Dance and Drama

This week in Drama we went to the zoo and also went camping!

The younger years had fun with parachute time to begin with. I introduced colour association by pointing at the colours on the parachute and then named the colour and some objects of the same colour. Sometimes I tried to trick the kids by asking something like “Is an apple blue?”, and encouraging the children to then agree or disagree with me. Afterwards, the children had a visit from some animals (puppets) from the zoo. Each time we met a new animal, we also made the sound of that animal. We met a tiger (roar), an elephant (brrrr), a badger (dig dig dig), and a koala. The koala wanted lots of cuddles from the children! To finish, I used the song ‘The Lion Sleeps tonight’. Well done to Alex – great waving the stick and venturing through the jungle to see the Lion. All the children in Stage 2 did some wonderful copying and Fi Fi had some good dance moves.

In Stage 3 and 4 this week the children used their imagination to go on an interactive Australian adventure, exploring landmarks, animals, and objects. The children focused on several key drama techniques as well as building trust and gaining confidence by working as a team. In Stage 3 and 4 we began by discussing what items they might take on a camping trip. We packed all these items into a bag and off we went to find the campground.

Next, the children created a number of shapes (on their own and in pairs) using their bodies and different levels including a mushroom, a torch (on and off) a curled-up snake, sleeping bag, kangaroo with a baby in the pouch, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera house etc. Hunter and Leonie created some wonderful shapes.

Every class worked as a team to do a whole class improvisation, by setting up a camp and going on an adventure (walking through the forest, crossing a bridge, fishing, canoeing etc. etc.) The ribbons acted as a great tool for a fishing rod. Whilst fishing they had to use facial expressions and gestures to show what they had caught (big fish, heavy fish or an old boot). Alfie caught a crocodile and Andrew a rainbow fish! As the sun went down, we gathered sticks for the campfire, toasted marshmallows and discussed what other foods sound and taste delicious. We also sang a couple of songs, including some rhyming word songs.

The children finished by doing a drama improvisation. They pretended to go to sleep in their tents, whilst the teacher told an interactive story using the torch and animal puppets.

This week in Physical Education Stage 3 and 4 focused on their dodging and spatial awareness. As always, we began our lessons with a warm-up game, and decided to musical statues.

We completed a variety of the relays using dodging as the main focus. We also focused on catching this week, by using tennis balls, to assist with our hand eye coordination. The final activity in the lesson was an obstacle course around the playground using mini hurdles, stepping on spots which we imagined as lily pads, as well as speed ladders. The classes enjoyed something different and the fast-paced variety of the lesson.

Thanks for another great week!