Quarter 2 Newsletter 2020

7 mark-making. They created a three- dimensional mask with cardboard recycling, focussing on the art elements of shape and colour and the design principles of unity and balance. Learners learnt what a radial design is and created their own through the use of typography, circular motives and animal doodles. Sketches Pro was used to create abstract landscapes, pattern work and one point perspective art. This taught them the elements of balance, rhythm, pattern, line and shape. Balance, unity and contrast was taught through photographing environmental and natural objects. Learners also learned how to paint with coffee and made homemade paint using kitchen cupboard ingredients. The learners ended the quarter with a project called ‘What I miss during lockdown!’ They needed to reflect on how they felt and expressed themselves with any art medium available to them. Our musicians have continued to perform in our weekly virtual Assembly and we are delighted at the progress that they have been making online. We hosted a very successful virtual Preparatory Music Concert and we are looking forward to our virtual ‘Majors and Minors’ Concert which will take place in August. In our Class Music lessons, learners explored different rhythms using, amongst other things, household products. This taught them about percussion instruments and helped them to create their own rhythms, sharing their favourite songs, music forms and contemporary and dance music. Moods in music were explored, and GarageBand was used to learn about note values, smart instruments and other rhythmic skills. In the Senior grades, the 'Everyone Can Create: Music' syllabus integrates with GarageBand and the learners were able to consolidate theoretical concepts as well as create interesting rhythms and song recordings. The Junior Preparatory learners had great fun in their weekly Drama lessons. We saw some amazing recordings of poetry, tongue twisters, actions to music and storytelling. We appreciate the role that the parents played in helping to record these activities and we were very pleased to see some of the moms and dads participating in the dramatisation too. Our Senior Preparatory Drama Society members have become seasoned actors, managing to play various characters in their chosen scenes. This has led to them becoming experts at editing too as they have been able to record their extracts and edit them together into a movie. Their creativity has no limitations. Senior class Drama activities also involved recording and we explored monologues, interviews, poetry, characterisation and extracts from scripts. For an overview of all the Dramatic activities, please visit this site: bit.ly/BuckleDrama "We know that the possibilities of engaging our learners are endless. There is no state of final fulfillment. Each change opens new doors and ushers in new possibilities." - Margo Adair A SPORTING ADVENTURE… In a sporting context, when we talk about staying on our toes, we often are referring to being able to react quickly on the field to what is in front of us. This Quarter that phrase has taken on a completely different meaning. Being kept on our toes has meant that we have needed to adapt and deliver our programme in a way that we have never done before. Being able to produce content that is engaging and developmentally appropriate for every learner, has had its challenges, which we have overcome with great creativity. Insta-PE was born from the need to keep our learners active in a manner that was fun and easy to execute in any environment. It was very encouraging to see how learners interpreted the content and created their own material. The response to the videos was tremendous and it shows how much our learners at the Preparatory enjoy their movement and sporting activities. Follow @ coach.watson, @hattingh_sport_edu, and @ pe_basics on Instagram to see more. The Sports Department loves competition and the national lockdown provided a new opportunity to create competition for our learners. On the 28th of April the Sports Department hosted the Incredibly Impossible Sports Quiz. The evening was hosted live via YouTube and the Quizizz App, and it was very well supported by our Preparatory families. It was a great way for all of us to connect and compete during challenging circumstances. Following the Incredibly Impossible Sports Quiz, Parklands College was approached by Reach for a Dream, to run a quiz evening to support the great work that the organisation does. For this the Drama and Sport Departments merged to create an event called Drama in the Sports Department. Another memorable evening was had, while raising funds and awareness for the work at Reach for a Dream. OUTREACH… “The smallest acts of kindness, make the biggest differences in someone’s life.” - Unknown Our learners and teachers celebrated Nelson Mandela Day on Thursday 16 July. The Junior Preparatory learners were greeted in the car park to a playlist created by Coach Watson and Miss Bara. It had 67 songs ready to go, full of toe tapping South African beats to get all the little one's going on a cold Thursday morning. Our learners donated over 330 masks and a generous amount of sanitiser. All our learners created colourful and sincere cards as part of their donation. What made these special, was that it starts off as a masked picture and once opened it becomes a beautiful illustration filled with a smile and words of inspiration. We were so excited to donate these masks and sanitizers to West Riding Primary. They were so touched by your heartfelt donation and said: “THANK YOU! Your donation is going to help us so SO much.” Grade 6 Google Meet