Class 5 Steiner 

Celebrating Learning

Kii 5S families, 

Main Lesson

Our Ancient Mesopotamia Main Lesson drew to a close last week with the last instalment of the Epic of Gilgamesh which led to a thoughtful discussion by the class about immortality.  And this week several of the girls very kindly used some of their lunchtime to arrange the ziggurats made during this Main Lesson into a lovely classroom display.  You will see the results of their efforts in the accompanying photos.  Thank you very much Arkie, Mirra, Ivy and Florence.     

Since leaving Ancient Mesopotamia, we have journeyed to the infinitely fascinating world of Ancient Egypt.  We began the Main Lesson by learning how, despite its harsh climate and desert landscape, this extraordinary civilisation was able to survive and flourish for thousands of years due to the gifts of water and fertile soil brought to them by the mighty Nile River.  Our literacy focus this week has been information text writing.  

Maths

Last week we finished up our work on division and have since moved on to looking at factors.  We began by deepening our understanding of what a factor is and learning how each factor has a factor pair.  We then learned how to systematically use our tables knowledge to find and then record all the factors of a given number.  Once we knew how to do this, we were then able to compare the factors of two numbers to find and record the highest common factor, or HCF.  

This week, we have also been applying our understanding of the commutative property of multiplication and the inverse relationship between multiplication and division to generate related fact families, e.g. 4 × 6 = 24, 6 × 4 = 24, 24 ÷ 4 = 6 and 24 ÷ 6 = 4. Building on this, we have also explored the associative property of multiplication—discovering that when multiplying three or more numbers, the way they are grouped does not affect the answer, e.g. 3 × 4 × 6 = 72, 4 × 6 × 3 = 72.  

Literacy

In Reading, the class has been continuing their study of the novel Us Mob Walawurru alongside developing their Literacy Circle role skills. Last week, students were introduced to the role of Word Master, which requires close attention to the vocabulary used in the text. In this role, students work to clarify unfamiliar words and record vocabulary they find interesting or believe demonstrates strong authorial choice.

Students have also been building their ability to make meaningful connections with the text and to promote thoughtful discussion through the use of "thick questions"—questions that encourage deeper thinking and engagement with the content.

In Spelling this week, we have been learning about the rule that requires us to drop the final ‘e’ from a word when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel.

Music

It has been a joy to witness the students' progress in recorder playing over the past few months. They are collaborating beautifully, and this week they played their first two-part harmony piece—an achievement that filled them with pride (and perhaps a little surprise at just how lovely they sounded!). Similarly, in our morning singing sessions, we’ve been working hard on our first two-part vocal harmony. It has taken focus and perseverance from everyone to stay in their parts, but we finally succeeded—and I think the result sounded all the sweeter because of it!