Year 5/6
56C
We have had a few topsy turvy weeks in 56C with winter illnesses making its way around the school. It has been so nice this week to have almost everybody back and fighting fit!
We are well and truly into Young Dark Emu and over the past few weeks, we have been diving into learning about traditional aquaculture practices of Aboriginal Australians. This included looking at the different kinds of traps that existed, in which we recreated a traditional fish trap using butternut pumpkins. After some tweaks and tests, all fish traps were successful! Our current chapter relates to Aboriginal housing pre-colonisation. Students are working in groups to research a specific area in Australia and how housing was constructed and aligned to suit the varying climates. They will then be showcasing their learning by recreating miniature versions of these houses using natural resources.
In writing, we have been working on varying sentence types and are currently focusing on writing complex sentences. As well as this, we have been writing both formal and informal letters and will be looking at using persuasive language and features to support our informal letter and speech writing.
We have just finished up multiplication and division, building our mathematical ‘tool boxes’ by learning and applying new strategies such as the box method, split strategy and short division. Next up, we will be learning about money, including how to create a financial plan and calculate percentages.
In wellbeing, we are completing weekly ‘big questions’ that involve a small task over the week. This week’s big question is how we can acknowledge and celebrate our strengths. We have also been working on problem-solving from different perspectives by forming advice panels in response to common problems that Year 5/6s may face. Year 6’s had a fabulous day at their leadership day, where they participated in cultural understanding and safety training, listened to an inspirational guest speaker and made videos for future leaders. A big thank you to Kirsty and Jo for organising such a special and inspiring event for our leaders. As well as this, Year 6’s completed their ‘right of passage’ by paying a visit to the Men’s Shed. We all got our hands dirty, had fun and ended up with some excellent wooden bird boxes and pencil cases!
56T
It’s been another busy few weeks in 5/6T, filled with lots of learning and achievements.
We are still working on our Young Dark Emu unit and we are really getting into some practical elements of Indigenous history. We learnt all about aquaculture and the ingenious fishing traps that early Indigenous peoples made. From this we had the opportunity to recreate these fishing traps using household materials - it was a little tricky at first but we all got there in the end! This week we have been researching the different types of homes that different groups of Indigenous peoples would have had pre colonisation and we are going to be making these out of found, natural materials.
In Maths we have just finished up our unit on division and looking forward to our next topic of financial literacy where we will look at making a simple financial plan and calculating those ever important discounts!
In Writing we will be looking at famous speeches and what makes a great speech. From then, of course, we will be writing our own speeches on a variety of topics.
Wellbeing has been all about online safety after our incursion earlier in the term - learning how to keep ourselves safe when online and who we can ask for help if something happens. While the Year 6s had their Leadership Day last week the Year 5s worked on some of their own team building/leadership challenges including attempting to build the strongest bridge using only paper and tape - there were some excellent problem-solving skills displayed during this task!
We are looking forward to our Science Day on Thursday with lots of fun activities planned for everyone!
