Kinesthetic Art

We were blowing coloured ink through straws to create random shapes.

The Poetry Slam

We've been writing poems for nearly three weeks now. We knew that we would be doing a Poetry Slam and yet the day crept up on us before we were ready. So the last few days were a rush. Create poems, fix poems, express poems; work in teams, in pairs, solo. Finally, only the day before the event, we chose our ten best to present at the Slam. That gave us one evening at home to be "practice perfect"!

We had just a few minutes to run through one last time before the Poetry Slam began at 8.30am on Tuesday 31st of May.

This is Keane's run-through before the main event. Where might he need to improve his performance?

Now... how about Arneta and Angela? They are being risk-takers because they are normally quite quiet.

4M Poems for Poetry Slam

1. Boy Soldiers - Keaton & Cello
2. Animal Metaphors - Keaton/Michael/Reynolds/Clea/Regina/Cello
3. Playing With Friends - Angela & Arneta
4. Went here and there - Arneta & Angela
5. Monday - Liam
6. The Book – Juan & Gavin
7. At My House - Keane
8. Bad and Good Day - Hendry
9. I'm a Dog - Clea & Intan
10. A Poem About Dogs - Marc & Ananda

Miss Marion talks to the crowd. Some students in the crowd are selected as random judges.

Our judges  - Mr Paul, Mr Bruce and Miss Ade

We see the audience from the perspective of the stage.

Regina and Lennard are our Masters of Ceremony (MCs).

Waiting on the scores from the judges.

Grade 4 anxiously await some scores and chat amongst themselves.

The audience were from Grade 3,  Grade 5 and Grade 6.

What were the scores? And did they really matter if we all had a great time?

Cello takes up the challenge to give his own poem as an encore. Well done, brave Cello!

The Grade 4 Assembly

It was Grade 4's turn to be the hosts of the assembly. What would we do? How could we show our learning? Would the performance look "polished"? This is what we were thinking two weeks before the assembly.
We were studying poetry as a means of expression so poetry seemed a logical choice. 4M decided to perform the Tanka Tanka Skunk - a stomping poem. Although we are not sure how it really came about, Hendry found the poem.

Arneta had a special role to introduce the grade and the stomping poem.

Marc was like the team captain. He gave everyone instructions to organise the stomp. Some of his words were funny.

Intan had to try to keep up with all the animal names in the stomp. You can also see the teams of Tanka and Skunk.

I think the class agrees that we did a fine job of keeping together and doing the stomp with attitude.

This is Tanka.

This is Skunk!

Another part of assembly was the angklung performance by both Grade 4 classes. Mr Frederick had made sure that their playing was of a very high standard. Music is a form of The Arts, and another way to express ourselves.

Mr Frederick conducts a last practice.

Shereen and Jo introduce the item.

Getting it right.

Following the notation on the music sheets.

Sit still!

Mis Jacqui addresses the audience.

Our audience is ready.

A visit to the galeri-nasional

We went further into our art wonderings by visiting the national art gallery in Jakarta. The bus trip was over two hours for what should be a 45 minute trip - but that's Jakarta traffic! As well as enjoying and wandering, each student chose three pieces of art to write about using, "I see, I feel, I think, I wonder".

The first step is to get comfortable with spending time with art work. Don't rush!

Find out about the painting and the painter. Sometimes you might be lucky to have a guide.

Miss Meildah is ready to record art choices.

Miss Marion is facilitating some wonderings.

Alex asks the guide to tell him more about the painting.

This oil painting captured Hendry's imagination. He wondered why the artist painted dragons and animals.

It almost looks as this sculpture wants to say, "You are forgetting about me!"

The ants installation certainly invited curiosity.

Ants!

What is the artist's message?

This installation included lights and sound. The boys, in particular, were drawn to it.

What inspired this creative animal?

Juan is contemplating the layers in this art work, while another student writes.

Why are these strange creatures watching television. What does the artist want to say?

Is this a message about what we watch?

How did the sculptor get this structure to lean so far?

Is this an impossible thing to do?

Miss Meildah and her new friend. How does this tall man make her feel?

We wandered around a very strange collection of art pieces. later, we found out that the artist had every piece of work for sale. It is part of his creativity that he believes his art should be enjoyed, explored and purchased.

The group was captured by the lights and the interactive board. How is this art?

Most of us agreed that this art installation was especially intriguing. There was a small plastic dinosaur under the cabinet.

What is the title of this art work?

Poets' Glasses

Miss Susan taught us to look through poet's glasses.

She had prepared a story about her walk back from the Bamboo Court Cafe.

Look closely and write about the things that you see.

Line breaks are an important aspect of poetry writing.

It helps to have a collection of every day objects to stimulate your description skills.

Michael and Keane work on their own ideas.

Angela and Arneta work together.

Ananda and Marc check through what Miss Susan had written.

Cleazza and Shereen give poerty performance a try.

Liam and Hendry work together although they have different ideas.

You can see that Keaton and Marcelo are thinking.

Miss Susan is wearing her poet's glasses.

The class gets a turn with the glasses.

Everyone wants a turn to be photographed with the glasses.

Will this workshop make a difference to our poetry writing?