The Arts, Technologies, Health & PE
Health
In years 3 and 4, the Health curriculum further develops students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their health, wellbeing, safety and participation in physical activity.
Students will begin to explore personal and social factors that support and contribute to their identities and emotional responses in varying situations. They also develop a further understanding of how their bodies and their brains grow, develop and change as they get older, valuing the differences in others.
Throughout the year classes are going to explore knowledge, understanding and skills that support students to build and maintain respectful relationships. Students will discover the benefits of developing a Growth Mindset. A Growth Mindset is when we realise mistakes are OK and mistakes are a part of learning and that there is a physiological reason why learning something new is hard. Students will learn to make health-enhancing and safe decisions, and interpret health messages from different sources to take action to enhance their own health and wellbeing.
The Arts
This year, Torrens students will be participating in Monday Arts and Technologies. Students will take part in Dance, Music, Media, Visual Arts and Digital Technologies. They will be working with a different Torrens teacher each time, offering students a range of experiences and expertise. This is a great chance for students to try things they may have never done before, have some fun and laughs as well as develop new skills and abilities.
Physical Education
Children’s engagement and enthusiasm for physical activity is vital for their wellbeing.
Daily physical activity promotes a healthy heart, healthy mind and healthy body.
Being active is easy and can be as simple as washing the car, taking the dog for a walk or going bike riding with the family. This year we will continue to promote the importance of physical activity through PE and through the Premier’s Be Active Challenge, a program for all South Australian children. The Challenge is the same as in previous years, with students doing 60 minutes of physical activity per day, 5 days per week for 4 weeks. We will encourage children to set personal, achievable goals and track their growth throughout the year. After completion of the challenge, children will be rewarded with personal satisfaction and a medal at the end of the year. This year the Olympic Games might motivate and inspire some children to get active and try out a new sport or recreation activity! More information about The Premier's Be Active Challenge will be provided in upcoming newsletters.
This semester, children will continue to develop and refine fundamental movement skills and increase levels of fitness, through cooperative team building games, athletics and exploring different sports. Children will learn basic movement patterns like dodging, weaving, jumping, throwing and running that are transferable across all sports.
They will be given opportunities to apply strategies to participate with others in physical activities in a safe and fair way, learning to follow basic game rules successfully. Children will engage in warm up activities, learning the importance of stretching before and after physical activity followed by developing and refining new skills and techniques. Every lesson, children are given opportunities to reflect on what went well and articulate their strengths and areas for improvement.
PE encourages children to socialise with their peers, building and strengthening friendships and developing a sense of belonging while having fun. At the beginning of the year, “Active play” was introduced at lunchtime in the gym, providing children with opportunities to be physically active, promoting social interactions in a safe, supervised environment. (Tuesday and Wednesday for Torrens students)
Throughout the semester children will be involved in sporting clinics, explicitly teaching children skills that can be implemented and developed throughout the year.
Children have been busy getting off to a great start, establishing learning agreements through fun, engaging team building games fostering fair play and good sportsmanship.
Later this term children will begin preparing for Sports Day which is held on Friday 27th March. Children will become familiar with track, field and the popular tabloid events, ensuring children can feel confident, successful and participate with enthusiasm on the day. Sports Day supports children to build confidence, foster communication between peers and learn important social skills like turn taking, sharing and encouragement in a safe, supportive environment.
Students are reminded to wear suitable clothing and footwear to all PE lessons to ensure their full participation.
Our Torrens PE lessons are Tuesday T18 and T19 and Wednesday T16 and 17.
PE Teacher
Amy Byrnes
Technologies
Technologies is divided into two strands -
Design and Technologies and
Digital Technologies.
Some of the learning within this subject are integrated into other areas - especially significant given the chrome book ownership by all students. Digital literacy and safe practises online will naturally be a key focus.
By problem solving during Technologies lessons, students will have the opportunity to use and further develop their decision making and critical and creative thinking. Students will not only need to identify the possible benefits and risks of creating solutions but will also need to consider appropriateness, suitability, sustainability and impact on the future for themselves and others.
Students will also have opportunities to build their knowledge and skills using technical terms and techniques with coding. By independently investigating and exploring algorithms students will be able to successfully code using blocks before moving onto creating sequences of their own.