Year Seven
Visual Art
As we welcome back the students in the Year Seven and Eight Electives, students in Visual Art have started to show their prior learning through their first project. Year Seven Students have been consolidating their knowledge of the Elements and Principles of Art and Design and created samples to demonstrate their skills. Students are working towards creating an Exploding Book for their first assessed unit of work. We started by unpacking the different Elements and Principles and then looked at how Artists use these in combination to create an effective art piece. In the coming weeks, students will finish and assemble their work. They have demonstrated how being a risk-taker allows them to experiment with different mediums and designs.
Food Technology
In the first session of Food Technology, the Year Seven students learnt about hygiene and safety in the kitchen and a basic introduction of how to measure both wet and dry ingredients accurately. After the theory part of the session, the students then explored the Food Tech room, where they became familiar with the workings of a kitchen and an introduction to fire safety. The students were excited when they discovered they would be making muffins. All the students successfully made delicious muffins, and some were even shared with their teachers and made it home to family.
In the second session, the students were introduced to knife skills which included discussion and demonstration of the claw and bridge method of using a knife. The students made apple turn overs and used the stove top to prepare the apple filling.
Financial Literacy
In the first few weeks of Financial Literacy, students have explored the value of money and classified needs or wants. We have explored how we could reduce our spending and make wise consumer decisions by using unit pricing and calculating ‘best-buys’, with and without digital technologies. We investigated the differences between wages and a salary while also exploring the link between employment and income. We developed ideas for generating income as students and considered different career options for the future. We explored the purposes of tax and how the progressive tax system works in Australia. Students have developed their financial vocabulary, including income tax, Medicare levy, tax brackets, ATO, progressive and regressive tax system, etc. Students also discussed the fairness and redistribution of tax dollars which contributes to our society.
This week, students are working on listing their top five jobs when they grow up and researching what their average salary is. They will also need to calculate the amount of tax they have to pay for their top five jobs using tax brackets. Here are some students’ work in progress from Financial Literacy from the past month:
Adhunya JUSTINE
Royce CLARK
Wood Technology
This Term, Year Seven Wood Technology students have been exploring health and safety in the Wood Technology room. Year Seven students have been learning to identify hazards and their potential risks and how to prevent injury to ourselves and others. Students have also learned the Safe Operating Procedures and the steps needed to be taken when using wood working tools such as the Tenon Saw and Bevelled Edge Chisel safely.
In the coming weeks, students are beginning the process of constructing their products for the Term, the Cerberus Lamp. Students will use the Design Process to plan, produce and evaluate their products and practice their newfound wood working skills.
Robotics and Coding
Year Seven Coding students are learning to program in Python. This text-based programming language helps students to develop computational thinking and attention to detail. Students have learnt how to write programs using simple functions such as “print” to display text, and “input” to wait for the program user to press the “enter” key. They have been practising how to use screen effects, such as applying coloured text and highlighting, to improve the visual appeal of their programs.
New additions to the Year Seven Robotics and Coding program for 2023 include access to Grok Academy courses for extension coding tasks, as well as the opportunity to participate in RoboCup Junior. Students who have selected Lego Robotics for their Leadership project will work in teams to research and create autonomous robots for this Interschool competition. The knowledge and experience they gain will help to develop a culture of STEM learning at Saltwater College.
