Classroom News

Grade 5 & 6

Welcome back to an exciting and jam-packed year for our Year 5 and 6 students in 2025!

Our Curriculum This Term

For Reading and Writing the students have revisited and re-established the routines and expectations for Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops. In Reading students are encouraged to choose good fit books from our school library or class libraries to read, think deeply about and analyse. Please support your child to create a reading routine at home each day and borrow regularly from our fantastic school library.

In Writing students will be guided to challenge themselves to choose less familiar text types and write for a variety of audiences. We will focus particularly on the features of narrative and persuasive texts as part of our NAPLAN preparation for Year 5s. We will strengthen our shared language for discussing writing skills through unpacking the “6 plus 1” traits of writing - Ideas, Organisation, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Conventions and Presentation.

As part of our ‘Setting the Scene’ Mathematics unit, students have been revising how a fixed or growth mindset can affect the way we view challenge and the role of risk taking and mistakes in learning. Maths anxiety is common (not just in students!) but can become a barrier for student growth and confidence. We will work hard to nurture students’ ability to recognise the discomfort of “not knowing yet” as necessary and important for growth. We will also celebrate the results of effort, practice, persistence and collaboration in achieving success.

Our maths topics for this term are; Place Value - decimal numbers to thousandths, Measurement - metric units, and Data - interpreting data displays. We will also develop fluency with times tables through regular practice using online activities and games with their Maths Buddies.

For our Inquiry unit so far this term, students have established classroom rules, created an individual classroom Acknowledgement of Country statements, unpacked and signed the Digital user Agreement, and re-visited the BPS school values and motto.

Our second Inquiry unit for the term begins next week - Project Firestorm. Students will explore the impact of bushfires on local (and international) communities - particularly topical after recent events in the Grampians and Los Angeles. We will investigate how communities might prepare, prevent, respond and recover to/from bushfire events. Students will use Critical and Creative thinking to develop a solution or response to a bushfire problem arising from their research. We look forward to sharing our learning with you at an expo at the end of the term.

In our weekly Wellbeing sessions we will be re-commencing The Resilience Project program with a focus on gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy. This is part of our whole school wellbeing program.

Parent Information Evening

On Thursday 6th February we will hold our Parent Information Evening where we outline the year ahead for our students and families. It will be held in the 5B for Grade 5’s and 6F classroom for Grade 6’s at 3:45pm. We look forward to seeing many parents in attendance to receive key details for 2025. A document containing the information presented will also be shared via Compass.

Parent Teacher Exchange Surveys

In the past week you would have received an email from your child’s classroom teacher with a link to complete our Parent Teacher Exchange Surveys online. This is a great opportunity to share any important information about your child for the upcoming school year. If you feel there is additional information that needs to be discussed, you can book a Webex meeting with your child’s classroom teacher for the week beginning Monday the 10th of February. More information will be emailed home separately regarding availability for each classroom teacher.

Reminders

All students require an art smock (or old shirt) for our weekly Art specialist lessons, as well as a library bag to borrow books each week from our fabulous school library. Please also ensure that all uniform items (particularly Grade 6’s with new polos and/or hoodies), lunchboxes and drink bottles are clearly labelled so they can be returned if misplaced. Hats are a requirement for Term 1. Icy poles will be sold each Friday in terms 1 and 4 at $2 each (cash only and no large notes).

Important Dates

Thursday 6th February        5/6 Information Evening 3.45pm

Monday 10th February        Parent teacher Exchange (Webex, as required)

Thursday 13th February     Parent teacher Exchange (Webex, as required)

Monday 24th February       District Swimming

Tuesday 4th March              GRIP Leadership Conference - Year 6 students only

Friday 7th March                  Curriculum Day - student free day

Monday 10th March            Labour Day public holiday

12th-14th March                   NAPLAN - Year 3 and 5 students only

Wednesday 19th March     Living and Growing parent information session (Zoom)

Friday 21st March                Holi Festival

Tuesday 25th March           Whole School Photos

Wednesday 26th March    Whole School Cross Country

Thursday 27th March         Resilience Project parent education session

Friday 4th April                     Last day Term 1 (2.30pm finish)

If you have any questions or would like to communicate with your child’s classroom teacher, please reach out via Compass anytime.

Thank you,

5/6 Team 2025