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This is my assemblage that surrounds the front yard of my house. While it is a small front yard, it has a variety of vibrant colours that are all tucked neatly in this small area. This represents the inviting and welcoming environment that surrounds the front of my house and can also represent happiness and togetherness that nature can provide in between all of the responsibilities that are involved in our lives.

If this were to be an activity in the classroom, I would allow for students to expand their knowledge around art and creativity by exploring the use of colour and shape through the different aspects of the environment. An example that can be seen in the assemblage above is the dark red bromeliad that is surrounded by green hedge leaves and lemon tree leaves. This represents my house being surrounded by the little plants and trees that make up the environment around the house. Students can do a similar activity by bringing in their own plants/leaves from their home environment or alternatively can make an assemblage by using the school environment. From here students can show their creativity and represent their own feelings of how they see the environment surrounding them.

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What?

For this activity I used a toilet role, a woollies bag, milk lid, a straw, and a piece of cardboard. Each of the woollies bag pieces have been cut into the leaves of the plant, with the straw of the plant representing the stem. The toilet roll and piece of cardboard, are glued together to make a pot for the plant to stand in.

So What?

When I collected the items for the activity, I spent some time looking to brainstorm ideas to represent sustainability with those items. I decided that I could represent these as a pot plant, with each aspect being used to highlight the use of recycling and supporting reuseable materials to avoid pollution and negative impact on the environment. Students generally know what materials can be used for recycling. However, showing that they could create a cool item out of these materials could inspire them to use their imagination to show their creativity.

Now What?

Being able to use this in the classroom, would be able to foster a creative enthusiasm for learning about sustainability and how we can incorporate it into art. Students will be able to gain an effective understanding of how to recycle and reuse items to create an art piece that represents them visually. Thinking ahead to the next module (stop motion video), I could incorporate how pollution can take effect on the environment, by showing how rubbish can impact the pot plant that has been created. This will highlight the importance of recycling and being responsible for our rubbish as well as showing how to make a creative activity.

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What?

For this activity this week, we incorporated visual art into the learning. For this activity, I chose to listen to the “Carnival of Animals” and create an abstract piece of art based on the sounds that were in the music of the video. It was important that throughout watching and listening to the video, that analysed what sounds and feeling were created for different musical elements (Line, Shape, Colour).

So What?

The element that I chose from the “Carnival of Animals” to explore, was “The Swan”. To successfully represent the sounds/music from the video into an artistic form, I determined that I needed to use the Arts elements of Colour and Line, as well as Shape to help convey each aspect. The dark blue line represents the harmonic symphony and how I imagined the swans were gracefully floating up and down the pond as the shape of this line is like a wave slowly bobbing up and down. The short green lines represent the highest point of the symphony, where it was the “peak” or loudest sound of music, creating an excitement throughout the sounds. The red lines represent the calming effect of the piano keys, which gave a subtle but smooth touch to the song. To do this, I closed my eyes and proceeded to create the drawing by listening closely to the different sounds of the music, rather than visually. This then created a deeper understanding of the authencity and prominent connection between that of music and art.

Now What?

After completing this task and exploring the connection between music and art, I believe that this can be a vital tool in a classroom setting, helping students understand how we can use different visual artistic elements (Line, Colour, Shape), to represent what we can see, feel and hear from music. Combining both visual art and music within this particular activity, can be a important tool, that helps explore deeper aspects of music which can aspects such as rhythm, dynamics and expression.

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Andrew's Soundscape (“Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh)

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Andrew's Soundscape (“Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh)

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What?

For this activity, we were tasked with creating a soundscape composition in response to one of four stimulus artworks. The artwork that I chose to create a soundscape from was “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gough. At first, I was sceptical of how I was going to create this to match the artwork successfully. However, after some thinking and experimentation with the Soundtrap Program, I quite enjoyed experimenting and crafting my own sounds that are related to the stimulus image.

So What?

The colour of the artwork used dark colours such as blue, black, brown with small uses of yellow. This is where I was inspired to create smooth, deep pitch that depicted the dark colours. The soundscape ends on a high note to represent the stars of the night. In terms of the element of line in the artwork, there are many short lines that form the aspects of the picture, and they make up the houses and lights, this is represented in the low deep piano keys and rhythm that are heard throughout the soundscape. The short, sharp synths that are heard throughout the music, portray the vibe and eerie sound of the night which evokes an almost sneaky vibe of the nightlife.

Now What?

