Year 5/6 Team News

Hello Year 5/6 families, 

Literacy

This week’s spelling focus is the diphone “u” as in “use”. A diphone is a single letter than makes two sounds. In this case, the “u” in “use” makes the sound “y-oo”. In Reading and Writing we have been looking at biographies to gain a deeper understanding of the text type. When at the public library or local bookshop, it might be worth exploring some child-appropriate biographies rather than a fictional novel, to give the students a taste of something different.

Numeracy

In Maths, students are finishing up their community garden designs and have shown a much deeper understanding of perimeter, area, volume and capacity. We are now getting back into work on the four operations to revise how we can efficiently add, subtract, multiply and divide whole, negative and decimal numbers. It is vital that students continue to rehearse their timetables at home.

Inquiry

“Political parties” continue to meet to develop their advertising material in anticipation of our Week 11 election. Parent are invited to join us on the afternoon of Thursday, 27 June to come see all of our hard work. More details to come.

Respectful Relationships

This term we will be looking at the following Child Safe topics: Body Ownership & Private Zones, Safe and Unsafe Touch, Saying No and Child Abuse. We advise you to be prepared for questions about this content at home.

Reconciliation Week

We have had some very deep and reflective conversations at school as we discussed Reconciliation Week and the five pillars or goals that we, as a nation, must achieve in order to make amends for the wrongs of the past. We celebrated and reflected on the culture and history of First Nations people through books and documentaries. Our students were particularly receptive to the messages delivered in Adam Goodes’ “The Final Quarter” documentary. We strive to embed indigenous perspectives, culture and history in our curriculum so that our Willy Kids can grow to be inclusive and respectful Australians.

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) & Melati Cordell (5/6M)