MAGNIFICENT MOLAS

                   Created by the Grade 4.S

Molas form part of the traditional costume of a Kuna woman of the San Blas Islands. Molas are an intricate reverse applique style, usually depicting animals, birds or fish.

We created our own Molas using a variety of coloured paper on a black paper backgound. These turned out vibrantly and the Grade 4'S had loads of fun doing them.

FABULOUS FRUIT

Grade 5

These beautiful fruit were done in pastel by the Grade 5's . We concentrated on looking at all the different shades, tones and colours in the fruit.  We painted turps on top of the two different tones of  pastel for the background. This really made the fruit stand out. 

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT DISPLAY

GRADE 6 

NGUNI

This was a very ambitious project for the grade 6's. They however, did magnificently! They worked on them tiresomely for 6 weeks and produced amazing Nguni. These were done in pastel, with painted backgrounds.  A few visitors to the school asked if they could purchase them. 

WELL DONE GRADE 6's! I am sure that these will all be framed and hung in your homes.

Choir News - 2nd Term

HCA Singing Angels

The 2nd term started with a fun choir workshop at Mrs Hawthorn's home. We had lots of fun jumping off the roof into the pool, bubbling in the jacuzzi and playing musical games before putting in some hard work practising the National Anthem.

Soloist - "Consider Yourself at Home"

On Saturday 21st April we sang at the Kloof Conservancy Open Indigenous Gardens event at Forest View Primary School. The choir sounded fantastic and our version of Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" which we've dedicated to the fight to protect our rhino's was especially moving. First time soloists Ellya Crosby, Nandi Mavume, Mandisa Makhathini and Caitlin Ivins joined Joshua Milne and Abigail Kane in singing their solo's beautifully. Organiser Cecily Salmon had this to say in her thank you letter:

"All the music items were great, but the HCA Choir stands out for me personally for the variety of its repertoire, the quality of the soloists and the irrepressibly joie de vivre of the choir and its leader.  Thank you to the students, their teachers and parents who made it all look so effortless (though I can only imagine the hours of practice required to reach that standard).

The weekend went very well and the music added a very special festive atmosphere to the tea garden.  The feedback has been extremely positive."

Grandparent's Day on 26th April was another highlight for the choir.  Our new choir stands were "christened" with a performance of "In the Mood" that had the audience humming along, "Joyfully Sing" which was met with loud approval, and finally our spectacular version of the National Anthem.  What a pleasure it was to be able to move and dance on our new stands which are much wider.  No more worries about falling off!  Many Grandparents came to congratulate us afterwards on the lovely singing and the high standard of musicianship!  Well done children.  The choir continues to grow in ability, confidence and musicality and I am exceptionally proud of you all!

Soloist - "Memories"

Soloist

Mrs Hawthorn and HCA Choir

Soloist - "Shenandoah"

Art Attack!! First term projects!!

Grade 7 Cubist Style Dogs - Picasso!

The grade 7's looked at the Cubist artist Picasso.  We decided to try to create large scale Picasso style dogs! The children experimented with tones and shades of different areas of colours. The dogs were  done on size A1 paper with fluorescent pastels. Metallic paint was used for the backgrounds. We are so proud of these dogs and excited to see how each individual dog's personality comes alive in these pictures!  Woof!!

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Grade 6's

 St Basil's Cathedral at sunset -

No pencils allowed!!

The Grade 6's looked at the amazing St Basils Cathedral in Russia that was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible. In this project pupils were not allowed to draw in pencil first. This was a very good learning experience for them and they learned that you cannot make "mistakes" in art! Incorrect lines could be made into interesting patterns and designs!   Repetition of patterns and shapes filled the buildings, while the background was painted in watercolours. Crosses and domes sprang to life with gold glitter! Well done Grade 6's!  These were amazing! Thanks to deepspacesparkleblog.com for inspiration on this lesson.

Grade 5

Egyptian Portraits - Watercolour project

The Grade 5's completed these beautiful Egyptian portraits that were used as the decorations in their annual Egyptian Feast in watercolours. Pupils were encouraged to experiment with different shades of colour and blend these colours together to create different effects. I am sure you will agree that these are stunning!

Grade 4

Gigantic Bugs - Bugs alive!!!

The Grade 4's completed these amazing bugs.  Can you believe that this was the first time they were introduced to the concepts of Tone and Blending!

And WOW!!....... Did they apply these skills amazingly, messily and amid heaps of fun, especially whilst finger painting the background with two different tones of metallic paint!

