Year 5/6 News
Grade 5/6 CELEBRATION NEWSLETTER TERM 2 2026
Reading
This term in Reading, our Grade 5/6 students embarked on a rich journey of thinking, discovery, and deep understanding as we explored powerful reading comprehension strategies alongside a fascinating study of Australian history and colonisation. With this, students learned:
• Background Knowledge: Australian History & Colonisation. The students explored key events surrounding European settlement, examined multiple perspectives (including First Nations voices), and investigated the lasting social, cultural, and environmental impacts of colonisation on the land and its people. This study encouraged critical thinking, empathy, and respectful inquiry.
• Building Vocabulary: Students expanded their word knowledge through active vocabulary study, explored new words in context, and investigated word origins.
• Questioning: Students learned to ask a range of questions before, during, and after reading. We explored 'thin' questions (or right-there questions where the answer was found right in the text) and 'thick' questions (requiring deeper thinking and discussion and inferring—using prior knowledge and clues from the text to make a judgement) to drive curiosity and comprehension.
• Inferring: Reading between the lines! Students practised using clues in the text combined with their own background knowledge to infer meaning, predict outcomes, and interpret changes in characters' motivations and emotions.
• Making Connections: We built meaning by connecting texts to personal experiences (text-to-self), to other books and stories (text-to-text), and to broader events in the world (text-to-world). These connections deepened understanding and helped students see themselves as part of a larger story.
Writing
This term, the Grade 5/6 students explored the genre of historical narratives, learning how authors combine real historical events with engaging storytelling. Students investigated a range of historical narratives and informative texts to develop their understanding of how stories from the past can be brought to life for readers.
Throughout the unit, students used a Narrative Arc to plan and structure their writing, carefully sequencing events and organising their ideas into clear paragraphs. They developed their ability to write effective orientations, complications and resolutions while creating narratives based on historical events and periods studied in class.
Students expanded their use of precise and subject-specific vocabulary, incorporating historical and technical language to add authenticity to their writing. They also experimented with a variety of language features, including similes, metaphors and dialogue, to make their narratives more descriptive and engaging.
A strong focus was placed on spelling and grammar, with students applying phonics knowledge, word patterns and spelling strategies to confidently spell unfamiliar words. We were incredibly proud of the creativity, effort and historical understanding demonstrated in the students' final published narratives.
Mathematics
This term in Mathematics, our Grade 5/6 students focused on developing strong number sense. They continued to explain their thinking and apply mathematical reasoning in Place Value, Fractions, Addition and Subtraction, Angles and Shape.
Here are some examples of some of the tasks students participated in…
Inquiry
This term in inquiry the 5/6 students explored the history of Australian colonies throughout the 19th century. The focus of the unit was around People, Places, and Change with students having the opportunity to examine the impact of the colonies’ development on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, migrants, and local-born colonists.
The cohort was introduced to significant events throughout the 1800s, such as the Gold Rush, and examined what stayed the same and what changes occurred to people and places as a result of these events. The students also investigated the various reasons people migrated to Australia during colonial times. Through historical narratives, informational texts, and videos, they explored a range of perspectives and experiences from this period.
The students then used their learnings to write a diary entry from the viewpoint of an individual whose experiences and perspective they explored during our Inquiry unit.
Science
Congratulations to all of our Grade 5/6 students for all that you have achieved in Science during Term 2. During our ‘Reversible and Irreversible Change’ unit, students classified common physical and chemical changes as reversible or irreversible; explained how changes of state are reversible changes caused by adding or removing heat; investigated dissolving and explained how some substances can be recovered through evaporation, making the change reversible; identified signs of irreversible changes during cooking and explain why the original substances cannot be recovered; described rusting and burning as irreversible changes that form new substances through chemical reactions; compared the features of reversible and irreversible changes; demonstrated their understanding of reversible and irreversible changes by defining, classifying and explaining real-life examples of each.
LOTE
During Term 2, Grade 5/6 students will learnt about: Amusement Parks, Deaf History, HOLM NMF – Movement, My Australian Holiday – Sydney, Use of Space, Back to Basics (Alphabet, Colours, Family), Minibeasts/Bugs, Deaf Artist Study, Acknowledgement of Country and Revision – My Talent.
We started the term in an Amusement Park, where our video showed the visual and expressive elements of Auslan, how body language and facial expressions can be used to indicate scenes such as riding on the Rollercoaster and the Merry Go Round Carousel. The lessons on Deaf History and our Indigenous lessons shared important information and skills about Deaf History/Culture and Australian themes.
The focus encouraged the students to develop their own Auslan communication about their experiences and hobbies. This enabled them to practice combining signs and fingerspelling (Auslan clause) to share their experiences and express their own ideas.
Art
In Term 2, Year 3/4 students continued to build their confidence in the art room while strengthening their understanding of routines, expectations and the safe use of materials. They further developed their ability to plan and create artworks that expressed their ideas with increasing detail and creativity.
Students began the term by learning about the significance of ANZAC Day and creating poppy artworks to show respect and remembrance. They explored the symbolic meaning of poppies while refining their drawing, painting and observational skills.
Students were then introduced to the work of Vincent van Gogh, creating expressive flower artworks inspired by his use of colour, texture and brushstrokes as part of their Mother’s Day celebrations.
Towards the end of the term, students explored the work of Pablo Picasso. They examined how he used abstraction and different perspectives in his artworks and experimented with creating their own imaginative portraits using a range of shapes and techniques.
It was a positive and engaging Term 2 in Art, with students continuing to develop their creativity, skills and confidence.
P.E
This term in Physical Education, our Grade 5/6 students had an active and engaging Term 2. They began with a football unit, focusing on developing their handballing, marking and drop punt skills through a range of drills and activities, before applying these in modified games. Students then moved into an athletics unit, where they took part in relay events and developed their shot put and discus techniques using beanbags at first, before progressing to athletics equipment as their confidence grew. Later in the term, students took part in a short teamwork unit, continuing to build their communication, collaboration and leadership skills through a variety of group activities. Throughout the term, selected students also had the opportunity to represent our school in interschool sport, competing in events such as Girls AFL Day, Cross Country, Year 5/6 soccer and the Winter Lightning Premiership, which includes AFL, teeball and netball.
A special congratulations goes to our 5/6 Girls Netball team, who went undefeated across the day, finishing 1st and qualifying for the next round. It has been fantastic to see the effort and enthusiasm students have shown this term, and I look forward to seeing them continue to grow next semester.
