Year 5/6 Report

English

It has been a busy and engaging term in English! Students have explored historical texts connected to the period of English settlement in Australia around 1788. These texts have been supported by visual media, including episodes from the ABC’s My Place, helping students develop a vivid picture of what life was like in Australia more than 200 years ago.

Through these experiences, students have explored how life in the past differed from today, including changes in clothing, transport, language and occupations. They have used this knowledge to create their own historical narratives, many of which were proudly highlighted during our Writing Festival.

Alongside this historical exploration, students have continued to work towards their individual reading and writing goals, developing their skills, confidence and independence as readers and writers.

A particular highlight of the term was our Book Week Dress-Up Parade, which provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our love of books, reading and literature. It was fantastic to see students bring their favourite characters and stories to life!

Mathematics

It has been another productive term in Mathematics, with students working to build and strengthen their knowledge of multiplication and division, with learning tailored to their individual needs and levels of understanding.

Students have explored different ways to represent multiplication visually, including arrays and skip counting, and have developed a range of strategies to support their mathematical thinking. These have included the split strategy and compensation strategy, as well as opportunities to apply their understanding of multiplication and division to real-life situations, such as working with budgets and making practical financial decisions.

Students have also been developing their skills in collecting, interpreting and displaying data using tables and a variety of graphs. They have explored which types of graphs are most effective for communicating different kinds of information and have practised reading and answering questions about data displays. Importantly, students have gone beyond simply interpreting graphs to drawing conclusions, discussing what the data tells us and considering whether the data presented is reliable.

It has been wonderful to see students build their confidence as mathematicians while developing the skills to apply their mathematical knowledge to both classroom and real-world situations.