Year 5/6 Team News

Hello Year 5/6 families, 

Literacy

We have been looking heavily at comprehension and finding evidence in the text to support our responses to questions when they require explanation or justification. There has been some very interesting learning about fast fashion, recycled water and soft plastics recycling. In Writing, we are just beginning to look at explanation texts. Explanation texts explain how or why something happens. They often look like information reports with diagrams to support the explanations.

Numeracy

It is straight into algebra and the order of operations. We use the acronym, BODMAS, to remember the order in which we should solve multi-step problems. This is: Brackets, Orders, Division and Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. Students have started doing a  lot of work on finding missing values and have been exposed to the idea that we use letters to represent missing or unknown values.

Inquiry

Last week students were exposed to some of the themes of our new unit of inquiry through their spelling words and through a group task. For this task they had to construct a vessel out of the provided materials to see if they could keep dominos afloat in water for five minutes. This was a good bit fun and some great discussions were had about the properties of each material on offer. This week, students were introduced to their major project for the term.

Respectful Relationships

This term we are learning about stress management. Students will:

• Identify some causes of stress and strategies that can be used to reduce stress
• Identify and explain factors that influence effective communication in a variety of situations.

iPads

Many students have been bringing their iPads to school with little or no charge. It is an expectation that all students charge their iPads overnight in anticipation of the following school day. Please ensure that your child has a reliable routine around the charging of their iPad. 

Camp

A reminder that camp is coming up. If you believe that your child might need medication whilst on camp, please ensure that you ask the classroom teacher for a copy of the Medication Authorisation form. This is to be handed in on the morning of camp with the medication in a labelled snaplock bag. In addition to their luggage, students must bring a small backpack with them on the bus containing their snack, lunch, drink bottle, hat and raincoat.

Health Education

We are pleased to invite you to an Information Evening on Tuesday 22nd October. The session will be run by Sex Education Australia as part of our Grade 5/6 Health program. The online session will discuss the content of the upcoming program for our Grade 5/6 students. The 1-hour session can be accessed via the below link - 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86965194198?pwd=c2FWKbSAc7WPI0pJmatTJ7ISOXjEhh.1

Meeting ID: 869 6519 4198 // Passcode: 865327

Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm

We look forward to seeing as many families online on Tuesday 22nd November.

Reminders:

• Please continue to monitor Compass for alerts and updates,
• If you think you might like to volunteer on excursions and events this year, please ensure that you have arranged a valid Working With Children Check and complete the school’s online induction module
• Please ensure your child brings a charged iPad to school each day

Warm regards,

The Grade 5/6 Team - Laura Bartholomeusz (5/6B), Christina Crosland (5/6C), Emil de Vries (5/6D), Bianca Italiano & Molly Hedditch (5/6I), Kayleen Dumic & Steven Puhar (5/6K) & Carolyn Watt (5/6M)