Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Successful Africa Day!



It was priceless to the see the faces on the students when they witnessed me wearing what was a costume from the musical ‘The Lion King’. I admit it was over the top but my aim was to enthuse the students and ultimately show my full support for Africa Day. I was pleased to see that there were many students who dressed up for the occasion and it was also great to see many school community members present at our special school assembly. Thanks to the Junior School Council Representatives, the assembly ran smoothly and it looked great. A special thank you goes to Margi Brett for contributing many authentic African items on the day. I was also very impressed to see all students engaged and listening. Although we all had a fantastic time and enjoyed the day’s celebrations, our ultimate goal was to raise funds for children in Kampala who are less fortunate than us and to instil compassion and awareness. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and am proud to have seen the students of Essendon North Primary School fully engaged in Africa Day. 
Anna Pietrolungo 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Sewing Project

 This project was inspired by an African tablecloth that was kindly lent to me by a parent. Students designed their African panels in the visual diaries. They sketched their designs on foam printing boards. We first printed on paper and then re-applied fabric ink and printed on cotton fabric. Students had the opportunities to glue on sequence if they wished.
 The next step was to sew another panel on. It was challenging for some of my year 3 students. Luckily my year 4 students had sewn last year, but as we all know children do forget some skills especially a skill like sewing. Even though it was chaotic at times, I was pleased with the students' determination.
We then filled them with synthetic filling, thus turing them into small cushions. This project took 4 to 5 sessions.

Special Collaborative Banner

We have been working on this special banner that will be going to Africa with our friend Victor. The banner signifies the connection between Australia and Africa and vice versa.

Victor designed the banner. Students of all ages have contributed. We used calico and fabric markers.

We are organising an African Day in next few weeks to fundraise over $1000.00 to help the school that Victor will be visiting.
Here you can see Victor talking to the students. He spoke about being selfless and discussed the importance of our contributions. He will be visiting Kampala with an organisation called KWAYA Australia.

Victor will take with him a blank banner, where the children from Kampala will create art work to share with us. How exciting!