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What?
In this weeks activity, we responded to a music piece through art. The music piece we used was 'The Carnival of Animals' by Camille Saint-Saens to integrate music and visual arts together. The section of the music I used was the 'Hens and Roosters' movement. When listening to the music I tried to link the sounds I was hearing to the animals behaviours and movements. This was very helpful as it allowed me to develop a better connection to the music.

So What?
In this section of the music, the tempo was very short and sharp, to represent the movements of a chicken. They are always moving around quickly and pecking at lots of bugs. When trying to represent these notes in my drawing, I used lots of small jagged links that spiked up and down. Each of these sounds were predominately made by the piano and a small amount of violin.

Now What?
From this activity, I have realised how important it is to listen properly to a song to understand its message and create a connection. This would be a great lesson for students as it allows them to use a variety of elements from both music and visual arts. When they are listening to the music, students are developing their ability to represent the sounds through lines, shapes and colours. This would also be a valuable activity to allow the students to slow down and concentrate on the music.

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What?
In this week's tutorial we focused on integrating drama into HaSS. This activity focuses on creating a drama experience which links to the history concept of the First Fleet which could be added to Katie's First Fleet unit of work. From this unit of work, I have chosen to use the topic of "The voyage and what it might have been like to travel with the First Fleet". This week of work provides students with an introduction to what and who the First Fleet were and what life was like as a prisoner. This activity would be used in conjunction with timelines and background information on the topic so students would have a better understanding.

So What?
In this activity, students would use role play to make the learning more fun and engaging. When doing this, students would work with a small group to choose a character and setting related to being on the First Fleet. This could be a prisoner, a guard or a crewmate. Students would then need to research what it would be like and create their own dramatic scene they could recreate for the class.

Now What?
This activity would be great for the students as it provides an open-ended, engaging and fun way to learn about a HaSS topic. It also allows the students to engage with a variety of perspectives and use a wide variety of skills.

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What?
In this weeks activity we were asked to consider other subjects we could integrate drama into to create meaningful and authentic arts integration. I believe drama can be integrated into every single subject area across the curriculum. It could be used as a while lesson activity, or simply as an introduction or conclusion to the lesson. By incorporating drama, it provides a fun, engaging and authentic way for students to connect to the learning. Some other learning areas drama can be integrated into could be English, Maths and HPE.

So What?
In English, Maths and HPE drama can be used by the students through role playing or story telling and creating connections to the learning. In English, this could be as simple as role playing a character with the class to create a new ending in a book. In maths, this could look like children pretending to be at a supermarket to practice their purchasing and money calculation abilities. Finally, drama can be used in HPE through improvisation and role playing situations regarding health and wellbeing. By integrating drama and the arts across each of the subject areas, students are provided with open-ended activities which promote creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and collaboration. Each experience and contribution from a student will be different, providing an authentic learning experience for the class.

Now What?
By participating in each of the activities every week, I have learned valuable ways of integrating the arts into other learning areas and developed my understanding of it's importance. I believe it is essential that all students have the opportunity to use the Arts as a way of creating connections to other learning areas. Integrating drama into the learning areas through a variety of activities as discussed above would be very beneficial in the classroom.

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What?
This weeks task required us to create a short movement sequence which expressed the physical and behavioural characteristics of a Native Australian bird. For this task, I chose to an Emu as the Australian native bird to help develop my understanding of how dance can be integrated into science. An emu is a large flightless bird which lives in Australia and have characteristically long legs with claw-like feet, long necks and brown feathers covering their bodies. They can be very fast animals when necessary especially to escape predators, however, they usually walk slowly with long strides.

So What?
When thinking of movements I could use for this dance integration piece, I struggled to choose an animal. When settling on an emu, I used both their physical and behavioural characteristics to link movements. I tried to mimic an emus movement by doing long, slow strides and using my arms to create a long neck and beak. By doing this, I was able to represent an Emus behaviours and main characteristics.

Now What?
In the classroom, this could be a very engaging and informative lesson for students. This task is a great way for students to learn about animals by incorporating a wide range of skills for the students. These skills could include, researching, teamwork, collaboration and coordination as they would need to initially research the animal, then work with other members of their group to brainstorm ideas and work together. This activity could be further extended by linking it to First Nations dreamtime stories focused on Australian animals, allowing for an Indigenous perspectives to be included in the learning.

