Primary Specialists
Art Competition
Lions Club International Peace Poster
2024 Art Competition winner
The Primary Visual Art department at Saltwater College would like to give a big congratulations to Maya Prabu in year 5I who entered the international peace poster competition held by the Werribee Lions Club. Maya competed against schools in the Wyndham district and was selected by the Werribee Lions club as the winner for her artwork entry. This is the fourth year in a row that a student from Saltwater College has won this district Art competition which is fantastic news for our school and community. Maya will be attending the Lions Club for a dinner, award, and prize ceremony to congratulate her on her excellent piece of artwork and contribution in spreading the word of PEACE to everyone. A big thank you to all the other students who also participated in this event and worked hard on creating peace posters as well. You all did a fantastic job and I hope you keep up the great work and continue entering art competitions in the future.
Prep Art
In the final two weeks of Term Three, students wrapped up any incomplete work and took time to reflect on their Pop Art unit from the term. They enjoyed creating their own pop art images of living things and sharing their newfound knowledge with their classmates.
Grade 1 Art
Students in Grade one have worked well during their living things art unit. This week students have completed their living things cat paintings and collaged their final pieces with birds, bees and dragon flies. Some students have moved on to to learning about animal patterns and camouflage and arebegining collaged artworks using snakes and butterflies with camouflage backgrounds.
Grade 2
Students have been developing their painting skills as they learned to paint their Maori masks. They have learned about colour theory and using black lines for contrast and patterns. Some students have also used Maori symbols and designs as they have completed their projects.
Grade 3
Students have completed transferring their designs onto cardboard in mirror images. They have cut out their mirror imaged words and have used printing techniques to create block printed artwork on papers that they have previously designed and coloured with inks and paints.
Grade 4
Students have completed printing out their pop art designed product onto papers that they have previously designed and coloured with inks and paints. They have recently added embellishments of Benday dots with posca markers to show emphasis and contrast.
Grade 5
Students have all completed drawing their cityscapes onto foamboard and have begun to to use printing techniques so they can create a a mirror reflection of the city in a river. They had previously created watercolour paintings for their background using sunset warm colours and cool colours for the water. They learned about colour gradation as they painted dark to light shades and tones of warm and cool colours.
Grade 6 Art
Students have finalised their mechanica projects this week. They have finished painting their animals with metallic paint and have used black sharpies to outline their animal for contrast. Students have also collaged gold and silver spray painted cogs as embellishments to further enhance their futuristic mechanical designs.
Music
Dear Saltwater College Community,
As the Primary Years Music Teacher at Saltwater P-9, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the third and final cohort of students from Grades 1 to 6 who have recently embarked on their musical journey with us!
In our first week, we established Essential Agreements to foster a positive and respectful learning environment. These agreements encourage thoughtful decision-making and collaboration as we learn together.
For our Grade 1 and 2 students, we’ve been focusing on singing and playing simple songs as a group, creating a supportive atmosphere for trying new things with confidence and joy.
In Grades 3 to 6, we’ve set clear expectations for independent learning while also recognizing that we are part of a vibrant community of creative artists and performers. Our Grade 3 students have now received their school recorders, which they should bring to school after practicing at home.
Grade 4 students have started exploring the first unit, “Listening and Appreciating,” where they are deepening their understanding of music, its elements, and the history behind the instruments they hear.
Meanwhile, Grades 5 and 6 are delving into musical form, discovering how the organization and underlying patterns of music shape our perception of it. This week, they’ve also begun learning how to form chords on the ukulele.
Our Prep students, who are on a different rotation, benefit from a longer cycle with one of our three Prep Music teachers. They’ve been enjoying classic songs like “Do Re Mi,” “Tingalayo,” and “B.I.N.G.O,” while also playing simple rhythms using untuned percussion instruments.
The year is flying by, and before we know it, we’ll be singing Christmas carols!
Mandarin With Miss Xiong
For Mandarin, since this is a new course we started this year, we are beginning with simple topics. We are using the unique Accelerative Integrated Methodology (AIM) to help students explore traditional Chinese culture and language.
In the first week, we discussed the class rules and expectations for Mandarin. Both the teacher and students agreed on how we should behave and follow classroom procedures. The students also got a brief introduction to Mandarin by watching a video and completing their first Mandarin worksheet.
In the second week, with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching on September 17th, students are learning about the origins of the festival and expressing their creativity through artwork. Year 1-3 students are designing and coloring their own mooncakes, while Year 4-6 students are creating Chinese lanterns and writing related words on them.
Physical Education
On Tuesday, September 10th, students from Years 3-6 who were successful at the Point Cook District Athletics proudly represented Saltwater College at the Divisional Athletics.
Congratulations to all the students who competed and displayed outstanding efforts, your dedication, hard work and resilience were impressive.
