Primary Specialists

Visual Art

Foundation 

Students have been introduced to the Pop art movement, learning about some characteristics of this art style. These include bright, bold colours (including Primary colours) and repetition of common everyday objects. Students have consolidated on their knowledge of shapes, lines and colour by drawing shapes and patterns on an apple and infilling using watercolour paints. 

In week 4 students learned how to collage. Using this technique, they infilled a donut design of their choice to make a collaborative class display. 

Year 1  

Students explored the work of Keith Haring and learned about his style of art and subject matter he used in his artwork. Students then recreated their own version of Keith Haring’s art; called ‘Best Buddies’. 

 In week 4 students looked at the work of Andy Warhol and his choice of subject matter.

Year 2  

In Year 2 students have continued to work on onomatopoeia words and develop 

visual representation of sound using; lines, shapes and colours. Students thought about how the sound of the Onomatopoeia word would look; if it could be seen. Students used various types of lines such as zig zag lines to represent sharp/harsh sounds and curved rounded lines to represent soft sounds.   Students discussed comparisons between the work of Warhol and Haring and how their art symbolised common everyday life images. Students then began to work on their own versions of Andy Warhol’s ‘Campbell’s Soup’ can. 

Year 3 

Students continued to explore the works of Comic art creating a visually engaging background scene for their superhero created in week 2.  

In week 4 students built upon their knowledge of comic book covers and began to draft a book cover for a Dog Man-inspired story. Students thought about elements such as colour, space, text and character for their composition. 

Year 4  

Students continued to work on their zentangle patterns; adding vibrant, contrasting colours to their designs. They Explored the use of colour value to add dimension and depth in zentangle-inspired artwork through the incorporation of shadows. 

 Year 5 

Over the past few week's students have developed skills in graffiti font writing whilst creating the alphabet.  Using these skills, students were given agency to produce their own personalised ‘Graffiti piece’. They began by thinking about creating a personalised ‘Tag’ of their name or a word to represent themselves. Other considerations were space on their A4 sheet, the font style and size and the composition.

Year 6 

Students in Year 6 have started to explore the ‘Pop’ Art culture. They have engaged in learning about the movement; which depicts repetition and bold colours of everyday objects and celebrities. Pop art was also found to appear in comic books, particularly in the form of ‘Onomatopoeia’ words (the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named).  

Students have been developing their own ‘Onomatopoeia’ word association by designing and sketching in the Pop art format. They created their word using black Texta to outline, incorporating ben-day dots and colouring with bright contrasting-coloured pencils and crayons. 

Media Art with Mr Howarth

Preps: Using episodes of "Bluey" as a mentor text, students are identifying the different features of a narrative. When learning about main characters, we explored what it is that makes a character the central focus of a story and how we can distinguish them from supporting characters. 

Year One: After a few weeks of examining Dreamtime Stories, students have explored stories from other cultures and how they have shaped the world we live in today. This has included the story of the Chinese Zodiac and its connection to Lunar New Year, and the Greek and Roman Gods, with their connection to the planets, Valentine’s Day and brands like Nike. 

Year Two: The Year Two students have completed their print ads, taking photos of tomato cans, creating a slogan, selecting a fancy font, and putting it all together. Next, they will create radio ads for the same product. 

Year Three: Students have been planning and shooting their own still-image narratives, based on an animated short about falling asleep in class. These innovations on a text allow the students to utilise the skills they have learned earlier in the term and communicate stories in new ways. 

Year Four: In Year Four, we are analysing the children’s TV show, Thalu. Students have been using their critical thinking skills to identify character traits and motivations, symbols and metaphors, and narrative conflicts. 

Year Five: The Year Five students are wrapping up their short films and will now be progressing to editing their pieces in order to present to the rest of the class.

Year Six: Following our final line of inquiry, “The meaning of artifacts, heirlooms and traditions”, students are sharing family recipes that hold significance to them. Together, we will be creating a class recipe book.  

