Classroom News
Grade 5 & 6
Term 2, Week 2
Just like that – Term 2 is here! Welcome back everyone – we hope you have had a wonderful start to the term.
Our Curriculum This Term
During Reader’s Workshop this term we will focus on providing specific text evidence to support our responses to texts read. The 3 critical teaching points when responding to texts will be:
- Have I explained my thinking? e.g. I predict that..I infer that..
- Have I used evidence from the text to support my thinking? e.g. a direct quote, description of an event from the text
- Have I explained how this helps my understanding of the text? e.g. Now I think that..This makes me realise that..
This type of response reflects critical thinking about texts read for a range of purposes on a range of topics. These 3 prompts may be useful when supporting students to complete their weekly Literature Circles tasks for homework.
Heading into semester 1 assessment and reporting, students will be asked to specifically demonstrate this type of response to a provided non fiction text.
Please support your child by helping them establish a daily reading habit at home and encouraging them to borrow books regularly from our collections in our library.
In Writer’s Workshop, students will focus on the structure and language features of persuasive texts, such as building a case through a series of arguments, rhetorical questions and emotive language. Part of their assessment will be a “cold write” – responding within a time frame to a provided persuasive text topic. They will continue to choose independent text types and topics for independent writing. Students will continue to participate in a weekly Grammar lesson, with a focus on parts of speech and correct punctuation using apostrophes, quotations marks and commas.
In Maths, we have a focus on:
- Transformation – performing and describing translations (slides), rotations (turns) and reflections (flips).
- Number properties – identifying factors and multiples, triangular, square, composite and prime numbers and applying this knowledge to solve problems.
An example could be, “Students were placed in teams for sports day. When they were in groups of 3, there was no one left over, but when they were in groups of 4 there was 1 person left over. How many students might there be?”
Statistics – interpreting data displays including identifying the mode and range, recognising bias in survey questions and misleading data displays, posing unbiased questions to collect data as part of a statistical investigation.
Students will participate in 3 Living & Growing sessions with Sex Education Australia presenters on Wednesdays. From Week 4 our Democracy Inquiry unit will continue for the remainder of the term. Students will learn about the importance of voting, the roles and responsibilities of different levels of government in Australia and how laws are created.
Reminders:
- Please support your child to complete their weekly Literature Circles homework task – due each Friday via Showbie.
- Interschool sports practice will continue every Friday. All Year 6 and some Year 5 students will participate in the District Winter Interschool Sports day on Friday 16th May. Please action this event on Compass if applicable.
- Please note all students have been appropriately fitted for required footwear (if applicable for their chosen sport – AFL 9’s, soccer). These are stored at school. Students who already own the necessary footwear – must remember to bring them to school on Fridays.
- Hats are not required for Term 2.
- No icypole sales this term
Important Dates:
Wednesday 30th April Living & Growing Session 1
Monday 5th May District Cross Country
Wednesday 7th May Living & Growing Session 2
Thursday 8th May Mother’s Day Stall
Friday 9th May 5/6 Music Excursion to Vic Opera
Friday 9th May Online Applications Due
Wednesday 14th May Living & Growing Session 3
Friday 16th May 5/6 Winter Sport
Tuesday 20th May Parents/Carers (Webinar) – Resilience Project
Monday 2nd June Cyber Safety Project
Friday 6th June Student Free Day
Monday 9th June Kings Birthday – Public Holiday
Monday 23rd June Swimming Program
– Friday 4th July
Friday 4th July Last Day Term 2
Please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
We hope everyone is well-rested and ready for all the fun we have planned for Term 2!
Thank you,
The 5/6 Team 2025