Level 5: Connect

This fortnight, we have handed the newsletter over to our students! The following articles have been written by the students themselves, sharing their perspectives and experiences of our learning and activities over the past two weeks. We hope you enjoy reading their account of life in the Senior Learning Centre!

Literacy - By Will De Santis 

In Literacy we are learning about WW2 because it links onto our book that we are reading "The Blue Cat". The Blue Cat is about a bunch of kids including Hilda , Columba and Ellery and they are not coping well with war because in the book Japan took over Singapore and they hate it. But right now in writing I'm foing an information report about Beluga Whales but lots of other people are just doing normal narratives about whatever they want and we have been presenting them most days. We have been doing these charts that have all the senses on them and we get a picture prompt then we have to write down what we see, smell, feel taste and hear.

Numeracy - By Louis Rath

Good afternoon parents and teachers. In numeracy, we’re currently learning about equivalence in multiplication and distributive properties, and how different equations can equal the same thing. For example:

• 3 x 4 = 2 x 6
• 5 x 8 = 10 x 4
• 6 x 6 = 3 x 12
• 9 x 5 = 3 x 15
• 4 x 11 = 22 x 2
• 8 x 9 = 6 x 12

We’ve been learning to use the distributive properties to solve equivalent equations.

We have also been learning about inverse multiplications in fact family triangles, and how they can reverse or “undo” each other. For example:

5 x 2 = 10, 2 x 5 = 10

10 divided by 2 = 5,10 divided by 5 = 2

10 = 5 x 2, 10 = 2 x 5

5 = 10 divided by 2, 2 = 10 divided by 5

We’re also learning about powers of 10 - division and multiplication, which  ties up with our inverse operations unit. For example:

507 x 10 = 5,070, 507 x 100 = 50,700 etc.

507 divided by 10 = 50.7, 507 divided by 100 = 5.07 etc.

We’ve been moving the place value holder, or “adding a zero to the end.”

We’re working on building everyone’s skills and will soon start a new unit.

Inquiry - by Ellie Minnett

In Inquiry, Level 5 have been learning about Economics. We have been creating plans for eco-friendly businesses and learning about the difference they can make to the environment.

Belinda from RCYCL came in to talk about her experience as a business owner and how her business is an alternative to fast fashion, which is a wasteful and harmful way to make clothes. She was amazing, and Level 5 were so grateful to have her!

We are also learning about the difference between needs and wants, and how companies structure their businesses to encourage people to spend more money, for example, by putting cartoon characters on products so kids will want to buy them, even though they don’t need them.

Level 5 really enjoyed this subject, and we are excited to finish our business plans.

Wellbeing - Respectful Relationships by Charlie Derrick and Evie Garnsworthy

We walked into 5B’s room and met Imogen. She was very friendly and welcomed us as we began learning about this new and slightly awkward topic. She greeted us with a smile and gave us our cherry-red workbooks.

We turned to page five and wrote some fun facts about ourselves. Imogen read some of them aloud, and we had to guess who the mystery person was from the clues they had given.

After working through some slides and activities, we learnt about our personal bubbles. We also wrote down the names of five trusted people in our lives who we would feel comfortable talking to about anything.

Finally, we wrote some anonymous questions to place in the question box and thanked Imogen for our first session.

Warm regards,

The Level 5 Team - Michelle, Cazz and Katie