing, Ballet and Tap Dance. It was great to see so many students develop their confidence and creativity through dance! 

Physical Education

In Remote Physical Education (PE) this term, students have been engaging in many fun activities. The Argus, Achilles and Ulysses communities began the term by learning how to be successful in the drop punt and handball skills. They were introduced to the sport, Australian Football League (AFL) and became familiar with basic features like the football and scoring systems. The junior school communities moved on to learning about the kick and dribble. They were introduced to the sport, Soccer (or Football) and became familiar with the ball and to ensure they use their feet only. To end the term, they learnt about the two handed strike. 

The Xenica and Icarus communities began term 3 with learning about the sport of Volleyball. They practised the main skills within the sport like the spike, dig, set, serves, as well as the rules and scoring. The two communities moved on to learning about the sport of Tennis and practised the main skills within the sport like the forehand, backhand, volley and serves, as well as the rules and scoring. For both sports, they applied the skills within a small game situation by teaching a family member some of the skills, game rules and scoring. 

In Physical Education this term, students have learned: Prep/2: drop punt, soccer kick and two handed strike 3/6: volleyball, tennis and soccer. Alannah has done an awesome job at conducting all the P.E lessons this term. She has given warm up and cool down stretches, to help the children prepare and wind down from their exercises. They have been fun, stimulating and challenging. These skills and exercises have provided excellent examples on how we can keep fit and active especially during lockdown. Good job, Alannah!

-Tamsyn, Icarus Community 

A major part of PE generally involves teamwork and game play. This is something we have had to combat during Remote Learning and the Aitken Hill community have put in a  tremendous effort in engaging in these individual (or partner) activities. Fantastic work team!

STEM

This term STEM has taken a turn to allow students to be creative and critical thinkers from the comfort of their own home! At the start of Term 3 Icarus students were challenged to think about science experiments through the Predict, Observe and Explain lens. Xenica revisited our Term 1 incursion with The Big Battery Rescue - a play by the National Theatre for Children and became advocates for recycling batteries at home, instead of putting them into landfill. Argus, Achilles and Ulysses students all became masters of REPURPOSING things around the home to solve some quirky issues found in nursery rhymes!

Visual Arts

In Visual Arts, Argus, Ulysses and Achilles have used a variety of everyday resources found around the home to expand on their ability to express their imagination, ideas and observations. They have explored a number of different artists’ works as inspiration for their own creations and have developed skills using materials that have included laundry, toys, paper, leaves, sand, shaving cream and recycled waste. Students have shown remarkable innovation and creativity as they have come up with ways and solutions to express themselves. It’s easy to see their unique take on art, as no two images look the same! It has been fantastic to see families working together to support student learning, helping to spark their creativity and imagination and hopefully creating some special memories at the same time! 

The Xenica and Icarus communities have explored different Elements and Principles of Art throughout the term, including line, shape, colour and perspective. Both communities have continued to impress with their weekly artworks, which highlight their imaginative, playful and creative side. Very clearly, Xenica and Icarus have put in a lot of effort, particularly with their drawing and colouring (whether by paint, pencils or pastels) as all of their work has been phenomenal. Xenica have developed a deeper understanding of using contrasting and complementary colours within their work, to help make aspects of their work standout. While Icarus have shown patience and dedication to their work when using lines to create patterns in the form of Zentangles. Perspective was a big highlight for both communities, with students using their gained knowledge of ‘Forced Perspective’ to take photographs aimed at tricking people into believing something different, like an optical illusion. The tasks saw students jumping in glasses and bottles, riding their toys, balancing on balls, climbing trees and holding giant toys (to label a few)! They then built on these concepts the following week by using line, shape and colour to draw optical illusions to trick people! It was fantastic to see so many different ideas and support from families to bring all the ideas to life! Receiving all your wonderful pictures has definitely been a highlight for me and I’ve been blown away by all the creativity and uniqueness of every student’s art! 

Students across Aikten Hill were set a challenge to create a Stop-Motion Animation. As anyone who has made a short stop-motion animation can tell you, a lot of work goes into just a few seconds! There were many amazing submissions (too many to include them all), but here is showcase of some from across all the communities. Thank you for all the families involved in helping to create these short and fun animations! There was definitely a lot of effort required!

Stop Motion Animation by Aitken Hill P.S Students:

By now, hopefully everyone has seen our wonderful Spoonville garden situated at the front of the school. Spoonville originated in the English village of Winnersh as a way of improving children’s mental health during COVID-19 lockdowns. They’ve since popped up all over the world. Spoonville is a collection of wooden and plastic spoons turned into bright and fun characters! It's meant to be something cheery and fun for people to see when they are walking around the neighbourhood. We thought it would be a great addition for the garden at the front of school for all our students to enjoy when they walk past on their daily exercise. Thank you to everyone in the community who has contributed to our garden, it’s been wonderful to see so many smiling faces participating. All spoons are still welcome! We hope they continue to brighten your walk throughout the holidays. 

Term 3 Photo Highlights