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What?
This weeks task focused on creating a soundscape in response to a piece of artwork. From the variety of artwork we could use, I chose "Desert Storm" by Sidney Nolan as it stood out to me. This artwork shows an open desert with dark storm clouds in the distance, reading for a desert storm. For this activity, we used an online music program and three different instruments to create a soundscape which represented this image.

So What?
When creating this soundscape I used elements of music, such as pitch through the difference in high and low notes, rhythm and dynamics, the different volumes and length of the notes. When doing this I used a a pre-recorded sound of a snare drum as the underlying steady beat. I then created my own melody with very low notes on the piano and a different type of drum to represent the anticipation of the storm coming. Each of these instruments helped to represent the distant sounds of thunder, and 'calm before the storm'. As the soundscape progresses it gradually gets to be more and more chaotic as the storm slowly rolls in.

Now What?
From this activity, I realised how important it is to create a connection to visual arts and artworks. By creating these connections you can develop your own understanding of the emotions the artist is trying to convey through their work. This activity would be excellent to do with the students as it would allow them to develop a variety of skills through the use of digital technology. It is a great way to link between the arts and allows students to create deeper connections.

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What?
This weeks activity required us to create a stop motion video focusing on the integration of Media Arts and Sustainability. This weeks task followed on from last weeks recycled art piece as it was used in the stop motion. For this activity, I reused my house and tree I created last week and created a person to add to my story. This person was created from an old roll of twine and the cardboard from the box for a face. In my stop motion, I create a small and simple story of a person coming home, opening their door and waving to a neighbour from their window. Although this seems simple, the person tripped on rubbish outside their house, showing that pollution and waste can occur everywhere, even simply outside of someone's house.

So What?
When completing this activity, I struggled trying to fit into the theme of sustainability. Although this is the case, I realised that I didn't need to overcomplicate the task especially if this was for young students. Sometimes the simplest stories are the easiest to understand. As a result, this activity would be done at the simplest level or at a more complicated ability level for students.

Now What?
After completing this activity, I have a better understanding of how Media Arts can be used for different learning areas and how simple it can be used. I also now have a better understanding of how the main elements of arts can be used in HaSS and with technology.

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What?
This week we were asked to collect materials which could be recycled to create an art piece. This activity was done to show the importance of sustainability and show how it can be integrated with visual arts.  For this activity, I collected materials which were about to go into the recycling, a cardboard box, toilet paper roll and scrap paper. I decided to create a small scene with a house, made from the box and tree using the paper roll and the scrap paper.

So What?
When collecting these items I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I could create using the minimal materials I have in my house. I decided to create a house has I feel students, particularly in the lower years, could use it for a variety of learning areas as it could be expanded on, with more elements and detail continually added. It could also be great for free play and learning to recycle materials in the classroom.

Now What?
After completing this activity, I have realised how far this activity could go in a variety of directions for students. This activity can link to a variety of learning areas and can allow students creative freedom in their work, while also learning about sustainability.

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What?
This week we focused on integrating nature and the environment with visual arts. In this week's tutorial the task was to collect a variety of items from our outside environment to help represent what it looks and feels like.

So What?
When I was collecting my assemblage, I realised how many different colours, shapes and textures were evident in each piece of nature. Although they were all so different, they help to make up habitats and ecosystems for animals. When placing each item into the paper I didn't really focus on trying to make it look like anything, I just tried to display each of the items together. In the end it turned out looking like a small landscape with the sticks and bark as the ground and lots of trees, bushes and flowers in garden.

Now What?
To create my natural assemblage I chose a variety of natural items that help to shape my environment. The outdoors are a great way for me to calm down and relax and provides me with a great hobby. This activity made me consider they huge variety of plant life which is in my garden and how it helps to create lots of different ecosystems for the animals. This task helped me to realise how great this activity would be in a classroom for students who are doing Geography or science related learning. By looking at nature and spending time in the outdoors, students would be provided with an authentic, real-world experience which could lead to discussions and extensions from the learning.