After completing this task and exploring making sounds to represent the feeling of a visual artwork. This can be an effective way into engaging students into the exploring the different elements of music using a range of ICT, music and visual arts that create a soundscape based on their emotions and feelings from a visual image. To implement this effectively however, I would need to practice with different applications to make it easy for students to use so that they can create their very own soundscape and give them a deep understanding of using rhythm, pitch, etc., to create their own unique sounds.

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What?

For this task, we aimed to watch the “Brolga” performance by the Bangara Dance Academy. After reviewing and discussing the performance, I was required to develop a short movement sequence to express physical and behavioural features of an Australian Native. This involved create choreographed movement sequence that involved 3 facts that were than transformed into 3 movements for the dance.

So What?

To integrate science and the arts, the bird that I selected was the Australian Magpie. I used ICT to research different facts and features of the bird, as well as their habitat and movement to help assist in creating the movement sequence. Watching videos helped me identify the movement of the magpie, so I could accurately implement this into the sequence. From the research that I found, here are the 3 facts that I will add to the dance.

Movement #1: Magpies tend to always walk instead of running due to their lower leg being long below the knee. They have short bursts of running when they are looking to hunt their prey. For the movement sequence, using locomotor movements, the action I used was a quick waddle when walking with a short stride to depict this movement.

Movement #2: Magpies use their wings to fly in and move around from trees to parks which is their usual habitats that they nest in. I used the movement element of time and space to accurately conduct this movement by flapping my arms and walking around at normal pace to display flying.

Movement #3: Magpies tend to swoop when attacking or feeling threatened, they circle around in the air and then dive at their prey to defend themselves. I used the movement element of relationships, time and action to accurately depict the swooping motion. I flapped my arms and did multiple circles, before aiming my body at a prop and replicating a diving motion to “swoop” the prop.

Now What?

After reflecting on this task, it is an effective example of how to integrate science with dance in the Arts. This can help engage students into the learning and create a deep understanding of different animal features and facts. This will also help understanding of locomotor skills to help them conduct actions, space and time movement elements to effectively integrate science and dance together to create a unique and engaging learning experience for all students.

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What?

For this activity, we looked at integrating HASS into the Arts of Drama. As for the theme, it was the First Fleet which will be aligned to the Australian Curriculum Year 4 HASS and Drama Content Descriptors and using PBL (Project-Based Learning) where students are active participants in the learning experience to explore topic and issues that can be meaningful.

So What?

After looking at different drama strategies that could be incorporated into the Drama and HASS elements. I believe looking into role play is an effective way to get the students thinking of how the First Fleet was in history. Students can design their own costumes and be given different roles to play such a searching for land, steering the boat, adjusting the sails, etc. They can use improvisation and props if they feel they can make the performance more enticing. This could be an appropriate way to demonstrate drama and retelling through using HASS and can give an effective historical representation of events that transpired. A teacher could conduct and provide the narrative, context and structure to help students produce the activity.

Now What?

After completing this activity, it clearly demonstrates the integration of Drama and HASS to effectively add to the learning experience, so that students can grasp a clear understanding of the events and life on the First Fleet. I believe I would integrate the arts with Drama and HASS content to provide an effective Arts integrated experience that helps foster fun and engagement for all students to get an effective historical understanding.

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What?

After brainstorming for this activity, I decided to display in this stop motion video, the effect that rubbish and pollution can have on different aspects of the environment. This media art’s project/activity can be built upon last week’s visual art creation of the pot plant that I made. This video will look to represent the topic of sustainability and highlight the impact of different issues that can affect the environment.

So What?

In this stop motion video, it shows different pieces of rubbish that haven’t been put in a bin or recycled, rolling through across the environment. The plant that is once healthy and vibrant, starts to deteriorate as the leaves fall off and the plant is no longer healthy. This stop motion video clearly highlights the issues of sustainability rubbish can have on plants and different parts of the environment.

I enjoyed making this video, trying to find different ways to represent different aspects of sustainability. Getting to try different angles and positions to create a video that was clear and easy to see. I was able to balance a few books with an iPad on the end of a table to get the height and space necessary to film. The transition from the visual arts and media arts was a great experience to be able to effectively combine the two art’s areas, which enhanced the activity further.

Now What?

After finishing the project, I feel confident enough to explore different ways to integrate Art’s learning into the learning in the classroom. It can engage students into learning about the arts effectively and I felt like I was able to convey how the issue of sustainability can have a significant impact on different aspects of the environment and how students can aim to respond to the stop motion video. I would like to explore further how to incorporate Arts integration into teaching to plan more engaging and educational experience for students.