Year Six
What an incredible couple of weeks it has been in Year Six! We want to start by congratulating all our students on their outstanding Exhibition presentations during week two of this term. The level of creativity, confidence, and passion shown was truly inspiring. Every student demonstrated a deep understanding of their chosen topics and took ownership of their learning in a way that made us all proud. A huge thank you to our teachers, mentors, and families for the support, guidance, and encouragement that helped make this year’s Exhibition such a success. It was a real celebration of our learners’ growth and collaboration.
Reading
In Reading, students have been exploring biographies and autobiographies, using the Little People, Big Dreams series and texts from Epic. We’ve focused on identifying the differences between biographies and autobiographies, recognising the qualities and achievements of significant people, and analysing how authors use language to show character traits.
We extended our learning by looking closely at strong openings, chronological order, and emotional language. Students identified how authors use hooks such as vivid detail, quotes, and emotion to engage readers. They also practised sorting life events into order and identifying time connectives that make a biography flow logically.
Writing
In Writing, students have been developing their own biographies. They began by studying the structure and purpose of biographies and learning how to organise a life story from early life to achievements and legacy.
Last week, students brainstormed notable people to write about and drafted quick biographies of someone they know. This week, they focused on crafting hooking openings, using chronological sequencing, and adding emotional language and third-person narration to make their writing more engaging.
Many students are now also editing and refining their pieces to showcase in their portfolios, reflecting on their learning using the DEAL method (Describe, Examine, Articulate, Learning Outcome). These will help student show their learning during 3- way conferences that are coming up.
Math
Maths lessons over the past two weeks have focused on geometry and measurement.In Week 3, students compared the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, exploring how shapes combine to form real-world objects. They created and labelled composite shape designs, such as futuristic buildings, to understand how 2D shapes form 3D structures.
In Week four, the focus shifted to symmetry and angles. Students identified line and rotational symmetry in everyday objects, estimated and measured angles using protractors, and learned to name angles such as acute, obtuse, and reflex. Through fun activities like Symmetry Matching and Angle Relays, they’ve strengthened their spatial reasoning and measurement accuracy.
Inquiry: How the World Works
Our new Inquiry unit, “Exploring past discoveries and inventions helps us understand how new innovations emerge,” is off to a creative start! In Week three, students participated in provocation activities, exploring images of discoveries and innovations to spark curiosity and wonderings. They connected their questions to key concepts like function, connection, and perspective.
In Week four, we began investigating innovators who have changed the world. Students researched famous inventors such as Tim Berners-Lee, exploring how their inventions have impacted society. They then discussed the pros and cons of innovation, identified different types of innovation, and began thinking about how they might become innovators themselves.
Reminders
No Hat No Play: Bucket hats are to be worn when outside the class at recess or lunch times.
MacBooks: MacBooks must be brought to school every day fully charged.
Mobile Phones: If brought to school, mobile phones must be handed in to the classroom teacher at the start of the day and collected at the end of the day.
Uniform: Full academic uniform must be worn every day, with the exception of the Year 6 polo shirt. On days with sports or PE, students may wear their PE uniform.
Late Arrivals: Students arriving at school from 8:40 am must sign in at the office before going to class.
Absences: Absences must be logged on Xuno as early as possible to avoid messages for unexplained absences.