Primary Specialists
Visual Art
In weeks 5 and 6, students across P-6 have reflected on the trans theme ‘How we express Ourselves’ building on their knowledge of the Indigenous Culture and the connection that Indigenous artists have with country, reflected within their art.
Foundation students have practiced the use of line and shape within their Art journals, creating drawn lines running vertically down their page, then adding geometric shapes, forming vine like drawings. This art is inspired by the work of Wawiriya Burton called Ngayakuk ngura – My Country.
Students in Years 1 and 2 have looked at Indigenous X-ray art. Aboriginal X-Ray Art is an indigenous style of painting where the artist visualises the external shape of the subject which is usually that of animals, humans or spirit beings, but also its internal structure.
These images are elegant designs that focus on elements of the musculoskeletal system that are important to the artist. Below are some examples of students X-ray drawings in years 1 and 2.
Students in Years 3 have learned about oil pastel blending techniques and created A3 sized, graduated shades of cool and warm coloured, oil pastel backgrounds. These pieces are the first layers for their ‘Bush Medicine’ Aboriginal Art inspired pieces.
Year 4 and 5 students have learned about Australian landscapes and looked at landscape composition and concepts including foreground, middle and backgrounds. They have started to sketch their landscape designs into their art journals and some students are up to transferring their designs onto A3 black paper.
Students in Year 6 have learned about how best to compose art. They have started thinking about where to place the subject matter while thinking about the best view (perspective) to create a balanced art piece. Students have started to plan their work within their Art journals, before transferring their sketches onto A3 black paper.
Physical Education
Throughout week 5 and 6 the year 3-6's have enthusiastically continued working on their Athletics skills. We have moved on to our jumping events with High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump.
It has been encouraging seeing all students taking risks in our sessions in putting themselves outside of their comfort zones especially in High Jump. Foundation to year 2's have been working on their skills within our minor games activities. The preps have already come such a long way since their first sessions in the gym and we look forward to exciting rest of the term in P.E.
Media Art with Mr Howarth
In Media, students are taking skills learned in prior lessons and applying them to new tasks. In particular, we have been focusing on:
Preps: Using media to explore strategies for managing our emotions when they feel overwhelming.
Year One: Using media technology to record a class choral reading of a text.
Year Two: Using our shot types to take photos of objects for the purpose of advertising.
Year Three: Exploring how our different shot types can be used to convey messages to an audience.
Year Four: Combining film, sound, and editing to produce a cohesive story.
Year Five: Using our knowledge of camera movements and thematic elements to plan a shot list for a short film.
Year Six: Exploring representation in media and the cross-cultural connections we all share.
Attached below is a recording from 1A of their reading of “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. Students worked collaboratively to record their reading in unison. They listened to one another to remain in sync while following along with the text. Students also analysed the various onomatopoeia words with to determine what sound effects they should make for various obstacles.
Music Education
In Music classes from P-6 have continued exploring the elements of music
Prep and Year 1
exploring keeping a steady beat, clapping and stomping simple rhythms.
moving to the beat with their feet in songs like the Ants Go Marching
‘Charlie Over the Ocean’ where we sing a call and response ( Echo)
exploring sounds they can make with untuned percussion instruments.
participating in listening activities to identify familiar sounds and instruments.
Year 2
exploring keeping a steady beat as a whole class
clapping and playing simple rhythms with their bodies and hand drums
practicing singing ‘Doe a Deer’ and learning the Solfege symbols for Do Re Mi etc
practicing singing ‘Funga Alfia’ a welcome song from Nigeria
inquiring about the difference between beat and rhythm
Year 3
practicing writing simple musical notation creating simple rhythms to share with their peers / whole class
practicing singing ‘Funga Alfia’ a welcome song from Nigeria
inquiring about the orchestral instrument families (Strings, Percussion, Brass, Woodwind)
Playing Boom whacker instruments to the rhythms written in formal notation
Year 4
continuing to build their musical vocabularies.
practicing singing ‘Funga Alfia’ a welcome song from Nigeria
experimenting with the rhythm patterns to play drums on Fung Alafia
inquiring this week about melody
Year 5 & 6
exploring harmony singing rounds like Frere Jacque and row row row your boat
making deeper inquiry into the musical elements like Form and the structure of songs and instrumental music
exploring Body Percussion
inquiring on the form of popular music
Spanish
¡Hola amigos!
Our Spanish program keeps rocking! Preps have been singing to colours and numbers. We have been doing colour hunts on the playground, colouring and counting games.
Years 1 and 2 have been dancing to Pocoyo’s “Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies” to learn parts of the body, cutting and pasting parts of the face to express emotions and numbers up to 20.
Years 3 and 4 enjoyed stories in Spanish about traveling to learn transports, done crosswords, word-searches, quizzes and bingo to learn means of transports and different places or buildings in Spanish.
Years 5 and 6 have written their own recipes in Spanish while reflecting on grammatical aspects of the Spanish language, such as tenses or grammatical gender. In order to put this knowledge into use, they have written their our recipes in Spanish.
DANCE.
VSSS23.
Our talented squad of 16 dancers representing Saltwater have already commenced their rehearsals for VSSS this year. They are already half way through their first routine, and will aim to have at least two routines completed before heading to our first combined schools Hub rehearsal. We have taken on 4 boys this year which has added a great contrast to the team with matching energy. The students are all hungry and eager to learn as much as they can, and ready to take on all challenges that come their way!
Year One's.
Year One classes have been working on and covering various elements of contrast and movement. This has opened up students minds to different ranges and types of contrast, such as light and shade, high to low actions, slow to fast motions, as well as directional changes while working with opposite arms. Throughout this exercise we also covered parallel movements and positions within the choreography. This then prompted students to learn, understand and identify what parallel lines were, as they began giving examples within the studio of all the different parallel lines they could see.
Dance Extension.
All dance extension groups have been working on a combined routine throughout their scheduled rehearsals. The energy has been upbeat as they learn the various combinations to put this together. Throughout the routines we have been covering musicality, timing and double timing in choreography, syncopation, transitions and formations, as well as accountability and ownership of what each students separate choreography might be.
Though challenging it has been at times, students have chosen to go for the harder option with the choreography and push for the higher level, knowing that with practice they can reach that goal. I'm very proud of the efforts from the committed students so far, and I can't wait to see them progress even more so!