Learning Centre Four

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students,

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 1! It’s hard to believe we are already halfway through the term. Our students have settled beautifully into their routines and are showing great enthusiasm for their learning. Throughout the term, classes have been working hard to build strong foundations in literacy and numeracy, while also exploring exciting topics across all learning areas. It has been wonderful to see students developing confidence, independence and positive friendships both inside and outside the classroom. As we move into the second half of the term, we encourage all students to continue demonstrating our school values: respect, responsibility, and resilience, in everything they do. Regular attendance, completing home learning tasks, and staying organised will help everyone finish the term strong. We also thank our families for your ongoing support. Your involvement makes a significant difference in your child’s education and helps strengthen our school community. Please keep an eye out for upcoming events and important dates in the notices below. Let’s make the rest of Term 1 a fantastic and successful journey together!

Special Events

On Friday at the Sod Turning Ceremony, John Lister, a local polititian visited the school. The 5/6 students had an incursion opportunity to ask him some questions and hear about his role in Parliament and the State Government. This linked in with our Inquiry unit, Civics and Citizenship.

Year 5

Literacy: Our literacy unit is in full swing as we continue reading War Horse by Michael Morpurgo and have reached the halfway point of the novel. Students are deeply engaged in Joey’s journey and are developing thoughtful discussions about character perspective and the impact of war. Alongside our reading, we are strengthening our writing skills by practicing sentence expansion and focusing on crafting clear, detailed sentences at the sentence level. Students are learning how to add descriptive details, vary sentence structure, and enhance their ideas with precise language. We are also exploring new vocabulary from the text, building word knowledge and applying these words in our own writing. It has been wonderful to see students grow more confident as readers and writers each week.

Numeracy: In Maths, students are developing a deeper understanding of multiplication strategies and number properties. We are learning to apply the distributive and associative properties to multiply by one-digit numbers, helping students see how numbers can be broken apart and regrouped to make calculations more efficient. Students are also using factors to solve multiplication problems, strengthening their number sense and fluency. As our learning progresses, we are multiplying by two-digit numbers using materials and diagrams to build conceptual understanding.

Inquiry: In Inquiry, students are exploring the three levels of government in Australia. Students are examining real examples of state laws and discussing why Victoria may need laws about education, transport, hospitals, and the environment. Students worked on creating their own realistic state law and experienced a “mock parliament” to vote on their state laws. We are also investigating the responsibilities of the federal government and why Australia benefits from national systems such as one military, one currency, and consistent laws across the country. Through discussions and “What would happen if…” scenarios, students are building a strong understanding of why different levels of government are necessary and how they work together to support Australia.

Wellbeing: In Wellbeing students are exploring important ideas about respect, rights, and responsibility. Students are learning about these concepts by engaging with the work of Aboriginal authors, gaining a deeper understanding of Aboriginal perspectives, culture, and connection to Country. Through discussion and reflection, students are considering how stories help us learn about fairness, identity, and belonging. We are also exploring ways that non-Aboriginal Australians can walk together respectfully with Aboriginal people. Students are discussing how we can show respect, learn from Aboriginal perspectives, and value culture and Country in our everyday actions.

Buddies: The Year 5’s finally partnered up with their Prep buddies! They had so much fun meeting them and reading books together. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for them.

Year 6

Literacy: In Literacy, students have been developing key reading and writing skills.

In reading, students are focusing on identifying the subject and verb in simple sentences and improving their ability to read accurately, fluently, and with expression. Through our class novel Rivet Boy, they are responding to questions, building comprehension skills, and expanding their vocabulary by learning and using new words from the text. In writing, students are learning to expand their sentences and construct more detailed responses. They are practising joining ideas using conjunctions such as because, but, and so, as well as experimenting with juxtaposition to make their writing more engaging. Students are also exploring persuasive writing — recalling the structure of a persuasive text and planning and writing strong body paragraphs to support their arguments. We are proud of the progress students are making as they build confidence and independence in their literacy learning.

Numeracy: In Numeracy, students have been exploring important number concepts and strengthening their multiplication knowledge. We are learning to identify prime and composite numbers, understanding the difference between numbers that have only two factors and those that have many. Students are practising identifying factors to help them classify numbers correctly. We are also learning to use factors to simplify multiplication calculations. By breaking numbers into their factors, students are developing more efficient mental strategies to solve problems with confidence and accuracy. In addition, students are learning to identify and represent square numbers. They are exploring how square numbers are formed and representing them using arrays and visual models to deepen their understanding. Finally, we are learning to identify and represent triangular numbers, recognising number patterns and representing them visually to see how they grow.

It has been wonderful to see students applying their reasoning skills and explaining their mathematical thinking in class discussions. Keep up the great work!

Inquiry: In Inquiry this term, students have been exploring the four key ideas of Australian democracy, with a focus on understanding the three institutions that make up Australia’s system of government.

Students have been learning about:

Parliament – which makes and changes laws. In Australia, Parliament includes the King (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives.
Executive – which puts laws into action. This includes the King (represented by the Governor-General), the Prime Minister, and government ministers.
Judiciary – which interprets the law and makes judgements about the law. This includes courts such as the High Court of Australia and other federal courts.

As part of their learning, students will be creating informative posters to demonstrate their understanding of the three key institutions. They will explain the role of each institution in a clear and visually engaging format, showing their ability to organise information and communicate their ideas effectively.

Religion: In Religion, students are continuing to explore the learning intention: To interpret the rich meaning and diversity found in icons. Students have been learning about the importance of icons in the Catholic tradition and how they are used to share messages of faith, tell stories, and deepen understanding. They have explored how symbols, colours, gestures, and expressions all hold special meaning within icons. In addition, students have begun learning about Lent, a special season in the Church that focuses on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as we prepare for Easter. We are also exploring the Stations of the Cross, reflecting on the journey of Jesus and the importance of compassion, sacrifice, and hope.

We are proud of the reverence and respect students are showing during prayer and reflection time.

Monday 9th March	Labour Day Long Weekend (school closed)
Wednesday 11th March	NAPLAN Begins (Writing NAPLAN @ 9am)
Thursday 12th March	Reading NAPLAN
Friday 13th March	Conventions of Language NAPLAN
Friday 13th March	Whole School Mass 9:00 am
Sunday 15th March	Community Mass 10:00 am
Monday 16th March	Numeracy NAPLAN
Monday 16th March	Clean Up Australia Day @ OLSC
Friday 20th March	Ride 2 School Day
Monday 23rd March	School Photo Day
Thursday 2nd Apr	School Closure Day (Learning and Teaching Focus)

Reminders

*Child safety is at the core of our mission in educating your child/ren and we kindly ask that any photos you see on the Newsletter or Class Dojo are not uploaded to your personal social media. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Blessings from the Year 5/6 Team: Beth, Scott, Tina S, Ann, Jordan, Leeza, Janeen, Elizabeth, Anna and Tian.

Important Dates