Grade 4
Pirate Ships - Ahoy there, matey!!

This project was an introduction to watercolour painting.The pupils used warm colours to creat a sunset in the background. Shades of browns were used in the boat and blues and greens in the sea!  The result:  Stunning Pirate Ships!!!

A Choirfull term!

HCA Choir Report 1^st Term
By Judith Hawthorn,
Choirmistress extraordinaire,
Curro HCA!

Mrs Hawthorn in fabulicious style!

It has been a very busy, but extremely rewarding 1^st term at choir with performances at our Picnic Proms by both choirs, the FP Choir singing very sweetly at Open Day for our guests and appearances at assemblies to help the children get over their nerves!

The highlight of the term was undoubtedly our Senior’s choir camp at Kearsney, and we continue to reap the rewards of all the hard work done on camp.

The IP Choir were invited to sing at St Agnes Community Market on Saturday 17^th March, and despite many children not being able to be there, the choir sounded fantastic!  I am SO proud of the results of a lot of hard work and commitment from the children.  Well done!  This time last year we did NOT have a 30 minute concert programme, and I have noticed such a huge improvement in the quality of sound, in the confidence of the harmonies and in keeping focused on the conductor.  Also hugely improved are everyone’s faces – singing with expression, smiling, all nervousness out the window, and just enjoyment shining out!  The children’s enthusiasm and sense of ownership of the choir is very apparent as they continue to give input as to how and what to sing, where to put choreography and in evaluating their performances.

Monday 19^th March, both choirs sang at Hillcrest Primary’s Easter Celebration to a packed audience.  We enjoyed listening to all the other participating schools as they shared their music, with special guest, Pierre van der Westhuizen, drawing appreciative and enthusiastic applause from us all.

The FP choir has seen a wonderful surge of boys joining the choir and we have a group of children who are exceptionally committed and are thoroughly enjoying their time singing in the choir.

We look forward to lots of music-making as well as exciting concerts coming up in the 2^nd term, and the highlight will definitely be our participation in the Queensburgh Festival.

My thanks to Mrs Burns, Mrs Hawyes and Ms Du Casse for their help and thank you parents for your support.

Hurtling towards our Speech & Drama Festival: Drama Dept. 2012!

The Drama Department has been very busy in the first part of this year with the Speech and Drama Festival fast approaching. Each intermediate phase class is involved in a group item, which will be performed on 22 March for an adjudicator who is coming from the Speech and Drama Association of South Africa.

Our Grade 4s and 6s are doing Choral Verses.

Grade 4C – The Land of Mites & Maybees by Arden Davidson

Grade 4G – Little Red Riding Hood and The Worlf by Roald Dahl

Grade 4T – The Fox & The Crow by Cynthia Ryder

Grade 6B – It’s Cool Jack, It’s Cool by Brenda Williams

Grade 6H – Macavity – The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

Grade 6T – Sea Shoals Sea Shows on the Sea Bed by Paul Cookson

Each class has worked so hard on their poem to make sure that they sound memorable. We have had fun with different sounds effects made by the children as well as interesting actions to enhance each poem. Now we just hope for some noteworthy results.

Our Grade 5s and 7s are doing Theme Programmes, as an entire Grade. This has posed to be a mammoth task that I am not sure I would undertake again. The main reason being that the group is just too big when all together in the performance area. However, we have worked hard to make sure that the Theme Programmes are full of fun and clever Dramatic skills.

Grade 5 – Dancing with God – This Theme Programme includes a Choral Verse called Dancing with God, a Skit called Jesus Can Dance and a movement piece to the song by Matt Redman called Dancing Generation.

Grade 7 – New York – This Theme Programme includes a Choral Verse called Last Night I Saw the City Breathing, a prose excerpt from the book Cricket in Times Square and a movement piece to the song by Alicia Keys called New York.

Our Drama Team which is made up of 12 Grade 6 and 7 learners is doing a Theme Programme entitled Jack and The Bean Stalk. The group start with a rap called the Beanstalk Rap, followed by a Rhyming play called Jack & The Beans Talk, which includes a song called Cow For Sale. With very few rehearsals thus far, we are hoping to have this Theme Programme looking absolutely fabulous by the festival.

Individual learners are also going to be performing items for the Festival. These items include Poetry Speaking, Show & Tell, Story Telling and Monologues. There is so much talent within these children that I think the adjudicator is going to be in for a treat!