2025 Term 2 Curriculum Overviews

Year 5/6 Term 2 Overview

Welcome back to Term 2. We hope you all had time to relax and spend time with family and friends over the holidays and Easter weekend and are ready for a busy term. Our school production promises to be a highlight of the term and the students are already busy learning their lines, dances and songs.

Religious Education 

In Religious Education this term we will be researching the places Jesus visited after his Resurrection and the people he interacted with. We then delve into the universal ‘Golden Rule’ and investigate the different religions that have this rule.

Students will research a different religion and create a presentation to share with their peers.

Inquiry

Our Term 2 Inquiry unit of learning is Geography, focusing on how environments and climates around the world have changed due to natural disasters and man made events such as farming and mining. 

 

Students will locate and label the world’s continents, countries and oceans. They will also investigate the different types of environments found on the world’s continents and identify these on a map. Students will look at the distribution of populations in various locations and discuss possible reasons for how they are distributed. 

To develop their understanding of a country’s environment and climate, students will undertake a research project on a given country investigating the following points: 

  •  environmental characteristics
  • population distribution, 
  • key products produced by the country, 
  • land shaping practices (human made or natural), 
  • environmental changes that have occured over time, 
  • climate change, and 
  • future environmental actions to address climate concerns for that country. 

These projects will be presented to the class and school community at the end of the unit.

 

English

This term in English, our Year 5/6 students will be diving into the novel There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar as part of our whole-class reading. We’ll explore themes, characters, and engage in rich discussions around the text.

Literacy Circles will take place twice a week, with students working in mixed groups across all three classes. The novels being explored in these groups include:

  •  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
  • The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Amelia Mellor)
  • The Wild Robot (Peter Brown)

Our writing program will combine in-class learning and “Big Write” style sessions, encouraging students to develop their ideas and express themselves creatively and confidently.

Speaking and Listening will also be a strong focus this term, with a range of opportunities for students to participate in one-on-one, small group, and whole-class activities designed to build communication skills and confidence.

Mathematics 

In Mathematics this term students will consolidate their understanding of perimeter and area, fractions, 3D objects, decimals and probability.

The skills they will learn will be to:

  • Calculate the area and perimeter of regular and irregular shapes.
  • compare common fractions with the same and different  denominators and order on a number line and justify their order.
  • Explore various shapes and their nets and draw their own nets to create a made up shape.
  • Order numbers with more than 2 decimal places and place them on a number line.
  • List the possible outcomes of chance experiments involving equally likely  and not equally likely

Social Emotional Learning

In Term 2, our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program will continue to build on the strong foundation we’ve established through Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). Students will revisit our new school-wide matrix to ensure consistent expectations and values are embedded across all settings.

We’re also continuing our journey with The Resilience Project. The students have embraced the lessons and journal reflections with enthusiasm, and this term we will continue to focus on the key pillars of: 

  • Gratitude
  • Empathy
  • Mindfulness
  • Emotional Literacy

These important themes will support students in building positive relationships, developing self-awareness, and managing their emotions.

Additionally, students will be given opportunities to develop and apply their leadership skills in meaningful ways, helping them grow into confident, compassionate leaders within our school community.

Digital Technology

Digital technology (digitech) forms a big part of our daily lives in grade 5/6 and our students continue to build their skills with a range of digital applications and programs. 

 

Wherever possible, digitech is integrated into other learning areas. We regularly utilise learning applications such as Essential Assessment, Seesaw and ReadWorks to support our Mathematics and English learning. Furthermore, we also enjoy using creative software tools such as Canva to complete tasks in Inquiry, RE, STEM and all areas of the curriculum. 

 

This term we will also participate in incursions presented by Inform and Empower on balancing digital technology in our daily lives. We will also look at Misinformation, the impact it has and how to identify it when researching online. 

 

Finally, as part of our English work, students will engage with book blogs and listen to podcasts, with the goal of eventually creating our own!

Home Learning

Home learning will once again be given to students in the 5/6 area on a fortnightly basis beginning in Week 3 of this term. They will receive a matrix of curriculum based activities, with occasional supplementary activities such as maths practise or spelling. Students are also encouraged to read on a daily basis, aiming for approximately 15-20 minutes per day. We see home learning as a terrific opportunity for students to develop and improve in their organisational skills as well as time management in preparation for high school, and greatly appreciate family support with this. 

Weekly Specialist Timetable

5/6 A 

Wednesday - Chinese

Thursday - Visual Arts

Friday - P.E. and Performing Arts 

 

5/6 B

Wednesday -Chinese

Thursday - P.E.

Friday-Performing Arts and Visual Arts

 

5/6 C 

Wednesday- Chinese

Thursday - Performing Arts

Friday - Visual Arts and P.E.

Please note in your calendars: 

ANZAC Day - Friday April 25

Mother’s Day Stall - Thursday May 8

Mother’s Day Breakfast - Friday May 9

District Cross country - Friday May 9 (Selected students only)

Grandparents Day - Wednesday May 14

Life Ed Incursion - Monday/Tuesday May 19/20

School closure day - Monday May 26

Aquinas Long walk - Monday June 2

Winter Gala day - Monday June 23

Reports sent home - Friday June 27

School Production - Wednesday July 2

Last day of term -  Friday July 4 @1pm

All other school dates are available on the school online calendar.

Communication

Effective communication between family and school is an important factor in a student’s learning. Please make contact with us if you have any questions, comments or concerns.  

We will endeavour to respond to emails within 24 hours, during weekdays.

tfarrar@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

abayliss@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

mbox@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

 

Our classes are as follows:

5/6A - Tracey Farrar,  Diane Lewis (Monday) and Kim Wilson

5/6B - Marisa Box, (Tues-Fri) Amanda Hill, (Monday)

Julie Carroll (Mon-Wed) and Louise Farrell (Tues-Fri)

5/6C - Allison Bayliss, Elina Li (Thursday) and Keyla Gleciano (Mon-Thurs)