Year 5/6 - Senior Unit
It has been fantastic to see our Year 5/6 students settle back into Term 3 with such enthusiasm and a positive attitude towards learning. Across the cohort, students have been working hard, showing curiosity, resilience and teamwork in all areas of the curriculum. Here's a snapshot of what we've been up to!
Maths
This term, students have been exploring fractions, decimals and percentages, developing their understanding of how these concepts connect and can be used to solve a range of mathematical problems. A major focus has been making meaningful links between mathematics and everyday life.
Students have identified many real-world situations where these concepts are used, including interpreting sports statistics, calculating shopping discounts, following recipes and understanding percentages in everyday contexts. It has been great to see students recognising that mathematics is all around them and making authentic connections between their learning and their own experiences.
Literacy
In Literacy, students have been investigating both informative and procedural texts. They have explored the key features of high-quality informative texts before creating their own informative posters to teach others about simple electrical circuits. Students have worked hard to include accurate labelled diagrams, scientific vocabulary and clear explanations to effectively communicate their ideas.
We have also been exploring a range of procedural texts, including scientific investigations, and discussing how the purpose and structure of different procedures can vary depending on the intended audience and task.
Book Clubs have continued across our classrooms, with students engaging in thoughtful discussions about the texts they are reading. It’s fantastic to hear students sharing ideas, making predictions and supporting their thinking with evidence from their books.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry learning has centred around our essential question exploring electrical circuits. Students began by investigating open and closed circuits using Power Balls, discovering that humans can act as conductors of electrical energy. One of the highlights was successfully creating a complete closed circuit with every member of the class acting as part of the circuit!
Students have also been experimenting with batteries, wires and miniature light bulbs to design and test their own working circuits. Throughout these investigations, students have demonstrated outstanding curiosity, collaboration and problem-solving skills while learning through hands-on exploration.
Sport
Last week, our mixed netball team and boys' soccer team travelled to Castlemaine to compete at the Division Finals. We are incredibly proud to share that both teams won all of their matches and have qualified for the Regional competition in Swan Hill on 18 August.
The boys' soccer team displayed exceptional teamwork throughout the day, comfortably winning their round robin matches before competing in a thrilling grand final. The match went into extra time, where Woodend scored the winning goal to secure a 1-0 victory. It was a fantastic display of determination, teamwork and sportsmanship. Students said that the best part of the day was “the teamwork that was shown” and “sportsmanship and having fun”.
Our mixed netball team also had an outstanding day, winning every game convincingly. It was wonderful to see students confidently stepping into a variety of positions, encouraging one another and demonstrating excellent teamwork throughout the competition. When asked about the day, students said that they “smashed it” and that the best part was “working as a team”. According to the players, they won because they “all had a part to play, and that’s how [they] were able to succeed”. Congratulations to all students involved and we wish both teams the very best at Regionals!
We were also treated to soccer clinics by the very talented Gulcan from Avondale Football Club in Melbourne. We thank G for travelling out to Woodend and sharing her love of soccer with us all! Everyone had so much fun!
Congratulations!
A huge congratulations to Jack Brady, who has been nominated for an award from the RDFNL. This is a fantastic achievement, and we are incredibly proud of your efforts both on and off the field. Well done!
Upcoming Events & Reminders
With sporting finals and many other commitments at this time of year, we understand that life can become very busy for families. To help ease the pressure, we have adjusted our homework schedule this fortnight. Students had an extra break from homework and have received their new grid today (Thursday), which will now be due on 21 August, giving them two weekends to complete the tasks.
We also have several exciting events coming up over the next few weeks:
District Athletics Carnival – Friday next week. Good luck to all students who are representing our school.
Regional Soccer and Netball for selected students
Mathlympics – Wednesday 19 August. Students will enjoy a day filled with engaging and challenging mathematical activities. Family Maths Night will follow later that day, with further information to be shared with families soon.
Book Week Parade – 26 August at 9:15 am. Families are warmly invited to join us on the netball courts for our annual parade. Students are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite book character, with more details to come closer to the event.
We look forward to another exciting few weeks of learning and celebrating student success across our Senior Unit!
Year 5/6 Teachers
Lyndsay Adamson (56A), Sharna Ford (56F), Ann Ireland (56I) and
Alison Meggs/Iain Sparrey (56M)