Specialist Reports

Performing Arts

The best part of teaching the students at Wollert Primary School this term has been seeing the students model the school values… be kind, be brilliant, be curious, be joy! It has given me so much joy to see their smiling faces, hear their laughter in class, play with friends and for students to push beyond their comfort level and perform!

Preps

The Preps have been exploring a variety of Big books and multimodal texts to spark curiosity and respond through dance, drama and music soundscapes experiences. We have explored Feathers for Phoebe, Dinosaur Disco, Possum Magic, The Terrible Plop, Big Pet Day and Seasons to name a few! It has been so joyful to see students using musical instruments for the first time and exploring movement through a variety of songs. The most requested song each week is “Walk the Dinosaur”, I love seeing the brilliance of the students with their freestyle dance moves and waiting in anticipation for the chorus where we have choreographed dance moves!

Junior Learning Community

The Junior Learning Community have been exploring dramatic play through the use of props and costumes, they have been busy being Fairies, Superheroes, Vets, Doctors, Surgeons, Space rangers, Police, Day Spa Customers, Nature Explorers, Detectives and Fire Rescuers! The students have been focusing on facial expressions to convey meaning and enhance their performances!

Middle Learning Community

The Middle Learning community have been exploring TV advertisements this term. We examined cereal adverts and how they incorporated elements of play over time. The students collaborated in small groups and presented their own cereal adverts to the class. Students also created a TV advertisement based around ‘play’, this is where the students shone! Their ability to work together and accept and consider each others viewpoint stood out, all members of 3/4 demonstrated the school value to be brilliant! Their creativity, humour and use of catch phrases was so brilliant to see! 

Creating a positive learning environment for everyone has been a focus in the Middle Learning Community, each week we are all building on providing a safe performing space for all students through offering positive feedback and demonstrating what it means to be a respectful audience member. 

Senior Learning Community

The Senior Learning Community have been learning a variety of mime and improvisation drama ensemble games that promote teamwork. They have applied the elements, techniques and conventions of drama to open scripts and worked in small groups to present to the class. The Senior Learning Community have shown brilliance when stepping out of their comfort zone in class.

STEM

We have had a wonderful time in STEM this Term celebrating National Science Week. The theme for this year is "Glass: more than meets the eye" and our students have explored how glass is made and how we use it in our daily lives.

Whole School Experiment

As part of our Science Week celebrations, we conducted an experiment across the whole school using our favourite form of glass, marbles! 

Our investigation question was: Do bigger hands hold more marbles?

Our students had a few hypotheses on the outcome, many were firmly convinced that the answer was yes, and just as many were firmly supporting a result of no.

To investigate our question each student from Prep to Year 6 traced their hands, measured their handspan, and tried to pick up as many marbles as they could. They each decorated and cut out their handprints to be plotted on a graph.

It was fantastic seeing all of the different strategies for collecting results from the different year levels.

Once all of the measured, decorated and cut-out hand prints were finished we plotted them on a graph and the result is below.

The results are in!

Bigger hands do hold more marbles!

Though I think many of us thought that there would be a much bigger difference in the size of handspans than the results showed!

A game of marbles

After all of our results were recorded we jumped in to combine our Whole School Inquiry topic of PLAY with our love of marbles and learned to play the several thousand-year-old game.  There were some sore thumbs and fingers as we figured out the best techniques to get our tombolas going in the right directions, but the competition was fierce once we figured it out!

Physical Education

PREPS

This term in Physical Education, Prep students have been developing their physical movement skills by playing basic games like Frog Jump, The Mouse Trap and Snakes and Turtles.  Preps have been engaging in activities related to the physical skills of leap, hop, skip and bounce.  They have also been lucky enough to engage in an AFL clinic that was lots of fun and taught them the various skills involved in AFL football. The most exciting thing to happen this term was the opening of the gym, the Preps have absolutely loved using this space!

JUNIOR LEARNING COMMUNITY

This term in Physical Education, students in the Junior Learning Community engaged in physical movement activities with a focus on learning and practicing the skills of leap, hop, skip and bounce.   The students were also able to participate in a special AFL clinic where they practised their skills through fun, interactive games and activities.  The Junior Learning Community have been anticipating the opening of the gym for awhile now and were extremely excited to get in and discover their new P.E space!

MIDDLE LEARNING COMMUNITY

This term in Physical Education, the Middle Learning Community students participated in physical movement as they spent several weeks learning the sports of Newcombe and Badminton.  We were lucky enough engage the services of a professional Badminton coach who is taking the students through the many facets of the sport in a four week clinic. The Middle Learning Community have been busting to get into our new gym and are absolutely loving and appreciating our new space!

SENIOR LEARNING COMMUNITY

This term in Physical Education, the Senior Learning Community students participated in physical movement as they spent several weeks learning the sports of Newcombe, Volleyball and Badminton.  They have been learning the basics of Badminton with Raymond, a professional Badminton coach who has been keeping the students on their toes and pushing them to improve with each lesson.  The Senior Learning Community have been thoroughly enjoying their new P.E space, the gym.  They are still in awe of the new building and can't wait to see what else their P.E lessons in there have in store!

Dig 2 Dine

Preps

This term in Dig 2 Dine we have been learning about where our food comes from. The students have discovered that all food come from a plant or an animal. They have explored our vegetable garden and harvested some fresh cabbage, carrots and broccoli. The Prep students then enjoyed cooking with their fresh produce in the kitchen to make coleslaw to have on their jacket potatoes. 

Junior  

With our term focus being 'Where does our food come from?' the Junior school students have enjoyed exploring where we get our food from. Making connections between the different plants and animals that provide us with food, such as a hen providing us with eggs. They have also continued to be immersed in cooking, where they learn and practices skills such as kneading and rolling.

Middle 

The Middle school students have been investigating areas in Australia where food (plants and animals) are grown and bred, and the process that occurs to get these food items to our tables. We have explored milk production learning where dairy farms are within Australia and the process the milk goes through to make it ready to drink, such as pasteurisation. The student were also able to make their own butter using fresh cream.

Senior  

This term we have been exploring the role agriculture  plays in food production and the relationship between environmental suitability  when selecting plants and animals to be grown and bred in a particular environment. We've discussed ecosystems and biodiversity and their role in food production. The students have also continued to enjoy cooking with a variety of foods, as well as learning new cooking skills.