Level 5 - Term Three
We would like to extend a very warm welcome all the new families who have recently joined and welcome back all our familiar faces. Term Two was full of rich learning opportunities that demonstrated the students’ fabulous growth mindsets and resilience that concluded with Semester One reports. Term Three has commenced with a successful celebration of learners proudly showcasing their Student Led Conferences. It has been phenomenal to see the students reflecting, collaborating, encouraging and supporting their peers seamlessly throughout their learning experiences. We are so incredibly proud of all the children in the Level Five cohort and so appreciative of the support our amazing families have provided.
Important Dates for Term 3:
- 27th July – Math Olympiad #4
- 4th August – New families afternoon tea
- 9th August – Level 5 Session 1 ICAS Writing
- 11th August – Level 5 session 1 – ICAS Digital Technology
- 16th August - Level 5, session 1 - ICAS English
- 23rd August – Level 5 – session 1 ICAS Spelling
- 25th August –Level 5 session 1 ICAS Science
- 1st September – Level 5 session 1 – ICAS Maths
- 31st -2nd September – Father's Day Stall
- 7th September – Maths Olympiad #5
- 7th September – Interrelate Parent Information Night
- 8-9th September – VSSS Rehearsal
- 16th September – Last Day: Early finish (2:30pm)
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Throughout Term Three, the students will further collaborate with each other as well as their teachers. They will explore the four categories of emotional intelligence, including: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Students will also explore the zones of regulation and develop a toolbox of strategies to help support them when dealing with different emotions in the school yard, classroom and beyond.
This term, Level Five students have the opportunity to participate in ICAS. By offering additional reassurance from parents and loved ones, and reminding your child that ‘mistakes are valuable’ and ‘try your best’, this can help to ease anxious thoughts that may arise.
To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to:
Share their thinking by using prompts such as ‘What makes you feel this way?’ ‘How can I help you?’ ‘What zone are you in and why?’
ENGLISH
Our Literacy focus begins on building the capacity of Level Five students to analyse, compare and transfer poetic language devices from their reading into writing. Students are going beyond rhyme and set structures, and will be investigating rhythm, tone and flow in new poetry styles and hone in on techniques such as figures of speech, sensory details, perspective and sentence structures. They will also aim to move beyond ‘comfort words’ by expanding their vocabulary and trialling words with greater precision, meaning and feeling in their writing. Through this, they will determine their author intention and the impact their writing might have on another person. Towards the end of our poetry unit, students will practise their spoken fluency through the accurate use of punctuation and grammar in formal presentations and performances by presenting selected pieces from their anthology collection.
To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to:
Use prompts such as ‘What strategies has this author used?’ ‘Why do you think the author selected these strategies?’ ‘What strategies have you used?’ ‘How have you practised your goal in your written piece?’
MATHEMATICS
In Mathematics, Level Five students will broaden their understanding in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability aligned with the Victorian Curriculum. In Term Three, we will focus on shape, location and transformation. Students will continue to discover the language, features and units of measurement related to two dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects including the construction of their own 3D objects from nets. They will then move into the transformation of shapes through translations, reflections and rotations on a cartesian plane. To round out the term, students will investigate financial maths through the creation of budgets. Students will deepen their excel skills as they project and research costs. They will calculate percentage discounts on everyday items in relevant contexts.
To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to:
Discuss percentage discounts while shopping and share mental strategies.
Think flexibly about numbers by using prompts such as ‘How did you get to this number?’ ‘Is there another way you could get to this number?’ ‘How do you know you are correct?’
INQUIRY
This term’s Inquiry unit focuses on Media. Students will explore the question, “How does the media influence our perception of the world?” while also exploring the United Nations Goal #5 – Gender Equality. This unit of inquiry will be explored through explicit teaching and thought-provoking tasks. We will analyse intentions, neuroscience connections, representations and cyber-safety in relation to media. Students will investigate how genders are represented in the media and why this may be the case, they will also explore how their cultural upbringing can influence their perceptions within the media.
To support your child’s learning at home, you could encourage them to:
Ask about how the media has influenced you growing up, whether it be in Australia or another country.
Use prompts such as: ‘What is this influencer making you think/feel? Why’, ‘What do you think the influencer is trying to suggest?’, ‘How has gender been equally promoted in your TV show?’
If you have any other queries or matters you would like to discuss with your teachers please don’t hesitate to organise a meeting via email or face to face. Your child’s wellbeing is always at the centre of our thoughts and actions.
We thank you for your ongoing support and assistance. We are looking forward to a wonderful year.
Kind Regards,
Sarah Donald, Ryo Sugihara, Bianca Liburti, Trish Singh, Kimberley Stevenson and David Joyce