Years 5 & 6

Senior students started reading an  novel called My Life As an Alphabet by Barry Jonsberg. It is a funny and heartwarming story told through the eyes of an autistic child at school solving the problems in the family and with friends.  Candice the protagonist of the story is given an assignment by her English teacher to write an autobiography of her life using each letter of the alphabet.  We read three chapters each week and complete before, during and after comprehension activities and language work as well as writing. 

Students also completed their expository pieces. They have been writing a news report as below. They had to apply literary techniques such as alliteration and puns. 

Today, we looked cloze activity working on both reading and listening comprehension strategies for reading fluency practice. For Maths, we learnt about Astronauts and how they train and list five items making sure we measure and fit them in our suitcases. 

We are currently working on Persuasive writing genre and using a range of persuasive techniques. Once completed students will present their persuasive pieces as part of their oral assessment in class. 

During Maths, we have been working on number and algebra learning and practising mental maths strategies.  For example, doubling, splitting and compensation strategies for multiplication. We also  have worked on division strategies of sharing and grouping. Our main focus based on our PAT Maths test results has been problem solving as a Maths proficiency. Instilling Maths in real life as well as estimates helps students with what is known as reasoning and thinking in Maths.