Year 5 Celebration 

Newsletter

Maths:

This term the Grade 5/6s revisited Financial Maths by working in pairs or small groups to plan a trip to the Paris Olympics with a budget of $25,000 for a family of four. Flights, transport, accommodation, entertainment and food were considered – all while practicing frugality! The students embarked on a unit exploring decimals, fractions and percentages where they looked at ordering, equivalences, converting, as well adding and subtracting fractions with common and uncommon denominators. The students also explored probability and built upon their understanding of chance events and the likelihood of achieving particular outcomes. In pairs or small groups the students worked collaboratively on a maths project to design and create a game based on chance with little or no skill or strategy involved. 

Reading:

The students built upon their skills of determining importance when reading both fiction and non-fiction texts. We explored in further detail the different types of questioning that can be used to gain a deeper meaning from texts; literal, inferential and evaluative. Effective reading strategies were modelled and applied in whole class, small group and independent reading opportunities, with particular focus on inferring, visualising and predicting. A range of digital and traditional fiction texts were used, along with short, animated clips to determine the author’s message. An emphasis on expanding our vocabulary emerged throughout the term, with weekly focused vocab sessions where students were supported to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words in the context of a sentence, research definitions, state synonyms and antonyms as well as demonstrate their understanding of each word by using it in a sentence. In addition to the structured reading lesson, students engaged in daily fluency sessions to enhance their pace, expression, accuracy, phrasing and ability to consider punctuation accurately.

Writing:

Our Reading and Writing units were once again closely linked as the students applied their skills of determining importance when researching an historical event relating to the Olympics or NAIDOC week. Students worked independently to research a memorable event and describe the circumstances, people, outcomes, controversy or lasting impact that the event has had on our country. Students in grade five wrote to persuade in the form of Grade 6 Leadership applications, then rehearsed, enhanced and eventually presented their speeches to their classmates. Grade six students within the cohort wrote to persuade a target audience about a topic of particular interest to them. All students revised and extended their use of a range of persuasive techniques, as well as included connectives for cause and effect. 

Inquiry:

This term in Inquiry the grades 5 and 5/6s immersed themselves in a geography unit, ‘Global Horizons: Discovering Cultures and Connections around the World’. In this unit the students investigated the geographical diversity of the Asia region and the locations of its major countries in relation to Australia. They compared similarities and differences in the economic, demographic and social characteristics between countries across the world. The exploration of different cultures and traditions within those cultures expanded their knowledge of how people live and celebrate what is special to them across the world. Students also embarked on a unit focusing on ‘Needs and Wants’. As part of a project-based approach throughout the senior school, students developed an understanding of the effect of consumer and financial decisions on individuals, the community and environment. Students worked enthusiastically within pairs or small groups on a Shark Tank project to create and pitch a product idea based on consumer influences and market demand.

Wellbeing:

Students once again continued to build upon their social and emotional skills through weekly Resilience Project sessions. They explored the importance of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness through a series of carefully planned and targeted learning experiences and were guided to apply a range of effective strategies to solve friendship issues. Targeted Respectful Relationships sessions were implemented each week to support the students as they navigated their social landscape and developed positive gender relations.

PERFORMING ARTS

This term in Performing Arts, Grade Five students experimented with digital media skills through a series of ‘Forced Perspective’ photography projects. They learned about the basic principles of photography and experimented with manipulating the foreground and background to change the perspective of their shots. This sensational photo collection was showcased at our Kismet Art Show. Students also showed great creativity and self-direction when they engaged in their own Performing Arts Passion Project. Given the opportunity to choose a project in any of the areas of Drama, Dance, Music or Media- students worked either independently or collaboratively to create a presentation of their own choice. Projects ranged from scripted drama and choreographed dance routines, puppet shows and student bands, to claymation, stop-motion and even making recycled musical instruments. Students celebrated their projects within class in the final weeks of term. 

VISUAL ARTS

This term, students experienced how to celebrate the world of Visual Arts at our Art Show!  They shared the excitement of presenting their work with family and the community, fostering a sense of pride and accomplishment. Throughout the term, Year 5 students learned to express their ideas and emotions through various artistic mediums, developing their personal voice and style. They continued to develop their creative expression, learning to demonstrate their ideas and emotions through various artistic mediums, developing their personal voice and style.

The art show was a tremendous success, highlighting our students' creativity and talent. The diverse range of artworks captivated the audience, and the enthusiastic support from families and the community made the event truly memorable. The show not only celebrated our students' artistic achievements but also strengthened appreciation for the arts within our school.

JAPANESE

This term in Japanese, the Grade 5 and 6 students developed their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills through the theme of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Students learned vocabulary including sports, countries, food and family members. They planned, drafted and created a presentation on a chosen athlete and included their name, age, country, sport, favourite food and family members. The presentation was a bilingual presentation with Japanese and English. Students learned to type in Japanese on their ipads to support their presentation. They also recorded themselves reading their presentation in Japanese and English. Students were also involved in supporting the art show by making origami paper cranes and various other origami, the students showed our school values of resilience whilst learning this new skill.

PE 

In Grade 5 PE classes, students further developed their physical abilities through challenging activities and sports. In preparation for inter-school competitions, students learned, practised, and mastered different game-specific skills. Students continued to refine their skills in different sports such as cricket and lacrosse. They refined techniques and strategies while developing sportsmanship, leadership, and teamwork to best represent Kismet Park against other schools.