Year 5/6 - Senior Unit

Literacy

This fortnight in Senior Unit literacy, students have finalised their unit on explanation texts. They explored how diagrams and images add meaning to texts and created their own when writing about the way light behaves when it interacts with different materials. Students have now started a unit on narrative, with a focus on science fiction. They have analysed how authors have innovated fairy tales by changing characters and themes while incorporating their own voice. Students applied this to plan and draft their own text innovations. They are very creative!

Numeracy

In Numeracy, students used Order of Operations to play games, create equations and solve them in real life situations. Students are beginning a unit on the Cartesian Plane, where they are exploring positive and negative integers, coordinates and transformations (reflection, rotation, translation). They have played games and completed challenging real life problems. 

Inquiry

Last week, students participated in experiments to find out how light moves. They explored the concepts of reflection, refraction and transmission through a series of 7 experiments where they recorded their predictions and observations. 

Students have now begun their Light and Gravity Science Project. They have been given an activity grid with a range of tasks to select from. Over the next 4 weeks, they will focus on developing their time management skills by managing their own projects. Students are expected to be responsible for their own learning and project completion. At the end of the process, we hope to have a Science Exhibition to share our learning with you!

Swimming

Last week, the Senior Unit participated in the Swimming and Water Safety program. It was fantastic to see everyone stepping out of their comfort zone and learning something new. Students focused on skill, ways to save others or themselves and vital skills like the recovery position. 

Scienceworks

Today, students are off to Scienceworks to consolidate their learning of light and gravity. We can’t wait to share back all of the fun we have and new learnings in next week's newsletter!

Year 5/6 Teachers

Katie Cashen (56C), Brenda Elliot (56E), Ann Ireland (56I)