5/6 Learning 

Community News

Literacy

In literacy, students have been working hard, researching, and drafting their informative texts. We chose topics based on what we learned on our excursion to CERES in Week 3. Some of the topics included Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and the Water Cycle. We learned reliable resources when researching for facts and information so that we knew our information was all correct. This term, we've also continued with our literature circles! The 5/6 students are all reading different books in their groups and meet once a week to discuss them, like a mini-book club! Each group member is assigned a role to complete for the week where they need to investigate, question, or draw their ideas, thoughts, and predictions about their book.

Numeracy

In numeracy, we have been doing measurement. We have all been working on a project where we had to design our own city. Firstly, we made a map of our city with all the buildings, houses, and roads. We needed to include a range of different-shaped buildings in our city including squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles. Some of us also included other shapes such as irregular shapes, hexagons, and octagons. After we designed our maps, we needed to calculate the area and perimeter of each building in our City Plan Booklets. Here are some examples of our work!

Inquiry

In inquiry, the 5/6 students have been investigating global warming and sustainability. In our classes, we began by thinking about what we could do as students to make changes to reduce carbon emissions, waste, and increase biodiversity at Essendon Primary School. We then got to choose what avenue we would like to explore. We could choose between renewable energy, growing food, waste management, biodiversity, and fast fashion. The waste management group has already gotten in contact with Moonee Valley Council and were able to get FOGO bins for the whole school! The growing food group has already made a plan for our winter-spring crop and begun weeding, planting, and preparing the soil.

SRC 

Our 5/6 Student Representative Council have also been working hard to make some environmentally friendly changes to EPS through Nude Food. Nude Food means packing a lunch that has no disposable, single-use plastic packaging. Instead, use reusable containers, beeswax wraps, and cloth bags to pack your child’s food.

Benefits of Nude Food:

- Reduces plastic waste

- Promotes healthier eating choices

- Teaches children about sustainability

How to Pack a Nude Food Lunch:

- Use reusable containers for sandwiches and snacks.

- Pack fruits and vegetables in their natural "nude" state.

- Use beeswax wraps or cloth bags instead of plastic wrap.

- Choose a reusable water bottle or drink container.

To encourage everyone in the school to use less plastic and produce less food waste, the SRC have been holding Nude Food lunch day where we eat together at a whole school in our Houses. Each house is rewarded points based on the number of nude food lunches!