Physical Education

After completing our first 4 weeks in term 3 students have been enthusiastically  undertaking striking activities, athletics trials, and will be participating in the upcoming Athletics inter school sports.

Striking Activities: We have had some fun and challenging striking activities planned across all year levels. From hitting the target with a with hockey sticks and going outside to utilise the community oval next to the school to participate in T-ball. 

Athletics trials and inter school sports: 

Over the past week we have been running trials for the 800m, discuss and hurdles to complete our athletics team. We will be going to compete against other schools in our area later this month. We look forward to seeing all our athletes represent Saltwater and do us proud.  

Music

Music has been a lively and engaging subject for students in Grades Prep-2. They have been enjoying playing percussion instruments and singing along to popular songs like B.I.N.G.O and Tingalayo. Additionally, they have been introduced to Boom whackers, which are pitched percussion instruments that make it easy for them to create melodic notes. These activities have allowed them to participate in playing simple melodies together.

In Grades 3-4, students have been working in small groups to create and perform rhythmic pieces. They have been using instruments such as hand drums and Guiros to showcase their skills to their classmates. Their hard work has paid off as they have successfully practiced and played Funga Alafia, an African Folk song, as a multi-instrument band.

For Grades 5-6, the focus has been on creating electronic music using Garage Band. They have been using pre-created loops and experimenting with the various functions of the app to add layers of texture and dynamic changes to their compositions. This has allowed them to explore the possibilities of electronic music and showcase their creativity.

Spanish

Our prep students have been learning how to talk about their families in Spanish and reading the story of el ratón Pérez (Pérez the mouse), which is the Spanish version of the Tooth Fairy while celebrating their 100 days of school with games and songs.

Year 1 and 2 have been working on their Spanish final project, crafting plates with the sentence about weather and feelings such as Cuando hace calor me siento cansado [When it is hot I feel tired] or Cuando hay tormenta me siento asustado [When there is a storm I feel scared].

Year 3 and 4 have been expanding their vocabulary on places in Spanish with the biggest wordsearch they have done so far with new vocabulary (a total of 28 words to find!). With such a humongous task, they had to work as a team to find every word and meaning.

Year 5 and 6 have already finished their scripts, translated them and have started recording. In just a few weeks they will finish editing and it will be time to celebrate their hard work by watching all their videos.

DANCE. 

Dance has seen a great start with the Year 5 and 6 students, with everyone completely engaged in the group tasks set out. Taken out of their comfort zones, everyone was challenged to an exercise that tested their memories, mindset and focus, as they navigated creatively through the criteria set out. This led to students interacting with other fellow classmates to overcome obstacles they weren't sure on how to overcome, but through teamwork, commitment, compromise, and action, they persevered and learnt the true values behind the exercises presented. 

Dance Extension had their first combined rehearsal this week, allowing them to see what each individual group has been working on over the last few weeks. This created a stronger bond between everyone, inspired by what each group presented as they witnessed each others energy and performance quality. The students grow hungrier to learn and evolve with each rehearsal, and the team work shines through more so as the weeks go on. I'm very proud as a teacher to see the way they are all working together and supporting each other on this journey, and I know the will shine even brighter when they all perform together!

Victorian State School Spectacular Dancers represented the school and the Saltwater community to the highest standard at the final combined school Hub rehearsal last week. The lead choreographer and assistant choreographers all sang our students praise as they worked hard and set the bar for the standard they were looking for. Our dancers were excited to see other schools they hadn't worked with as yet, all come together to help create a more complete version and vision of what the final show will look like. Excited is an understatement, as they are eager and hungry to hit the big stage and perform soon! 

I would like to send a huge thank you to our amazing Assistant Principal and help Danielle Colling, who has been amazing with all her help in this journey so far. She has also set up an amazing VSSS display in the school foyer as you enter, showcasing our star studded line up of dancers representing our school and the Saltwater Community! Please feel free to stop by and have a look next you're in! :)