Level 5 & 6 

 TERM 3 DATES

🌱Friday 22nd August – Book Week Parade

🌱Friday 29th August – Father’s Day Breakfast  

🌱Wednesday September 3rd – Matilda School Production 

🌱Thursday September 4th – Matilda School Production 

🌱Thursday September 4th – District Athletics - Select 5/6 students

🌱Tuesday September 9th – Grade 5 Girls - Calm Youth Session 1

🌱Tuesday September 16th – Grade 5 Girls - Calm Youth Session 2

🌱Friday September 19th – Hooptime - Select 5/6 students

🌱Friday September 19th – Last Day of Term 3 (early dismissal @ 2:30pm

🌱 LITERACY – Reading

Now that our Grade 5 students have explored and practised each of the Literature Circle roles, they are on their second rotation! They will continue their novel study of Mac Slater, Cool Hunter by Tristan Bancks, using their assigned roles to guide rich group discussions and deepen their understanding of the text.

Our Grade 6 students are also moving into their second Literature Circle rotation, taking on roles such as Discussion Director, Literary Luminary, Word Wizard, Artful Artist, Character Captain, Clever Connector, and Summariser. These roles promote thoughtful engagement with the text and help students further develop their critical reading skills.

In addition to their reading work, all students will complete a comprehension task focusing on photosynthesis, along with a grammar activity centred on combining and punctuating simple sentences and transforming them into complex sentences.

What you can do at home

Chat with your child about the book and the specific role they’ve been given that week.If your child is away from school or missing sessions due to production rehearsals, please remind them to keep up with their reading at home.

🌱 Writing

In our Tristan Bancks’ Story School, students have reached the 'Fly' stage of their writing journey. 'Fly' shifts the focus to writing and drafting, where students actively bring their ideas to life on the page. They experiment with narrative techniques, explore different ways to tell their story, and build momentum as they develop characters, settings, and plot.

Bringing their reading focus across to writing, students will focus on including complex sentences with accurate punctuation into their writing. Grade 6 students will also focus on the inclusion of possessive apostrophes (singular and plural possession).

What you can do at home

Chat with your child about the stories they have been creating in Story School. Encourage them to share details about their characters, settings, and the problems and solutions in their narratives. These conversations will help them clarify their ideas, build confidence as writers, and strengthen their storytelling skills.

🌱 NUMERACY 

This week, in Maths on the Move, we are learning about decimals. Students will develop a deeper understanding of decimals and their connections to whole numbers, fractions, and percentages. They will extend place value knowledge to include thousandths, learning to read, write, order, and represent decimals in multiple ways. Students will practise adding and subtracting decimals and apply efficient strategies for multiplication and division, including using estimation to check results. They will explore the relationship between decimals, fractions, and percentages, converting between these forms and using them to solve real-world problems such as those involving money, measurement, and data. Students will also interpret and round decimals in context, communicate reasoning using correct mathematical vocabulary, and select appropriate representations to explain their thinking.

🌱 CBL 

This term, our Big Idea is Change. Grade 5 and 6 students will explore how our local environment has experienced environmental and geographical changes. 

Essential Question: 

How do we leave a lasting legacy?

Guiding Questions: 

- In what ways has our area changed over time?

- How do rules and regulations help to protect our environment?

- How are the environmental changes in places tracked and managed over time?

- What can we do as a community to ensure the ongoing sustainability of Wonga Park?

Students thoroughly enjoyed their time at Clifford Park, embracing the tranquillity of their surroundings as they sketched observations of the local flora and fauna. Their studies included the Yarra River, microhabitats, and various forms of plant life such as fungi, shrubs, and trees across different layers of the environment. Using targeted vocabulary, they carefully labelled their detailed illustrations.

Back at school, students will compare their Clifford Park observations with plants in our school grounds and complete a formal identification process. They will then research the endemic plants they discovered, gathering information to help them design informative explainer cards. These cards will eventually be attached to plants sold as part of our school’s 130th anniversary celebration.

Grade 5 - Warrandyte High School Visit – Last Wednesday, our Grade 5 students thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Warrandyte High School. After being split into three groups, they participated in two engaging sessions from a choice of STEM, Cooking, and Science. Following morning tea, each student proudly received a certificate of attendance. The visit provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to experience the excitement of learning in a high school environment and to imagine what their future classrooms might be like.

🌱 HOMEWORK

Students are expected to complete homework on a weekly basis. This consists of

- 100 minutes total of reading a novel/factual text of their choice

- 3 (minimum) Mathletics tasks, which the teachers will assign

- 2 Nessy activities

This homework is to be recorded in the Calendar App on student iPads. Your child's teacher will check this homework on Friday.

BUDDY BAGS - Grade 5 students have been introduced to Buddy Bags, which are gifted to their 2026 Prep Buddies. The first and second tasks have been submitted and now students, over the next two weeks are making their buddies an alphabet book. Please check in with your child to ensure they are on task for bringing their item in by the due date.

MEMORY BOOKS - Grade 6 students have been introduced to the Memory Book they will create in Terms 3 and 4, to reflect on their experiences at Wonga Park Primary School. This information will be communicated to parents via email, and is available for students on Showbie. 

 🌿 REMINDERS

🌱 Please assist your child in ensuring that their iPad comes to school every day, fully charged.