Benvenuti! Welcome to the Spensley Street Primary School Italian blog, where you will be able to see what we have been learning in class, as well as learn some Italian together at home!
Ciao a tutti! I have just had my last week of teaching Italian at Spensley Street. I would like to say an enormous "grazie mille!" to everybody in the Spensley Street community for being so welcoming, supportive and enthusiastic about Italian language
learning! I am very grateful for the fantastic experience that I have had
teaching here at Spensley Street. It is a wonderful school with a special
community feeling and a dedicated and passionate staff that I feel very
privileged to have been a part of.
We had a great last week making Margherita pizza and putting our inventor-caps on to create the ideal pizza. Check out the photos below!
I am going overseas
for the rest of the year but I hope to see you all around after that!
We have been
investigating how our senso dell’olfatto (sense
of smell) influences our senso del gusto (sense
of taste). We did an experiment to see if we could tell the difference between
apple (la mela) and potato (la patata) when we had our eyes closed
and our nosed blocked. We then repeated the experiment to see if blocking our
nose affected how well we could taste. We got some interesting results! Try it
with your families at home to find out what happens!
Want to
learn more? Click on this link for a fun interactive tutorial filled with interesting
information! Taste & Smell tutorial
Next Monday Kate’s, Prue’s, Ruby’s, Hannah’s and
Karen’s classes will be making Margherita pizza! Classes that have Italian on Tuesday and Wednesday will be
making pizza the following week (the last week of term). Non vedo l’ora!
(I can’t wait!)
We have been having fun exploring our senso dell'olfatto (sense of smell) this week with a "mystery smells" activity! Have a look at the photos of the students trying to work out what the smell is and deciding if it is buono (nice) or cattivo (bad)...
Also check out these photos from last week of some of the students experimenting with hearing...
Next week we'll begin studying il gusto (taste) - non vedo l'ora! (I can't wait!)
We have
begun learning about l’udito (hearing)
this week. The Prep - Grade 2 students have been investigating sounds that are piano (soft) and forte (loud). The older students have been learning about how our
ears (le orecchie) detect sound waves
(onde sonore). We did an experiment
for which we made a gong out of a coat hanger! If you don’t believe it’s
possible, try it yourself at home!
What you need:
- a metal coat hanger
- two pieces of fishing wire or string (each about 50cm long)
- sticky tape (two small pieces to tape the knotted string in place so it
doesn’t move along the hanger)
- a spoon or pencil to hit the “gong” with
Method:
1. Tie the strings to the corners of the coat hanger and secure with sticky
tape.
2. Hold the strings in your fingers and have someone tap the coat hanger with a
spoon or pencil. (Alternatively you can knock it softly against a hard
surface.)
3. Wrap each string around your index fingers and block your ears with your
fingers.
4. Repeat the experiment with your fingers in your ears. How does the sound
change? Why?
How the hanger gong works!
Image from: Renee, R. (2000). Good vibrations: Experimenting with sound. Rigby Heinemann: Port Melbourne.
Playing "Dove sono?" ("Where am I?") to investigate how our
hearing is affected with distance and by using one ear vs two ears.
Here are
some cool videos about hearing and soundwaves. Click on the links to watch them.
We have been
continuing our exploration of il senso
del tatto (our sense of touch) this week. The Prep-Grade 2 students have
been investigating how we can use our sense of touch to get information about
our surroundings rather than using our eyes. The children identified numbers
made from pins stuck into cork boards using only their sense of touch. They
then did some activities and games to practice i numeri (numbers).
See if you
can sing along at home to this song to practice your numbers. Try teaching your
family to count in Italian too!
1
uno
11
undici
2
due
12
dodici
3
tre
13
tredici
4
quattro
14
quattordici
5
cinque
15
quindici
6
sei
16
sedici
7
sette
17
diciassette
8
otto
18
diciotto
9
nove
19
diciannove
10
dieci
20
venti
The Grade
3-6 students have been learning about how our sense of touch works, with
receptors in our skin sending messages along nerves to our brain. We did an
experiment called “two-point discrimination” to investigate the sensitivity to
touch of various parts of our body. We compared our finger (il dito) to our leg (la gamba), and found that our fingertip
is much more sensitive than our leg because it has a higher density of nerve
endings (receptors).
Try it at home!
1.Open up a paper clip and bend it into
a U-shape so that there are two points about a cm apart.
2.Close your eyes and have a partner
push one (uno) or two (due) prongs of a paperclip against your
fingertip. Say whether it was uno or due prongs. Repeat about 10 times and
see how many you correct.
3.Repeat with your leg and see if your
finger (il dito) or leg (la gamba) is more sensitive.
4.Try this with other parts of your
body like your back, foot etc.
Well done to
everyone who has posted a comment on the blog! If you would like to write a
comment, just follow these simple steps:
1.Click on the blue/purple “comments”
at the bottom of a post.
2.Write your comment/question in the
box that appears.
3.Select “Name/URL” in the drop-down
box menu next to “Comment as:”
4.Type your name then click “continue”.
5.Click “publish”.
I look forward to reading your comments!
Next week we
will begin studying l’udito(hearing).
Non vedo l’ora! (I can’t wait!)
