Classroom News
Grade 5 & 6

Term 3, Week 8

Overview:

How is it we are already summing up our Term 3? What huge term for all it has been. Our team (and our school) wished a heartfelt farewell to a truly extraordinary educator, Sue Battista. She will do remarkable things in her role. But, with every loss, there is a gain! We have officially welcomed Dylan Ramos to our 5/6 Team – and he has done a wonderful job settling in.

Our Curriculum This Term:

In Reading, over the past few weeks, our focus shifted toward exploring poetry and visual texts. Using mentor texts such as All the Wild Wonders and This is Home, students engaged in rich discussions and writing tasks centred around poetic devices, structure, and voice. Both Year 5 and 6 students explored songwriting, and we were thrilled to see some incredibly creative and thoughtful songs submitted as part of their homework on Showbie. These pieces showcased originality, lyrical expression, and a strong connection to the themes explored in class.

Year 6 students also began to explore visual texts with resources like TED Talks and informational media, building their understanding of how text and visuals work together to inform and persuade. Throughout this time, our Big 6 literacy skills of focus included Fluency, Oral Language, Vocabulary, and Comprehension.

In Writing, students composed poetry and songs, experimented with compound and complex sentence structures using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, and applied their understanding of grammar to enhance their written communication. This will be a continuous goa throughout next term. Later, we turned to visual texts and focused on re-composing information using the 6+1 Traits of Writing – Ideas, Organisation, Word Choice, Conventions, Sentence Fluency, Voice, and Presentation.

This term in Mathematics, we covered a broad range of concepts. We explored Measurement through calculating area and perimeter, applied our Multiplication and Division skills in a variety of problem-solving contexts – looking at various strategies, and later in the term moved into Probability and Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages. We tailored our revision as needed and made learning hands-on with practical applications of measurement and number concepts – to increase multiplicative thinking. Across the term, we have continued to develop our number fact fluency to support learning across all areas of mathematics.

During Inquiry this term, our students have deepened their understanding of sustainability. They have put this knowledge to great use and are in the process of building their Tiny Houses. These houses are designed completely out of sustainable materials! If you’re available, be sure to visit our expo on Wednesday from 2:00pm – 3:00pm in the gym to see the wonderful work of our 5/6s.

Reminders:

As we delve into the jam-packed final term for the year, we want to maximise our student’s potential. It is a good time where possible, to allow your child to ‘teach’ you their newly developed skills – particularly with their mathematics. This will assist them with their revision. Whilst Term 4 will be filled with much joy, celebrations and experiences, it is a crucial time for testing in preparation for their transition into Year 6 and Year 7.

Important Dates:

Friday 12th September Summer Sport Round Robin
Wednesday 17th September Tiny Houses Expo (Gym)
Friday 19th September Last Day of Term 3 (early finish)
Monday 6th October First Day Term 4
Thursday 16th October Grade 6/ Foundation Zoo Excursion

If you have any questions or would like to communicate with your child’s classroom teacher, please reach out via Compass anytime.

Rest, refuel and get ready for an accelerated Term 4!

Happy Holidays,