Classroom News
Grade 5 & 6

Term 1, Week 10

Can you believe that Term 1 is already at its end? Where did this term go? Thankfully, we’ve managed to incorporate many learning opportunities and special events throughout this fast-paced time – with more to come this final week!

Our Curriculum This Term:

This term, our Reader’s and Writer’s Workshops have focused on narrative and persuasive writing. We’ve been working diligently to write insightful and detailed sticky notes, expanding on our ideas, whilst also deepening our understanding of our iPick books through activities, mini lessons, and one-on-one fortnightly conferences. Following our Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop model, students have been working hard in identifying the finer details of a selected text – why it’s written, how it’s written and why it is represented a specific way (type of text). While it is easy to think our Year 5 and 6 students are ‘big kids,’ we highly encourage regular reading at home and discussions about a variety of texts (such as novels, articles, media, etc.).

In mathematics, we have been actively working on our number fact fluency weekly to ensure our knowledge of times tables, converting metric units, addition and subtraction of decimal numbers and comparing decimals – using estimation and rounding techniques. We have taken a great deal of enjoyment in our small group tasks such as comparing foot size, largest steps and furthest leap.

Finally, in our Inquiry unit ‘Project Firestorm’, we have explored and discussed how to prepare, prevent and respond to bushfires. We are now in our final stage of developing our projects in relation to an assigned fire-related problem.

What else has been happening?

A huge congratulations are to our Year 5 students for successfully completing NAPLAN this year! They put in a lot of preparation to build their confidence with the online format whilst further developing time management strategies. We were very proud of the way the Year 5’s gave this challenge their very best effort and focus.

Our Year 6 student leaders of 2025 have been keenly presenting at Friday Assemblies and sharing videos on the BPS Facebook page. If you haven't already, follow the Facebook page for frequent updates on all things BPS!

Reminders:

Please ensure your child has an art smock (or old shirt) for our weekly Art lessons, as well as a library bag to borrow books from our wonderful school library each week. Please make sure all uniform items (including hats), lunchboxes, and drink bottles are clearly labelled to ensure they can be returned if lost.

Homework is due every Friday (Thursday in the case of public holidays/curriculum days on a Friday). Homework tasks are explained to students every Friday in class and all tasks are detailed on Showbie. Homework set directly supports classroom learning, so please support your child to develop some simple time management habits and have their homework complete and submitted each Friday.

Important Dates:

Tuesday 1st April 5/6 Project Firestorm Expo for parents - 2.40pm

Thursday 3rd April Chinese Day/Art Exhibition for parents – 2.45pm

Friday 4th April Last Day Term 1- 2.30pm finish

Monday 21st April Easter Monday

Tuesday 22nd April First Day Term 2

Thursday 24th April ANZAC Day Assembly

Friday 25th April ANZAC Day

Wednesday 30th April Living & Growing Sessions Begin

If you have any questions or wish to get in touch with your child’s classroom teacher, feel free to reach out through Compass at any time.

We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful and restful break, and we’re excited to see you all for an action-packed Term 2!