Last week of Term 1!

Ciao a tutti!

What a week! We have been busy busy busy! This week we have been learning about la vista (sight). The Prep-2 classes have been exploring their sense of sight out in the garden (and practicing for Easter egg hunts while they were at it!), doing a colour hunt around the vegie garden and playground. We learnt about how coloured light reflects off objects and is detected by our eyes which send a message to our brain about what we are seeing. We also learnt the names of colours in Italian, as we hunted for things in the garden that were rosso (red), arancione (orange), giallo (yellow), verde (green), blu (blue), viola (purple), marrone (brown) and nero (black).

The Grade 3-6s had fun learning about optical illusions. Check out some awesome optical illusions here!

You can also find more of the cool optical illusions that we looked at in class here: Illusioni Ottiche - check them out!
This is a great site to learn more about optical illusions: Optical Illusions
Test yourself with these tricky illusions here: Le Illusioni Ottiche - test yourself!

A few people have asked about posting comments on the blog, which is fantastic!! It would be so great if you’d like to post a comment about things that you have learnt, cool online activities that you’d like to share with others, questions that you have or any feedback. I would love to hear from you! You can also reply to each other’s comments.

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 first name then click “continue”.

5.       Click “publish”.

I look forward to reading your comments!

Have a wonderful break over the holidays! I am already looking forward to Term 2!
BUONA PASQUA! (Happy Easter!)

Steph :)

Buongiorno a tutti

Buongiorno a tutti!

With the Labour Day holiday last Monday and planning day on Tuesday this week most of the classes have just had one lesson for the fortnight. I was very excited though because we were beginning our science unit on the five senses (i cinque sensi). The students each created a “mind map”, which is like a diagram (using pictures, English and Italian writing) of everything that they already know about the five senses. This helps to bring their prior knowledge to the forefront of their thinking and be able to visualise connections between ideas, as well as show me what they already know about the five senses. I can already tell that we have many budding scientists in the making!

For some of the younger children this was the first time they had ever heard of “the five senses”. We sung along to this song to help us remember what the five senses are and what we use them for. See if you can remember what all five senses are, and how to say them in Italian! (Hint: Scroll down to look at the picture on the previous blog post if you need a reminder!)

Next week we will focus on la vista (sight). The Prep - Grade 2 classes will be doing a colour hunt in the garden to explore our sense of sight and learn colours in Italian. The older students will be learning about optical illusions! Non vedo l’ora! (I can’t wait!)

A presto,

Stephanie.

It's almost science time!

Ciao!

The Spensley Street Italian stars have been working very hard this week. Many students finished their profiles, which are looking fabulous! I have really enjoyed learning about the children’s interests, hobbies and families. You too will be able to find out more about the talented children of Spensley Street when their profiles go up on display around the school soon.

The Prep – Grade 2s learnt a song this week called “Dieci Fiorellini” (“Ten Little Flowers”), which they have been singing to practice the numbers 1-10. A few children already knew the song from when they had been exploring the links from the blog, which is fantastic! Click here to sing along at home: Dieci Fiorellini

The older students used their knowledge of describing hair and eye colour to play “Com’è?”. To play this Guess Who game click here: Com'e`?
(Don’t forget to click ‘start’ in the top left-hand corner to play.)

Next week we will begin thinking and learning about the five senses, which I am very excited about! I made a picture to help you learn the Italian names for the five senses. See if you can learn them all and have a family member test you!

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Steph.