Level Six- Newsletter 

Level Six Overview

Welcome to another Term of learning at GWPS!  As always, it has been great to reconnect with the students over the opening few weeks of term, albeit in a digital format. Whilst we openly acknowledge the challenges that ‘Learning From Home’ presents, this time we enter the situation with the benefit of hindsight, which allows us to reflect and make improvements to the processes and practices we had in place for Term Two.

Upon returning to school for Term Three, Victorian Government school staff were kindly afforded five student free days to prepare for online learning.  During this time the school and Level Six team were able to reflect on the first ‘Learning From Home’ experience and make some adjustments to further enhance our strong learning program.  This has included an increased amount of videos, where teachers are giving explicit instruction and explaining a concept, replacing long, written directions. Furthermore, we are also taking the classroom role at the beginning and end of the day to help students to maintain connections with all of their peers.

Each week on a Wednesday, the dedicated teacher of Level Six meet to discuss and prepare the next week of learning for the students.  At the forefront of these meetings our conversations have focused on student wellbeing and what we can do as teachers during these unprecedented times to continue to support the students in their learning and social emotional development. Please take the time to read the ‘You Can Do It’ (YCDI) section of this newsletter for more information on what we have put in place to support with this.

As mentioned, our meetings also include discussions regarding the student learning and how we can best make this engaging and relevant in the current environment.  We have made every effort to allow the students to continue to develop their personalised learning goals through providing detailed videos on the school website on how to select a rigorous Reading and Math goals, whilst group conferencing students on their Writing goals. These goals are regularly refereed back to throughout the term and allow the children to build a range of effective strategies in reading, writing and maths, in addition to critical and creative thinking and problem solving.

As always, the members of the Level Six team wish to thankyou for your ongoing support.  If you have any questions or queries regarding your child’s learning or wellbeing, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or a member of the school’s principal class.  And remember…. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!!!

Inquiry Learning

During Inquiry this term, students will be exploring the central question of: How are cultures influenced by digital technology? This will be explored alongside Global Goal 10 ‘Reduce Inequalities’. 

Issues that will be explored during this unit include, what cultures are and how cultures differ in contexts, how we as humans growing up are influenced by the different cultures around us, and specifically looking at how digital technology has influenced and shaped cultures over time. This will allow students to explore the different media arts and their purposes, as well as the impact it has on individuals, communities and cultures. 

To support your child in this area of learning you may find the following tasks at home beneficial:

• Explore and have conversations about the different types of cultures around us. 

• Keep up to date with global events by reading the newspaper/reading articles online, especially those linked to Global Goal 10. 

• Investigate how digital technology has shifted the ways humans behave and interact. 

Mathematics

During Mathematics this term, students will explore a wide range of concepts including those from the strands of Number and Algebra and Measurement and Geometry. Students will be scaffolded to select, track and work towards SURF goals related to these concepts. These strategy goals will be introduced through introduction videos that demonstrate how to use them during the Learning from Home period and the student progress towards these goals will be monitored regularly during conferencing sessions.

Mathematical concepts that will be explored this term include:

• Time
• Money and Financial Mathematics
• Location and Transformation
• Cartesian Planes
• Angles
• Linear Equations

Sitting with your child and completing research on complex concepts such as cartesian planes or linear equations can be an excellent way of helping them to understand their application beyond the classroom. Discussing household bills, budgets or shopping expenses can be an authentic context to discuss financial mathematics. Mathletics.com is also a fantastic resource that can be used to consolidate mathematical learning.

Term 3 Wellbeing

The ‘You Can Do It’ skills of Confidence, Persistence, Organisation, GettingAlong and Resilience have developed a remarkable importance over recent months. Although Year 6 students at GWPS take pride in their ability to overcome challenges in learning, the surprising shift back into ‘Learning from Home’ has presented a number of unexpected obstacles that we must each surmount. With the importance of developing and maintaining positive wellbeing instilled in our cohort throughout the first semester, it is now time for each student to reflect on how far they have come so that they can take deliberate steps to further cultivate their robust learning attitude. 

The concepts of growth mindset, independence, generosity and digital citizenship will be threaded throughout the learning program in Term Three to promote students in their next chapter – high school, and to reach the school’s vision of becoming reflective, resourceful and engaged global contributors. Our Year 6 students will also continue to engage in Dr Gihan’s Health Ninja Challenge to further develop their habits of gratitude and generosity throughout the coming weeks.

In the initial stages of the term, students will undertake a personal Y.C.D.I. goal in relation to the Self-Development Project. Students will develop the skills and understandings within a meaningfully selected ‘unplugged’ hobby. They will regularly document and reflect on their journey in the form of a vlog, with the ultimate intention of building positive mental wellbeing (not to mention celebrating their self-development success on a digital platform with their peers).

Digital Citizenship plays a critical role in our student’s social and academic lives at this stage in history, so we will be learning more deeply about the key ideas of digital reputation, privacy, security, responsible sharing and responsible media consumption. The collaborative aspect of our curriculum will be maintained through the collective development of a cultural learning website, student-designed and curated to support the greater school community with Intercultural development.

To support your child at home, parents and carers are encouraged to bookmark and utilise the parenting section of the Y.C.D.I website (https://www.youcandoiteducation.com.au/parents/) which has resources for effective discipline, stress reduction, motivation, conflict-resolution and relationship-building. The Y.C.D.I program has been built upon by educators and parents for over 30 years and contains a vast array of resources that are aimed to benefit school aged students. This includes parenting articles, eLearning programs for parents and audio-video programs for older children and adolescents.

In our newly changed circumstances, we seek to take advantage of the boundless opportunities presented for mental, physical and social-emotional growth and are eager to continue building positive and lasting memories together in our fast-moving final year of primary.

Literacy Overview

During Term Three, students are exploring memoirs and narratives. We began by investigating and analysing examples of high-quality memoirs. This will aid in the students’ understanding and development of the various strategies that the author has used to enlighten, engage and satisfy the audience. Through identifying these skills when reading memoirs, we will aim to have our students transfer these skills into their own writing. With this Learning from Home period being a unique experience for the students, they will have the opportunity to create their memoir on this moment in their life or another moment that has influenced their journey. 

The teachers will continue to implement the whole school CAFÉ approach to reading, focussing on the specific areas of Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary. There will be different focuses throughout the reading lessons, while students also have their own individual goals. Through the use of the whole school writing approach of VOICES the students will be assisted in their writing process, particularly in relation to ‘exploding a moment’, literary elements and entertaining the reader through capturing the flavour of something that really happened.

Towards the conclusion of the term, the students will delve into narrative writing where they will explore stories that have multiple perspectives. Through their exposure to various high-quality narratives the students will have the chance to recognise how characters help shape a plot and to use a variety of ways to focus on a subject. The students also have the opportunities for independent reading and free choice writing where they have the chance to focus specifically on their personal reading and writing goals. It is through this process; paired with targeted conferencing that they can apply their learnt strategies to strive for success in their learning. 

Through our spelling inquiry program the students are consistently encouraged to expand their vocabulary. They can identify misspelled words in their writing, and then examine each words’ etymology and spelling patterns, developing a deep understanding of origin and other important elements relevant to their spelling words.

If you wish to support your child’s learning at home in the area of Literacy this term, you can:

• Encourage your child to read regularly, discussing their books with them and asking questions to determine your child’s understanding of the text.
• Discuss with your child moments in their life that may have influenced them going forward. This could form something that they can write their memoir on.