Welcome to Term 4!

I trust that our CGS community was able to relax and spend quality time with family over the break. I’d like to welcome our Junior School students back to Term 4, despite the fact that our Remote Learning Program is still running. We look forward eagerly to welcoming our students back onsite very soon.

According to government guidelines, we anticipate that our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students will be back onsite next week. If projected vaccination numbers are reached, Preps will attend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Year 1 and Year 2 students will attend on Thursday and Friday.   

Our Principal, Mrs Fiona Williams, will provide further information about returning to onsite learning as soon as it comes to hand. This information will include return dates for all students, school arrival and dismissal arrangements and other COVID-safe considerations.  

Until we are all back at school together again, stay safe and well. 

Melissa Roberton 

Head of Junior School 

Making Some Noise

As a welcome back to Term 4, Years 3 to 6 were treated to an energetic online Kaboom Percussion incursion. It was a fun, hands-on workshop where the students learned how to make music with everyday objects.

Special thanks to all the classroom teachers who attended the workshop and joined in.

Here are some reports of the experience from the students themselves.

Today the Year 5 and 6 classes joined together to participate in an online percussion incursion. We were excited as being in lockdown limited what we could do and learning about music could be a relief. Josh and Cat showing us their version of the famous cup song was original and fun to listen to. It definitely looked hard to do though as it was at least 3 minutes long. We were then taught two different simple beats using our cups — gradually we got faster with the beats and eventually knew it well. We practised the beats all together to the song ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City. It was definitely hard to keep up but we did an amazing job!

Then it was time to start using the pens we brought along to the activity to make beats and then formed that into different rhythms — we had two different ones. Then we learned what boots and cats was. It’s a simple beat that can be made with your mouth or instruments. When we finally played our piece, it consisted of a way to play boots and cats and the beats we made with our pens. We performed it a best we could with little mistakes as the practise paid off. It sounded really good when incorporated altogether. 

To finish off, we learned how bottles with different amounts of air inside can make multiple beats, then Josh and Cat showed us their homemade piano using the bottles of air as keys. They played multiple songs from famous movies and we had to guess what they were. I thought the Kaboom incursion was super fun and interesting.  Alysia Sumanada 6M

I loved the Kaboom incursion. My favourite part was the way they played on the bottles with air. The more air they pumped, the higher the note would be when they hit the bottle.  Agam Bains 4N

Kaboom was an unforgettable experience! I learned so much about percussion and I had a blast, making all sorts of sounds with cups and pens. Kaboom Percussion taught us how to make music with everyday objects and since then I can’t stop making music! We played songs with cups and pens and enjoyed listening to a lot of music. I loved this experience and I learned a lot! Theekshana Talapareddy 5R 

Our favourite part of the incursion was when we were all taught pen drumming — copying the ‘We Will Rock You’ rhythm. Our second favourite part was the cup drumming. We were first using our hands and then using the cups — picking it up and putting it down. It was also fun to see when Josh and Cat played Harry Potter using the bottles filled with air, too. Ruby Herra, Ava Tucker, Zara Meizer 3I 

The Kaboom incursion was amusing and educational. Years 6 and 5 merged for this incursion, which was live from Perth. Josh and Cat have been in percussion for 20 years.

We learned about some rhythms that we played along to a song, learned some basic drum beats using everyday items, and found out how easy it is to alternate between different amounts of air in a bottle or anything hollow to make different pitches when you hit it.

The people instructing us then brought out hollow wood boxes. They were an instrument that were traditionally from Central or South America. The instrument was bought from Sydney, though. They played different patterns on the boxes and used everyday items such as knitting needles and hairbrushes to add extra sounds. Cat also used her phone to add clicks for each beat.

They had also created a piano before the incursion and it only took them two hours. We found that different amounts of air in each bottle make different pitches. They then played five songs on the bottle piano and we had to guess what they were. Each song was from a separate movie. Two of the movies were Harry Potter and Frozen. The Kaboom incursion was great fun, and an ideal way to learn about percussion! Mehar Dutt 5D