Specialist Team News

Performing Arts

The Curriculum Focus in Performing Arts 

Prep 

Students are improving their chord playing on the ukuleles. They can play 3 chords which has enabled them to play popular songs on the ukulele while singing along.

Grade 1/2 

Students have been continuing to read and play some popular songs using body percussion to start the lesson. They have been playing songs using chords: Am, C, C7 and F and learning to switch fingers smoothly from one chord to the next. Students are also beginning to try playing 2 note chords on the marimbas as well.

Grade 3 & 4 

Students have been continuing to read and play some popular songs using body percussion to start the lesson. They have worked on remembering the correct finger positions for different chords including a C7 and D minor chord and how to play them on the ukulele and marimba. 

Grade 5 & 6 

Students have been trying out some popular songs using body percussion. They have played along to several popular songs using the chords: Am, C, C7 F, Dm and a new chord G7 on both the ukulele and marimba. 

Music Clubs - Dates to Note

Choir – Well done to the 52 choir students who took part in the Spring into Music Performance at the Williamstown Botanic Gardens on Sunday 12th November. The organisers of the event were thrilled at the choir’s performance and said they were a real highlight on the day! 

Sunday 26th Nov – Seaside Fair Performances 

*Please note slight push back of times from the last newsletter.

Choir                       Arrive by 10.25am      Performance at 10.40 – 11.00am

Marimba Band    Arrive by 2.00pm        Performance at 2.15 – 2.30pm

Rock Band            Arrive by 2.20pm         Performance at 2.40 – 2.50pm

Friday 8th Dec – Choir to perform at Williamstown Community Christmas event at the Commonwealth Reserve Rotunda at 4pm. Please have your child there by no later than 3.50pm for some Christmas songs.

Monday 18th Dec – Afternoon Bands Performance by the Marimba and Rock Band at 3.30pm outside the library. 

Warm Regards,

Faye Ferry (Performing Arts)

Visual Arts

Wominjenka, and greetings from the Art Room. 

This newsletter item is all about the Seaside Fair. The kids have been busy creating lots of different pieces in readiness for this long-awaited event. We have handprint fish made by the Preps, jelly fish galore by the Grade Ones, fish with fancy designs by the Grade Twos bunting by the Grade Threes and Fours, and foil fish on collaged seascapes by the Grade Fived and Sixes. Throw in a few frames and seaside coasters and we hope to have lots of art projects up and around the school yard. 

These things don’t just happen on their own and I need to thank lots of people.

Special thanks go to all the kids involved in making the Seaside Fair Photo Frames. They taped, packed, glued lots of newspaper, painted and coated the frames with a protective layer of glue, so people can show they were present at the Seaside Fair 2024.

Another big thank you to all the kids who added woollen tentacles to the Grade Ones’ jelly fish and Alessandra and Emma who helped prepare them for hanging. I know you really enjoyed helping and I must say they look good. Can’t wait to see them all dangling on Sunday.

Finally, I must thank the Morgan family for the supplies they donated so that we could create our art installations. Thank you!

Hope to see you all at the fair. Not long now. 

Until then, stay happy and keep creating art!

Jo Jo (Visual Art)

LOTE (French)

Carrousel

Our Willy students have been diving deep into conversational French in various forms... 

Preps have become the maestros of French singing! Following their work on the ‘Salut, bonjour’ song a couple of weeks ago, they are now working on ‘Un, deux, trois allons dans les bois’. They have been remodelling the song back together based on visual and auditory word recognition and picture/word matching activities. Thanks to the great work they’ve been doing in their classrooms too, it is amazing to see how their French writing and reading skills have progressed by leaps and bounds since they started French in Term 2. Bravo Preps! 

Year 3s and 4s can now confidently read out French mathematical equations put up on the board as part of their numerical literacy work. This is a big achievement for them as it requires a layered understanding of numbers construction in French that, when faced with an equation puts the brain into parallel thinking mode to turn the equation into a translated sentence. Here’s for great bilingual accountants in the making! They too have been singing their hearts out, but a little bit more on that further down…

Year 5/6s completed their work on ‘Les Maths En Francais’ with a variety of extensive mathematical equations with different degrees of complexity, from ‘les additions’ to ‘les soustractions, les multiplications’ and ‘les divisions’. On a different note, along with Year 3/4s, the 5/6 cohort has joined me on the ‘Carrousel’ tune, by Amir & Indila, as we spent the last two sessions working on this song study. This was a trial to gauge interest and see how far students would embrace it. The many light bulb moments on the kids’ faces were fantastic to see as their understanding of the song, paired with the video clip created connections and meaning for many of them. They can now sing to the chorus verse beautifully and watching each class sing along together to a pop French song has truly been heartwarming. Through this song study, the intention has been to demonstrate to students the fire power French song analysis can bring in the forms of developing word curiosity and foreign language musical interest which can then translate into a passion for second language learning. I shared with them how foreign language music is the very tool that is enabling me to be standing in the classroom with them today – 16,000kms away from home. It was my passion for English music that led me, from the age of 12, to sit down with my mini French-English dictionary to translate my favourite songs. This was the catalyst that changed my life and ultimately brought me here. We’ve had impactful conversations in the classroom that I hope will lead our students to bigger and greater things across the globe in the years to come.  

Madame CRICRI

Physical Education 

Fortnightly Curriculum Focus

Prep: Cooperate with others when participating in physical activities.

Year 1 & 2: Creating games and using strategies to work in group situations when participating in physical activities.

Year 3 & 4: Apply basic rules and scoring systems, and demonstrate fair play when participating in physical activities.

Year 5/6: Demonstrate ethical behaviour and fair play that aligns with the rules when participating in a range of physical activities.

Sport

On Thursday November 2nd, Xavier Young and Ethan Young went and competed at a Primary school golf tournament at Sanctuary Lakes. It was a very tough course and both boys played extremely well. With an incredible performance, Xavier managed to finish equal 1st! Well done Xavier, everyone at Willy Primary is very proud! Good luck in the next round on December 1st at Medway Golf course

Warm Regards,

Paddy Gallivan (Physical Education)