English

Reading

Students will learn about the language and structural features of information texts and how to use these texts effectively to find the information they need. They will research and gather information based on Australian History using multiple sources such as fact files, picture books, clips, and visual images. Students will learn how to take skinny notes and to apply this to writing a summary in their own words and to gather information for writing their own information texts.

Writing

The focus for this term is writing information reports. Students will learn the language and structural features of an information report. There will also be a focus on crafting a paragraph using the TEEL approach (topic sentence, explain, evidence/ example and link).

To develop critical and creative thinking skills, students will learn to write from the perspective of a notable person in Australian history.

Grammar and punctuation alongside proofreading and editing skills will continue to be a focus this term. 

For spelling, students will continue to work on individual spelling words for homework. The formal spelling program is based on a whole school scope and sequence and the explicit teaching of:

1. Phonological knowledge is students' understanding of the sounds in words.
2. Morphological knowledge is the students' understanding of the meaningful parts of words, morphemes, these can be base words or affixes (prefixes and suffixes).
3. Etymological knowledge is the students’ understanding of word origins.
4. Orthographic knowledge is understanding the convention of spelling, knowing which graphemes are both plausible and possible, the spelling patterns.

Speaking and Listening

Students will apply their listening skills to gather information and take skinny notes. They will also practise giving their opinion regarding significant historical events based on information gathered from multiple texts.