Il finale, il pranzo and...thanks Mums!!

The last day, phew... everyone was getting a bit tired but nevertheless they retained their enthusiasm and did an amazing job on the final day. The last six plays performed were magnificent and enjoyed by the largest audience we have had this week. Grade 4/5 Boon were the last class through the Expo and they seemed to enjoy themselves. We finished up with an Italian luncheon prepared by Mrs Gore, Mrs Backhouse, Mrs Farquhar, and Mrs Martyn. What an amazing spread. It took quite a while for Elise to unload her car!!! I know Mrs Gore has been working hard on the menu and the food preparation for some weeks now. A team of twelve students did a few odd jobs in the school canteen before the luncheon under her benevolent guidance. Check out the gelato arancione, la torte mamma and la Cassata Siciliana. Don't he desserts look fabulous, not to mention gli antipasti ! Stuednets brough along their own plates and cutlery to minimise waste. The table looked stunning. All students had fabulous manners and the meal went off very well. I must also thank the fourteen parents who cooked biscotti for visiting classes, especially Mrs Payne who cooked batches for everyday of the Expo including nut free biscuits for those students with nut allergies. Celebrations like this are only possible with parent support and I would like to thank very much all parents involved and all the parents who visited the unit throughout the week. Illawarra is truly lucky to have such supportive parents.

Il terzo giorno

Another busy day with a visit from Kinder Possums first up, then prep/1 Kim and finally Prep/1 Baldwin in the afternoon. The different casts put on their plays first up as each class came in. The Kindergarten children enjoyed La Befana books, making trifold ribbons to wear and also enjoyed the jigsaws and the Pinocchio room. Each of the other two classes made themselves a mosaic alphabet to take back to their classroom with the help of the senior students. We had a lot of parents visiting the Expo today and also two Italian teachers Signora Cloudsdale and Signora Sharman. Can you spot them?

Il secondo giorno

Today was another busy day, another three classes came through the Expo in the double unit: the Kinder Wombats group, grade 1-2 Eraine and the grade 2-3 class. There were some great Pisa towers built and even a colosseum. The board games were popular but the jigsaw table won out in the popularity stakes today. The Kinder group enjoyed the plays and La Befana books whilst the grade 2-3 made some masks and enjoyed the Pinocchio room. The grade 1-2 loved the jigsaws. The grade 5-6 students were encouraged to enter the translator's and Rogues Gallery competition in their spare time between looking after the visiting classes. Competition winners will be announced at next Tuesday's assembly.

The first day of the Expo...

A few photos on the first day of the Expo...more on the previous entry entitled Il Primo Giorno.

Il primo giorno

Well day one seemed to be quite a success. We had three classes come through the double unit; grade 1/2 Henwood, 4/5 Mc Farlane and 3/4 Peacock. The plays were all a success. I wonder who drank the most limonata!!!! Each class was greeted at the door by two ushers and five Carnevale characters all the way from Venice. Each class watched four to five plays performed firstly in Italian and then in English. The visiting classes then had free time to explore all the activities, read the displays, listen to music, play the board games, watch short animations and enter the competitions on offer. The Pinocchio room was definitely well occupied! A big thank you to all the parents who came to support the Expo on day one and cooked the amazingly delicious biscotti. Above are a small sample of photos taken on day one. Two discs of the Expo week will be available for purchase for $5.00 from the double unit in about two weeks time, one disc contains 650 photos and the other a collecton of short video clips. A fantastic effort on day one grade 5-6 Paton and grade 5-6 Coote!

The day before...

Tomorrow is the big start of the Expo. Students blew up balloons, put up streamers, finalised their costumes and practised their scripts. Here are some sneak previes of the double unit.

Firenze and the shark's mouth

The Expo opens next week. Walk through the shark's mouth and read all about Pinocchio and the Parco di Pinocchio in Collodi which is popular with toursits when visiting Italy. Listen to the song about Pinocchio in Italian or an extract from the classic tale. A big thank you to Mrs Harbutt for all the guidance of the students with shark production.

Then pop next door and door ask DJ Gino to play you an Italian song, yes, he takes requests.

The mural Firenze is now complete.

Bruno Bozzetto...

Hi all, only one week until the Expo opens. Wasn't it great that Italy won the world cup!

This morning 5/6 Coote watched some hilarious animations done in Flash by Bruno Bozzetto, one of Italy's famous animators. These will be screening on four computers at the Expo so come along and have a good belly laugh. Here is a link to one students have not seen as yet:
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/adam.html

The window murals are going well... Pisa is done and Florence is underway.

A big thank you to all those parents who are making biscotti for the Expo and also to Mrs Gore who is co-ordinating the "Samplings of Italy" luncheon for the double unit.
Students are requested to bring a bowl, a plate and a spoon, knife and fork in a plastic bag with their name on it at least two days before Friday the 21st of July.
It has also been fabulous having Miss Dillon working with us in the unit over the last three weeks. She has helped us a lot with our art work and mathematics.

Rome!

The second window mural of Roma is complete. Here also you can see a great game called Surviving Rome which focuses on Ancient Rome. The game squares are contained within the illustration of the colosseum and you can test your general knowledge of Ancient Rome with the multiple choice question cards. What will the Fate cards have in store for you? Answer questions correctly and you will be rewarded with a certain number of denarii.

Yesterday we started assembling the displays for the Expo and students have practised their Italian plays a number of times, they are now putting together simple props and costumes. Students from the double unit now have a list of the dates and times when they will be performing their plays to the other ten classes in the school. Parents are invited as well but must be seated by the starting times on the program which went home in a newsletter.

Michelangelo, Vivaldi, Agnesi, Albinonis and others...

At the Exo you will get a chance to read some of our famous Italian cubes. Here are four students pictured with their information cubes on Maria Agnesi, Tomaso Albinoni's, Antonio Vivaldi and Michelangelo Buonarroti. They are all a good read as are the other cubes which will be on display.