Best of luck to these students who prepare for Regional Athletics, we are excited to see you compete in the next round.
Darius, Harrison, Miguel, and Bhuvan - Relay
Amora-Lee - Hurdles
Fernando 100m and 200m
Harper – 1500m
Darius - High Jump and Shot Put
Miguel - 200m and Triple Jump
In our P.E lessons, students have been learning to skip using individual skipping ropes to practise a range of jumps including the bell, skier, cross over and double jump. Students have displayed a risk-takers approach when combining the moves together to create and routine to perform to their peers.
Welcome to our Spanish class..
At the end of this Term 3, our Spanish classes are proving to be quite busy and productive at all year levels. The students have been learning/consolidating the basic Spanish language and are very enthusiastic!
During the term Prep to Grade 1, students have been practicing basic vocabulary such as colours, numbers, the alphabet in Spanish and learning to greet teachers and peers in Spanish. Also, they continued to develop their learning within certain topics like fruits, shapes, weather, and seasons of the year. It is incredible how much confidence they have developed in relating those new words to their everyday experiences.
In our grades 3 to 4, we have been looking at animals and their habitats, focusing on the amazing wildlife of the Amazon forest in South and Central America. This year, students started to learn the Spanish unit "medios de comunicación" (means of communication) and developed the understanding of how we communicate with one another in different parts of the world.
In Grades 5 and 6, students have been learning new vocabulary associated with "my house" and cultural celebrations. They have also taken the opportunity to research countries where Spanish is spoken, further developing an understanding of the history, geography, and culture of these diverse countries.
May each student have a well-deserved holiday! We look forward to continuing our journey of learning Spanish in Term 4.
¡Felices vacaciones! (Happy holidays!)
The Spanish team.
Media Art with Mr Howarth
In Media, students have continued exploring their introductory units, focusing on specific skill sets and topics, including:
Year One: Recording voice and sound on our devices
Year Two: Introduction to basic shot types, such as long, medium and close-up shots.
Year Three: Refresher course on our shot types, such as high and low angle.
Year Four: Media Analysis of the Indigenous kid's show Thalu with a focus on character traits and conflict in narratives.
Year Five: Introduction to sound and video editing
Year Six: Using Moana as a mentor text to explore how culture influences artistic choices.
DANCE.
WAKAKIRRI....(Dance)
Last week on Friday 13th September, our amazing dance extension students graced the stage once again for the Wakakirri Awards night at the Clocktower Centre for the Victorian State Finals. This was an invitation only performance stemming from our initial performance on Friday 2nd August at the same venue. Once again Saltwater P-9 College was asked to perform last on the night to close the awards night which was an honour for us to do yet again.
Our Saltwater students represented our school and community, each other and their family’s to the highest level and gained praise from the Wakakirri ambassador judging the performance with amazing feedback, not to mention all in attendance who saw the show. Our three school representative speakers Amora-Lee Laititi, Sanvi Portal, and Pranav Karmacharya, spoke so well and so professionally after the performance, highlighting the storyline, journey, and all we’ve been through and accomplished along the way.
Saltwater was recognised and awarded the “Cultural Celebration Story State Award” which was such an honour to receive, only to then win and be presented with the main prize of “2024 National Award Nominee” award! We were all beyond happy and overwhelmed by this amazing award and recognition, and humbled to share it with our Saltwater School and community. We have now been submitted for the National Award which is up against all other states, and await results due out mid October.The teamwork, love and support the students displayed together throughout this process and performance was something any parent, teacher and principal would be absolutely proud of, and has shown the depth to which these students have grown, and all they’ve achieved. A special THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all students, staff, and parents involved in helping making this journey an amazing and memorable one!
VSSS...(Dance)
Last week our Victorian State School Spectacular dancers finally hit the big stage and represented Saltwater College at John Cain Arena! Our students powered through three big days at the stadium with two days of technical and dress rehearsals, followed by two massive shows on Saturday 14th in front of 10,000 people. VSSS 2024 was a huge success and our students represented our school, community, and family’s to the highest degree savouring every moment along the way. For many of our dancers this was the first time doing VSSS and the experience proved to be an eye opener to so many life changing moments and elements throughout the process and journey.
We also had one of our former Mass Dance dancers Michaela Goh represent Saltwater and our community as the first principal dancer to perform on the main stage with the main cast. Michaela was amazing in her performance and was exceptional in all areas she performed! We were so happy and proud to see her shine so brightly up there and hope to see more of our students up there in coming years.Our Saltwater P-9 College, staff, parents, and community are so proud of each and every one of our students who performed for VSSS2024. CONGRATULATIONS to you all and THANK YOU for representing Saltwater in such a professional and positive manner, and we hope you enjoyed this amazing experience! Happy Holidays to everyone, may it be a safe and relaxing one and we’ll see you all in Term 4!
