Year 5/6 News

Welcome

What a fantastic thing it is to have the classrooms alive again with the sound of laughter, talking and re-connecting. The students have come back from a well-deserved break and have settled back into school routines with ease. It is an exciting and busy term for Year 5/6. One of the things we are looking forward to this term is Hoop Time. We thank all the students that decided to try out, and wish the final teams luck in their game! Another exciting aspect of our term is that we are getting our PBL businesses up and away, students are taking the lead and are showing some fantastic innovation in this respect, we look forward to seeing how the businesses turn out. Later in the term, the school will also engage in a Dance Performance to showcase the amazing spectrum of talent we have at St Raphael’s.

PBL

This term, students will be exploring how we can make sustainable and ethical food choices. We began by examining certain foods you might find in a grocery shop and discussed how far they may have traveled to get to our school. Students were able to engage with tangible examples, like a can of Corn Kernels, and Pasta. They used the clues listed on the packaging, as well as their prior knowledge on where certain foods are produced to make an estimate. The estimates were followed up with research and investigation to provoke deeper thinking. Students are beginning to consider multiple issues around food, including the effects on climate change, and the effects on people that are producing the goods.

Wellbeing

In wellbeing, students have engaged in a number of activities to get them thinking about what makes us truly happy. Students explored the role that leading a healthy lifestyle plays in making us happy. The research discussed in these sessions shows direct correlations between physical wellbeing and improving the part of our brain responsible for learning. Students were given the opportunity to reflect on their own health habits, and give themselves a goal to work towards for the month. Goals varied, from reaching out to friends more, to working on Basketball Skills outside of training sessions. Another piece of research led us to

uncover the relation between gratitude and happiness. The students engaged in the ‘Toilet Paper Game’, where they were asked to write something they were grateful for on each sheet of paper. Some students took lots and lots, so their classmates assisted them in filling each sheet out.