Year 5/6 Term 3 Overview

Year 5/6  Term Three Newsletter

Welcome to Term Three! 

We had the perfect start to Term 3 with our very successful three day camp at Sovereign Hill. The students loved learning more about the Gold Rush period and gained deeper insights into what life was like in the 1850s. This was perfect in further consolidating all of our History Learning in Term 2. We are very thankful that we were able to experience this camp all together. 

We are excited for the future learning opportunities ahead and some of the experiences students will be involved in during Term 3 such as the Tournament of Minds program, Confirmation and St John’s Whole School Production. 

Religious Education

Linking our inquiry learning closely with Religious Education, students will be exploring the theme of “Diversity”. For RE, this will include learning about other faiths and beliefs such as Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam. Students will get the chance to learn about the similarities and differences in various faith traditions and continue to build appreciation and respect towards other groups in our community as well as gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian. With Confirmation this term, our students will also be learning more about this sacrament including making deeper connections on how the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit relate to Confirmation and the choices we make in our everyday lives.

Inquiry

Our third term inquiry unit is titled “Inspired By Diversity”. It will have a strong geography focus where students will be investigating countries in South America. They will choose a particular South American country to investigate, researching the people, culture, religions, landmarks, education, food, environmental features and languages spoken.  

English

This term, the senior students will seek to further develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, through a variety of activities and programs. Our literacy rotation activities will continue this term to develop student reading and reflection skills. Students will learn to identify and analyse features of a non-fiction text: glossary, heading, subheading, index. In Writing, students will focus on informative writing. This will be linked with our geography unit. Students will also be involved in public speaking this term, working on developing confidence and effective communication skills when presenting in front of an audience. 

Mathematics

The following curriculum topics will be taught this term:

Number & Algebra: 

• Multiplication

Students will use factors and multiples of whole numbers to solve problems, multiply large numbers by one- or two-digit numbers using efficient mental, written strategies and appropriate digital technologies.

• Pattern and Algebra

Students will describe, continue and create patterns with fractions and decimals. They will use equivalent number sentences to find unknown quantities, explore the use of brackets and order of operations to write number sentences. Students will also follow and design a mathematical algorithm involving repetition.

• Fractions and decimals

Students will focus on decimals through this unit of work and recognise that the place value system can be extended beyond hundredths. They will compare, order and represent decimals, add and subtract decimals, and use estimation and rounding to check the reasonableness of answers. Students will explore multiplying decimals by powers of 10 and other whole numbers.

Statistics and Probability: 

• Data: Students will pose questions and collect categorical or numerical data by observation or survey. They will construct displays with and without the use of digital technologies and describe and interpret different data sets in context

Measurement and Geometry: 2D, 3D shapes and angles

• Students will connect 3D shapes to their nets and other 2D representations.
• Students will construct simple prisms and pyramids.
• Students will investigate and measure a variety of angles in regular and irregular shapes

SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) 

This term our SEL focus is on Social Awareness. Our unit will begin with the topic of 'Help seeking.' As part of this unit, students will be exploring different ways we can manage problems with our friends and families and who to turn to when you need help. The unit will go on to explore the characteristics of respectful relationships including recognising the impacts of stereotypes, discrimaintion and prejudice and how behaviours can demonstrate sensitivity to individual, social and cultural differences. 

Timetable

Specialist classes of Performing Arts and Visual Arts will continue on Fridays. Chinese classes will continue to take place on Wednesdays.  Now that Thursday Taikwondo lessons have finished, students will need to wear sports uniform on Wednesday and Friday for PE and Sports lessons.  Library sessions will continue on Mondays.

Communication

Effective communication between family and school is an important factor in a student's learning. This has been a challenge with ongoing COVID19 restrictions so please make contact with us if you have any questions, comments or concerns. We are more than happy to make appointments with parents either in person (when able to) or online. Below are our email addresses:

abrown@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au 

epattison@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

Many thanks,

Andrew Brown and Emma Pattison