Year Five
Dear Parents and Carers,
The past fortnight has brought thoughtful discussion, creative writing and plenty of new discoveries in Year 5. Migration has provided a strong link across our learning, while Book Week added colour and fun. During the Dress-Up Parade, it looked as though characters had stepped straight from their books and into our classrooms. Thank you to families for helping make the day so memorable.
Literacy
Through Refugees by David Miller, Out by Angela May George and Owen Swan, The Little Refugee and The Boy at the Back of the Class, students explored migration from different viewpoints. They used context clues and dictionaries to clarify unfamiliar vocabulary, identified main ideas and themes, and selected key events to create clear retells.
Students also examined characters’ actions to interpret their motivations. Visual features such as colour, size, facial expression and perspective were analysed to uncover mood and meaning. Book Club discussions provided further opportunities to question, clarify and exchange ideas.
In Writing, students created characters and settings for migration narratives and experimented with simple, compound and complex sentences. They turned illustrations into sequenced stories, explored first- and third-person perspectives, and reimagined familiar texts by changing the viewpoint, events or ending. Figurative language was also used to make their writing more expressive. Students have also began a text innovation where students change specific parts of a known story; such as characters, settings, or key vocabulary; while keeping the original sentence patterns and structure.
Mathematics
Students investigated the connections between fractions, decimals and percentages. They created equivalent fractions with denominators of 10 or 100 and used division when a fraction could not be converted easily.
Australia’s migration history then became the context for timeline work. Students ordered significant years, positioned events and calculated elapsed time. More recently, they have represented equivalent fractions using materials, diagrams and number lines. They explored related and unrelated denominators before applying their understanding to worded problems and justifying their solutions.
Inquiry
Our new inquiry is guided by the central idea: Migration may be a response to challenges, experiences and opportunities over time.
Students responded to images, performances and personal stories before sharing observations, questions and connections. They investigated the difference between immigrating and emigrating and examined push and pull factors such as safety, employment, education, family, healthcare and freedom. They also considered why the same circumstance may affect different people in different ways.
This learning led to meaningful conversations about kindness, belonging and how we can welcome someone who is new to our school or community.
REMINDERS:
Computers need to arrive at school fully charged each day.
Year 5 camp at Arrabri Lodge is in Week 10. Further information and packing reminders will be shared shortly.
Students should remain up to date with their Book Club reading and assigned tasks.
Lunch orders should be placed online or at the canteen before school.